Tigerhunter

I would think that the gills would be just as vulnerable as the eyes but I have no evidence of either.... With any catch and release, the sooner the fish is back in the water the better.

Mike mentioned above the Daiwa 300, I've had my Lexa 300 for a full season now and love it. I am also a Shimano guy but you can almost get two Lexas (~$130) for the price of a curado (new vs new). If you only want shimano, get a curado 301/300EJ. For casting I like the low profile reels, much easier to use all day long. From what I've heard (I reel lefty so I haven't actually looked at te tranx) a used tranx can go as low as $350 on eBay.

I'm all for catch and release but I won't get into that. What kind of figure does the photo analysis software have? You mentioned some large #'s as far as prizes/entries, I feel the club/organization should definitely be reimbursed for what they put into. With that being said, would it make sense to tack on the extra $___ for the software as an expense for future tournies? With the catch and release option it makes the tourney seem more "friendly" for the esox and does not limit those who like to keep the fish.

That is one seriously thick fish...... congrats!!!!!

Awesome write up, pics and fish.....congrats!!!

Don't worry- I've caught a ton of small pike and haven't had that marking but I've seen similar ones like that discussed online. It would be neat if they kept those markings though.

I think that's a juvenile pike and I believe their striped markings fade/turn into spots as they get bigger.

There was a show about 4-7 years ago where Pete Maina was trolling Chatauqua. I want to say that they had there rod tips in the water but can't say for sure. One thing I do remember was they had a long trolling leader with an extra long tag end (8" wire maybe?) to catch weeds just before the lure. I would love to watch the show again, I think it is The Next Bite season 7 episode 11 by the preview but I cannot seem to find the whole show.

Looks like a Krisco by Musky Armor. http://muskyarmor.com

My boat was the old white Starcraft with 4 clowns and a brindle boxer in it. I was at otisco on the tourney day but had a wedding to go to so only fished for a couple hours. We did speak with someone at the launch about 11pm Friday night but not sure who it was...we chatted about some LED lights I put in my boat.

It was nice to meet you out there, it's too bad we couldn't chat a little more at the launch but it was starting to get hectic. It was definitely not an easy day yesterday or friday while we were chasing pike and tigers for that matter. I'm glad you were able to find a couple and thats great your buddy got his first, one of my buddies got his first as well, third season was a charm for him....haha.

It's always better to see fish than nothing at all! Was there a particular type of structure they were holding on or was it pretty random? Gonna be out there Friday afternoon/evening before the musky opener and was hoping for some clearer water than the last time I was there. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

It was less than impressive..... It was about 2-3 weeks ago. The water was really murky for that lake, had maybe 1-3' visibility. We could only fib one patch I weeds on the whole lake that was about 20 yards by 20 yards- pounded it for a while with nothing to show. I did catch one pickerel on the sunken island (which would've been impossible to find w/o my navionics app) and a few minutes later we believe we saw a tiger chasing a baitfish on top of the water. Pounded that area for a long time too with nothing else to show. We fished for 6 hours or so, packed up and drove 45 minutes back home, grabbed a bite to eat and hit a pike lake 2 miles from my house. In 3 hours we had a 21" largemouth and 2 ok pike with a few other follows an misses. I had a mid 30" come right out of the water after my spoon I remember fishing there a few years ago before I was serious about catching tigers and thought that it looked great, hopefully next spring will be back to what I consider "normal". It's the exact same distance to otisco so I tend to just go to otisco but would really like to get out to canadarago more since they stopped stocking it. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

They had one of these at Canadarago Lake and I was very happy to see that it accepted cards....very convenient as I never have cash on me anymore. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Does anyone know if the water clarity has improved since last week? Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

My buddy and I were out the same day and it was a tough bite for sure. We landed a nice little tiger that crushed my lure from under the boat. Landed a walleye and a bunch of bass as well, I think our biggest issue was water clarity. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I'm going to make a few more with different weighting this week and hopefully find a combo to keep the nose down (and hopefully not screw up the clearcoat). I had to work last year and had a wedding this year....next year I HAVE to make it for the tourney! Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app