Gill-T

There are no Kings in the western basin in the spring.....what are you all talking about? I would stay far far away from the Niagara bar if I were you.

In N.Y. for years, many a trout has fallen victim in smaller bodies of water to a Lake Clear Wabbler with a trailing piece of worm. Run a small trailing leader off the Wabbler.....about 24", to a hook with a nitecrawler piece or a tipped streamer fly. Also try a vibrax spinner with the hooks tipped with worm. I am sure these would work out west also.

It may have just fallen off the bridge. Have you seen the state of some of our overpasses? Where the Fack is all our tax money going. It is time to audit the thruway authority.

They will win the next three.

Could you imagine what that guy's hands smell like! :mrgreen:

I have tried them. Pain in the arse! Netting is a nightmare. The extra drag kills the fight of the fish. If I was to use them again, I would hook them up to the downrigger ball, and place the release up the cable a little, then run a bait that dives a little......like a stickbait, kwickfish, willy spoon or hot'n' tot with about a 10' lead. That would put the bait even and trailing behing the "school" of attractors. The slower moving baits I described will also be needed because of the blow-back of the cable....you have to run slower.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! I bet they cavity-searched you at the border because you where probably smiling from ear to ear.....smelling of day old Canadian beer......and had a wad of cash like a drug dealer.

Tim what time is the clinic? On your thread title you have 11:00pm?

WTF!

The store in Tonawanda took all their salmon stuff off the shelves to make room for the five people who will buy ice-fishing gear this year. All the flashers, dodgers, spoons, some flies etc. are all dumped into the bargain bin. DIG IN it's Christmas in October!

I used to live in Colorado and miss those mountain reservoirs. When fishing is slow, try tipping your lures with a little piece of worm. I used to kill the rainbows using "great lakes" steelhead tactics of using a single salmon egg under a bobber at any inlet/ in-flow of those reservoirs around spawning time .......February around Denver, ice out in the mountains.

Come on Tom, you posted a picture of Ray in a tank top! I am trying to eat my cereal. :shock: The idea of this forum is to try to get MORE people to show up at the Pro/Ams. That picture will not help.

Since this thread has had it's recent "maxipad moments" lets summarize and put it to bed with a poll. Here are the talking points. 1).Observers vs no observers 2). Cull rule in Niagara and maybe Orleans vs no-cull 3). Amateur fish limit 6 vs 9 4). Open communication vs communication blackout between boats 5). Pre-fish friday vs no pre-fish 6). U.S. only water boundaries vs no lake boundaries 7). Amateur money stays on Am. side vs Amateur/Pro shared revenue . Amateur six rod limit vs eight rod limit Maybe Chad Lapa could rig up a poll......I am not smart enough to figure it out on my own, and figure out why #8 is showing up as a cool dude with glasses?

I have to ask....what is the water temp down that deep in your hole? (insert joke here). Browns like water 48-66 degrees. No sense hitting 130' deep if the fish are not there. Here on Lake Ontario if you want browns, the average target depth is probably 60' in a lake that is as deep as some seas. I would imagine on the edges of the hole, there are some shelves, ledges etc. Contour trolling with a good gps lake map sound like the ticket IMO. Fighting a Brown with all that gear (dipsy, copper etc.) will absolutely kill the fun. A big brown on either mentioned junk set-up will feel like a blob of weeds. On the fingerlakes, fisherman have learned to use Sawbellies (baitfish) with a large egg sinker set up, similar to a Carolina rig, fished on the bottom in the target's preferred temperature range. This would allow you to use light gear, and really target any bottom features that might hold fish.

The problem with officials pre-checking coolers is......the officials. Getting enough "officials" to police the send-off would be a problem. In the Oswego event contestants can leave from two different ports....mayhem to try to run an event like that. I like the idea of "no prefishing 24 hours in advance" because it levels the field. However, I think a lot of teams have fun with the Friday pre-fish events and after all that is what these events are about.....fun.

I am not sure what the argument for culling at Niagara, but NOT Orleans. Water temp is not a consideration during the Orleans. I understand boxes are harder to come by in the Orleans, but that should not matter, you have the choice.....you can always keep the smaller fish. Oswego, and Sodus.....forget it, the water is too warm. Sorry Rod, another culling post.

With Kings still in the water an #8 or even #9 weight might be the way to go. As the kings die off or get spent you can get away with #7, #6, or even #5 weight when targeting browns and steelhead in late October into November. Where you are fishing matters. I would never take my 5# weight to fish the Niagara. The fish get in that heavy current and bye-bye. I would fish the heavier sticks in tight crowded streams to help control fish and not anger fellow anglers. Different manufacturers have different flex in their blanks. A Sage will have a softer backbone than a Thomas and Thomas. How much wind exposure? If you are making long casts in places where the wind can blow like the Cattaurgus, then go heavier. Lots to think about. Best all around to start hitting tribs for trout........a seven weight IMO. And you are correct about it being fun, especially when you catch a fish on one of your own patterns.

For pier fishing Cabela's makes a nice salmon steelhead rod. I have a 10' model that is now 21 years old and still flinging it a country mile. I use 12 lb trilene green Xl with a good duolock swivel. 3/4 oz glow cleos at night, orange jointed rapalas, hot'n'tots, and silver cleos during the day. You can rig another rod for bottom fishing with egg skein or sacks.

contact "steve" on spoonpullers.com. He goes up every year and catches hogs to 14 lbs.

Tim we have been killing them upstream further. Also twelve mile has a ton of fish.

You are not gaining much by increasing the limit to 21" from 18.5". The point is you can't cull even if you choose. By allowing culling, teams will be able to release fish even bigger if a good king bite is on. With only a six fish limit, I could see in certain venues if the bite is happening, teams deciding to throw back 7 Lb kings with the hope for bigger fish. Some events you pray for 18.5" fish, but it would be nice to have a CHOICE.

Correct, and this team did play by the rules regarding their cooler/observer. My point was there are ample ways to cheat without an observer present.

A well known charter captain in Canada was busted just this year putting lead weights in a fish. Unfortunately, money makes people do stupid things. My suggestion for pre-checking boats before leaving the dock has holes in it. Last year at Sodus, some out of state guys a few slips down from us were pre-fishing and keeping their fish in a garbage bag in their car because they said they eat all the fish they catch. Since you could drive your catch to weigh-in there is room for cheating without an observer watching the cooler. I am not sure what the answer is. Getting an observer sucks, but may be the only legit way to conduct the tournament.

We are all conservationists in various degrees. So to have money in these events go towards pen-rearing projects, then we turn around and have to keep 18.5" salmon does not make sense. The Niagara event effects the future King fishery more than any other event because the Niagara Bar is like a rearing ground for a huge percentage of immature salmon (my home port). Culling makes sense.

The observer thing does suck. With today's gas prices, adding $60-$100 of gas money reimbursement that we pay our observers added to the entry fee, slip fee, ice, food, travel costs etc. I am not for increasing the entry fee to what you are proposing Rod. If you want more entrants.....lower it to $200. Maybe, instead of an observer, arrangements can be made by random draw that a representative of team #1 pre-checks team #2's boat and cooler before leaving the dock? You would have to do away with the six-rod rule (ok by me) because you could not inforce it. I would also like to see a "masters" side event or separate tournament (Rochester?) where competitors have to fish for all the major species and weigh the biggest representative of their catch (cooler culling). So the team that puts the biggest combined score for salmon, steelhead, brown, and.....yes lakers. A true testament to overall fishing skill. You would maybe push back weigh-in to 3:30 because of the extra traveling involved to target all species.