greenhornet73

Awesome that you got out and the colors on that first brown are beautiful

Hey Musky Joe, I once fished with Musky Joe Netti in Ottawa many years ago and caught my first big Muskie while trolling the Rideau River. One of the best fishing trips I ever had with walleyes and a ton of pike along the way. Any chance you knew him?

I agree Rolmops, especially when fishing alone, 7-8’ rods are the easiest to maneuver in the boat and net fish while still allowing enough leverage to tire out big fish.

Thanks for the report! Hoping to get out this Saturday for a shakedown finally if the wind allows.

I took my first trip out to Lewis Pt in 3 years last weekend and it didn’t disappoint. I packed up only 2 hrs after drilling my first hole and landed 4 cookie cutters and had multiple others engage on the sonar but didn’t bite. It’s going to be a tough drag on the ice with this rain and additional snow. Those with heart conditions beware.

It took me years to finally figure out the slow bite once it starts this time of year. It stead of staring and taking off they hit almost every time they show up on the vex. Can’t wait to get out this weekend hopefully.

Headed up to the salmon river after work on Thursday with friends to see if we could find some early runners before the crowds arrive. There were definitely a decent number upriver but, with the beautiful clear skies, they were not moving much. I did manage to get lucky with a couple of hookups and landed this nice female king on a blue estaz fly, probably about 18#, and let her go to finish her mission. Lots of mosquitoes with this warm water so be prepared.

I hear from Natives they are delicious smoked. Then again, even lakers are probably good smoked.

Spent last week in Cape Cod and rented a kayak to fish from as usual. Reports were terrible so I headed out rigged up with only a big Zara spook and a pair of pliers just in case. Saw a few swirls in shallow 3’ water so began casting around. I caught so many striped bass from that day on that every one of my treble hooks was eventually ripped off the lure. This was a saltwater Spook with stainless hardware and I only fished 3 days for under 2 hrs each time since this was a family vacation. Landed 29 stripers and lost more than half that number besides. Many bigger 24-27” schoolies with a dozen slot size and bigger. Don’t listen to reports if you want to do some Striper fishing this fall, they are certainly around in good numbers.

Nope, I’m a CNY native. Just a fish nerd that has been studying fish from all over the world since I was 5 years old. I also use words like pogy, bunker, mooneye,sawbelly, etc that, depending on what state or region you’re in, sometimes has people scratching their heads.

I did, Glenn. Been doing my best to get the walleyes out of there one at a time just as they were put in there.

I had a steady, decent evening bite on Skaneateles tonight until I hit a double header. Both riggers went off within seconds of each other. My deepest rigger kept peeling drag while I was reeling in a walleye on the other rod so i cranked down the drag a little thinking it was too light so it wouldn’t spool me while I left it hanging. It was almost locked down and still peeling. I skipped the 19” walleye in and grabbed the rod and knew it was either a giant walleye or lake trout. After 20 minutes of reeling in the 250’ of line it peeled off, i finally saw color behind the boat and thought it was a 32” walleye until it got close enough to see the spots. Almost didn’t fit in my net and measured out at 34” and weighed 13 lbs. Took a long time to revive it in the 78 degree water but finally swam off. What a day and what a fish.

Cool, I have a few Gambler rigs but haven’t tried them on Oneida yet.

I’ve seen those Kokanee rods, pretty pricey but the type of rod I’m looking for. Those Eagle Claws look spot on and the right price for buying a pair for the riggers. Awesome suggestion guys, thanks for posting.

What length and action on the Ticas? I’ve looked at their surf rods but never the inshore rods

I only run mooselooks and the smallest Michigan Stinger Scorpion spoons on this particular lake. I like to be able to feel every bit of the fight and headshakes while I’m playing out the fish. Let me know when you find a dowrigger rod that you’re happy with, it would save me some trial and error as well.

Good to know, thanks. I recently bought a Daiwa wilderness ML for a leadcore rod. It will work well for that but with just running mono for smaller trout it is overkill. I was catching 5# laker trout on my Starfires last weekend and each time thought I hooked a double digit walleye.

Thank you, that’s awesome. I was hoping to use as much of it as possible without just using the breasts and discarding the rest. Now I just have to shoot one and not shoot over it’s head like last year.

That’s sounds good. Did you do anything else to it?

Before we get there, now is a good time to plan what to do with one before we bag it. Still haven’t shot one yet but the flock showing up in my field every day is getting my hopes up. They always seem to disappear on opening day but just in case, what are your favorite ways to prepare wild turkey?