Open Water Reports - 2006

[BigJohnnyIce]

Jay,

Glad you got the rods quickly, and glad that they are the ones you like. I put a package of Copeds and Pounders together for you and will mail them out Monday. Yeah, any flys you send up this way would be great. Thanks in advance.

I need to get out the woods sometime this week....had to work a ton of OT the last two weeks, and also my family and I were all sick. So I got out one in the last 14 days and it rained as soon as I pulled into the field that day.

Speaking of rods, I had a little time after lunch when the kids were napping and the wife was out shopping. I made a St Croix Sight Fishing Rod out of an original 28" Avid Med Light. It has a good backbone for setting the hooks, but towards the tip it has enough flex. It ended up 18" total in length. Going to use this with a Tica Cetus reel for sight fishing gills and those Jumbo Franky Perch

Here are a couple of pics:

[Fishingking]

you boys are making me jealous with all these Walleyes. I had an awesome 2 hours of fishing this evening

Hit the water Around 3pm and fished till 5pm. Although the fishing was relatively slow I ended up catching some. I caught 4 Big Crappie and Lost another one. All Crappie were between 13 1/4" and 14" no exact Measurements because all 4 were RELEASED to fight another day

[CNY Tim]

BJI - What can I say... Well done

FK - Tim nice hoppies, well done. Released into the grease is the way I like em.

[CNY_Outdoorsman]

Yea I couldnt get an eye if my life depended on it that night. Thats fishin' though. Better then goin to work. Next time......

[CNYFrank]

"Had" to go to a Chamber dinner Saturday night and heard they were hitting well. Sooo. . . .last night gave it the early try and managed to lose 2 favorite lures . . . if I printed the words I used the webpage would melt!!! However, my order of "special" lures came in and were under the snow on the front porch . . .so they will get a testing today. Early and no wind is not the ticket at the bar!!! Water is going down and clearing up nicely. Buck did not cooperate Saturday morning and my thigh muscles wanted to reject me in the afternoon after moving for 4 hours through knee high snow!!!

[Dark Cloud]

Been out 7 of the last 8 mornings and have seen about 6 diff bucks. This morning this buck was to hard to pass up. at 8 yards. Top of the heart and saw him pile up after 50 yards...

Heres a bloody rainbow...

[insurance guy]

Nice buck there darkcloud and nice crappies fishingking. That looks like some of the bucks I used to see running around Endwell up on Robinson Hill Rd. by the Binghamton Country Club where I grew up. I used to sneak into the IBM property across the road from my house years ago and hunt those deer

The walleyes were biting for my dad and I on Saturday as well. My two biggest.

6 keepers total and a few throwbacks.

[CNY Tim]

Congratulations Dark Cloud! Nice deer bro!

Way to go SB it looks like those eyes are chunking up nicely too. Great shots fellas...

[CNY Tim]

Tough grind for Mario last night but Anthony and him managed 5 at Schnibs. Four on sonars and one on a twister. Franky said the bar was slow 1, 1, 2 from his guys.

[CNY Tim]

Called Frank at 10 to see how the boys made out and all 4 caught there limits so I decided to make the run out there as Frank said there wasn't anybody there. And so I stopped by the bar and it was empty, so I pulled in and walked out to the point and on the first cast a nice 16" and then I proceeded to catch a dozen eyes and two throwbacks and was done at 1 a.m. Here's a shot of them tasty beauties all caught on the gold Challenger Junior Minnow.

Camera is working but I have to take the memory card out to load the pictures until we get the software dump figured out with Kodak. Goodnight guys...

North Shore - I dropped off a large package at your house I hope you like it

[north shore]

Tim: Thanks for package. I took a early nap after chatting with you and woke up at 9. Thought that you may call but your fingers were to cold to dial the phone right. Will give you a call later today. Thanks again.

[CNYFrank]

Good job Tim . . .was wondering if the bite would come back. I caught the tail end of the mid run just before you called. The early bite was on too. Have something for you . . .

[CNY Tim]

Thanks for the plug Frank and if they made em in gold it would be pretty close to the forage. I am glad you called me back, a big thanks to you or I would have went to bed and laid there thinking about it quite a while before I nodded off. Slaughter aw yep you betcha North Shore is in if Tank and Dark Cloud come up I saw a report the wind will be out of the South 6 to 9 mph and you know that bar with a south wind has paid off well before in the past Just worried about how wet were gonna get with the rain coming here. Will talk...

[Dark Cloud]

Insurance guy - Nice eyes there. We'll be targeting em now till the river freezes up from binghamton to owego - lots of fish and potental for a pig. I live between Endicott and Owego, thats where I shot that buck. Dad took this buck out near Owego a few weeks ago. A slammer for these parts...

Timmy - We are packing the stuff now. We plan on being there around 4 to get a spot...

[CHM]

Tim - what's a Sonar?

