Good read

[Matt ching]

Came across this book about fishing the Finger Lakes. Pretty neat read, lots of “old school” info on fishing lakers and such. Thought I would share...

[Sutton44]

GREAT book. Found it twenty years ago, would have saved me a huge learning curve if I found it twenty years before that !

[Sk8man]

Matt that book was my "Bible" back in the mid seventies (it was printed in 1975) and served as the same for many of the guys I fished with back then. Earl (the author) used to hang out at Roy's Marina sometimes and fished out of there for years. I lost my copy somewhere along the line and my good buddy Fisherdude generously gave me his copy. I believe the book is now out of print. It was really handy in the small size it was printed bacause you could carry it for a reference when you fished until the stuff became imbedded in your brain. It is still the best source of info on lakers for Seneca.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Sk8man

[Fishstix]

Interesting. Ive never seen Pine Valley spoons mentioned on this board.I have never seen that book..Ive got a few NOS.   They are silver/copper.around 4 inches long. Very heavy spoon . I would put a piece of green tape on and used them on Lake Ontario for salmon.I called them old salmon killer.Never ran them in the fingerlakes .Might be just the ticket for the NLT derby.

Sk8teman Got any Pine Valley spoon history?

Real copper ,real silver. beautiful spoons don't remember where I got them.

 They are in the boat somewhere unique shape I will try to get pics.

[Fishstix]

After re reading my post I have NOS pine valley spoons,not that book Hell.Its 2AM........

[signalman]

Did the guy who made the original pirate spoon also make the pine valley spoon? I know his name but it didn,t want to put it out there unless he did.

[Sk8man]

Different guys Mike. If Hop sees this I think he ,maybe can give some info on the Pine Valley spoons as he used to field test them, and used to give some to me way back when. I still have a few of them.They worked well on the Fingers as did the Pirates. I caught a second place brown with one of the Pirates back in 1988 in the derby. Captain Joe Riefer from the Rochester area was the guy who made the Pirate spoons.Good guy and real good fisherman....used to fish the Seneca Derby back in the 80's and the ESLO on Lake O.  Great Lakes Lure Maker (Jason) may also know about the Pine Valley guy because he lived down that way (south end of Seneca which is where Pine Valley is). I just don't remember his name unlike a number of the other lure makers I actually met personally.

The pic at the left is some Pine Valleys (doctored with tape). The middle one is the top of tthe Pirates.The older model is on the left with the "dimpled" finish. The "newer" model to the right looked nearly identical to the Northern King in appearance both shape and finish.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Sk8man

[Fishstix]

Sk8te-opedia Just happened to have the box with the pine  Valleys in the house.Ive got 4 silver brass and 6 silver copper  that have never been in the water stamped number is 01H ....4 1/2 inch long

 

 

[katydid]

  You can find it on Amazon for $125.00 !

[Sk8man]

Stix Save those out for the next derby Stan

Edited December 4, 2018 by Sk8man

[Lucky13]

Holdren’s classic has been out of print for quite a while, and will bring a fair number of dollars if you can find one in fair or better shape.  Some of the book is printed as an appendix to the Sander’s Guide that covers the Finger Lakes, but the Sander’s Guides are also getting kind of rare.  I’m surprised that no one has seen an opportunity to re-release these very helpful books from the past, I’ve used some of his odd tricks, like a streamer or a wetfly up the leader, with great success in the Adirondacks, and there are a ton of different topics discussed on all aspects of trout fishing in the Fingers.  His description of the “submarine currents” and their effects on the lure alone is worth the price of the book, although $125 is rich for my bank account.

[Hop]

I field tested for Pine Valley back in the 80's. Walt Bullard and Harry Scouton from Hilton were running things then. I used to put a "perermint twist" on the '01 and run it behind cowbells in the winter in the Belurst hole when it was too cold to put sawbellies on gang hooks. If you can find one, Pine Valleys "mystic mask" still works great for drifting in rough water. Not sure what happened with Pine Valley after my time with them. Times 2 on Holden's book. My old neighbor knew Earl, guess he was quite the guy. Neighbor told me about the time he knocked on Earl's door. Earl answered the door with a girl on each arm, all naked as Jay birds...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[katydid]

Whoa!  

[Sk8man]

The Quickstrike spoons pictured above were also real good spoons and at one time I had bunches of each of them but not so many left My favorite is the little Quickstrike #11 in hammered silver finish (not pictured above but here it is below).....deadly on the bows with diagonal slash of chartreuse tape when trolled fast. I still have quite a few of them left luckily

Edited December 4, 2018 by Sk8man

[Fishstix]

Hop why do you suppose Pine Valley made such heavy spoons for the fingerlakes?  I would guess you would have to run 3 to 4 mph to get them flippin right.

 

BTW those girls were probably Barb and A net..

[Copperliner]

10 hours ago, katydid said:

  You can find it on Amazon for $125.00 !

