FLXTrolling

Haha, sorry about that. Conversion went astray talking about Hemlock and LLs. Beautiful fish and great looking mount!

Believe it or not I caught a LL out of Canadice in 2007 on a tip up through the ice. I've never sniffed another out of that lake since and I've fished it a bunch. I've never seen one on Hemlock. It wasn't a super big fish, but pretty cool nonetheless. I'll try to find the pic on my computer when I get home. 24# is a monster Atlantic!

Those are great looking mounts! The Salmon's not from Hemlock is it? I think they were put in there at one time, many years ago - but catches were probably rare. I wish I had better photos of my Hemlock 'eye from this post - I wasn't with my normal fishing buddy, and the photos look distorted - not in a very good way... If you check my post Lakers & Bows, the pictures themselves look a lot better

Yes I actually have! We also had a family of loons swim by us on Saturday. I was having my dog fetch sticks out there one day and someone told me he couldn't swim. Which I get and am happy for the regulation. But at that time I did recall seeing deer swim in there - it made me think, "what the heck, deer swim in here and they are dirtier than my dog!"

Nice fish! Hemlock is like my sanctuary... the fishing is secondary... But I think I'm starting to figure it out a bit - I have a Wooden Blue Drift boat - stop by if you ever see me down there

Thanks! Let's hope - I definitely prefer to run a shallow program over deep... particularly if the Rainbows are active

It's a pretty gorgeous lake right? Hemlock....

Good Deal Justin - I'll definitely contact you this fall when I'm out that way I know Otisco has some slobs, but at least for the guys I know they are pretty elusive - but like anything else, you have to put in the time

I've been having a blast this season playing with these Lakers & Bows... The $500 Wooden Drift Boat I picked up on Craigslist is easily the best money I have ever spent! Of course I've managed to pile in about 4X's that much in gear, but don't tell my wife! Small crafts are a riot - I've experimented a bunch, but I think I figured out a setup that works for me, and I've got it fairly dialed in now. I tried both copper and lead core this year, but they are too much to handle on my boat under summertime conditions. One & Two color leads, and 50' & 75' copper worked great in the spring, but once I had to start putting more line out it became cumbersome, especially trying to run 6 lines in a boat you can barely stand up in... So, in combination with my Downriggers, I'm using an assortment of divers - A hot set-up for me has been these Big-Tuff "Jet-Style" Divers in the 40 size off of planer boards - I only need to let about 80-95 feet out before clipping on the board - that puts me down 25 - 32 in my estimation. Another plus is the fact that they float until you put tension on the line - It makes for easy deployment around the other lines on my boat. I'm also using size 1 Slide Divers, on setting 2 - I'm using a 25' mono leader, tied directly to 50# braid. I simply slide the mono section thru the diver, then clip the diver in place right before the braid section (I do this because the diver tends to slide a bit when clipped to braid) . Then I've been letting out around 80 - 110' additional - putting me down, I'd guess 25 - 40', but who really knows or cares - it works and I can repeat it.. This week I ran a 107' & 117' - that is total - so 25' feet of mono + 82 & 92' of braid after the diver. (The only difficulty occured when I tried Canandaigua, and the braid was pulverized by fleas). About the dowriggers - they are now downrigger, singular - Haha, Saturday morning got off to a rough start - I had my normal fishing buddy, Kevin back with me this week. Earlier this week, we met up to replace the wire rigger line with braid, in an effort to reduce our overall drag through the water - Anyway, we forgot to "clip" the downrigger back into the mount and it was lost on the ride over... If anyone finds a Scotty 1050 on the side of the road somewhere between Canandaigua and Hemlock, let me know! The lures have been spoons, spoons, and more spoons... I dabbled in FFs but they are not confidence bait for me this year - The set-up went 6 for 7 on Saturday, with 4 Rainbows landed (1 lost), and 2 Lakers - The largest Rainbow absolutely annhilated the 117' Slide Diver Rod at about 9:15am. Kevin is holding it in the photos attached - he is also the subject of my amateur video (enjoy!) the same fish is pictured twice, I just thought the photos were pretty cool! Every rod on board took a fish, which was also a first - the big boy hit a Silver Streak Magnum in Black and White (Don't know the name of the pattern) - Orange and Pink have been my go to colors this year, but there was no ryme or reason today - 2 fish came on that Mag Silver Streak I mentioned: Magic Man DW Super Slim, Michigan BlueBerry DW Mag, FLT 42nd, & FLT Bull Froggy Frog standard size all took fish... All 'Bows & Lakers were released for others to enjoy.... PS, my video will have to wait - The file is too big for this board, and the link is taking forever to load on YouTube...

I gotta say. I'm enjoying my youth but I'm pretty jealous of you retired guys!

