skipper19

I see at least 35 spectators in the picture...probably twice as many off the pic. both sides of the ramp would be.... hmm... lets see ....( 35x2 off the pics=70x2 sides of the ramp=140 spectators x 2 days (weekend)=280spectators multiplied by each summer week beginning memorial day to labor day (16 weeks) and the grand total is...... 4480 spectators per season. Now pay attention Governor Patterson...open your eyes if it makes a difference take a look at this!!!! $10 a seat X 4480 spectators= $44,800 revenue for the state of NY not to mention the rotation factor fof those seats that leave early and are refilled..could be more than $70,000 state income per season. Also the refreshments (beer and pop, hotdogs hamburgs etc.) could add twice as much to that figure. $140,000 for 16 weeks Now think about that ...and PLEASE don't raise our sporting licenses just to give it all to the big city Mark

Good job Bob, Newbies are fun!...I was at the Niagara bar Fri the 5th with three of them and me. One friend from Oneonta (Rhett), his son-in-law, and a friend of his. The boys (Tony and Craig) from Geneva, mid twenties age came out for the first time on the big "O" (young arms for copper rigs) . We had a wild time with Coho city off the end of the bar 50 to 100ft. Nothing huge but nonstop action over the same path for the afternoon. Wads of bait, right on the dropoff north of the red can, 4 coho kept, a double hookup one steelhead returned, two lost at the boat, (newbie netting) while I struggled with the east wind and 3 foot chop handling the boat. One rip that broke the swivel on a dipsey rig, lost it all including the monkey puke nk 28. We ran four dipsies 3 and 2 settings staggered setbacks, two riggers with free sliders 35 and 50 down, and a copper out 250 ft down the chute pulling a spinney and jitter fly. That was enough for me and these guys, in the choppy water. Lots of tournament boats out there, but all the area to ourselves in the afternoon. Three more that can't wait too come back for more..Hopefully I can put them on some kings next time. They were there Wed. the 3rd and we (Rhett and I) got a full box in the afternoon there but couldn't find them Fri. Will try the Oak this weekend and maybe Mon. before I gotta go back to drivin until the 4th of July. Mark

I was out there too from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. Went out to 300FOW, looking around, Big change in the temps since Tues...found 300 was still cold with gin clear water. Moved back to 150 FOW, color was better 53 - 54 degrees, slight tinge of green. Trolled a Z pattern, moving east from 110 FOW in to 60 fow and back just west of the pump house. Had action on the 48 rigger and 37 rigger, and a couple hits on the divers out 100 and 80 on a 3 setting. Boated two steelhead 5 lbs , one on a dark blue and gold Hoochie mamma fly and spinny 48 down on the rigger, the other came on a 42 second free slider nk mag. off the 37 rigger. Had a double on but lost one shortly after the hit. The action was in 90 to 110 FOW, north south troll, at 2.6- 2.8 gps. Over the last two days, I think I just grabbed another newbie in for the big money Lake "o " fishing bug. We had a very good day out at the Bar (Niagara) Wed. as well. Mark

Nice fish...who's the captain Quint lookalike That's not you Stan Mark

Put a big "T" on the hat and he could be a Bill Dance look alike Great pics, Glad to see happy kids Mark

Reminds me of my daughter and son when they were that age. Priceless....I wish I could get em back to that age, we fished all the time then. Now they are in thier 20's and just like me, less time, but they still enjoy fishing with the Dad. Very nice pics, thanks for sharing. Mark

Adam, also if you don't want to have the swivel going thru your guides and reel guide. Use an albright knot, it is smooth and leaves no ragged ends, and should not catch in the guides either. Both ways work, I use the albright with no troubles, but it can be a pain to tie and get it tightened up. 30 lb flouro leader and about 8 or 9 wraps goes good, any more and it will be hard to tighten any less it will loose strength. I use Seaguar, for reference, some leader material may wrap differently though. Just another way. Mark

