Paul Czarnecki

Young coho from what I see. Definitely a salmon with black mouth.

Kings have a black mouth bud. Cohos have grey gums.

That fish actually looks like a pink salmon. The deep fork and the spotting on the upper half as well as the heavy spots on the head suggest pink not juvie King or coho.

I like it. The 3rd thumbnail is my favorite. It looks like it is ready to swim off the couch. I am curious about the wounded area of the fish. So the lamprey mark reminds me of the special effects art for a Halloween gunshot. Does this entail a lot of (extra) effort from the taxidermist?

Lamprey scars are fun to

Paint. Each one is unique and can take from a few

Minutes to a few hours to recreate properly.

Ah.... The infamous "taxidermy quality" and "my taxidermist is better than yours" arguments.

Grabbing some popcorn......

Ordered a bunch. What speed do you guys recommemd trolling with them?

Bay Rats are pretty speed tolerant. Normal

Brown trout speeds of around 2 will be fine.

Current maps can help. However, understanding the effects of the different wind directions on the water is invaluable--especially in the spring when there is so much cold water. Remember that colder water will always displace warmer water and warmer water, on the surface gets moved around very quickly by sustained winds.

See you on the water!

Hey, last year early/mid May the salmon set up in that 80-90fow out of olcott, would you say that's pretty typical or unusual? Just trying to get a baseline idea for my second year I don't have much info to go off of just yet.

Since no one seems to have actually answered your question I will try to.

Yes, for the most part, what you saw last year off olcott and Wilson in May was pretty normal. The Kings were feeding heavily on alewives coming out of the spawn and the 70-100 foot range is where the bait was.

Winds can move that water (and the bait in it) and you might have to search for it on some days. Understanding the effects of the wind on that band of "green" Niagara water is critical to May fishing on the west end. For example, two days of hard south wind can move that band of water offshore as far as 6-8 miles!

Generally speaking--find the green water and you'll find the Kings.

Hope that helps.

Great company ,felt like xmas today,they sent me two coho crusher instead of my BT candy,called them up and said he would get them right out and keep the other two for there mistake! Nice.ImageUploadedByLake Ontario United1455831293.367073.jpg

There's no Coho Crushers in that pic.

So according to these calculations an okuma convector 55 with 520 yard capacity is 9.122 cu in. With 500 feet of 45 lb copper being 6.5 cu in and 970 feet of 50 lb braid being 2.62 a FULL reel should fit this. Does anybody run 500 feet of 45 lb and 900+ feet of braid on a cv-55l? Everyone seems to say 400-450 copper is max for this reel. Seems even if you dropped 200 feet of braid to safely spare .54 cu in on the reel and still had 700 feet of backer you might be safe? I'm not sure if I have been lucky but I've never had a fish take more than 350-400 feet of line in the lake. Thanks for any input on this.

Some people run REALLY loose drags. [emoji16]

Pencil sinkers and "slinkys " are commonly used with three way rigs for drifting the Niagara.

wow!!!! All this from an Okuma Solterra?

I gotta git me one of those!!! I never git that kind of excitement!!!

I've got one. It never left the cabin last year because my 200's and 500' were getting the job done. But, then again, the Solterra is so good it doesn't need to come out. Just the THREAT of it coming out works on the fish AND the fishermen. [emoji15]

You've discovered what some people never do---it is VERY difficult to run a profitable business when you only work a few months a year!

Paul, you forgot the last word........SNAP!

When 50# Power Pro breaks it's more than a "snap"!

I hope I don't hurt myself laughing when you get spooled this summer. You just guaranteed it to happen. Lmao.[/quote

But... Will he ever tell us ?? [emoji3]

We will know!

"Fish! Board! Board! Board!!!! Holy crap he's taking a lot of line! Craig....better start turning! CRAIG!!! Turn the damn boat NOW!!! WTF. *€%#£....... Running out of line.....!!!!!! Reel! Reel!! What do you mean he's still going!?!?! F*^¥€!!!!! Son of a............."

Did anyone produce well with the long shallow as well I hear wayyy more talk of the short shallows and I'm kinda getting worried I made the wrong choice picking up a bunch of long shallows at the niagra show

Several guys ran the Long Shallows on the east end the last two years. General consensus was that the LS out fished the SS by a big margin.

We've been running a 500 copper on a Tekota 800 for years with 150 yards of backing. Never had a problem, and we fish the North shore where the Salmon never forgot how they're supposed to fight. Tighten down your drags a little and if it is a board rod circle your fish. Turn towards the board that the fish hit off, and you'll see fish come to the back of the boat on 600' & 700' coppers that are still green. You just have to reel your butt off.

Although in BAZOOKAJOE's instance that might not be something you can pull. Watch now....I'm gonna get spooled this Summer.......

I hope I don't hurt myself laughing when you get spooled this summer. You just guaranteed it to happen. Lmao.

Wow! Great discussion and a LOT of overthinking going on. Hope spring gets here soon!

Mustangs and similar coverall type PFDs are all uscg rated.

check out bay rat lures Web site they make a whole line of the short deeps like the kabooms you are talking about

Exactly! All the patterns plus a bunch of new ones and MUCH better quality made entirely in the US.

I guess my main question is it more a bright high sun penetration or an overcast grey type or is it more of a anytime deal

UV spoons almost always work better for me on bright sunny days.

What size bay rats do you run for the brown trout?

Short shallows and long shallows.

An interesting little thing we've noticed is that from Sodus eastward the Long Shallows work better for early Browns. From Sodus west it's mostly Short shallows for us.

The one LT rule applies only to the Friday event and all future one day KOTO events. No other rule changes are planned for the main event--most think the format and rules are perfect as they are. [emoji2]

Original to the Bay Rats brand or the original Storm molds?

Bay Rats

That 2nd one looks like it came from a storm mold. If they have the storm molds the walleye guys will be going nuts!

They are all original molds. Developed and manufactured in Erie, Pa.

Are reproductions available in more poses now? I see a lot of different poses in skin mounts but the reproductions seem more straight.

Not sure what you mean by "straight" but, yes there are lots of poses and positions available in reproductions. Molding, casting and anatomical study all play a big role in fish taxidermy now as opposed to some of the "fish on a plank" disasters we used to see.