River Dave

Thanks Kevin, solid info. Hey Brett, I also have an Elite 5 from 2014. 2014 was just called "Elite", 2015 was "Elite Chirp", and now 2016 is called " Hook". They all seem to be about the same thing. I love my Elite 5.

I just bought an elite 4 but haven't gotten it yet. Can you mount one to the trolling motor and, if so, how? I've seen the little adapter with the hose clamp kit, is that really all you need?

I found the picture I was looking for the other day. This is the one my buddy caught last Spring at the overflow pond in Ellicott Creek Park. The other one she's holding is a much better representation of the average size fish there. This was a double header, she caught the little one and my friend caught the big one. Knowing him they were probably using worms at the time (like real worms, not artificial).

It figures, I'm working next weekend. This is my weekend off now, 18 degrees this morning. Lovely. I think I bought some of those Brush Hogs this year. Walmart had all Zoom baits on sale so I bought a bunch of different stuff, not even sure what all I have.

Yea I'm in that group unfortunately. I always clear out of there once the weeds come in because I didn't think you could really fish it anymore. Never did any froggin' before (at least not successfully) so never tried that back there. I'll have to give that a shot sometime this year. Funny you mentioned that, I was really thinking about going into chatterbaits and swim jigs this year for a little different look. Same basic action of what I normally throw but just a little different. I think they get wise to certain baits after a while, seems like whenever I switch it up I do really well for a little while until they catch on again. Maybe I'm over thinking it but it seems to happen every time. PS: Ever try the Chatter Sticks? I was killing pike on that in the river one year but the hooks kept breaking. Great action but horrible cheap hooks. Instead of being smart and changing the hooks I threw a tantrum and threw it in the garbage so I wouldn't be tempted to use it anymore. The fish loved it but I could never get them to the boat.

Nice one Jigger! I wish I lived 10 houses from that pond, that would be killer! I'm probably right around a half hour to forty minutes from my back door to my first cast there. Not too bad but far enough that I don't usually go unless I have several hours to kill. Tell you what though, if I was catching ones like Justjiggers I would certainly go there more often! Chris I've never caught any big Pike out of there. Mid to high 20's (inches, not pounds) seems to be the best you can hope for. I always hear stories of giants and the guy that caught the 100 pound muskie in there blah blah blah but I've never caught a pike over 30" there. I just throw small bucktails and catch pike early in the year and then bass when they move in a little later. Spinnerbaits work real good there too. One thing to watch out for there is the bottom is lined with some kind of dark liner that is almost impossible to get out of if you snag it. It's kind of a blessing and curse, it steals your lures but I think it's the reason that the water warms up so early too. That shallow water with a dark bottom is the first warm water available every year and the fish just stack up in there. The fish aren't the only ones that like it either, I swear every turtle in the canal moves in there in the Spring.

I usually do much better with numbers there rather than size but you do get some nice chunky females in there when they're spawning. Only problem is they must see 100 baits a day and get real spooky. I've caught some of the 3.5 - 4# females off the beds a few times but it's tough with all the pressure. My partner caught one probably close to 5# there last Spring but that's a fair amount bigger than anything I've ever caught there. I always have fun back there catching dozens and dozens of 13" ers on my ultralight on a good day. At one time 100 fish days were pretty common there but I haven't hit it like that in years now. It's not always good but it's still the best shore fishing spot I know of (at least in April and May).

You can park up at the top left of the picture where it says "Creekside Drive" and cross the road or down at the bottom right where it says "Park Rd" and cross the field. I usually park at the bottom right there. Yea that's it. Just a shallow overflow pond that warms up real quick in the Spring and everything from Pike to crappie run up there. Gets super weedy later in the season but sounds like it's still good even then. I never tried the frog bite there but sounds like I need to give it a try.

For you (and me) you take the 290 to the Boulevard. Turn right on the Boulevard and the park is a couple miles down on the left.

Yea I love that overflow at E.C.P. too, I swear every local guy on this forum fishes that spot. The weather doesn't show any signs of improvement in the near future but that place should just be a couple of sunny days away from turning on. Seems like the sun really warms that water up and brings all the fish in. Traditionally I seem to do best in there like the third/fourth week of April. Thought it would be earlier this year but this cold snap really screwed things up.

Man I haven't been down to Navy in years. I will occasionally run down the East River into Tonawanda but I haven't been down the West River in a good 15 years I'll bet. Used to do a lot of muskie fishing down around Navy Island when I was a teeneager but haven't fished it out of my own boat in forever. Like you said, so many good spots in the area I always go there's no real need to travel far. They never look that big in pictures but here's my nephew with a 4.8# smallie. Biggest fish to the boat last season. Right out off the beach on the G.I. shoreline.

