Jolly II

Another for Charter Lakes. They good to deal with, and very good customer service.

Yup! I'll 2nd Gill-T's response! Pretty much the exact same program.

Tom, Thanks for putting all this together, and thanks for keeping us updated. I've never fished the Oswego event, but based on your data it looks like this could be the quality event it used to be when I was kid, remembering the Lowrance Pro/Am out on the west end.

I can't say this enough to people that may be confused on the pacific salmon stocking. It is a key part of the equation for native species restoration, and water quality, and will have to stay a part of the equation for a very long time into the future. Without this program, everything that has been gained with salmon in our lake will be lost. Alewives are just as hard as any other non-native species to erraticate.

I bought a 596c HD at the beginning of the season last year. It had everything I was looking for in a sonar unit, with out breaking the bank. I was able to find one on the digital Oasis website for $400 last March. That was the best price I could find it for last year, however I think the price has come down a little since then. I used it all last season, from spring brown trout fishing to fishing off shore in July. The unit worked great for me, and I could see the display pretty well from the back of my boat when rigging lines or working a fish. I didn't play around too much with the settings on it. I just tweeked some of the basic functions until I got the picture I was looking for. No problem marking downrigger balls down to 100' feet, after that I usually only could mark the center rigger. I've got salmon trackers on my port and starboard riggers with the tails bent so that they pull out, and were probably out of the cone. No to mention that I've always notice that the salmon trackers returned a weak signal anyway, even with other sonar units I've had. The unit marks fish and bait very clearly down to 200', I almost never look deeper than 200' feet so beyond that I'm not sure. We would also mark a lot fish swimming in and out of the spread. It would have been nice to spend the money on a Furuno unit, but I have limited dash height on my boat, and the 596 fits perfecting on my dash. Not to mention the price. The Furuno units aren't cheap, and I'm not made of money yet. I think for our salmon fishing applications on the lake it's a decent unit. Good luck.

Thanks for verifying.

I run 89 or better in my mercruiser, with an ethanol treatment. I also run 89 or better, with ethanol treatment in my tractor, lawnmower, and chainsaws. They seem to run better, and I think in the long run there are less maintenance issues. Just a heads up to all... My cousin Tom (he's an auto mechanic) told me Fast Track gas stations carry a 91 octane gasoline with no ethanol added. Unfortunately the closest 1 to me is Henrietta, near RIT. Unfortunately for me it's out of my way, but there is one in Ontario on 104. You guys on the east of Rochester could take advantage of that for your boats. Check it to confirm, I haven't had a chance yet.

I have an X-125 on the back of my boat. It's a 200kHz only unit and pretty much just serves as a back up unit. On the dash of the boat I've got a Hummingbird unit that is daul frequency 83/200kHz, if both units are running at the same time I have to have my Hummingbird showing the 83kHz picture only. Unfortunately it's still pinging a 200khz signal, and I get interference showing up on the X-125. I found trying to run both units at the same time limits what the Hummingbird can do, and I just leave the X-125 off. I almost never run both units at once, my Hummingbird unit does everything I need it to and the only reason the X-125 is still on the boat is just for a back up. Otherwise I would have pulled it off and sold it. If you want 2 units on the boat I would do what K Gonefishin suggested.

Dick and Bob, thanks for answering for me. I agree with Dick on the issue. Probably most DEC officers would have trouble with identification if was just the skin. Heck, I could even screw that up, and I've been doing this since I was 4. If I have a charter I do the whole fish on the lake, or if the lake is rough at the dock, and then run body parts back out in the lake, about a mile or so. In all honesty, I take the skin completely off. I'm not trying to get away with anything, and I always follow the law, either fishing for fun, or when with customers. But leaving the skin on a fillet, exposes the fillet to the slime on the skin, and in my opinion makes for poor quality fillets. Our charter costumers pay good money to go fishing, and I want their experience to be a positive one from the moment they step on the boat, to when they sit down at the dinner table to eat the all the fish with their friends and family. My uncle always filleted his fish while out on the lake, and to abide by the law with leaving the skin on, he would leave about an inch of skin on the end of the fillet for identification. The rest would be taken off. When fishing for fun we keep a few of the fish for eating, and my process is what Mortigan outlined above. At home I have a plug Black and Decker electric knife that I bought about 20 years ago when I was in the Navy. That thing is still going strong without a hiccup.

I bought a cordless rapala filet knife half way through the summer, works great! Very sharp blades, and I have no problem when filleting big kings. I just wish I had bought it at the beginning of the season. Would've saved a lot of time fileting fish on the boat.

