Sk8man

Just something to keep in mind when handling Pickerel and Pike. They are loaded with bacteria in the mucus covering on them. Any cuts received can get severely infected requiring antibiotics. My son encountered this last year pulling a 16 pound Pike out of the water (on 4 lb test line no less) so grabbing them anywhere around the mouth area is risky. Insertion of a gaff hook carefully inside the gill or mouth is the preferable way to go. I think the fish may have had the last laugh as he slid back down the hole when released

Some of it relates to how familiar someone is with solo fishing, and knowing their own boat and how it handles) very well.....and prevailing wind can be a factor as well. I have seen guys launch 25 ft. boats solo in good or "protected" situations. Does that mean everyone should do it? No. Having your launching and docking sequence or system down cold is important no matter what sized boat you have.

I am very surprised ssomeone hasn't jumped on this as it appears to be a great deal.

I have been aware of them but have not actually used one Stan I still only have the hydraulic steering and no autopilot on my rig You were way ahead of me on that one

My buddy has one in beautiful condition that I have fished on numerous times and they are real nice boats when properly taken care of. Cut through the water real nice and very seaworthy on Lake O

Both the Blacks and Chamberlains work well. They each have some perhaps subtle strengths depending on what they are used for. The Chamberlains have a maximum release upper limit of about 4 lbs or so. They also have an adjustment range below that upper limit which is more finely tuned than the Black release. The Black is pretty much infinitely adjustable to well above that 4 lb limit of the Chamberlains. Herein lies the individual difference in use. When using heavy drag items like very large flashers with meat rigs for example the upper limit it of the Chamberlain can easily be exceeded potentially causing a false release. The Chamberlain is better at detecting small fish say below 3 lbs on riggers, fish that just hold on and follow passively (like some lakers do) and more especially for light hitters such as walleyes because of the greater sensitivity at the lower range of adjustment. I have used Blacks in all versions since the mid seventies and have NEVER had a problem with them. Either you had a defective one, it was rigged wrong, or somehow the weight may have been allowed to repeatedly swing back and forth on the rigger weakening the connection creating the failure. The releases I have from the seventies (white in color) are still fully functional if I put them back on so no need to replace releases if used properly..

X2. Sounds as though the person just didn't want to deal with it.

Very cool Mike. Sure beats the action we had o n Honeoye yesterday

I guess they are the "experts" but I'm scratching my head

Stream browns or lake browns that have been in the stream awhile color up probably for a variety of reasons; diet being one. The lake run Finger Lake browns feed mainly on alewives, smelt, shiners, or fatheads etc. although they will eat other opportunistic items. Fish in the streams pretty much eat whatever they can find such as earthworms, grubs, minnows, snails, clams, insects and various other food items. If you think about adaptation to the environment it makes sense that the stream fish in the shallower water need to camoflage themselves and perhaps protect from the sunlight so probably there is some mechanism that triggers to color them up to blend in to their surroundings. Some of the lake fish color up pretty good too and they can appear different color wise in the different Finger Lakes too. There may also be genetic variations in the color changes as well. hard to say how much any one thing contributes because coloration also changes with spawning status as well. The short answer is there are probably a number of reasons for the color differences among the fish.

Might be parting ways with some potential derby winners Stan

Brown Trout. The angle at which it is being held can influence both the tail curvature, thickness of the peduncle area (just n front of the tail) and also the degree to which the mouth jawline extends beyond the rear edge of the eye making the ID a little trickier. The way to tell for sure is to look inside the mouth to the roof of the mouth . There will be only one set of vomerine teeth in a row down the center area for a Landlock but on the Brown there will be 2 sets with a zig zag appearance. The dense spotting on this fish suggests brown in that it extends downward past the midline densely near the stomach. On the Atlantic spotting is usually less dense and usually doesn't extend downward to that degree. The pelvic fin shape is that of a Brown rather than a landlock and there is some spotting on the adipose which is not present on the landlock. As mentioned specific coloration can relate to being in a stream rather than the lake and diet. Spotting is usually more densely distributed over the body and gill area of browns than landlocks. Younger fish of each species are the ones most often misidentified because the features aren't very exagerrated yet.

The ice was somewhat variable in thickness yesterday but hard ice. In some places it was less than three inches so care still neeeds to be taken out there and not a good idea to have 4 or 5 guys standing around together in some places. Honeoye also has random gas pockets in places that can severely affect the integrity of the ice so if unfamiliar with the lake especially use caution, carry pics, and use a spud to navigate. float suit always a good idea no matter where you go.

Some of it depends on the particular point in the season. Early and late in the season the specific temps can become less important than other things and all during the season a couple things stay important: "Fish the bait" and "Fish the marks". and they may have little to do with specific water temp. On the other hand, having the speed at the weight and knowing where it is running from the X4D may be important all along.