My nephew wades down by Buckhorn for muskie and actually catches a fair amount of fish. He also fishes it from a boat when someone will take him and says it's a great muskie spot. I've never been there, I rarely go that far downstream.

That's Birdsong in Orchard Park. Land of the dinks. Hey Chris what part of the River do you guys usually fish? I always hang somewhere around the East River/West River split. Fish a lot around Strawberry/Motor Island and the Grand Island shorline by the beach. I move from time to time but I have enough spots in that area to usually stay on the fish for most of the season. I struggle early and then again in the dog days of summer but when the water temp is right we do pretty well out there.

Nice! Clayton gets a Steelie on a crawfish crankbait (gotta' be a first) and LastCast Chris nails a nice one. I'm going to try a pond I've been eying in Lancaster next week and see if I can get on the board too. Hey Chris I drove by that park on 277 in O.P. yesterday (Green Lake maybe???) and it was bone dry. No water left in there at all, looked very weird.

Down at the (North) end of Town Line Rd where it runs in to Genesee is the old Billo Rd quarries if that's what you mean. I haven't been to that place since the mid 80's but it was good then. My nephew fished it a lot up until a few years ago but I think it's posted now. Might be worth a ride the check out though, there was a lot of water back there. Here's a screenshot of Google maps, Billo Road is the one that runs across the top of the upper pond. This is the town of Millgrove between Lancaster and Clarence.

That's killer to hit a 4lber when you only had a half hour to fish, I haven't broke 4lbs on a LM in at least a couple of years. I'm also impressed with your throwing a rooster tail with a baitcaster. Nicely done! I looked at pictures from last year and the first time I fished was April first. With the mild winter I was sure I'd beat that date this year by a ton but I probably won't even make it by the first. Pretty soon though, I'm thinking this will be a good year this year.

Lastcast is on the board with BuffaloBassmaster now, nice! I still haven't been out and it's starting to get real busy around here so it will be tough to find time in the next week or two. Best I can hope for is a stolen hour at one of the local ponds. You guys are killin me

We do a lot of 1/8oz jig heads with either a 4" grub or a 4" swimbait body and catch a ton of smallies by kind of hopping them back to the boat. Reel, jerk, pause, reel, jerk, pause. They almost always hit it on the pause. I'm in Western NY. Haven't had as much luck with traditional rubber skirted jigs here other than largemouth in heavy cover.

Oh bummer, I was hoping you knew something I didn't. I would have jumped on it. PS: The Lowance Elites/Hooks are nice units. I have the 5" and love it. Havent had a Humminbird in 15 years so can't offer an opinion on those.

Where havs you seen the Striker with DV for $119? I would be all over that. I can't find it for less than $179. Standard sonar unit is $119 all over but the down view is always more.

Birdsong is a little pond in Orchard Park and is Land Of The Dinks. I don't think I've ever caught a keeper sized fish there. I saw a guy get about a 14"er there last year and be was going nuts. My buddy said he used to catch some decent fish there but they all seem to be gone now, everything in there now is 10" and even those are kind of scarce. I go there a couple times a year just because it's close for me and I can kind of go through the motions of bass fishing. Once I figured out there were only small ones in there I kind of lost interest. I'll catch little ones all day if there's a chance of a good one but it's tough to stay interested when you know you won't get anything decent. Was kind of eyeballing the pond in Westwood Park in Lancaster for this year, haven't been to that one yet.

Oh wow, great tip. Never thought of the beams crossing like that but makes perfect sense.

Uncle Josh pork rind, now that's a blast from the past. That stuff made for great trailers but it was so hard to get off the hook I stopped using it. If you left it on the hook and didn't put it back in the jar when you were done it would dry out and turn in to leather but getting it off a jig hook was near impossible. I carried a bunch of jars of it for a long time until one of them leaked all over my tackle bag and I threw it all in the garbage and switched over to the all new Gene Larew Salt Craw. PS: I also had the white with green spots, that was the worst "frog" pattern ever.

I swear I had malaria last week when the weather was so nice. I was dying to get out but ended up in bed for two days shaking and sweating with the worst fever ever. Great timing. Looks like semi-lousy weather for the rest of this week and I'm working the weekend so probably won't get out until at least Monday. Hey Lastcast do you know if Birdsong is ice free yet? First time I tried to hit it last year it was still frozen solid. My kid looked at me like I was an idiot when we pulled up. He may have been right. PS I like this thread, we'll have to keep this one alive.

Look at that, way to come out swinging! I fish the Niagara almost exclusively for smallmouth and catch a lot of really nice fish but your top 3 on the very first time out were still bigger than anything I caught last year. I'm amazed , impressed, and more than a little jealous.