Fishing Report 10/27

[Scott McKee]

Carrie and I spent a few hours on the east side in the late afternoon / early evening.  On our way down to the south Grand Island bridge, just as I was placing my rod in a holder, my line out alarm started singing.  "Big fish", I announced.  As Carrie was clearing lines, I changed my assessment of what was connected to my Toothy to, "I think it's a big fish".  As the fish surfaced, I realized I had snagged an upper thirties in the back.  Oh, joy.  That makes two snagged on the year for me.  I would have been deadly at Burt Dam back in the day.  One quick flick of the wrist with the needle nose and the fish darted away with me offering a few apologies.  We trolled down to the power lines and back.  I managed to land two small fish, five minutes apart in UN4 and lose another an hour later.  All three fish hit a Niagara walleye 10" jointed Believer.  I guess we should have went west... Oh, well.  It was nice to be out there.

[John Miller]

Capt when you say finger tight, do you mean you can pull drag with only two fingers? I went out last Friday wih my brother. We got bit 4-5 times and felt the head shakes from 3 fish, one came back with tiny musky scales. With all that action we landed zero. Hooks were razor sharp, drag pull easily wih some tension...hand tight. Bad luck i figured, but hell who knows maybe bad practice. Ive never been that great at trolling.

[John Pensyl]

Yea we usually keep drags pretty loose while trolling and tighten them down once the boat is in neutral. The big fish I lost last month I had the drag cranked down and that fish throated that bait and I think by the time I had the fish to boatside the headshakes were enough to rip the hooks free. Last night felt like a lot of the same thing, I had that fish on for more than a few headhakes and every one was violent and pulled what seemed like a very tight drag. Perchbait was back 35 when she hit and probably 20 feet when she came off. I've lost maybe 4 fish now total trolling in the river and 2 of them were with tight drags. My last 2 trips to the harbor we've had a few rips that didn't stick and that never happens to me in the river, not sure how to explain those. On clair we lose a handful each day but I always attributed that to the faster trolling speeds.

[Capt. Larry D. Jones]

i can pull drag out very easy with two fingers at the reel,but pull from the end of 30 ft of line again'st the pole and drag and not so easy!

[Capt. Larry D. Jones]

Another problem with real sharp hooks and bigger crankbaits is the hook can cut its way back out when the fish rolls and torques the bait agianst its body.That is why I only sharpen the the round point only for penetration and leave the part of the point to the barb dull.

[John Miller]

I obviously over think this, but it seems like a very loose drag wouldnt bury the hooks in the fish. I often even thumb the spool to gret the hooks in and then let drag peel out. But like i said im not so good at trolling.....i miss more than i land. Loosey goosey from now on.thanks

[John Pensyl]

I'm the same way casting, my thumb always drops to the spool on a hookset to prevent any chance of slippage and then I usually double tap em. My drags for trolling are how I'd set my drags for trolling kings on the lake with 30lbs mono but I often turn them up while ripping in a bait to clear weeds and then don't turn them back down, that was the case with the last 2 big fish I've lost.

[jojo wilczewski]

Good day my first time fishing for musky in a couple of months could not pass up the last nice night of the year. After work jumped out solo and fished 730 to 1230 and wished I did not have to sleep. It was so calm and beautiful on the river I could not believe it. It is almost never two miles an hour winds when I want to go.
Started at Townswanda island it is one of my favorite places to wish. I consider it my homeland and where many of my stories start . Last night it was a deserted wasteland. I can handle not catching anything (well sort of ) , but I cannot stand a blank screen for long. With the help of some friends: fortitude, bourbon, and Scott , I headed up the strait . I wished at the bridge shortly and then kept going thanks to the calls from Scott and his action. So I headed to Pirates the weeds were very light so I was running to running doubles. Thankfully. Then a little after midnight my second took off screaming. As i fight it she seems small and When I went to shake her off and looked down and saw a whole lot of belly. She was well fed so I figured I better get the net. 44 inch healthy girl. Did I ever tell you how much I love to run Toothy's 44 back. It worked again 17 fow fire tiger. Again thanks to my friends Scott, Toothy, fortitude and bourbon. Good luck to all Sunday for Tim Tourney, except for the cold should be a big fish game . Ala bala bala Jojo out
FYI vis 4-5
Temp 56
High in 30's Sunday
Chili is in the boat

[Scott McKee]

"Chili is in the boat."  I love it!  I like to think if Jojo had landed the Apollo 11 Eagle lunar module on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility instead of Neil Armstrong (he could do it!) I think he would have said, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The chili is in the boat. Ala bala bala."   How would Cronkite have reacted to that?  All I know is I can't wait to here Jojo announce over the VHF, "Stooges, Sheridan base here.  The chili is in the pot."

One small bowl of chili for man, one giant dum...  I'd better not finish this sentence...

[jojo wilczewski]

Ala bala bala jojoout