RWR1775

Went 5 for 6 today from 9:45 - 12:30. 2 lakers and 3 kings. Lost fish was also a King I'm sure. One of these was my wife's 1st king and she also got another as well. Fished 45 - 60 FOW. Action was in the 50 - 60' depths. Marked a fair number of fish from 40' down mostly. Three of the five fish were on a Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue purple top with white sides). Ran baits 25' - 45 ' down, with 30' and 35' doing most of the damage. Water temp was 44.5. Speed was 2.0 mph GPS, but we noticed most fish came on outside side of a turn. Decided to keep speed at 2.0 to control depth more and just use turns to vary lure speed. Hope others got some fish as there were probably 15 boats out, maybe a few more. Tight Lines

That is a nice brown for sure. Always feels good to get one to highlight the day. Tight Lines

Fish were on fire. Went 9 for 17. Wish I had landed a few more of these. 7 lakers, 2 kings. At least 2 of the lost fish were kings as well. Had first 4 fish in 20 minutes of all lines in. Also had a double with a laker about half-way in when king smacked another rod. Left laker out while brought king most of the way in before he came unbuttoned. Figured other fish (laker) woulfd be gone, but no, and it came to the net. Was out solo so just three rods. MagLip 3.5's in Mad Clown (better) and Cowgirl got most of the earlier fish. The rest came on a Silver Streak Mini spoon in wonderbread pattern which was solid all morning. Fished 40 - 50+ FOW, mostly the upper end of this range. Best action was from piers west (1 mile maybe). Ran MagLips 25' down using 2 oz. snap weights and ran spoon 35' down using Offshore magnum Tadpole. Kings were deeper than lakers mostly. Water temp. was 42.6 - 43.3. Lines in from 8:45 - Noon. One of the most action filled outings I have ever had. Included a few laker pics. None of kings (don't ask). Tight Lines

Now that is some HOT action. Awesome!

Thanks guys. Think I will have to try the deeper water action next time out. Don't have riggers so have limits to depths I can run, especially at higher speeds.

Anything? Anybody? I got one brown in the 8 - 9 lb range in my 2 hrs with lines in. Was in the 12 - 20 FOW range. Brown came on 3.0 MagLip running about 9' down. Felt I should have been able to do better. Wondering how others did. It was a glorious day though either way. Tight Lines

Great pics. Be safe out there.

Totally get it and see that stuff myself. At least early in the year it will mostly be fisherman, who seem to have more experience overall with their boats (generally speaking). Good point about possibly seeing more people going solo. Without experience that can be a struggle to do and to watch. If there is a stronger wind or a bad direction for a particular launch it can be challenging to near impossible for a single person even with practice (especially loading) Tight Lines

I think it will be important to give others the time and space at the docks to allow for social distancing. Let one person finish,then slide in or out and try to be as quick as possible. Be respectful of others space and recognize people are trying to keep their distance. We really can police ourselves with a little effort and forethought. Tight Lines

Why would Parks have any day over launches run by municipalities?

Very cool article and pics. When we travel those same waters and see big ships today it makes you feel part of a special community.

This really is super confusing. A couple of days ago the talk was all about launches being open or reopened. Now they are off limits again? Sorry if I'm missing something here.

Total respect for all who have to go to work right now. Where I have a problem is with blanket comment "Don't go outside". I totally disagree. Now if you live in an apartment then that applies in most of not all cases. You are touching several communal surfaces and in many cases have to pass close to others. I live in a house and can go outside without ever passing close to others or touching things the public will come in contact with. The act of being outside is not the problem. It's distance and contact that matter.

So here is what I 'm wondering tonight after finding none of 4 launches I visited today blocked off: Is a launch usable if not blocked off? Two of these launches were state parks (Fort Niagara and Wilson-Tuscarora), another was Lewiston and lastly was Olcott. In the case of Olcott, it was reported early on in LOU that it was blockaded. Not a sign of anything like that visible. Are we to assume that the mere edict of launches being non-essential is enough? I argue that these launches are not businesses and therefore the essential business business does not apply. Are we being told to discontinue non-essential activities? Non-essential activities seems to be a broad term and open to the eye of the beholder. I take the current situation seriously and had to make a choice for my son today to keep he and my mom separated today out of caution. I just don't see what takes place at a boat launch as a situation we cannot manage for ourselves. Totally possible to socially distance there even if busy. It just takes a bit of restraint and working with others. Problem is the government in this case does not want us to rely on ourselves, but instead the government. The government absolutely has a role to play in situations like this. In fact that role is vital in this situation, but this cowboy thinks differently about the boat launch closure. By the way i disagree with tennis courts being closed too and I have not held a racket since high school gym class. Tight Lines

A big problem for many of us is that it sounds like many of the ramps or launch areas are being physically barricaded. Couldn't launch of you wanted to. I wonder if a private marina with a launch would get in trouble if they simply turned a blind eye to people using the ramp? More of an academic question than anything that will probably happen though. I saw a post somewhere with someone saying they get there will be a lot of kayaks being sold. I thought the same and might do some serious looking.

This is rediculous! When I go to the launch I'm not exactly there to get all up in the other fisherman's space. I can wait until the next guy is done at the dock before using it. Not a problem to keep my distance. Nanny state because I guess we can't police ourselves. Only person more annoyed than me is me wife because now she has to live with a frustrated fisherman. Don't misunderstand, I'm lucky that this is my biggest issue right now - but c'mon now. Guess I'll join the guys on the pier again.

I would argue that this is targeting the business aspect of marinas and launches, not the use of launches. I will bet this also means free golf at public courses, not that people can't golf. But I guess we need clarification from law enforcement. Let's keep fingers crossed.