zach

Old man- router accident #2 for the winter. Not as bad as yours but 9 stitches yesterday in my left ring finger. Could have been worse but seeing the inside of my finger was not on my to do list last night at 9pm. I left a good blood trail from the basement up the stairs into the bathroom that was better than any I saw hunting this year. Ouch. No more foiling in my immediate future. Throbs like a S.O.B as I type now. Oh, the fun times had bait making! So, Mike (old man) you started this accident thing and we all know it runs in 3's so who's next? Hopefully not me again! Be careful with those routers boys! Zach Baker- "your 9 fingered bait maker".

I hope to sign up w/ a table.

Bob may be able to let you know which ones have hot-tubs? Would those work?

I need to sign up for the NMA once again. My Dad and I used to belong but that was years ago. Here is a Wiley Fat Boy I was messing around w/ Larry. I added a bit of orange to the tail and throat along w/ the holographic eyes, cheeks and an extra clear coat. I love these lures but they get beat up quickly so I try to make them a tad tougher without adding much extra weight so it doesn't kill the deadly action of these plugs. I am a closet case Wiley junky. I have done lots of rework to my Wiley's and like just about all of them better now. I have some Wiley Musky King Jr's that look really nice also and may be the first Wiley's out of my box next year. I have a love/hate relationship with most of Wiley's though. They catch a lot of fish, wear out quickly, are tough to get and aren't the cheapest baits. I also have been messing around w/ a glitter perch color. Normal glitter perch (from Drifter Tackle) has no scales or head on it so I thought I might be able to improve on that some. I like the color and think one of these needs to get into my box. I have an idea of where this color will work but gonna have to wait on that though. Got out today and went to Black Creek and tuned like 60 baits in the rain. I was waiting for today to get to those tuned and I got SOAKED. All the fun stuff I never thought of before I starting making baits. I want to go to that Road Rules clinic also so if we can work something out? BOB- SHOW ME WHAT YOU ARE GETTING RID OF PLEASE.

Thats a good one! Maybe one day they will call it the "Baker Show" but for now it's still the Butler Show. Good thinking though Joe! I am all about making money for the fishery and personally think its too soon but Stan has told me like 10x that he has some Wiley's he painted and they are donated from a guy in Kentucky (I believe) to go towards our auction. So not only is Stan going out of his way for us but a private individual that doesn't fish our lakes is doing a great deed by donating those Wiley's. This is why I ask you guys, you know better than I. I like the ticket idea, for a few bucks even my cheap a$$ would do it so I think others would also. Great idea! I still like the "Baker Show", lol.

Thats what I was thinking, I'm broke as a joke and I thought it was too soon but I am having them ask me so........I ask you guys for the best ideas?

I just finished talking to Stan Durst and Bob from BM baits in Ohio and they want to do another ebay auction, do you guys think we should wait a few months or should we do one now and one later? Please comment on what you feel would be the best idea for our musky hatchery that we are helping support. I am ready to go and Stan is ready and I am sure Bob is ready but should we wait until later and try to get mote $ or do one now and another before the season starts for 2? Please let me know what you think? Thanks.

Nitro, thats a really neat picture you took! Looks like they really developed that Waneta shoreline! I heard they put that wall in just to keep the king out? Anyone else hear that? Something about trying to keep all those 61" muskies in Waneta or something like that. I can't really remember but I thought I read it in the local paper a while back. I have to apologize for my short term memory loss, you can blame that on my past, lol. I also heard they are going to stop making Rapala Mag Shad Raps this winter and I heard of a guy who is buying them by the 100's, all in the same 2 colors. Anyways, thanks Nitro and you will have something coming your way before too long also. Bty, I haven't even started to refinish those cracked Tuff Shads yet but need to soon. Thanks bud and happy holidays!

Yeah Bob- those Natural Perch and St Lawrence have your name all over it! LOL. Like I said, I need to make a bunch more as I am way behind but thanks, you helped me out in the beginning and I won't forget about you now.

I am finally starting to learning this airbrushing thing. I have tried to step my game up to make the plugs better. Here are some of the last ones I am going to make for this year. Its been fun and frustrating at the same time. I think these are by far the best I have done and I just wanted to show off a couple of them. Bty- all baits are sold and I need to get my a$$ to work to make more as I am still way behind in my orders. Thanks for taking a look and supporting a redneck painter that didn't know much about anything but is learning as quickly as I can. $9 Bass and dark St. Lawrence Natural Perch Light colored- Cpt Larry Foiled Natural Perch, This is the best painting job I have ever done- I plan on having a few for June in my boat of this color! Thanks for following me down this road I have taken, hopefully 2011 will have a few baits turn out like I freaking want them to instead of adding more to my mess up pile that is growing to somewhere around 35 baits, all junk, for a fire I guess? Who knows?

