Have you ever used the word hate in a sentence and had someone listening respond with, “hate is a strong word”?  Know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that in this next sentence I am completely aware that hate is a strong word.  I HATE…

He is fond of ending his articles from time-to-time with a paraphrased John F. Kennedy quote: Ask not what the River can do for you, ask what you can do for the River.  He is the living embodiment of what he hopes to convey with these words.  When it comes to hands-on work in the River by one of our members, Joe Wilczewski trumps us all, and he always…

Hi Team,

Longtime NMA member Ken's Szymanski's daughter Stephanie has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease.  Friends of the Szymanski family are holding a benefit to help with the medical costs incurred and for future treatments.  The benefit will be held on Saturday, September 14 at the Lancaster Elk's Lodge (33 Legion Parkway in Lancaster) from 6 to 10PM.  Tickets are $20.

The club will be donating a basket to their Chinese auction and will purchase three tickets to the benefit. …

WoW! I fish for one eleven hour day and I miss more activity in that time that the site has ever had.  In fact there are five members on-line right now and it's almost 11PM.

 It's too bad that some of the posts are trying to cast a shadow over what is without a doubt a 50" musky caught from our beloved Niagara.  Cullen's fish is glorious!  It is a cause for celebration!  It gives me hope.  It motivates me to fish better, longer and harder.  It strengthens my resolve to be ready when…

Jon MacSwan, our president for eleven of the club’s seventeen years of existence, was guilty of taking hard working members for granted and so am I.  I remember a board meeting years ago when Jon asked Tony Scime to accomplish some task and then capped off his request by saying, “that’s easy right?”  Tony replied with a resounding, “No!  It’s not!”  Tony was at the end of his rope.  He may have been a bit burned out with the club at the time and he gave the impression that he was going to…

I’ve owned a lot of fishing reels over the years.  Trolling, baitcasting, spinning, fly, expensive, cheap, new, used, etc..  I’ve had a few reels I’ve relied on for years and years and a lot more that haven’t even lasted a season.  When I picked up the Club’s new Shimano Tranx from Frank Stachowiak this afternoon my jaw hit the ground.   Wait until you see this bad boy.  It is a monster.  It would scare Godzilla.  The picture of the Tranx in September’s newsletter does it no justice at all. …

I’m about as handy repairing fishing reels as I am accustomed to travelling to the moon.  I don’t have the skills, patience or knowledge required for this delicate process.  Fortunately there is a member of our Club who is the Neil Armstrong of reel repair.  Chris Kempf, owner of Chris’ Reel Repair, gave a very interesting and informative talk tonight at our meeting.  He thoroughly convinced me and most in attendance that we don’t know what we’re doing and he does.  I would have enough parts…

Our annual Picnic was held today on the shores of the mighty and majestic Niagara River at Beaver Island State Park under the Marina Shelter.  I think I can speak for everyone who attended; it was a very nice, family oriented event and the food was fantastic.

Let’s start with the “Thank you’s”.  First and foremost I have to thank Jiggin’ Joe Wilczewski for cooking for us once again.  Today marked the seventeenth time Joe has prepared lunch for us at the Picnic.  Once again, that’s…

I don't know if this happens to you, but I know it hits Joe Wilczewski and me hard.  Of course I’m talking about Musky Insomnia (MI).  I get so damn excited before an early morning on the River that I can’t sleep.  Joe always says his alarm clocks are set to keep him in bed and not the other way around; their common usage.  I am going fishing at 5 AM.  I went to bed at 11:30 and I've slept for an hour-and-a-half.  When I awoke I checked my phone hoping to see 4:45, only to see 1:00. …

Here's a post from Capt. Larry from his site.  Keep your eyes and ears open and please contact Larry if you hear anything about his stolen equipment.  Thanks.