The first night out with my new Jr. minnows I had a very nice walleye rolling on top but she threw the Challenger out. Next night I caught a 25.5" on a Clown Smithwick. I'm sitting on ice covered rocks here in MN!

Chuck

[BigJohnnyIce]

Jay,

Nice Buck there, way to go!! I am going out this Thursday-Saturday and my intentions are getting meat in the freezer. Like a buddy of mine says, "if its brown, it down". Not quite that with me, but if I get a shot at a doe or a button buck, I will take it. I have a more than enough doe permits to fill (land owner gave me his to sign over, too). If I see one of the good bucks in the area and I have a shot, I will go for it. If not, gun season is almost here, and there is always next year when they will be bigger.

[north shore]

Well the bite tonight was a little slow. A few fish being taken on shad raps and challenger minnow blue and silver. The Vassils made it up for a few fish. Took my limit by 730 and headed home when the rain started. CNY Tim poked his way around and landed a few also. Thanks for stopping by for a peer and a few peppers Tim.Always fun fishing with the crew.

[CNYFrank]

Good seeing Tank and Jay in person vs just in pictures. Tank you lost weight . . .hey wait a minute . . .you weren't wearing your ice fishing outfit!!! Came back after dinner with my daughter around 8 and had a limit and left by 9.

[CNYFrank]

John boy . . .need any help with the permits?? I put in for 2 . . .again this year and again . . .no luck . . . I am just sooo excited about the 2 preference points I now have.

[CNY Tim]

Chuck - A sonar is blade bait made by Heddon and the guys fishing the deep river channels have been doing well on 1/8 oz blue one. 3' rip and drop it back with light tension to the bottom and rip 3' and so on...

Chuck be careful on them icy rocks bud...

Last night North Shore hit em on the challenger minnow which is the next size up from the jr. and I was horrible, whatever I put on they wouldn't hit??? North Shore was being kind with his report on my performance because the only thing I did was grab for the net when the Vassil's hooked up and helped landing em. Yep everyone hammered em except for Jeffrey and I. I was due to wear the silver sombrero as I have had beat them up pretty well the last few outings.

North shore and Vassils loaded me up with good grub too, venison, jerky hot peppers, applesauce and assorted frozen goods so I came back from the lake with something Thanks guys

As always it was great fishing with the crew and the gaggle of em did well.

[Dark Cloud]

Very nice seeing all you guys last night. We had a good time and got a nice haul of fish. Anywhere I went I couldnt go wrong, caught fish on x-raps, shad raps, challengers, frenzys, and a suspending rapala. Timmys new name is now Net Boy....

The late shift was kinda quiet. We beat up the bar for an hour and both lost 2. We were getting ready to leave and I lost another, then got a short one, then popped two 20's on 4 consecutive casts. Went to the vehicle dragged him back down and it was all over...

Franky - Dads lost around 35 lbs since retirement. Most people go the other way with that one...

Johnny - Package came today. Thanks a ton. I got some more tying to do then you'll get yours. Timmy got the first batch of flys last night, I think he ran out of drool. If you have a couple of the bigger size 10 pounders around your ditching, save em for me. We will probably get out bowhunting a few more time before gun season to try and wack a doe. We have tags and time....

[Fishingking]

Id post the 1 walleye I got the other night but it pitiful compared to all the ones you guys are getting even at 20" it was very skinny. Looks like Friday I am going back out for some off those big Crappie

[CNY Tim]

Now now Tim no walleye is not worthy of a photo. Some of the eyes I caught below the dam on Delta were thin too. But those crappie pics you have there are quite nice

[CNY_Outdoorsman]

OK Well after fishing with some of you guys a couple times Im hooked enough to say im going to go quite a few more times before we get some ice. Being a bass fisherman using 95% rubber, the equipment is entirely different. Ive heard names like Countdowns, Husky Jerks, Challlengers, etc while walleye fishing. My question is - I have $50. Not including rods and line, name off several lure names, sizes and colors you would pick up given that amount of $$. Ill see if using my own stuff will change my luck the next time around, which may very well be tonight .

6lb Fireline has been on the rod ive used the past outings, but I think i can reach a little more with something else. A personal favorite for bass was 6lb Stren Hi-Vis Gold. The line color was bright as the sun but bass didnt seem to care, and i loved it. I assume Walleyes would be more finicky? Thanks for any recommendations in advance. Hope to get the hang of it and be of more competition soon. .

[CNYFrank]

6 lb fireline in black or the 8lb power pro . . . you have the fireline so no cost there. 2 Husky jerks - black and silver #10; 2 in perch or something chartreuese like a clown color. 2 each suspending rattling rogues - gold with black back, silver with black back and silver with blue back. All work equally well for SMBs. With any extra cash left over thunderstick jr in black and silver and chartrueuse . . .or Tim's favorite Challengers in same colors . . . That is the basic bag . . . but of course, the walleyes don't read this or any magazines and can be as finicky as a bass when using plastics! Good luck . . .see you next to the water.