Gill-T

Probably Gizzard Shad. Place a call to the DEC to report die-off and they will investigate. Hopefully not chemical. Typically, Gizzard Shad fall prey to disease from stress of cold water conditions. We are at the northern extent of their range. They are also carriers of VHS virus and with the stress of the cold, the virus takes over and overwhelms their bodies.

Dennis, the fleas on Lake O are never bad where I fish in Niagara County waters because the water coming down the Niagara from Erie is relatively flea-poor, however, I have fished Oswego area during the height of flea-season and I can understand fleas may be a concern. There are plenty of charter captains using braid out of Oswego.

Based on your avatar, you definitely don't look like Tiffany.

Mine is off 10' with 100' out

Good and bad. The good......Wilson will enjoy better staging and pier fishing. The bad....we take 10,000 fish out of Niagara county waters, black salmon swimming around Wilson Harbor, and less fish in the Olcott and Niagara runs.

AFW green. Shaped like flea flicker line so it doesn't collect as many spiny critters

That is what I call a bully cull buck. Shoot 'em!

I would direct you to previous discussions on this thread topic as you may find the info you seek. Some thoughts... Yes fleas will stick to it but braid is soft on hands so during flea outbreaks you run the braid thru your fingers while raising the weight and as it wads up you pause the rigger and give it a twang to flick them off the cable. Not too much of a hassle IMO. You need to use a fishhawk probe system if you are going entirely to braid otherwise you will hybridize your rigger spread with coated cable on speed and temp and braid on everything else. There is zero point to only putting braid on one rigger and normal steel cable on everything else as the main reason for going to braid is stealth noise reduction. Coated cable does not seem to hum like straight steel cable. Worry about lost probes with braid cable is unfounded. IMO probes are lost mainly because people weaken their systems with crimps and due to the lack of stretch in steel cable will precipitate momentum accidents. You have more give with braid cable and the knots tied in termination.

Your neighbor is an idiot.

Congrats. How far did he go? Based on your description of how he acted I figured you clipped part of the heart.

He was able to "stalk (walk up on)" a number of times, as on an island there is nowhere to go, and put the poor bull out of his misery. I can't believe he didn't edit the first shot out.

It is always windy in the fall. If you don't know the effects of different wind speeds on a bolt then you are not doing the deer you are trying to take any justice. Any form of hunting has its own discipline. A long shot rifle hunter out west takes into account wind,elevation,angle to target, and distance. Shoot your crossbow in the wind! I watched Greg Ritz on his national TV show try to shoot a Caribou on an Aleutian Island in 50 mph winds with a crossbow at 50 yards. The bolt went thru the scrotom of the bull!!

Tail flicker is a dead deer sign. You will find him. Good luck.

After looking at the newly redesigned Brownings I bought a 1952 ish Auto 5. Love it. Paid $620 for it so I think your investment of $200 is safe. Do you shoot steel out of it? Still trying to figure out if I want to risk shooting steel out her, as I have heard conflicting information.