River Dave

If you're a week and two days in the worst is behind you now. Not to say there won't be some epic battles of will between you and the nicotine but they will get less frequent and less intense every day. That stuff is just plain evil and will keep calling you back but, even if you do give in once or twice, the war isn't over. You can do it and you'll be amazed at how much better life is on the other side. I have way more time and money than I ever thought I would and I am now able to buy myself some really nice fishing gear. It will be four years for me this month and the first year I'd saved enough money by not smoking to buy myself a real nice rod and reel by summertime. It's not easy but quitting is SOOOO worth it.

Lol! I thought I was going to get LYNCHED the day I had my boat in that pond! I think the only thing that saved me was nobody could get out to me. All the death stares I was getting made me so uncomfortable I only stayed a few minutes and left.

Hah too late! Silver Lake here I come! ( insert evil laugh here) Hey Bassman37 Kevin I live in West Seneca. You can tell Spring is almost here, Kone King opens tomorrow.

Oh man I've seen like fifty people back there before, that place gets real crowded on nice days when the fish are in there. My buddy caught a real nice one in there last year but it was all little stuff for me. I've never tried it late in the year when it gets all weedy because I always figured the water was too warm. I'll have to try some froggin' back there some day. I actually had my boat in that place one time. My first boat was a little 16' tri-hull with a bow mount Minn Kota and was small enough to go anywhere if you lifted up the big motor. I was fishing the canal on the other side of the road and me and my buddy came up with the great idea to lift the big motor and go through those pipes with the electric. We made it through (was weird though) but the pond was too weedy to fish. Only time I've ever seen a boat in there though that's for sure.

I'm surprised there's not more guys running similar setups, seems to be either bass boats, johnboats, or kayaks with very little in between. This is my "compromise" ride. It's a great all around family boat for riding, tubing, cruising etc that I outfitted with a removable casting platform in the bow and a quick release trolling motor. I can go from fishing mode to "dad" mode in less than a minute so it's just perfect for me. This is the third boat I've rigged like this and really got it right this time. It's a '98 Bayliner Capri 1950 with a 140 Mercruiser. Bought it two years ago from a local guy who had it since new and never used it. He ran a limo company and it would sit in the garage with the limos and only got used once or twice a year. The boat is 17 years old and looks almost brand new. I love it.

Hey Dave welcome aboard! I'm just outside Buffalo so maybe I'll see you on the water this year. We're almost there now, another month or so and we should be able to get back to it!

Thanks for the info guys, I will definitely give Alice a shot this year. Fortunately I'm able to do weekdays so hopefully I can avoid some of the crazy......I hate crazy... Little worried about that launch and what looks like a lack of parking for the truck/trailer but the docks and lillypads sound wonderful. Those are two things I never get to fish out on the Niagara. Now I'm depressed too! Almost over, few more weeks to go!

Hey welcome to Buffalo! I think all of the still water will still be frozen so you'll have to stick to creeks for now. Bass are tough this time of year but, if you're desperate, you could probably pull some bullheads out the canal or Ellicott Creek. My "go to" spot just after ice out is just up from Ellicott Creek Park where Robinson Road crosses Niagara Falls Boulevard. There's a little park right across from Deerwood golf course that has a small boat launch and a wall you can fish off. I've caught bass and pike there but never this early. Best early bass spot is the overflow pond in Ellicott Creek Park (where the pipes go under the road forming a pond). Shallow water with a dark bottom so it warms up fast and draws in all kinds of fish in April and May. Gets weed choked late in the season but it's great early. I don't know about bass but I've always been told there's great Pike fishing in early spring at the Ship N Shore resuraunt (it's on Google maps). It's out near Ellicott Creek Park where a few creeks come together. I've never had much luck but the locals swear by it. Another one out near UB you can try is a place called Dann Lake. I haven't been there yet but I've heard it's pretty good there for bass and Pike. It's out at the end of the 990 almost where Millersport hits Transit Road. Do a Google search and you'll find it. I haven't tried it yet but it's on the list for this Spring. Good luck!

