Tuckman

People who do this enough get a bad reputation. The worst thing a tournament fisherman can have is a bad rep.

I have a '94 285 pxl with a 150 rude' intruder on back, the boat is awesome, I have had it for years and just love it. Awesome hull design. Very limited on luxury features though. I just bought a newer triton tr186 with a 150 optimax because I wanted better gas milage, hydo steering, and all that new luxury stuff. My old stratos spanks the triton by a good 5mph, and rides the rough water better. I am already thinking about returning to stratos full time again. I love the 294pxl EVO's. I rode in one with a 200hpdi that just plain (chine)walked away from boats powered with 250's on back.

For an 18'-19' boat I would highly recommend a Silverado with the 4.8liter or the 5.3 V8.(or a similar truck) If you need room get one with an extended/crew cab. I tow(and I tow a LOT) a Tr186 with an 2005 1500 with the 4.8 liter. Tows the rig great and I get 18+mpg towing on the highway. My buddy tows another 18.5 foot boat with his 5.3 liter and gets 18+ mpg as well. We both get 20+ when not towing. If you tow with a midsize SUV you may end up getting pushed around by the boat and thats a bad situation. I've also seen smaller SUV's/Trucks just plain cr@p the bed after a year or two towing boats that they are not made to handle. Good Luck! 8-)

Caught This Muskie on a trap in a bass tourny on Waneta Lake a few years ago...It seems like I hook at least one big muskie every year while bass fishing but most just break me off. Now that I throw mostly braid maybe that will change.

J Francho, I also have the 18th off from work to practice on Keuka if your interested. I recently transplanted to Rochester from the Watkins Glen area so I am looking for some new fishing partners in the area. I fish open tournaments about every wknd from the opener up until bow season.

I'm planning on hittin up sodus on saturday if any of you Rochester guys want to ride along...as long as you like frogs and jigs Its looking like I may need a partner for an opening day tourny on keuka on the 19th as well. 8-)

Well, I finally got out on the lake this year. I did not get to fish much at all last year, I had graduated from school and had to move out of NY and my hometown in the Finger Lakes region to take a job in Mass...While working out there I was able to find a good job back in the upstate NY area and moved back last fall. I moved my boat in a few weeks ago and things are looking promising for the upcoming season. A long Turkey season has severely delayed my bass fishing this year but I finally got out this past weekend. This years first trip out was on Keuka and I launched out of Penn Yan. Me and my buddy had lunch money on the first fish(and the most, and biggest!!!!)(I like to eat well) so while I was idling the boat out of the canal he was tossing a senko around some trees leaning off the bank. So he hooked up on this little squealer that shook off and I decided I better not risk him taking my money so I cut the big engine and decided to flip the rest of the way out of the canal. A couple of pitches up into a huge willow tree that was hanging into the water and I felt a tap on my beaver and popped this mamma. Had to pull her up and over some serious squirrel habitat but with 50lb power pro it went pretty smooth. For me at least. My buddy was in such a rush to get his line back in the water that he snapped this glamour shot before I was ready and called it good.(I have better poses)(FYI I was pulling my hat out of the rally position). Anyways we went out on the main lake and fished hard all day, it was pretty tough out there. The water was dead calm, crystal clear, and still in the 50's and most fish were still out deep, but we ended up catching 15 between the two of us. Most of them were shorts...My buddy ended up catching a few more while I was idling back in through the canal that put him over the top for most fish. My first held as the biggest. All in all a great start to the season.

Chuck Norris knows the wrong way to eat a reeses Chuck Norris is an organ doner. Just never his own Chuck Norris said hello to Tony Montana's little friend oh yea...and what was going through the minds of all of Chuck Norris' victims before they died? - His shoe

This NY Smallie was only 20.5" long and weighed 6.3 on the cull-em-rite. As the picture shows It was a true square. I caught her while she was putting on the feed bag for winter

Paul, The 10lbrs swimming around in the Waneta Lamoka Canal have reached legendary status up here. Lamoka has been putting multiple seven pound(summer) bass on the Red Cross Reeling for Relief tournament board for the last 2 years though...and that same 7lb fish with eggs in the spring is getting up there I have found that the Sanders Fishing Guide to be made up primarily of tackleshop banter that has been circling NY tackle shops for the last 3 decades and embellished accordingly. That being said in one of the recent BASSMASTER magzines a NY angler is proudly hoisting his "11.7Lbs" "state record" NY bass in the lunker pages. 8-)

I did not type it up as clearly as I should have. Not all of that 30% going into the water in raw fuel form, but it is not being consumed by the motor either. Much of this unburned gas and oil ends up in vapor form so it isn't always left in the water, but it still ends up in the environment. The 30% number was not just made up either...do some research.

