FLXTrolling

Thanks Chuck! To be completely honest, I might trade my Hemlock monster for the Hemlock monster in your profile pic... Did you get measurements on that Brown? Good Lord... I've encountered quite a few Rainbows out there this year but have never caught a Brown. I know the stocking program was given to Canadice, but there must still be some hog Browns roaming around down there. What the latest on reproduction? Is it almost non-existent? I know there is a TON of bait out there, I wouldn't mind seeing a return of some sort of Brown stocking... or Walleye. There is probably some room for it... Then again the size of the fish might start to decline, so for me its a toss up... Hemlock is more or less my sanctuary, and the chance for one of its trophies is more what it's about for me than numbers...

Thanks fbg! I am as happy as can be with my decision to release the fish - pictures are good enough. It may or may not have been a record, but even if it was I don't believe there is any kind of monetary reward that goes along with it! As long I have you guys here to toot my horn I'm all good, haha..

I wasn't implying they did, I was simply saying that record fish, especially Walleye will benefit from carrying around a baby bump... This fish was an absolute pig though, but without a scale its weight remains an unsolved mystery... someone on here will have to catch it again for themselves! Zack, did you call it a "she" for a specific reason? is there a way to tell? The pictures turned out a little disappointing in detail - the fish had a slightly "humped" back like you might see on a spawning male Brown... you can kind of see it if you look close on the first picture.

I hear on the South end launch.. the water is about 2" below my driver side door when I open it... not fun in April! Ha, and thanks - I'm not sure if it was strength that led me to release the fish, it was a couple of things. -I didn't have a scale -I was very unaware of the state record -I hardly ever keep fish, and space is limited so I didn't bring a cooler -Lastly, I was just kind of stunned - I pulled it out of the net, my buddy took a few photo's and my gut just said to put it back. It's actually a super rewarding feeling watching fish like that swim away as you re-gather your thoughts on the whole experience. If I had a scale, and was aware of the NYS record, it may have been a different story - but to Zack's point earlier, typically those fish of record weights are full off eggs, so who knows.

Thanks for the kind words! I was kind of in such awe of the fish, the only thing I felt I could do was watch him swim off... Zack - unfortunetely work is temporarily in the way of me reading the report, haha... but I'll try to take a few "breaks" throughout the day!

Right, she was girthy, but didn't have that sagging gut you usually see in record fish... I wish I had a scale, I have no idea the weight. How long ago was the last stocking of 'eyes in Hemlock? I assume this fish was that old..

Hemlock is absolutely gorgeous and I've been fortunate to have a pretty good Rainbow program dialed in over there this summer. The scenery, combined with my luck out there made it the perfect spot to bring my buddy who was in visiting from NYC. We were running Big Tuff "Jet Style" Divers in the 40 size behind planer boards, back 85 & 95 - Slide Divers on 50# braid, setting 2, back 100 & 125, and 2 downrigger rods parked at 27' & 37' respectively... We ran a wide array of Finger Lakes Tackle Spoons in both Standard & Magnum sizes. We caught 2 smaller size Rainbows, both on the 95' Diver behind the board - on a standard size FLT spoon in the "Dirty Goose Pounding" pattern. Around 9:30 am - over 80' of water - the board pulling the 85' diver goes under. The rod starts bending like crazy, but the fish wasn't taking any drag and there was no splash of silver behind the board. After I managed to get the board off, we could see the fish was really bull dogging us downward. I immediately thought we had a decent to large sized Laker on the line. As the fish got closer to the boat I looked down in the water and saw a flash of yellow. What the H#!!? Carp? The biggest Bass in history? Walleye was not even on my radar - the next time I saw the fish it dawned on me that there is a mythical population of Walleyes in Hemlock, stocked by some Rod & Club many years ago, and that was what we had on the line! When I netted the fish, I was shaking - I pulled it in and was in disbelief. I was terribly unprepared for measuring and weighing such a fish. I do keep a small measuring tape on board, and we zapped him at approx. 36", give or take a .25" I released the fish promptly, and he swam away pretty strong - I was somewhat conflicted on this, because I know the 'eyes in Hemlock are not part of any DEC program, and I definitely could have put him on my wall, but in the end my gut told me to release him. My buddy doesn't fish often, so I told him that what we had just caught is pretty uncommon. I told him to do a google image search on "Walleye" to see for himself. While surfing the web on his phone, he notifies me that NYS record is 34" and 16.9 pounds... I possibly had it in my hands and released it... Oh well, somebody with a scale will have to catch him another day! The Walleye hit a Magnum size, Finger Lakes Tackle spoon in the NBK Bright Green UV pattern - In the first photo, you can really get a feel for the girth and size of it's head, and in the second photo you get feel for it's length - I also to took a few screen shots of some impressive bait out there! PS - For what's it worth, I caught this fish on Saturday, which was actually 8/1 - guess I was trying to slow down the summer!

I use the Church Walleye boards for shorter coppers.... My rig is only big enough for the finger lakes though and I'm only targeting the top 50'.... but 200' of copper is not a problem when I slide the adjustable keel weight forward...

Anyway, my post count has jumped up but I dont see my post.... If it comes thru 4 times I apologize!

We've caught nice fish this year on Hemlock... Lakers have been very active. Caught a few small bows... Trying to post pics but I think the file is too big... how do I shrink into an attachment?

Those are great size fish.... I havent been out enough lately, but lakers have definitely been active on Hemlock - nothing giant, but nice fish... Caught a real small Bow last time out.

Those are great size fish.... I havent been out enough lately, but lakers have definitely been active on Hemlock - nothing giant, but nice fish... Caught a real small Bow last time out..

Those are great size fish.... I havent been out enough lately, but lakers have definitely been active on Hemlock - nothing giant, but nice fish... Caught a real small Bow last time out..

Those are great size fish.... I havent been out enough lately, but lakers have definitely been active on Hemlock... Caught a real small Bow last time out..

How big is that Rainbow? It looks like something the Ontario guys would be proud of! Gotta love Hemlock... It makes you work, but the fish tend to be as beautiful as the surroundings...

That's a beautiful Rainbow. Interesting to see a Brown that size in Hemlock. DEC hasn't stocked Browns in there in at least 4-5 years I want to say (I might be wrong). When I catch them in there it's typically random, but they are usually very large.