Yesterday I stopped at Walmart in Jamestown,NY to purchase groceries after fishing. I never noticed anything missing,the trolling rods were all there as was all tackle boxs when I came out.When I got to camp I locked the lockers and put the cover on the boat.This morning I uncover the boat and decide to put away the…

It reminded me of Marc Arena's fish from Caney Creek at the PMTT in Cave Run in 2003.  Marc and Rod Ballard were up against it when Marc Caught a 41" to tie for fourth place in the event on the last day.  With one minute to spare, at 11:59 AM this morning a young man was heard screaming and was bolting for the weigh-in station (a pagoda and picnic tables) at the Old Homes Days' Kids Fishing Derby at Island Park in Williamsville, as most of the competitors were waiting for the final results. …

I once had July Madness.  I stayed at a lake in northern New York and only ate pike from a lake with high levels of mercury.  At the end of month long stay I started eating the fish from the lake raw.  I ate their heads, bones, skin... everything. Also, I found this ring on my first day there and was referring to the fish as "My Precious". This didn't really happen, but I needed a hook to get you interested.  A hook about as dull a Monster Tube's you've snagged ten times and haven't touched…

Big thanks to Tony Scime, Scott Kitchen, Jim Kinner, Hope & Gary Melnyk, Mark Wozniak, Carl Schenk, Mike Fortunate, Mike Jones, Chris & TJ “L’il Hercules” Clark for helping out with the tent set-up tonight.  We erected the tent in a new location at the Rose Garden this year so we wouldn’t upset the newly manicured grove, complete with bocce ball court level grounds and beautiful hanging gardens that are paled only by Babylon’s.  Wait until you see the place!  You won’t believe your…

I've noticed that the appearance of our site is altered and certain functions don't work correctly when I use Internet Explorer to view it.  I contacted Ning about this and they suggested I use Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser to access our site.  I gave it a try and it seems to load our new toy a lot faster and things are where I've placed them.  Another nice feature of Firefox is its spell cheqer, I mean checker.  Click here to…

It’s not strange for me to receive what you may call “weird” text messages.  For example my brother sends me pictures of wrestling action figures (read: dolls) posing around town, his house and climbing on Tasha, his Siberian husky.  I’ve always said that text messaging excels in distributing absurd non-sequiturs.  Today Mike Fortunate sent me a rather bizarre series of messages.  Have you ever dieted with a group of friends?  It can be easier when you know there are others monitoring your…

I would like to thank everyone who attended our 18th Annual Awards Banquet tonight.  Our new digs at the Pearl at the Webb were fantastic.  It is a really nice place.  Thanks to Josh and Julie Ketry, and the staff at Pearl for running such a wonderful event. The food was great, the drinks were just as good or better, or so I've been told.

We had about eighty or so in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy the…

Is anyone still using fluorocarbon leaders?  Do you think muskies are leader shy?  They don’t seem to mind the three 7/0 hooks on my Perchbaits and Believers or the 9/0's on my Plows.  You are only kidding yourself if you think a musky can’t bite through fluorocarbon.  Don’t leave a lure imbedded in a musky.  Please use single strand stainless steel leaders.    Do you think they won’t hit a lure with a steel leader?  I’ve had them follow my propeller while the boat moved forward with the…

The last newsletter bled into the banquet brochure and the brochure bled into the meeting and the meeting bled into the show and the show bled into welcoming new members and I still haven’t started April’s newsletter and the Web site always needs work.  Today I didn’t care.  Today is the first day in weeks I haven’t spent the majority my day working on “musky stuff.”  I’m feeling a little guilty because of this, so I thought I’d post a blog.  I have a ton of things that need to get done; I…

I had the pleasure of spending the day with Mark Wozniak, and Pooner this evening, at the Erie County Sport & Travel Expo. Frank Stachowiak, Dayton Kane, Larry Jones and Bob Hey all hung out around the booth as well. The problem with that is that we stop talking to the masses and spend our time telling stories. Oh well. It’s a problem I would rather have.

We signed up three new members, two of whom were members in the past. The brand spanking new member already has a pair of…

I think it was a vodka / tonic?  In fact I’d bet on it.  It was probably my eleventh or twelfth that day.  Sometime just before midnight, just as the joint was getting ready to close, I had my last alcoholic beverage.  That was two years and a day ago.  The months leading up to that day were pretty scary for me.  I knew something was wrong with my heart, but I didn’t want to really admit it to myself and I sure as hell didn’t want to go to a doctor and find out I was…