old man

went back yesterday with my canoe. it was pretty windy and i aint as tough as i once was. fished about an hour and decided to quit prior to heart failure. i had a stout northern on but lost her;tough to get 'em in the canoe without a net. i'm gonna go to chataqua or cape vincent wed. and then put the boat away. not looking foreward to 6 months of no fishing.

not much water left at the ramp. had to back off the ramp to get in and use the electric to get out aways. getting out was tricky too. it's a bit deeper on the launch side. saw one other guy try to launch and give up. water was 50 degrees. caught 2 pike and a bass,nothin big.

i launched there once a few years ago. i was suprised how ghetto the whole deal was. i vote with my feet and don't go back to where it sucks.

couldn't stand any more bills after the half so i walked to ganargua creek for a while. caught 4 pike in an hour and never used a drop of gas. nothin big but it beats bad football. in the last 10 days i've spent about 300 bucks on gas going to chataqua,waneta,and cannadarago,with not much to show for it. maybe i should stay home and fish?

fished there yesterday from 7 to 3. docks are out but that's not an issue there. there is a lot of breakwall at the launch with a foot and a half of water. it's easy to launch and load,even alone. bout a dozen boats were out. water is 49 and clear,except at the south end where it's murky. still some green weeds on the west side and around the island. i fished the weed line pretty much all the way around the lake. i had 4 tigers follow and got one to eat a black twisted tube. i didn't land it cause i was about to blow onto shore and had to drag it with the trolling motor to get some room. it was a dink,anyway.one of the followers was fat and upper 30's. i caught a half dozen bass on a big spinnerbait. every time i put a spoon on i'd get a pickerel. every fish i saw or caught was on the west side and the west side of the island. never saw a fish on the east side.

tommorrow is put on your life jacket day. they should change the date to october 1st. i've been a bit smarter about my own safety since i got old. i keep a trash bag in my boat with a change of clothes in it. i have a newer boat with an emergency ladder on the transom. if you don't have that how will you get back in your boat if you fall in? have a plan. we all have cell phones now but they won't work if it's in your pocket when you fall in. keep it in the glove box. never leave the helm until you put the motor in nuetral. you go over at 3mph and you ain't catchin the boat. a 150 lb guy like me weighs 300 lbs dressed in wet cold weather clothes. best advice is not fish alone in the cold like i do.

i'll be there wed. i wear mechanix gloves when i'm casting. you need a few pair for a day since they're not waterproof. but they are warm and fit tight so you have use of your hands. don't forget your life jacket after tommorrow.

the price of outboards is too damn high!

webb's is a quarter mile from the mayville launch. what baits are you looking for? red october has a website and good service. twisted tails are good there. i don't have any lunge lumber but they seem to be hot right now.they have a website too. i don't know where you get baker baits. i got mine at an ebay auction. good stuff. black suicks are good there too. go get 'em.

amazing art work on those baits. almost too pretty for teeth.

fished there today. there's enough water at the launch. slow there today,lost a small musky trying to hand land it. son #4 got a nice pike on a nickle redeye

you are on fire! followed you to waneta last week and bombed. guess i'm off to chataqua wed.

i was out casting some of the canal spillways today for pike. on red creek i got a favorite bait hung up real bad on the oppisite side of the creek on a sunken tree. i couldn't get behind it because there were trees in the way. so i peeled off about 50 yards of braid,cut it,and threw it in. the current took it behind the snag. then i walked about two miles to the other side,picked up the line with my rod and dammed if it didn't pull free! there are a lot of pike,smallies and wallies in the spillways right now.

52! damn! nice job.

i'm takin a couple guys from work there tuesday;i'll let you know

they were there on the 12th but could be gone anytime. go anyway. i launch my 18ft boat there alone every year without the docks and i'm old and weak. it can be tricky loading if the wind picks up but if i can do it so can you. if someone goes with you it's a piece of cake.

bills fans...go to you tube and search "amish rifle". play the video by the jambrones...best bills song ever. go bills!

i haven't been there this year but after seeing those fish i had to try it again. fished 8 to 2 today. this is all i could manage.

amazing day! wow! i'll be happy if i get 7 more by november 30th. congrats.

cool avitar,trouthunter9.

fished 7 til noon today. water was 62 and the docks are still in. i caught a 38"pike just out from the launch before i even started the outboard. botched the photo again. then i hit my best spots around the north end and did zip for a couple hours. then i ran to the south end and fished the weed edge,drifting north. caught 6 more pike this way on a brown/gold bucktail. they were all tight to the weeds in 10 to 12 fow. didn't see any muskies

awesome! for a really great day forget your camera AND your net.

nice fish and report. i tried the full moon there for 4 days in sept but it was turnover,green water and no fish for me. maybe i should book in october next year?

i just put a new wood floor in an old starcraft one of my kids bought. i have replaced a bunch of boat floors and this time i had a good idea. usually i cut and trim and make templates and so forth. this time i got all the old crap cut out and then rough cut a new piece of plywood a bit bigger than the hole. i screwed it down and then cut the new piece and the old floor at the same time. had to use a sawzall in some tight spots. end result was a perfect fit! duh.

here's my 2 cents if you're casting. stay in the north basin. i start north of long point and stay in 10fow around warners bar all the way to dewittville bay. try the same depth from chataqua marine south to the bell tower. i like gold blade/brown hair spinnerbaits and bucktails,but jerkbaits are good there too. black suicks. if you're a troller check posts by "mostly muskies" or go the website of the same name. capt. larry posts a lot of good trolling info. good luck to ya.