The EFI motors are more efficient than the carbed motors, but not nearly as efficient as direct injection. The numbers I have found show that DI motors are able to burn effectively 97-99% of the fuel, leaving very little emiitted into the environment

Thanks Todd...Im actually giving my stratos 285 to my little brother...he turned 16 and got his permit this winter and should be driving by bass season and he loves to do tournaments so I'm leaving it up to him to keep the family name in the money at cayuta and waneta lamoka...I will be around for a few of the home tournaments but I will be out on the bigger lakes for the most part this season. Hows your new rig?

Hey guys, I have been looking for a new boat for a while now. My 94' stratos 285pxl with a 150 'rude intruder on back has been a great boat for me but now I am finally out of school, have a solid job and am ready to move on to another boat. I am not really interested in getting a larger boat, mostly just a more modern rig with updated electronics. With the trend in fuel prices I have decided I would be perfectly happy with a boat with another 150 on back and I will not go larger that a 200. (My 150 intruder is getting less then 3mpg) Most of the lakes around here have 45 mph speed limits anyway The first thing I noticed in my boat search is how much more expensive boats with direct injected motors tend to run. I started to research the difference in carbed vs DI outboards and what I have found out has been a real eye opener to me. It seems that research shows that with a carb motor aprox 30% of the fuel is unused and is emmitted into the water. This number is staggering to me. I have decided that I will now gladly be paying the extra 2 grand for a DI motor to protect the waters that provide me with so much enjoyment. Any thoughts on this?

Well then Todd, I am claiming 50% credit on your catch, which is a pretty good day of fishing for someone who diddnt even get out of his office all day!!! :) What amazes me is that try and find a 3lb largemouth on seneca lake in the summer...it isn't likely at all....yet there are 5, 6, even 7lb fish that can be caught in front of cargill (and at the dreseden plant) right from ice out until spawn, then the lake turnes into the dead sea until october. Did you get your new boat? Hows that rig running?

Was this hot action down at the Cargil Salt warm water discharge?

I love carolina rig...it very underrated...I have had one tied on in the boat for the last 5 years straight...My setup is 50lb power pro braid to a 1/2 tungsten weight and instead of a bead i use another 1/8-1/2 tungsten weight. With the braid you will not have to worry about breaking off the expensive weights and the knot will not be damaged from friction. From the weights down I then have a high quality swivel, a 2ft 12-14lb flouro leader and a yum dinger(100% of the time), which is lighter than a senko and flat out catches fish. I fish a white, black or junebug dinger depending on water color. With this setup and a quality rod you can literally feel a fish fart near your bait, and you can get a sick hookset on a with a ton of line out in deep water. I use a 7'H rod and a fast reel to get that fish moving to the boat fast. Two of my tactics- I drag it on rock points and flats. When I get it into the area that I feel is holding the fish I shake the rig in place, with those two tungsten weights you ran raise up a crawfish convention sized racket down there. I also stroke the c-rig alot...I rig the dinger wacky on the c-rig and lengthen the leader to up to 3 feet and drop down to 1 lighter(1/2-3/4oz) weight. let it hit bottom, then drag it a bit and pop it up, let it settle for a few seconds, drag it a little bit then stroke it again...with this technique you area literally getting that deadly dinger drop a dozen time in each cast, and in a zone that has not yet been alienated by the wacky rig yet. This is a great technique for someone(me) that thinks that big flutter spoons are better for chucking at jet skiers then catching bass.(the c-rig is also great for chucking at jet skiers but lacks the accuracy and kenetic energy of a spoon) As far as getting gunk on your bait, the c-rig has always been a hard bottom type of presentation for me. Hope some of this helps and good luck!!!

