Pygmy

Yeah... All but one of the 8-9 strikes Had had yesterday were within a few feet of the bottom. The bait ( smelt,sawbellies) tends to stick close to the bottom this time of the year, so that's where the trout are. I don't have a depthfinder for icefishing, but I am pretty familiar with depths all over Keuka due to fishing open water with my boat and depthfinder. My method is to drop the jig to the bottom, reel up a couple of cranks, and then snap jig for a few minutes. Many of the hits come after you snap the rod while the lure is fluttering back down, so you have to be alert for ANYTHING that feels "different" because it is probably a trout. I frequently reel the lure back up to the surface, which can trigger hits from fish that happen to be suspended higher up in the water column. Often in cold water you can catch large numbers of lakers if you find a school concentrated near bottom. Last year in early April, a friend and I landed 45 legal sized lakers in 3 hours in about 130 FOW near Hammondsport, fishing open water. That day it took longer to get the lure to the bottom than it did to get a strike after it got down there !

I fished Keuka yesterday out of the state park at Branchport. It was my first time fishing for lakers through the ice. There were at least 100 fishermen on the ice. Fishing was slow, but I managed to land two lakers and my partner got one. I also hooked thre others that I did not land. We were fishing in about 150 feet of water. I was jigging a one oz. silver diamond jig.

What's the difference between Mick Jagger and a Scotsman ? Mick Jagger says " HEY, YOU ,get off of my CLOUD ".. The Scotsman says " HEY, MACLOUD, get off of my EWE "....

Here's one of my favorites.. "The Professionals" with Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance.. Win model 97s, '03 Springfields, Mausers, Browning water cooled MG,s Vickers Mgs, various Winchester levers, 1911 Colts, various vintage Colt and S&W revolvers and I'm sure I have missed some.

Yeah..Hawkeye reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger, except he's a lot better looking and taller, and has longer hair, and is a much better shot and has a much hotter girlfriend than I ever had. Other than that, we are pretty similar.

Oh yeah...The one armed deputy in Unforgiven carried a Remington 1873 Revolver as one of the 3 handguns he packed ( with only one arm). A great line from that movie...Another deputy asked him why he had 3 guns and only one arm.. His reply was " I don't want to get killed for the lack of shooting back". Unfortunately for him, it didn't work..Clint dropped him with the Schofield and finished him off with the Spencer..

Oops.. Just looked it up..Clint's revolver ( which he could hit NOTHING with) was an 1858 Starr....

I can't post picts, but "Unforgiven" was pretty authentic.. There was S&W Scofield revolver, a Spencer carbine, and a nice assortment of colt single actions, a Winchester '73 or two, and the revolver that Clint Eastwood carried, which I have not taken the time to identify.. Oh yeah...The tavernkeeper " Skinny" also displayed a colt percussion revolver, either a Navy six or an Army 44...

Great stuff, Wildcat...I loved the eye candy in that movie myself.. Another film with a good array of historically correct firearms was " The Wild Bunch" with William Holden, Earnest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, and and some other fine western stars.. On the OTHER hand... There have been SOOOO many screwups involving firearms..." Guadalcanal Diary", where the weapon in a Jap machinegun nest was a Thompson SMG mounted on a post where the magazine connected... " The Blue Max"....WWI German troops were shown being strafed by Allied planes..They were armed with British SMLE #4 rifles which were not even issued to BRITISH troops until 20 years later. And then there is one of my favorite WWII films.." Bridge on the River Kwai"... Japanese personnel in the prison camp were armed with British SMLEs, Sten guns, and a Vickers machine gun. I always wondered if that COULD be historically correct, because the Japs captured a lot of British ordinance after the surrender of Singapore, but I always suspected that it was due to technical ignorance of the film producer. I also remember a film, the title escapes me, which supposedly took place during the Mexican revolution prior to 1920..One of the federalista troppers was armed with an M1 Garand, which wasn't invented until at least 15 years after that.

For many years I shared opening day with a group of friends.. We always had a little contest. The rules were, we fished in 2 man teams, ten dollars per man. Whatever team turned in the LONGEST trout took all the money. The trout had to come from the Cohocton River OR one of it's tributaries, which covers quite a lot of water We would all meet at a predetermined time and place, measure the fish and settle up, and then drink beer and play poker the rest of the day. Usually, it took a 18" to 20" fish to win the contest. About half the guys who used to fish the contest are dead now. One fellow moved to Florida and another is no longer physically able to fish the streams.. My partner for years died a year and a half ago.. I miss him..He always got really excited over opening day, even when he was in his 60s... It will never be the same...

I icefished on Keuka today...First time I have ever caught lake trout through the ice... On the way home, going south along Waneta and Lamoka lakes and Bradford Pond, we saw flock after flock of robins...Dozens of them...

Ya mean the old PADRE ?? He don't sceer ME none...Hyuk, hyuk,hyuk....<<BELCH>>....<< FART !!>>...

I have also heard the 9.3 x 62 referred to as a " .35 Whelen on steroids"....

I had an uncle who went to med school and became a gynecologist. He had to give it up because he was developing tunnel vision.

Now THAT is funny, Water rat...hehehehehe...

" A capable thumper but manageable"...That's a perfect description of the 9.3 x 62, db.. The chambering IS experiencing an increase in popularity here in the states. There are a number of factory loads available. Some of it is high priced stuff like Norma, but there are also some reasonably priced factory loads available like Prvi Partisan.

Geeze, Growie...Did you have trouble holding a job ?? Just kidding, Girlfriend..Sounds like you had a good mix of life experiences..

My Uncle Lance worked at a hosiery mill as a Sock Tucker... Then he got a job at a barrel bunging factory as a Cork Socker.. Then he finally found the job of his dreams, working at Pink Willies Massage Parlor and Bath House as a...Geeze..I can't remember his job title..

DAMN..!! I never thought of that... Thanks, Dom... Now I'm thinking of all of those left handed NAILS I have thrown out over the years... That's why I frequent these forums...I learn so much...

Here's an odd thing, Dom... I am right handed, but my favorite tool is a left handed, metric crescent wrench..

Never been called a cracker, but I have been called a honkey and a gringo. I have a long time friend ( an educator) whose politics are extremely liberal.. I call him a " pinko commie faggot" and he calls me a "Nazi Redneck". We long ago we decided to agree to disagree. He once asked me if I would shoot a 16 year old for coming in my house and stealing my tv set. I told him that I would give the little scumbag a good 3 or 4 seconds to GENTLY put the set down and leave before I blew his wretched guts all over my living room.

I am a strong right hander, but my ex wife and my daughter are both southpaws. I used to tease them about being "handicapped"....Hehehehe....

You mean you're a bovinegynecologist ? 1900 cows...That's a LOT ...Holstiens ?..

Hehehehe..I don't GOT no Glocks... I simplified my handgun selection... All revolvers, all Smith&Wesson...