Chuck Smth

Fishing was a bit slow but the sunrise was spectacular. Was a lot of fiberglass out front! We even met a nice couple guys fishing in boat near us and gave them some free Offshore Bite Pickle Juice spoons.

Bruce, what are you talking about? Look at the picture - there's an empty water bottle on the deck!

Good day off of Braddocks

Another thing you can do is start it up with cover off. Get her idling and then spritz water around the bas of the carbs, etc. If the idle changes you may have found an air leak. Obviously, you don'w want to spray anything electric or into the carbs. Sometimes when they get cantankerous after a good warmup it;s the stator or another electrical problem but looks like you have that covered. Chuck

On most Mercury 2S outboards it's a really good idea to inspect and replace the reeds once you have the carbs off. I've seen many a "carburetor" issue that was really a reed block issue. They wear out and need replacing every so often. Chuck

3" alewives may be good news. It might indicate latest year class survived and they may be coming back. That would be nice! Anyway, great trip. Sounds like it was a blast.

Another fun day. Again, the fish have never looked better in my 40 years of fishing it. Here’s a nice one. The DEC has this lake dialed in.

I guess everyone has their own system and if it works for you that's what matters. I always use a cross lock style ball bearing swivel on spoons. For spring stickbaits I prefer to use a uni knot with a loop to attach to the eye. I can tie a uni faster than I can do a snap swivel and I can do it without looking. The trick I use is go through the eye, tie the uni, pull it almost tight but leave a loop, and then cinch down on the tag end when the loop is the size you want - I like about a 1/4 to 3/8 inches. Using the loop will have big effect on the action of the bait. You can test it yourself - tie a uni with a loop, test the action over the side and then pull the loop tight to where it resembles a clinch knot and recheck. It's amazing how much action you lose with a tight knot. It also gives you a bit of speed tuning. I like to troll faster than most and some baits like broken back Rapalas or Long A's get a little wacky on a loop knot at higher speeds say 3+ mph, and if I lock the knot down I can tame them and run them alongside Yozuris or Offshore Bites. So again, do what works for you - but IMVHO how you attach is just another of those myriad variables and tricks you can use to adjust to the conditions of the day. Chuck

I wish I had a buck for every fish that's been caught on an SF400! Those babies are workhorses.

After years in the boat biz I've made or been involved in plenty of blunders. Dropped a 26' off the trailer and into the ditch on the side of Calkins Road once. Had a trailer break on me on 490 near Culver and dropped the boat onto the middle of the underpass. Moved a brand new 50' Regal and didn't notice the trailer tire rubbing on the hull, put a nice hole in the bottom. Best one of all time was in Fort Lauderdale, coming up on the toll booths I hit the brakes to stop and the tie-rod end of the truck broke. Everything went sideways and I spun with the trailered boat behind me. Ended up blocking the booths during morning rush hour, heard a lot a colorful language! Trailering to and moving in an out of boat shows in January - oh the stories we could tell. Everbody has a bad day eventually. You learn from it and come away a better boater. Best advice I can give, don't launch from an icy ramp. Chuck

Did you see the big ship come in? Thought it was the Steven B Roman until it got in the river. She’s a big one for around here.

And I apologize, just realized I fat-fingered the date and this was of course 4/19, not 4/10. Other than about a 30 mph wind it was fun.

Today 2 or 3 colors of lead and anything in the blue-green dolphin/NBK style was OK. Had one off the top we lost on a stickbait, a couple on lead and one off the riggers. Outside the color break about 40’. Here’s another from today. These fish were fat, healthy and full of fight.

Decent day out of the Genesee. We were 3 for 4 on Kings and also a small brown. I don’t normally put out a lot of fish pics but will today because the thing that impressed me was how great, healthy and fat the kings are. The fish we caught were all well fed and in perfect shape which is great to see.

Sad News. Irish Thunder was a legend in the heyday and Joe was always a gentleman to fish around. My condolences to his friends and family. Chuck

Nice score on the king. Great see such a healthy fish. We went west from the river and tried near Braddock's . Warmest water we found was about 45F, slim pickin's but we also did have a nice atlantic. Water was a pretty muddy in close but we did boat a couple fish at the color break. Only thing we got in close was a pike. Lost a couple too but they didn't exactly feel like sea monsters. Our bite has been 50/50 stickbaits and spoons. Chuck