Sk8man

Dave is right on target....I should have mentioned that...

Well, the solo launch went well beautiful day light breeze, small chop on the water, breeze at my back - so good to be back in the boat again. Ah here we are at my favorite starting spot, lines are out with my favorite stuff on, drags adjusted, trolling motor purring like a kitten after that nice tune-up during the winter....time for a coffee (and I just know that will ensure a hit as soon as I start drinking)....what the hell are those ice boats doing out here?....oh no... it was only a dream. That damned ground hog probably had a heart attack when he poked his head out..... Is it Spring yet?

Yes should be able to really slam them if you can locate them Mike. i guess it is just a matter of checking through the old spots for starters Good luck if you get out there.

I think I would contact John Mann at Sodus Bay Canvas and ask him if there is any chance of you sending your old canvas and plastic to him to do it that way or to have a new one using that as a pattern and if so give him the dimensions and maybe the pic for a quote. I know the preferred way is to actually fit it to the boat but he might consider it. He is a very honest guy and reasonable. All canvas work on boats is usually more expensive than you think no matter how you slice it.

Nice fish.....man that largemouth sure has been chowing down out there Good work!

Great idea Thun....I still have my Dillon tumbler and only had used it to clean cartridge casings in the past....haven't used it in years but still have the tumbler media (walnut husks) As far as paint goes I use the Krylon stuff... it costs a little more but doesn't run as much and seems to be a bit more durable. I've used both gloss and flat black or white with good success.

Most marinas have the plastic tings but they aren't cheap ($7 or 8 each)...not sure about the metal part but they are also used on the side of boats to hold bumpers.

You'll be even more dangerous than usual during the derby now Mike

Thanks Kevin. I forgot to mention that with some of those pretty rusted flutter spoons you could paint either the whole thing or the tops or undersides black and put a diagonal "slice" of reflective tape on them...they will work good on lakers and salmon especially

I'd hold on to one of those spoons the Blue Mullet Pfleuger #4 (looks like) because that is pretty old and is a classic copper jerking lure...one of the best ever made...may be worth money now and certainly will be in the future. It is in the last pic at the left of it with the little fly like thing at the back. Some of the others look like Northport Nailers and Southport Slammers, Northern King, and the ones on the blue hanger are a wide variety of flutter spoons with a few Suttons (thin silver plated ones with copper solid rings). The ones at the extreme right of the last pic look like home made blank flutter spoons from the pic (somewhat hard to tell exactly from the pics/lighting. If it were me I certainly wouldn't "scrap" them especially the Suttons. The Sutton's are real silver plating but have a protective lacquer coating...they do tarnish fairly easily but sometimes you can bring them back to life a bit with jewelers rouge or silver polish. Even if the finish doesn't come back real well on them they can still be very effective. I use nail polish on many of my old lures especially silver and gold glitter and then coat it with a top coating of acrylic. For the spoons in worst shape I'd use reflective tape on them after replacing the other hardware. In my view it is mainly the ACTION of those lures anyway that is most important. Replacement of rings and hooks is a good suggestion. On the Sutton's though I would not replace the solid rings only the treble hook with a single salmon siwash hook about the same size or weight as the treble on it and cut the treble off with wire cutters to save the solid ring which I feel contributes to the action of the spoon.

The old Downeaster clamp on rod holders used to clamp on my little aluminum boat pretty good in times past but I would recommend that you install some VERY sturdy rod holders with bracing underneath if they wobble at all on the gunwale. The equipment we usenow puts a lot ofstrain on the rodholders and bases and when you combine that with a Chinook salmon your equipment could be "history" if you have flimsy rod holders.

Almost Ed only 6 months away this year

Great job on the video Vlad!. Looks a lot like the scenery around here except for the good looking ladies Thanks also for answering my previous suggestion of more "chicks" in the video Les

Right now I'd settle for the green grass in hose pics....nice fish!