chowder

Tom, super nice mixed bag & great wally! You were in the right place at the right time w/ the right stuff! -Andy

Greg, you bring the Finger lakes Reisling and some of that Spencer's recipe, I'll bring some of my grilled 'garlicious' and some Saranac and we'll have ourselves a Pah-tee! P.S. since we're on the baked fish theme, here's my winter time recipe that my boys call 'Seneca Surprise' use 2 trout or Salmon filleted/skinned w/ pin bones removed. Put em in a baking dish and cover w/ a mixture of blue cheese ranch dressing, and sour cream, cover this w/ sliced onions and cover the onions w/ sliced tomatoes, peppers, and black olives, grind some fresh black pepper on and sprinkle w/ parmesan. I bake it @ 350 for as long as it takes to knock back some Black &Tans w/ my neighbor.

Hey, nice going guys! Good luck eye hunting! -Andy

Couple nice lakers there! The fleas were bad! I was pretty surprised to see them b/c it seemed like a few weeks back they were just about gone! -Andy

I wouldn't worry about setting up a new generation upper end bow @ 55lbs for one minute. These new generation bows set @ 55lbs are just flat out deadly. I won a Matthews Drenalin last summer and had it set at 55 (b/c my shoulder is getting cranky), my old Alpine was @ 70 and the speed and energy generated by the Drenalin was mind blowing. Ofcourse shot placement is still key, but I smoked the opposite side shoulder blade on a slightly quartered away doe @ 35 yds and the Rocket aerohead found it's way thru the edge of the bone and out. I've had so many positive experiences w/ this fixed blade that I'll probably stick w/ them. If I try anything new though it will be the 'Slick Tricks'. I'm hearing good, balanced, reports on these broadheads from you guys. A guy I hunt with is going to use them this year. Time will tell. -Andy

Not that many fish in the river, so maybe next weekend ?

Bunch of ways, tell ya how I do it. Put a piece of rope thru the gill plate on side of the fish and out thru the mouth, secure both ends on a cleat at the side of the transom w/ the least amount of stuff. With the fish suspended over the water by the rope in your left hand (assuming you are right handed) I cut through both sides gills w/ a nice pair of heavy scissors that T-Con gave me Then I drop the fish in the drink for a bit, when it's bled out I stick it on ice in the box.Other guys push the head up/ snapping the neck & main artery which might be more humane (but real hard to do on a big King) if I have time it's really best to fillet them or atleast gut them right there on the water, but leave the skins on in case the DEC looks you over (they want to see skin for species ID).

I use the Lupos on venison flank steaks a lot

I've been running probes for a while and here's few things I've learned; 1.) the FLX, and other deeper inland lakes and the Great Lakes are totally different . Deeper inland lakes (FLX, Otsego, and other northern cold water lakes develope a 'thermocline' in early summer which is relatively stable until fall. Currents and wind and structural bathymetric issues do cause changes but nothing like what happens on the Great lakes. 2.) The Great Lakes water column temp does stratify by depth but the water temps in one place from day to day are created by the wind moving over really large square miles of water. A period of relatively consistent mild wind from more or less the same direction will, over a period of days, stabilize a water column temp situation in which the prefered temp for kings will be @ a certain depth. Unfortunately highly variable winds and sudden winds will move huge expanses of cold water ( and the fish that like it) many miles away overnight, temp breaks and upwellings of cold water can be a gold mine under these conditions! On the FLX , mature salmon and lakers like to be in water from 44-50 (browns llike it 55-60+), actively feeding fish will go up into warmer water, so you need to bracket temps and do what is working. I use the temp probes when I'm searching. When I get onto fish , I let the fish tell me what I need to do. On Sat we saw definite changes in temp @ 90-110 down over 300+ FOW but nothing that enabled me to come up w/ any kind of presentation pattern. We took fish from 70' down to 120' down over 220-400FOW. down temps over that range were from 56-42.