The most important thing in the personal training field is to get the right certification. You can literally get a certification on ebay these days if you want to. Some of my friends went through the cheap and easy courses, and got nothing out of it but a piece of paper. I have taken an ACE personal Training preparation course offered through my college a few years ago, and it was great. I ended up going in another career direction when I graduated but some of my classmates went on to be personal trainers. The ACE certification test is extremely hard and comprehensive. Based off of the experience of my friends and classmates, it seems how successful you are depends first on the type of client you are able to target. If you live in or around a bigger city or a richer area you can make alot of money. If you live out in the boonies or in a conservative area then your prob not going to strike it rich. The personal training field is booming right now, and it is a job that you get out what you put into it. (just like all jobs) As far as physical education goes who doesnt want to be a gym teacher?...One problem is that it is extemely competitive job field with fairly limited pay. One of my friends has been job hunting for a physical education job for over a year. I know that when a position openes up in many of the schools, there may be upwards of 100(qualified) people applying for the same job...all this for a job with a starting salary around 30k/year(but summers off to bass fish ) Good Luck!!!

well, good luck then, we used throw hair jigs and jerkbaits in there in march. The best day is a sunny afternoon and if they are in there you will see schools of them (largemouth) cruising around the water discharge. Fishing from the bank is almost an advantage because the bank is high enough that its like sight fishing from a treestand, plus it sounds like you wont have to keep looking over your shoulders for angry groundskeepers like we used to have to do...you should haul a canoe down to the big state pond on texas hollow and give that a try, it used to be great early in the year out on those stumps in the middle, but it was getting so shallow the last few years that any winter it could freeze to the bottom and kill all the fish. I have not been down there in a few years to check it out...I will be back in town for the watkins fishing show in a few weeks, so I will see you down there

Todd, getting out on the lake this early is not going to save you from me taking your money all season long. If your fishing off the pier try a hair jig with a tiny chunk or gulp trailer, but if you really want to catch fish this early on seneca your best bet to find a way to get to that warm water discharge from the cargill salt plant. It is very hit or miss but at least its not a total miss like 99% of Seneca lake tends to be. Personaly I would go after steelhead for a few more weeks, Cayuta will be iced off in a couple weeks and is awesome directly after ice out. Thanks in advance for your tournament entry fee money.

In clear water I like to use a technique I call senko bombing, I make a really high, really long cast with a wacky rigged junebug dinger and let it make a big splash...in clear water the fish can see the disturbance from a long ways off and will often swim over to investigate, and anytime that bass and senko meet the potential for a strike is there

I love fishing cayuga, the bass in my avatar are actually part of a big bag I caught on cayuga in a team bass tournament. I lived in watkins glen in the finger lakes my entire life until this spring when I had to move to Mass for a job. The last two years on cayuga have been phenomenal, you cant go wrong fishing the deep weedlines around frontenac island, every point with weeds on it from Wells college up can be great but it seems like every tournament is won by someone fishing deep weeds from farleys point by the island in union spring up through the barge channel that runs through the north end weedbed. by July the fish will be postspawn and back out deep, my best all around bait for cayuga is a weightless blue pearl senko on a long cast and letting it sink forever or carolina rig it to get it down to the fish, the bass in cayuga will be down 12-20ft in the summer...dark colored jigs and grape worms are also very good out there, as well as spinnerbaits with a clear/flash skirt and big willowleaf blades. hope that helps a bit

thanks for the info, Ghow It looks like otis and congamond are goin to be my go to lakes out here, and I am a tourny fishing finatic so I would love to find out how to get into local tournies. I dont have my/a boat out here yet because I have been living in a hotel down in Milford goin through training the last few weeks...This is actually my first week working in Westfield I would like to get some fishing in this wknd though if I find time. I am still busy getting moved in up here. thanks again

I just moved out of NY to Mass, but Chautauqua is/was about my fav inland lake in NY Id say they are def late prespawn still...the males will be right up near the bank by now, but you got a week before the females come up, prob peak early the 2nd week in june. just an edu guess tho

Thanks for the input guys, I have been looking up all the lakes and there are tons of small lakes that look pretty good...I even got my hands on a little motor that should be perfect for some of these smaller ponds. T-2000, I actually could see Seneca lake from my house...I grew up just outside of Watkins Glen on the south end of Seneca Lake, IMO Bass fishing on Seneca lake in the summer should be avoided at all cost lol, there are plenty of smallies in Seneca but after they spawn they are extremely hard to find...in the the last few weekend series tournies out there seems like maybe 3 guys break 10lb bags. In June and in October Seneca can have a great bite though....On the other hand Cayuga, Keuka, and Canadaigua lakes are very close to Geneva and are all awesome bass fisheries all season. Thanks again for the input guys