A great weekend to be "on" the water!

[floatfisher]

Started Saturday on Keuka off of a friends place about half way down the Pen Yan branch.  We fished from about 10' out to 45 foot, in this range we set out our tip ups just scouting as this was our first trip to this location.  It was a great time as we were unable to get all our tip ups set before our first flag.  Usually this means it is going to be a good day, well that was an understatement!!  We found the "elephants" that I always hear about, plus I think my daughter caught "perchzilla"!!!

 

  

 

Found a few pickrel in the mix as well

 

 

The kids got a little chilly so they went in my buddys place to warm up and I went out to the 90 foot area to try my hand a jigging lakers.  We found a few

 

My first ever through the ice!!!

 

another

 

My buddy got 1 as well, first time on the ice fishing.  It took him all of about 2 minutes to get one.  The pic is on my phone and will try to put it up later, but it was a little bigger than mine.  Soon after the wind kicked up and the snow started coming down pretty good so I started packing up as the kids were ready to go.  I had a GREAT time on Keuka and I did not want to leave but I did not want to force the little ones to stay and ruin their view on fishing.

 

Anyone ever try one of those Eagle Claw inline reels?  Are they junk or am I not adjusting it right??  The thing would go free spool when I would set the hook?!?!  I could have caught at least a half dozen more but the reel was all messed up!!

 

Sunday I went to a pond with another friend and his 2 sons.  They took me to crappy corner and the name says it all.  I set 1 tip up and before I got the second set we had 3 flags on the first.  Ended the day with a small pile in an hour and a half at most.

 

Not bad (minus the finger)

 

 

Ended with a few more than this but this is the pic I got 

The bass was released, but my friends son wanted it in the pic....

 

I know it was not the best but the best so far this year by far for me!!!  Cant wait to get back out already.

Edited February 4, 2014 by floatfisher

[rnsurfnturf]

Those are some great outings with kids!

Good stuff....

I have the eagle inline ice reel...ive noticed the star drag loosening up ...not sure if its my hands with gloves on or doing it by itself....ihad to switch mine over to reel right handed

[Sk8man]

Mike -Sweet! You confirmed my hunch from today too that we were fishing too far north and not nearly deep enough today...I'll bet those kids will remember that day for a long time maybe forever! Keep up the good work! Les

[yette66]

Mike you should of taken perchzille and got it officially weight that may have been a new state record

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[panfisher]

Man!!   What a great couple of outings!!!! SSSswweeeeeeet..! And that was definitely a HUGE perch. Even in a young one's hands! And Sk8man is right.... "remember that day for a long time maybe forever!"

[floatfisher]

Thanks for all the kind words!!

 

Yette - to be honest at the time I never even gave it a thought about the record thing, I dont think it would have broken the 3.5 pound mark.  But I seriously concidered mounting it, also thought about sending in a pic to the DEC. 

 

I also thought about releasing some but they were so deep their swim bladders were out their mouths.  Can you burp them like a trout?

[GAMBLER]

Thanks for all the kind words!!

 

Yette - to be honest at the time I never even gave it a thought about the record thing, I dont think it would have broken the 3.5 pound mark.  But I seriously concidered mounting it, also thought about sending in a pic to the DEC. 

 

I also thought about releasing some but they were so deep their swim bladders were out their mouths.  Can you burp them like a trout?

They can be fizzed but not burped. 

[Gator]

I have the Eagle Claw reel, too. I guess my take on it is that it's not the best of reels for fishing deep lake trout...the drag is really touchy and the gear ratio is kind of low. When I first got mine, I noticed that the free spool wasn't spinning freely. I ended up removing the spool and I found a single piece in there that somehow wasn't inserted right when it was put together, so it was causing some odd things to happen (including random free spooling). It was a simple matter of making sure that the piece fit into the spool correctly when I re-tighten'd the thing.

 

I agree with the post above that it could have been your bumping the star drag, too. If you set the drag light, a little touch will have you in free spool...it's not got much on the low end dynamic range.

 

Our typical set up for lakers in Keuka is ten lb PowerPro, six feet of 6 lb test fluorocarbon leader and a baitcasting reel to avoid line twist. There are some dedicated ice fishing in-line reels that would have more power than the Eagle Claw, but the same idea applies.

 

Good luck out there.

[rnsurfnturf]

THe more I use that reel -gator......if I figure out its me bumping it with my gloves...after this season I may just shorten the fingers on the star wheel....

 

I do like the reel a lot compared to spinning reels and for the price of it...

[33canuck]

Awesome bud, that is without a doubt what it is about!

[Iron Duke]

Awesome!!

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[BigmouthBass]

That is one huge perch! Good family fun.

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