Looks like my old Sonny Walkman cassette player

Western New York Outdoor Show and Expo at the Hamburg Fairgrounds next weekend. Anyone else plan on attending? It's not that good of a show anymore but it's only 15 minutes from home so we go every year. Nothing else to do this time of year and the show scratches the itch a little bit. PS: Schroon Lake, real pretty area there. Love that place but never fished it.

Hey Clayton how is the launch at Alice? I have a 19.5' in real nice shape, is there anywhere to launch a boat like that without beating it up? I drove over two hours once to a small lake that only had a dirt ramp with no dock. If I'd been alone I would have had to come home but luckily my dad was with me so he sat in the boat while I launched and then I waded out to him. One of the previous posts mentioned a "horrific launch" at Lake Alice which scared me a bit.

This is a tough one for me but I now find my morals seem to ebb and flow with my appetite. I hadn't kept a fish in over 20 years and was one of those preachy annoying types who wouldn't even let other people in the boat keep fish (" go buy your own boat blah blah blah...."). It was a real point of pride for me and I was very serious about it. A couple of years ago we rented a cottage on the lake for our family vacation and I wanted my kids to experience the same vacations I had growing up with fresh fish for dinner so I broke my streak and fried up some fresh perch and was it ever tasty. Felt funny to actually kill a fish on purpose but I got over that pretty quickly and really enjoyed the whole experience of feeding the family with something I caught myself. That was just the first of many fish dinners we've had and there is nothing like fresh fish thats never even seen a refrigerator. So far I've only kept perch but I would love some fresh walleye sometime. Still don't know if I could keep a bass though, I think I would still feel funny about that but I never really liked bass anyway.

It's all about the hit. The feeling of that first tug when it could be almost anything at the other end of the line, that split second before you know it's a dink, that's the most exciting part. Luckily you get that same quick rush no matter what size you're catching, that's the fun part. I'm in Western New York and we're still all frozen up here so I'm jealous of you're little guys, I'd be real happy with those right about now.

I've been to Glenwood three times now and never caught much. I was always under the impression (because that's what I was told) that we were at Lake Alice each time but now, after looking at Google maps, I realize we were actually at Glenwood Lake. I wasn't impressed so don't feel the need to return but now Lake Alice is on my radar for this year because, despite what I thought all those years, I've never been there.

It's amazing how much you bleed after a Pike or muskie gets you, I almost wonder if your bodies way of rinsing the fish slime out of the cut. Sure makes a mess though. One of the most dangerous things on a muskie or a larger Pike is the raker teeth on the roof of their mouth. If you get your fingers up in the gills and aren't careful those rakers will make the back of your fingers look like hamburger when they get to thrashing. Unfortunately that's the voice of experience talking there. Having said that I still love catching Pike and spend a fair amount of time specifically targeting them. It is annoying to have a 14" pickerel straighten the wire on a $6 spinnerbait but most of that stuff is fixable and I will never grumble about catching too many fish. I love catching toothy critters.

Wow, that is what I would look like if I was a fish.

I had some time to kill before work this morning and stopped at my regular launch on the upper Niagara River in Tonawanda. Looked like something straight out of "Deadliest Catch". We had wind blowing close to 40 straight upriver making things particularly nasty. All the ice had blown to my side of the river and way the rollers moved through the ice pack looked pretty wild. From what I could see from the Thruway this end of Lake Erie is all locked up. Could be loose stuff getting blown up against the ice boom but all I could see was ice. Tough year, cold enough to have enough ice that you can't " regular" fish but too warm to have solid ice for ice fishing.