Nice Buck! Is this one a Byron/Bergen dandy. We've got some great genetics, and like you have been passing on small bucks to score on something nicer. But, like you said, the big boys are hard to get to cooperate. Way to wait to them out!! Chris

Dick, Nice buck in the picture. And considering he was out on Tuesday after the storm, he must be pretty determined to find a couple of doe hunnies. Lots of activity around home this week, even in the crappy weather we had Monday and Tuesday. Lots of bucks out in search mode, reguardless of weather or time of day. Yesterday after work I decided to get in some bow practice before the weekend starts, and no kidding... I'm out practicing, and behind the our barn in the brush, is crashing, running, and all sorts of loud desperate grunts. Just funny how I'm shooting a bow, and they are just another 70 yards beyond my target having fun. I havn't been in the woods since last Saturday, but this weekend is going to be a good one.

From what I saw in the woods this weekend I'd also say that things are beginning to heat up. Saw the same mature buck, Friday evening and Satruday morning, chasing younger bucks. I thought the little buck I saw on Saturday morning was going to get a rude lesson on how the rut works. That mature buck came in on him with the hair standing up on his neck and shoulders. Very impressive to watch. Plus a single button buck walked under me later, and a little grunting and chasing in the brush and corn. I did have one doe come by that was not interested in what he had to offer. Not sure if it was the same mature buck, just hearing the grunting and crashing in the brush. Deffinately a couple of fun hunts. Already looking forward to this weekend.

Thanks for the info. It's a bit of a relief to hear that they have 2.4 million eggs collected, considering the flow conditions in the river. And it's nice to see they learned from 2007 and put a plan in place, and they are utilizing it. It's really too bad about Caledonia. In my opinion it's a very under untilized asset.

That's awesome Gene!! Congrats to Cam!! You couldn't have taken Cam to a better Archery guru than Phil Race. He runs an A+ archery outfit. Keep us posted on the rest of Cam's season.

Way to keep on the blood trail!! I just wish the end result had been positive for you, especially after all the effort you guys put in to it.

One of our neighbors, Ryan, a young man of 14 shot his first deer on Sunday evening, harvesting a nice 6 point. His Dad is having a european mount done for him. Nice job Ryan! Sorry, no picture yet. That was the only shot heard during the entire 3 day youth season. Other than Ryan's shot, it was uneventful around our house. I was surprise that i didn't hear more shots fired, deer hunting is a big event in our town.

I like the idea of a youth hunt, introducing young hunters to the sport is important to the future and tradition of hunting. That said, I'm not completely on board with a youth gun hunt during the archery season. I was thinking the same thing Gator was thinking, with the youth gun hunt happening on the 1st Saturday and Sunday of the gun season, and a full blown gun opener moved back to Monday. I think it would be much safer as all the archers would be out of the woods by then. And what about youth archery hunters??? I'd love to see a youth archery hunt, for 12 and 13 year old kids the last weekend of Sept, or the even the 1st weekend of October. I'd be happy to give up a weekend in the woods to our kids with a bow. I can always take a couple days off during the week to hunt anyway. I'm just thinking it's better practice to keep the gun hunting during the gun season. I've had my 4 year old daughter in the woods a lot over the last month. Scouting, checking trail cams, and hanging deer stands(Mom comes along for that) She's already telling me when she sees tracks, and slowly we are teaching her about rubs and scrapes. That kind of early exposure is what got me into hunting and the outdoors, and it was always quality time spent with my family and friends. Killing a deer, or catching a fish was the bonus. That's what really gets kids into hunting and fishing, getting them involved in it at an early age.

I like On The Lam's boat philosophy. Buy your last boat first. I need to talk to the wife about that thought process, if not to get me a bigger boat...maybe at least to have her thinking about that way with clothes and shoes. Maybe then I'll have some room in the closet for my 3 shirts.

20on the boat? Where do you keep the back up rods?

Awesome link!!! Thanks for posting Rob

What Chas said, ball bearing swivels. Don't use cheap swivels, they will cost you more tackle and lost fish in the long run because of twisted line. When you are trolling with flashers you need quality swivels. As soon as I find a problem with a swivel putting twists in the line, I cut it off. Before retieing, I let about 100' of line off the back of the boat, nothing on it, and let pull through the water for a few minutes. This will get most of the twists out of the, and keep you from loosing fish and tackle.

Wait until you become overstocked on trolling rods and reels. Then you'll really be wondering about you sanity.

That is nice rub. Lucky the tree is still standing, by the looks of it. I was really surprised to find scrapes this early. Even when working as a land surveyor I can't remember finding scrapes this early. Rubs yes, but not scrapes. I'm thinking it might a clue of what's to come.

I was out in the woods this weekend, trying to get some last minute stand stuff done, and found 4 fresh scrapes. This paritcular property has got a bunch of bucks on it, yearlings, 2 year olds, and a couple of mature bucks. Found 3 along a hedge row I know they have been traveling. Anyone else seeing any scraping activity?? Just curious.