Great catch Mike

Second that^^^^^^

I might agree with you on the clarity of the enunciation from the buffalo group at times. There have been times when one of the radio operators has been speaking too low in tone and a little fast for clear understanding (I know this ...cause I was thinking of my son who sounds like he is talking from down in his shoes most of the time and this one radio operator sounds just like that). I have two radios on board and both receive the same way....when that radio man is on the set. Not to be critical of ones ability to speak clearly but just some people have better "radio" voices than others. Mark

Great vids Mark ...Youtube has always been a limit on time for 10 minutes max, as far as I know. file size is limited too I think for 1 gb maybe? Mark

Cool pics Mark, tail looks like it just came from the creeks somewhere after a late spawn maybe?

I agree Ray, Last outing with Mick and wife, we had a similar problem. New dipsy, real tight, even with the screw nearly falling out of the thing (something to be said for buying garage sale dipsies, broke in). Fish hit the dipsy and the thing wouldn't trip, so consequently, the fish shaking it's head on the short leader from the dipsey and spinny it had a lot of things with weight wrenching back and forth working against the hook. Therefore, speculation would have it, that due to some peculiar irregularities in newly manufactured dipsies, they can't be trusted to perform as intentionally designed, and must be tweeked by an outside force. Note to be filed...(the dipsey lever pinch, not the note) Thanks Ray (Baldy), direct descendant of the ancients, You da dipsey doodle noodle guy, now go eat some more ice cream (brain food) and give us some more scientific evidence that the consumption of high calorie foods was clearly the leading cause of the evolutionary advancement of the early man.

And yet another great report....you guys are givin me aaa,... um,....well lets just say I"M EXCITED...oops

Cher said, "What's the dog need a home?" .....now you did it Pete, Cher wants Gracie....Can she drive big trucks? Mark

That makes sense Mark, If anyone remembers the sight seeing boat on Lake George that sank with alot of seniors on board, thats what I was told happened there. A raw water intake hose came undone somehow as well as being overloades as I recall. That was tragic with multiple fatalities. Congrats to the quick thinking captain as well as the rescuers. I remember that and I also remember a time with a friend that just bought a boat at an auction and wanted to try it out on a local lake. It was a bow rider bayliner with a four cyl. inboard. We were out in the lake tooling around and it seemed as though the boat suddenly wouldn't plane as good. I decided to look in the engine area and found the hose off on the discharge ports to the lake and it was pouring water into the bilge at a very high rate. Needless to say I hollered get this thing to shore QUICK!...Luckily we were close to the launch and made it back...Whew..all for a $1.99 hose clamp. Mark Would make sense to always check the bilge area after firing the engines on an inboard powered boat to make sure a soft plug or clamp somewhere didn't work loose, allowing water to pour into the bilge.

Dave, I don't know what was your drag setting at the time of the snag up on the bottom, and since you said you were in 12 fow you were probably flat lining or pulling boards, but if you have your drag set just enough while you are trolling at the speed you want, so it does not spool out, you should be able to just let the reel spool out against the snag without any interaction with it until you can bring in your other equipment and then turn around to retrieve the lure. You might have to just slack off the drag and leave the clicker on to let it spool a little more freely. The trick in catching the bottom is like catching a large salmon....don't have your drag set too tight, especially with wire or braid (no stretch). Just enough to keep the reel from ticking out at troll speed is good. It keeps the tackle intact and fewer lost lures. Hope this helps. PS...Birds nests are not uncommon. Some are just down right disgusting and need total overhaul Mark PSS...Dipsey trolling drag settings are best when the drag is set just enough so that it ticks out on the clicker a couple of times a minute or two at the speed you are at. Same reason is the viscious strikes from large salmon can break your equipment while pulling a dipsey set to tight on the drag.

Nice, can't wait ta get back and do that next week, only half as good would make ME proud Mark

Could be the inboard engines were leaking water from a coolant hose or manifold, that's a lot of water to deal with for bilge pumps.

Excellent post, Irish, I am humble with knowing now,.....Thank you, Mark

Way to go Stan!

