River Dave

Yearling muskie

This was my first ever MTB so I'm beyond thrilled. I've been eyeballing the W.P. for a while now but was having trouble pulling the trigger on a $12-$15 bait. I did the promo code for my first Mystery box so the whole thing only cost me five bucks. I couldn't believe it when I saw it in there.

Lol, you're not the only one! Can't say the same about the Banjo though, I never used them much but my dad caught a ton of fish on Banjo Minnows. He would work them like any other soft jerkbait and used to kill the bass on 'em. Now the "Walking Worm" on the other hand.........

I still catch a lot of fish on the bigger Sluggos. That's my "go to" bait for skipping docks, schooling fish (especially if they're chasing bait), and open holes in suface weeds. They definitely still work.

Nice one Lastcast! If you're where I think you are I caught one right there last year too but not near as big. Had a big girl like that to the boat in that same spot earlier in the day too. Most of the ones we get come out of the weeds in front of the beach at Beaver or right where you are there but haven't boated any big ones in years now. One of my favorite things about the River, you just never know.......

Excellent info, thanks a bunch! Killing me that I missed out on that sale but I'll get one next time.

Yea good point on Pike not even being open yet. It's been so nice this year I forget it's only March. When I've seen people like fish after ice out its usually in Canada where it's probably May or June before the ice is gone. Thanks for all the info, that's a great post because I have zero experience fishing this early. I don't usually dust off my gear until mid April and never get the boat until May. I'm thinking that will change this year (along with a lot of other things).

I have the Elite5 but it's not a Chirp (that came out the following year). I'm quite pleased with it, no issues so far. It's not the exact model you asked about so I'll defer to others for in depth reviews.

Getting the boat together already, now there's a guy after my own heart. Mine is still in storage and I doubt getting it out anytime real soon is even an option but I was wondering if there is any reasonable hope of catching fish this early in the year. Is going out now more to scratch the itch or are there really catchable fish this early? I've never tried it because I thought the water had to warm up considerably more but one thing I've learned since discoverering this website is I don't know $#!+ about fishin' and most of the things I've always thought turn out to be wrong. I was even wondering about the pike in Silver Lake and if they were something to chase early. I see the TV shows where they find them up shallow right after ice out.

Carp are always fun to catch and I am no snob when it comes to catching any fish that big. I used to live on Caz Creek in South Buffalo and caught tons of carp out of there. I've been to Hoyt Lake before but never fished it. May have to give it a shot someday.

Simple and quick, in my experience: Fish feed as the front approaches and turn off after it passes.

My dad had a great way of cooking Pike where he would cube the meat into bite sized chunks, dip in beer batter, and then deep fry them. They were delicious and the hot oil would dissolve the bones so they were never a problem. He always refered to them as "fish balls" so after a few beers the jokes would write themselves. Some of the best fish I've ever had.

I am currently running a Lowance Elite 5 sonar/DI/GPS combo that I bought new 2 years ago in the console area of the boat and would like to put a similar unit in the bow that I can see while fishing. Cabellas currently has a great deal on my unit without the GPS which would fit my needs perfectly. My question is is it OK to run the two of them together without interference? Someone suggested that I can only run one at a time or else they will interfere with each other, is this true? Also I think I would want to mount the transducer to the trolling motor but I wonder will I have to shut it off when I pull the motor up to change spots or can I just leave it running out of the water? Just a couple things I wanted to confirm before I waste a couple hundred bucks on something that won't work for me. Any advice you could give would be appreciated. Thanks.

Lake Erie and the Niagara River are both wide open now (saw two boats on the river this morning). The River has been mostly ice free for a bit but the launches were full of frozen log jams until now.

Yea I was eyeballing that too. I have that unit with the GPS mounted by the steering wheel but was looking for something to mount up in the bow. I just need to do some research and make sure I can run both. That's a great price.

No bassin' just yet but I'm hoping to drown some worms in the canal this week. Hopefully there's some bullhead or suckers in there now just so I can catch something. Supposed to be a nice week.

Looks like the fish turned on today. A couple guys seem to really have them figured out this morning.

Thoughts and prayers for you tomorrow Dwight. Get this behind you and get back to doing what you enjoy.

I'm not so sure about that. I have Verizon in upstate NY and am able to get hunting and fishing shows. The main problem I have is 90% of the shows are on either The Outdoor Channel or WFN ( World Fishing Network). The only way for me to get those channels is to order the absolute top of the line package with just about every channel there is and it's very expensive. I can still watch a dozen or so shows but most of the good ones I used to like (particularly the good hunting shows) all moved over to the specialty channels.

Please don't quote me out of context. I'm saying it's a good way to quit smoking as in quitting altogether not just trading one habit for another. The same post you took that quote from which you then used to make me sound like some pro vaping/pro asbestos (????) moron said that I think vaping is bad for you. I'm not going to fight about it on a fishing forum but I don't like the way I come off in your post.

I think vaping is a great tool to use when quitting smoking. The fact that you can actually step down the nicotine content over time to eventually wean yourself off it altogether is a huge advantage over other methods. I did the cold turkey route (17th times a charm!) but I know a few people who quit by vaping and it worked. The one thing I just don't understand in the non smoker who takes up vaping and doesn't go nicotine free. My son did this and I just don't get it, you have a way to "smoke" without the addiction and he chose to buy juice with nicotine. It took over a year but he now has himself weaned almost completely off the nicotine by stepping it down little by little. My wife quit smoking when I did and really missed the whole ritual of smoking (holding it in your hand, blowing smoke etc) so now she vapes too but with no nicotine. She enjoys it but isn't addicted so, while I would prefer she didn't do anything, it's better than smoking. I still worry that all of that moisture in your lungs can't be a good thing. I certainly don't have any hard stats but I have two sons in high school (neither of which vape to my knowledge) and they've told me that they estimate 70% of the kids in their school vape and only about 10-15% smoke cigarettes (way different than my day!).

City Limits Fishing with Ike was one of my all time favorite fishing shows. I just liked the format and a lot of it reminded me of the places I fish. He wasn't constantly hawking some product and I find him to be quite likeable most of the time. Maybe not so much when he'd throw a tantrum be it was entertaining so, in a way, even that was likeable.

Hey Lastcast I'm right out your way in West Seneca. Any good local shore spots you can share? I usually fish from a boat but when I'm short on time I'll run out by you and cast a few at Birdsong but I never catch anything decent. A whole lot of little guys but nothing over 12". I was eying up the pond at Westwood Park in Lancaster for this year but haven't been there yet. All the places I used to know in the 80's are all posted now so I dont have anywhere to go around here. Year before last I found a pond on McKinley near Southwestern but that seemed to be all small fish too. I've looked at that lake right on 277 at the park there but I think that's for O.P. residents only so I never fished it.

Awesome, thanks Clayton!