Hey, I went 1 for 1 on alewives yesterday! That's my best so far this year but I am kind of bummed we didn't at least get to see the 'Cayuga Monster' before it tore itself loose -Andy

Yee ha, hope you latch on to one of those giants! Good luck Stan. -Andy

Awesome bow! Great job -Andy

Hey Vic, nothing very secret about Salimeda's Lemon garlicious marinade, great for grilling chicken and fish. I fillet the fish, rinse the blood, pat dry w/ paper towel, then put the fillet's in a ziplock bag and add a generous shot of either Salimeda's Lemon garlicious marinade or peppercorn parmesan ranch dressing. I stick the bag in the fridge while I'm getting the side dishes together and then get the grill going. I like to use a gas grill for this dish and I like it to be HOT. I put the fillets from 2 or 3 trout or salmon (4-6lb apiece tops) in for 3-4 min, flip em' over and another 4-5 on the other side. I like a little blackened action on the outer sides but just flaking on the majority of the fillet (unfortunately it's far too easy to over cook a delicate trout fillet on the grill). Bon appetite -Andy P.S. As Ray K has said many times; if you want top flavor, it's just essential to get the fish bled and on ice immediately. Sorry Greg, forgot to bleed those fish you guys took home, that monster that ripped the 500' copper must have thrown off my game

A slow day on Cayuga for us today. Fished with Greg (Reel Doc) and his son Spencer and despite an early triple that had everybody pumped up it kind of dragged into a long morning w/ a screen full of pre spawn lakers on a flat, bright day. Spencer was a real trooper and kept reeling in lines to change out and making inspired choices on spoons that I could not bring to fruition. Thanks for putting up w/ me guys - we'll get even w/ those fish yet. I dropped those guys off @ 1:00 and looked at the screen off Willow creek and it just looked like the same deal, so I dropped the hammer and shot up to Sheldrake. I noodled around from 70 -370 looking at the screen for a bit and there were decidedly less fish which I took as a positive sign b/c I figured maybe these fish weren't quite into a pre spawn mood yet. I set up a spread and bang,bang, bang, bang I picked up 3 lakers and 19" Salmon (released). Now I'm thinking I'm smart right? Then I went an hour and a half w/ nothing and decided that 'smart' probably wasn't the right word. Stowed my gear and stuffed it back down to Myers. Split was just heading out as I pulled out & I hope he got into a late day bite or figured something out that I didn't. Anyway I got a bunch of premium fillets, marinating in Lemon Garlicious and ready for the grill , got some rice pilaf going, fresh beans from the garden and a cold Saranac, hey this day wasn't bad at all, what am I complaining about!

The Seanamator strikes again! Bummer on the inlines! Back in the spring I had 2 Kayaks try to go right thru my port board line w/ 3 flatlines on it. We were frantically shouting & waving to the folks but to no avail. We actually snatched one of the yaks and towed the poor woman backwards about 20 yards (those Aurora boards w/ Spectra line are a formidable force). I slowed the boat to just about a stand still and she got free and we didn't lose any tackle in the incident. I will say that at least they both apologized again and again...-Andy

The lakers,browns, and LLs are all heading into pre spawn mode.Large numbers of Lakers will concentrate around T-Falls. They will get off & on and finickier as the spawn approaches. As they move into the spawn there will be times when they are very reluctant to strike. Oct/Nov can be tough fishing for LLs, Browns, and Lakers but they will still have 'active' days when there will be good action. In Oct I usually see the most 'foul' hookups of the whole year b/c the fish are swiping in irritation at some offerings.

That is correct. When you buy the Gold map, you get a proof of purchase that you send in & get the 'Fish'n Chip'. The most economical thing to do is get last years Hot Map premium @ Bass Pro (usually 80-90$). It will have all the bathymetric detail you need to entice you into losing down rigger weights while fishing tight to structure. -Andy

Doug, just prepare yourself for the experience of 'sharing' your land w/ people you don't know (and probably don't want to know). My dairy farm crop acreage is made up of several farms we have bought over the years and it is a frustrating but consistent part of my hunting life to have to deal w/ trespassing. We also do crop work on farms owned by non farming individuals and they are besieged w/ the same problems. Just accept from the start that these folks are going to ruin some of your 'private' time and you will be much further ahead than the person who thinks that now that they own some land they will not have to deal w/ people trespassing, stealing stands, and getting shot at...-Andy

I've got 2 Navionics chips; the 2008 Gold charts w/ the free 'fishing chip' in my 5200 GlobalMap (can't run both @ the same time) and the 2008 Hotmap premium in my other Gps. The Hotmap premium is as close to 'dead on' as you need, very accurate on Ontario and the FLX and pretty affordable too. IMHO, The Gold charts are kind of overkill unless you are going to do a lot of navigation in unfamiliar water.

That is one of the best fishing pics ever! What a great expression on her face- it says it all! Great job! -Andy

There's two good times to go fishing; when it's raining and when it's not...

I like the albright, use a few extra wraps when you tie your power pro backing to the core.

My thoughts & sympathy are with you and your family, hang in there Richard! -Andy

Awesome! WTG Melissa ( and Jason ) -Andy

Super nice bow Sean! Your guy's must have been happy w/ that trip -Andy