I use a Hand held unit as a backup and second reference for speed and location and homing duty. It is a Lowrance H2O color and it works great with a suction cup mount from RAM. Grabs the windshield and stays put. Power cord keeps it going from cig lighter. Small screen but it is a hand held and good for everything including street nav and terrain. SD card capability lets you load top maps and charts. cost still a little around 240 bucks with power cord, mount, and non color unit, found on Bass Pro. Mark

Glad to hear everyone is OK, WOW.... what the heck caused the boat to sink! Great job to the rescuers.

I think this thread has had a SPECIAL purpose here.......All the world and especially here, we have had a very STEEP learning curve to hold onto ever since 09/11/01. It may seem a long time ago that we were attacked, our civil liberties disrupted, and were never so united together in keeping our freedoms from being taken away, but it was not long ago. Thanks to every determined American, in all our wars, in all our awareness as citizens, and all our intelligence and enforcement agencies, we have maintained the highest level of quality of life on Earth here in our country, the USA. The Agencies protecting us are silent for the most part, like the security programs running in the background of the computer you are reading this on. Every once in a while, they pop up to let us know they are doing their job, keeping spy's and hackers and virus's from harming our fun and productivity. Are they annoying and inconveniences when they do this? Well yeah, in a way, especially when you are in the middle of YOUR freedom to use the machine for those activities, but then you realize, you put them there to protect you, and your world, on the machine from harm. Anyone who travels the airways knows and is reminded each time, what security is all about. If anyone travels to foreign nations, and return to the USA, you are reminded of what it is all about. Some of us have become subjects of a training mission as Rod Buster and his crew were. I have been several times, since my business takes me across country borders with Canada and Mexico. Yes it sucks to be the subject of a search and seemingly needless questioning, but you get a sense of why it is happening when you put reason to it, and forget about your inconvenience, and they will forget about some of the otherwise cocky attitude they exhibit from authority, when you thank them for doing the job we have put them there for, and that is our protection. They are trying to learn just as much as we are, and they will get better at what they do as time goes on. Ray is correct in his views of what they,, (the BP, or coasties, and sheriff),, might be doing, when they find something that would shock us all, to think what could have been a really bad day to happen. Remember how you felt on a warm Sept 11th day in 2001...........I remember well.......I do not want to feel that way again. Every American has the duty to keep us safe, and if it is inconvienience, remember the inconveinence that over 3000 Americans felt, on that terrible day. DO NOT BECOME COMPLACENT!!!!!! I, as a professional driver, of America's highways have been a member of our company's highway watch program which will train 400,000 transportation professionals how to respond if they or their cargo are targeted by terrorists who would use large vehicles or hazardous cargoes as a weapon. The commercial ports require all workers to be qualified and pass a security check to be able to act as stewards of the safety of our vital economic areas, in the form of the TWIC card. Every American can help keep our way of life intact. If you are on our waterways, please be vigilant. If something looks unordinary, or suspicious, don't keep it to yourself. The Great Lakes are a border that is tough to patrol. It wouldn't take much for a 70mph jet ski or hot boat to be here in minutes with who knows what. Like if you see a jet ski whizzing along at 70 mph in 500 feet of water 15 miles from shore, take note and don't puzzle about it. Call the authorities with what you saw. Remember that these impoundments are public water supplies and easily can be compromised near their sources of pickup. If any of you have ever tried to stop and view the scenery in the Catskills along the water impoundments for NYC, you quite likely were greeted by a fast arrival of security to find out what you are doing. That is no different than the water we are using for our enjoyment everyday. I have kept certain phone numbers at my service, including the local DEC, and of course 911. Here is one everyone should have in their phone. It is for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) 1-866-615-5150. (hopefully it is not hooked to Napolitano's phone). Sorry for the long post, but It's hard for some of us to remember there is a war going on, especially when we are all having so much fun being....American....Thank You every American soldier, for helping us to put fear away, and go out to enjoy another free day..SALUTE! Respectfully, Mark

Happy birthday, now go troll up some more omega 3 and stop them ear hairs in their tracks Mark