chowder

Speaking only for myself , I found Baitrix to be kind of ineffective overall. Certain MC rockets worked ok if standard ff combos were working and I found the same to be true for sushi fly rigs. In my limited and totally unscientific trials I was unable to find an alternative to spoons & ff combos that worked when those more traditional baits did not. In the spirit of gross generalizations I think I would pretty much put Brad's Super Baits into this same category but I probably just don't work hard enough when I'm fishing to exploit these tactics. Just my humble thoughts on this matter and I look forward to hearing more from others who know a lot more than I do. -Andy

Looks like a "reel" good time Sean. Wanted to fish out of Sodus myself yesterday but the forecast did not seem favorable for my 16'. How was the launch at Warrens?

Happy Birthday Tom. Have a great day! -Andy

Should be able to dig one up shortly. Was out today but the rig is buttoned up w/ the enclosure folded down and the cover on and a nasty N wind is trying to snow me in. John Mann, Sodus Point Canvas did the work, and John is truly top notch!

Another slow day on Cayuga for me & Chris (traveling man). Brought home a couple decent salmon and a couple lakers but we didn't really find the groove. We did enjoy a couple white outs & we were glad to be in a heated wheel house looking out at the snow. Sounded like some others were more successful w/ boards. Next time out I will bring the mast etc- spaced out on that component of the program today P.S. Folks the T-Falls launch is getting really dicey! Its very,very low water all the way out into the lake so be mucho careful, especially on the lake side just after the bridge!

The wind will really get to you on a open boat. Had a custom canvas enclosure built for my 16' this past fall & now can heat it nicely w/ a lil buddy heater. -Andy

No problem Vic. Now that I know my AP is working and that the kicker is charging Hank's dual battery conversion and figured out some short cuts to putting up & down the enclosure I'm finally good to go! I even got almost all my leadcore leaders retied

The best flasher fly combo is the one you use the most at the right speed in the right place!

Shoot me a pm w/ contact info. I typically plan to go out the night before so there won't be much of a planning window My winter boat has a full enclosure w/ heat so you won't be cold if you can make it sometime! -Andy

We keep a pair of the 'Big Fish' nets from Cabelas on the boat when fishing for Kings (very reasonably priced and much better to have 2 nets if just 2 people in the boat!). I like to e-tape a release that's got a planer line tail on it to the handle. Make sure the bag of the net is in the release b4 you stick the net under the fish- that way you don't wind up w/ your hooks hung up in the bag instead of the fish. Like the other guys are saying just grab the hoop to lift the fish out of the water and into the boat- don't strain the handle, it's not made to deal w/ that kind of load. -Andy

Stay flexible! In addition to your riggers there will be times when you will want to run a mix of short/long core & copper off boards cuz the divers aren't firing and vice versa or some days you may want to run a board line on one side and 2 divers on the other. Experiment and the fish will tell you what to do.-Andy

Nice going!

Nice Pike!

Launched out of Treman, trolled solo N in 40 to 300FOW on W & same on E going back. 1 19" LL (released) on stix behind 2 colors and a bunch of juveys on 2-4 colors w/ stix & spoons. Spoon riggers (40' to 60' + cheaters) were quiet w/ just a few juveys. 3 decent Lakers for the baking dish on deep wires when crossing sides. Fish seemed nuetral to negative overall. -Andy

Thanks Zeke!

Can you get out of Treman right now or is it a better bet to go up to T-Falls?

Starcraft Islander, great fishing platform for a small boat + w/ the cuddy the kids got a game room!

FB, thanks for the input. I have noticed that going by the restriction size looks like the way to go. Currently using 3" BB for geese in the Stoeger 2000. Priced Steel yesterday at BP which gives a relative scale though I wouldn't get it there. Hevishot 3 BB 29.99 Hevimetal 3 BB 26.99 Hypersonic 3 BB 23.99 Kent 3 BB 14.99 At first the price spread looked killer but then I thought to myself; if you put 10 boxes through the gun on geese it would cost you $150 which is probably a pretty small part of what it costs to do much of any of this hunting & fishin stuff! I'm not saying that means I would use the high end ammo- only that I'm not sure it makes too much sense to try & make $ the deciding factor on ammo choice.

Good to see both old & new faces! -Andy

Always ice free launches on Cayuga & Seneca. I always keep a few bags of play sand with me for winter fishing! -Andy

Outstanding Pike, truly an awesome fish!

I usually run only 1 set of Mag divers to start the day, 1 high & 1 low cuz I like to be able to turn around sharp when I'm trying to get on the fish and the Mags drop sharp & stay away from the rigger lines. If wire heats up on the FLX I've started tossing a 2cd set of the 107s in high or if things are heading into a spoon bite I'll put in a pair of hi/lo 20lb wire slide divers in w/ spoons (since I fish mostly w/ my kids I don't run 2 sets of divers on LO). Anyway, point is I can't say I see any significant difference between running Malin, Smoke Torpedo, or AFW camo at the same time. It seems to me that when fish want wire -it all works, and when they don't -none of it does. Having said that I guess I do have more wire reels spooled w/ the AFW camo.

Great post, flybuster! Ok as I said in a earlier post I do not consider myself much of a shotgun man. I shoot trap 1-3 times/year using either IC or mod losing 3 birds +/ round. When geese are close (30 yds) I would say I hit em pretty good but passing shots at 40+ are a real challenge for me and I often do poorly in this dept and since my decoying is probably sub par I seem to be presented with this shot a lot. I do have a very consistent shotgun eye for turkey and feel pretty comfortable at 70 yds on spring Toms using 3.5 # 4 hevishot & a super full. On fall birds I'm 100% doubling hens w/ 1 shot at 30-40 w/ 2 3/4 mag turkey# 4 & a mod choke. So what choke & size shot should help me with geese? Thanks!