Nice- sound like a fun day! I drove by Canandaigua today, it looked like it was beautiful! How were the fleas? I'm sure you have it down where you can fight them off. My setup relies on divers heavily, and braid gets mangled out there. Nice job! The black on the head of that bow is pretty interesting.

Thanks Justin, BTW, my wife's uncle has a place on Otisco, next time I'm out there I'll have to look you up! I'm really not defensive about the size of the fish - I'm not a Walleye guy - I just stated a fact - and had great time out there Saturday! Anyway, I wouldn't hit Hemlock Saturday if I were you JJBat - that picture is photshopped and I'm a big liar! Haha, anyway I'll be out there Saturday targeting my usual species and soaking in the surroundings - if you're after Walleyes I'd have Justin get you out on Otisco - There can't be more than a dozen or 2 in all of Hemlock.

Thanks guys - I don't care about anyone questioning the length of the fish - If you have eyeballs and some deductive logic - you know the length is accurate. It's more annoying that some people lack the reading comprehension to differentiate a word like "possible" from "probable" - or a phase like "may have been" from "is"... Haha - I'm just a pretty laid back guy, so I don't really get what all the anger is for...fishing is fun, and the stories are great - let's just enjoy them - there's maybe a few Hemlock monsters left down there and I look forward to seeing the next one on this board!

Right - It is was it is, and I thought it was cool that a fish that size exists in Hemlock. You can make any model you want out of the pictures based on something in the frame, like the spoon for example, and if you're not just blatantly filled with ludicrous hate over a fishing story, you can't deny the length of the fish.. Think of my write up as nothing more than a story, and any mention of "state record" as a thought bubble that appears over my head in the story's narrative...

Thanks Gene! Hey wouldn't Genny in theory be brewed from Hemlock Lake water? Haha - it has apparently "stunted" my growth - mentally at least. Not that "I" wouldn't mind having the fish on my wall - it's just that my wife has impeccable taste and really wouldn't allow a fish to be mixed into her decor! I wasn't going to harvest the fish - so - what else is there to do but release it?

Les - it's always good to get your take. Devo and Dan, thanks as well! The "state record" thing was really more just me thinking aloud after actually learning of the length of the record - which was after I had released the fish - haha, bad idea apparently - I more or less figured that including my "thoughts" at the time was good for the overall narrative of the story. I never meant for it to spin off into something where I was claiming a record - lesson learned.

Thanks! I just got off the phone with a respected member on the board. Together we put the weight around 13.5. The fish has a massive head, but for some reason it's "frame" seems a little light. 36" is the length - the only reason I ever pondered its chance at the state record is because it's length is greater than the State record - and I'm not a Walleye guy. I just don't want to be Mis-represented as someone making false claims or who even cares about holding a State Record - I should have just said - "hey look, here's an awesome fish!" And left it at that I guess. Lesson learned!

Haha, so they posted a story on this in the Syracuse Post Standard... The writer decided to take an interesting approach to spark debate - For the record I never claimed this be a State record - I stated it had the length and should it have been carrying eggs it could have contended... The top photo is also highly compressed - I look like a squatty dwarf or something! These Syracuse guys also don't know Hemlock... Anyway, let me know what you think! Matt B http://www.syracuse.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/08/was_monster_walleye_caught_and_released_on_hemlock_lake_a_state_record.html#incart_river

Thanks John, Kevin & Justin! I'm still trying to process the whole thing ... There are a lot of comments on here like "Beautiful Fish" which "she" was - I guess... haha, I know what they mean, but she was more or less just HUGE, and looked like a mutant, alligator Walleye or something.. I'm more of Trout guy myself - for looks and appeal, but that fish was certainly awesome. I may see if I can get a fiberglass replica made at some point.... though I'd have to fudge the girth as I didn't exactly get it. My heart was pounding and I was with a buddy who never gets out, and wasn't thinking clearly enough to get every measurement possible. I had him measure the length while I was holding her, then I sent her back. As I was holding her tail, she thumped away strong, but then kind of taunted me making a slow descent back to the depths. It was really cool. I keep having dreams about watching her swim off - it was nearly as exciting as netting her. To be honest, I really didn't know how big of a fish I truly had until after I started doing some research. I've fished Erie my whole life with my Father and Grandfather, who are (and were, RIP) both in Buffalo - and have never caught anything remotely close... My personal best Walleye prior to this was 28" - Of course I was targeting Walleye then...

Man, that is an awesome fish.. Hemlock is amazing in that I can run a Lake Ontario trolling program from a 14' Wooden drift boat (I know, I know not exactly), and butt heads with some Lake Ontario caliber fish to boot. I know there are some giant Bows out there as I have seen some absolute brutes while hiking along the trib... I just hope those fish are protected & respected...