I highly recommend only the Down East's. Plastic is going to give you problems. Please do yourself a favor and get down east's. I used plastic holders for one day and then bought 6 down east's for my boat. Rods- anything over 8.5' for the side rods in a heavy or x-heavy and short ones for the back. Okuma's? Can't recommend them, had 2 break on me this year just from trolling. I recommend Penn's as I have 15 years on 2 of them. I personally use 80lb braid but know of others that use 65lb to get deeper. If you look around they make pedestals for clamp on down easters that allow you to get them higher off the rail and this allows you to get those tips in the water if need be. Good luck old man. Oh- if your going to do alot of trolling make sure you have a decent radio b/c it gets boring some times.

Old man you drew that? Looks like that routered up hand is getting better! Awesome pic. If you would have drawn it for me though the fish would have stopped and swam away 5 feet from the boat to never be seen again. Its neat that you even drew the water disturbed from your rod tip doing the 8 and even the cork looks real. Really nice bud!

I was hoping some of us would share some highlights from this years season but everyone must be out xmas shopping.

Well the end of 2010 is in sight and I have to take a minute to reflect on a great season. Not only did I seem to find the fish this year but more importantly I found a bunch of good people I hope to know for a long time. We are lucky to have a great group of caring people around us and thats really neat. We had lots of fun and found out that we can help out the fishery at the same time. Some of us got our personal best's and most of us are still dreaming of the big ones still swimming. This year I finally got a fish on my b-day for the first time in a long time and a couple of other good ones. I got to meet and become friends with people I have looked up to for 15 years and love the contacts I have made. This year a small time hobby started to get out of control and who knows where it's gonna end up but without your guys support I would still be scratching my head wondering how to make this work? Chad- once again ran an awesome site bringing us all together and except for a broken down truck and boat trailer, I got through the year pretty well. Lex got her biggest ever and my buddy Kevin got a musky on his first and sixth cast on his first trip for them. Lots of good memories and I am still burned that Bob beat me at the first tournament w/ his 45" that he did right in front of me! I got you next year Bob, your a marked man! Happy holidays and what a great year! Lots of great pics and memories! Can't wait until the snow melts and we can get back at it again!

Hey, my name is Zach and I plan on doing a musky show or two this winter. I am interested in a pic.

Ha Ha, I am getting ready! I have tons of colors and want to bring lots of baits. I have been improving them along the way and they are so much better now then whan I started out. I have been selling a bunch on ebay lately and people have been eating them up. I haven't been posting any pics on here but have been working harder than ever. My goal is to do somewhere around 500 this winter for the 3 shows (Ohio, PA and Chicago). I have changed so many things about the way I make them including thicker lips, better painting, a tad bit more weight and even more epoxy. I also tune each and every one now as I have learned my lesson the hard way. Here are some colors I have done lately. What I find truely amazing is I am over 90 in the hole from all the orders I got off muskiefirst. This week is foil week, firetiger colors, $9 bass, night shiner and St. Lawrence in addition to all the normal colors I do. So Bob- she have lots of color crayons or what? This has really taken off and I expect next year to be a good year as I am trying as hard as I can to promote myself and these baits. I also want to say thanks to everyone that has helped me out along the way! I owe you guys and don't think for a minute I have forgot about you! One thing I find so funny about this is you would think I would have some good ones for myself, lol, I get all the screw ups!

Nitro, where did you get that story about the fish being caught?

Like Gambler said, go to braddocks on a weekend and look at all the pike laying on the ice.

LOL, look at Waneta's 36" size limit. People kill fish there all the time! I know Waneta isn't a trophy lake but it has the same musky strain as Chautauqua does and at Chautauqua they have a higher size limit. I fully do not understand this 36" size limit on such a small lake. Good talk though boys.

Another dead 1000 island musky! Big fish, but people in the islands seem to "wack" a few monsters to take home every year it seems. Solgrande- you see the rig used to catch it? The famous "Berger King" rig! In the end its just another dead fish in an area that has been hit hard from VHS. I looked at the other pics and its crazy how much different the fish looks just by holding it different. In the TIbait shop pic it looks huge but not in the original pic. I wonder how hard they really tried to release it w/ how cold the water is? But then again, the guy isn't even wearing a coat?

I am not even sure if we have a state record musky anymore w/ the way the records are being thrown out all the time. The only way that a new record will be accepted is if someone KILLS a huge fish and it is verified by tons of people and even then people will have issues w/ it. I fully understand the importance of releasing muskies but a "catch and release" record leaves so much in doubt. IMO someone has to KILL a huge fish and have it certified, sad but true.

If anyone has a second, the picture is the most recent fish entered into the big fish section of muskiefirst! http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com

Well one starting point is where Black Creek goes into the Genesee off Scottsville Rd. There is a small launch (docks are taken out now) for a canoe or whatever. I take my crankbaits down there to make sure they run okay before I send them out and have seen northerns many times in there. Bty if you go up to chucrchville and have a good pair of boots and don't mind walking you can fish some areas from shore. Best luck!

Pike get hit hard in the winter. Like you said more people have access to them during the winter. They must be doing okay though if you have ever seen the spawning run.

unless your a Canadian or go to PA, OH, IN, TN, MO or KY where it never closes, its almost over.