 

...and also on eBay for less

[Ray4852]

I still have my book. best book about finger lakes trout fishing 50 years ago. I cant believe how fishing has changed so much today. back 50 years, everything was a big secret. fishing rods were broom sticks. heavy reels. best spoons millers.  silver plating never wore off. Sutton good too. and the best of all we had tackle shops run by fisherman that new the area not like the big box stores  we have today. it was all common sense business. I still have two Victrolas left  made by an old timer from Penn Yann. anybody here still remember canandaguia fishing tackle. I wish we still had that store left. Walmart bought him out. look what they sell today. rubber worms. I still have my speed net left. those were the good days. if you can get a copy don't pay a lot of money for it. last I heard some woman up in Rochester had the copy rights to print new books about 10 years ago.

[katydid]

    There is actually a copy in Mann Library on the Cornell campus. Since I’m a retiree from there, I think I’ll check this book out. Unfortunately, I have to give it back!

[Sk8man]

Kind of ironic... the timing of this post because I had recently referenced it as a major influence on me in in the book i am writing right now on Finger Lakes Trout and Salmon Fishing (including Lake Ontario as well) which I have been working on for over two years and I had included it in the Reference section I had mentioned the book to Fisherdude when we were chatting one day awhile back and he knew I was writing mine so he gave it to me....fate can be pretty wierd sometimes...

Edited December 5, 2018 by Sk8man

[Ray4852]

I had about 20 pine valley spoons. they caught fish but the finish didn't last. 2 mph worked best for me. miller spoons were the best. nobody could beat his silver plating. I liked his flashers too. I bought them from him off his boat when he had a slip at roys marina. he was very good man to deal with. another good one the book didn't mention was, swan spoons. Don swan. he also sold his spoons off his boat too on the south end of canandaquia lake when it was Clarks  marina. best copper plated spoon i ever used. I think pine valley was bought out. you can see we had a lot of different spoons back when that book was popular. I bought millers for a dollar if I bought 50 or more. I bought Suttons out of a trunk of a car right at the Sampson boat launch cheap. this is real capitalism. our country today is run by aholes.

[Hop]

Fishstix I've got some PV's both heavy and lite. Maybe it was the availability of the brass way back then? Not sure. Les, looking forward to seeing your book, maybe I'll find some secret techniques you "forgot" to share with me over the years.[emoji847]

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Roys Boys]

That’s the book I’ve grew up fishing off of.. holding hand lines with flashers, pulling copper.. my parents use to sell those books but now their in my safe.. great book to have handy

[Sk8man]

Your grandfather knew Earl quite well Steve and Earl used to launch and fish from the marina. Ray - the guy that you mention regarding the Millers was Captain Bernie Klimzak (sp?) who lived near hamburg NY at the time and then I think he moved closer to Lake O for chartering. Those Miller spoons were deadly as heck and the finish on the few that I have left is just like new still after all these years. I used to buy my Suttons at the Naples store in the 70's and 80's before going night fishing in the company of some of the guys that kept their boats at Clark's who later became charter guys on Lake O. Note the pricing of the spoons at that time below. Hop - I'm hoping that what I'm writing will sort of take up where Earl left off in terms of the more modern stuff integtrated with the old and if it turns out even half as well as his book I'll be happy I pretty much just have to do the illustrations and pics and add and integrate them and it will be done. Hopefully it will serve as a "springboard" for folks new to the scene here on LOU and still offer some interest to the expert "dinosaurs"

Edited December 5, 2018 by Sk8man

[Ray4852]

I meet Bernie at Orson marine once just outside of Hamburg. He bought most of his boating equipment from Orson marine. back in the early 70s when Seneca lake trout fishery was almost destroyed by the lamprey. he moved up to lake Ontario to fish that fishery that started to make a comeback. Bernie kept his boat at Wilson harbor. canandaiqua lake was a factory for breeding charter captains. most of them  packed up and went north also. the one I liked the most was Bill Kelly. good man. no problem getting a few tips from. he was a disable vet from viet nam. you can see we have a lot of history right here in our finger lakes. its a shame it gets bad mouth by fisherman today because they cant catch  a 30 lb trout. these lake are the breeding ground for good fisherman. not lake Ontario.

[Sk8man]

I guess that I would beg to differ with you and that last point. I fished alongside some of those guys back then in my own boat. Captains John Oravec and John Roides etc. at the south end of Canandaigua and they were really good fishermen, and I also knew most of the guides on the Fingers like Don DeSio and Bob Cass etc. and they were very good as well, but these fisheries are quite different especially now and the techniques, equipment, and tactics have changed, and in some cases radically. It is like comparing apples to basketballs in many cases. Some of the charter guys on LOU as well as the hard core sports guys fishing mainly Lake O (and not necessarily the Fingers) are some of the best around and they didn't originate on the Finger Lakes.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Sk8man