Ooohh I like that idea, that's a great challenge. I throw an ultralight spooled with 6lb mono about half the time I'm fishing and catch a lot of 3 pounders with the occasional 4. I've never caught any bass over 6lb with it but my PB smallmouth is right at 6lbs and was caught on the ultralight and I once caught a 36" Northern with it. I absolutely love big fish on light tackle. ......I suppose I should also add that there are limits to my whole "big fish on light tackle" statement. I was having so much fun with the ultra a few years back that I decided to downsize to a micro. Worked great for a while and I landed some 1.5 - 2 pounders and even a few pickerel with it but it broke the first time I hooked a Northern. I guess there are limits

Wow you guys are all great, thanks. I think I will definitely run into you on Silver Lake and may even take you up on your very generous offer sometime Farmer. I have to admit your posts are what drew my eyes towards Silver Lake in the first place, I had written that place off as a panfish lake years ago. Ummm.......apparently I was very mistaken. When I was younger I used to go down there with a buddy and for $20 you could rent a rowboat for the day. We never caught much so I gave up on the place (much like I gave up on Chautauqua and Coneseus because "they all sucked") After finding this forum a month or so ago I've come to the realization that it's not the lakes that sucked it was me. I haven't been back to any of these places in over 20 years so this year's plan is to revisit some of these lakes and see if I can improve my record a bit. If nothing else it will be nice to get out of the current of the Niagara for a while and trade the factory lined shorline for some trees for a day. It's funny, all these years I thought I had to drive 2+ hours to get to anyplace decent (other than Lake Erie or the River) and guys are catching great fish all around me.

I think that looks great for a first boat, certainly miles above my first one and, you're right about that price, seems like a steal to me. If it floats and the motor runs you've done very well. The gelcoat on my last boat was super oxidized when I bought it and it came right back with some 3M rubbing compound I picked up at West Marine. My boat went from looking like chalk to nice and shiny in a couple of hours. I'm at work now so can't tell you exactly what the stuff was but it came in a blue bottle and said "for heavily oxidized surfaces" on it. You mentioned a new trolling motor and, if you're on a budget, the best deal I found was the 50# Minn Kotta Powerdrive V2 at Cabellas for like $400. There are certainly better (and much more powerful) units out there but I bought mine last year and it works great. I have a much heavier boat than you so I was a little worried about being under powered but that hasn't been a problem at all so far. It will pull my 19' bowrider upstream in the Niagara River which says a lot. Just throwing that out there as an alternative to the big expensive ones. At any rate great boat and good luck to you next season.

My main goal for the year, other than enjoying it, is to fish some new water. I swear I fish the same spots so many times each year the local fish know me by sight. This year I really want to fish some of the smaller local lakes which will also allow me to work on some new techniques. #2 would be to learn how to fish deeper water. #3 is to break 5lbs (green or brown). Almost impossible to do where I usually go but sounds very realistic for some of the new lakes I've been trying up. I've done it several times in the past but its probably been over ten years now because I always fish the same place.

Thanks for the welcome guys. Yea Darren Bills fan for sure. As a long time fan you know that some years are easier than others. The 2-14 era was rough but this was a great year to be a Bills fan. Lots of excitement and even a glimmer of hope for the future. Hopefully the fishing will be as good as the football!

OK here goes, first post from the new guy. My name is Dave and, while I'm new to the forum, I've been fishing since I was a little kid. I live just outside Buffalo NY so have access to a lot of great water. At one time or another I think I've fished every creek, lake, and puddle in the area but these days I fish the upper Niagara River almost exclusively. I can be on the water in under 30 minutes and do very well out there most of the time. The heavy current definitely limits your choice of presentation however so this year I'm hoping to branch out a little and revisit some of the area lakes that I haven't fished in years. The past couple of summers we rented a place on Cayuga Lake for a week and it was heaven. I would definity like to fish that lake again. My current rig is a Bayliner Capri 1950 all set up with a removable casting platform in the bow and a quick release trolling motor. I can go from fishing mode to "dad" mode in a couple of minutes so its a great family boat. If you're on Silver, Coneseus, or maybe even Chautauqua Lake this summer you'll probably see me. I'll be the fat guy in the Bayliner that wants to be a Ranger.