wolc123

Just nailed a 10” perch so it looks like the smallmouth bass nest robbers are not going to be set free.

This 17” liked the downed white pine and the tiny jig . It’s the only bass I caught near that wind-downed tree so far this weekend. We need some largemouth bass in this lake.

No perch yet this morning, just (7) minutes 11-14” smallmouth bass on the little jig. I did just get a “legal” catch though. Thad only my second of those in 10 years on this lake. My perch in that time might total a dozen. Certainly my smallmouth bass numbers here are over a thousand. Only other fish was a big lake trout about 7 years ago (thru the ice). I will toss that sunny in the cage with the perch and if I can get one more of either , over the next couple hours, I will fillet them for my mother in law.

I just looked it up and you are correct in that it is the great lakes and maybe also the st Lawrence and Niagara rivers (not sure on those). I was in error on the “statewide” part. Although the lake we are on here is privately owned and not subject them, I have always followed the statewide regs. The only exceptions I have made was keeping 2 or 3 smallmouth that were hooked deeply on minnows thru the ice (while perch fishing) that likely would not have survived. Yesterday, I did target bass for about an hour in the morning, with a surface bait. I won’t do that again, now I that I cleared up “the rules”. Good thing that big one was not an inch and a half longer or it would be in a cooler on ice right now. I do see that I have a good way of measuring a bass if I forget a tape measure. It is over 20” , if it don’t fit in a picture on my phone, on the widest magnification with my arm out as far as I can reach. I will target perch with 1/16 oz bucktail jigs this morning.

Depends, they opened it this year on the Great Lakes and tributaries (I think) for “trophy” (over 20”) this year, but we got to wait until June 15 before we can keep (5) over 12” on most waters. I caught my first “legal” of the year (per the new Great Lakes standard) just minutes ago (20-1/2” long) on a 1/8 oz bucktail jig. I turned her loose because I am looking for a 22” to mount. Thus particular Lake is privately owned and not subject to NY state regulations, but I usually release all bass outside of normal NY bass season, unless they are badly injured and likely won’t survive if released.

I caught around (25) smallmouth and (1) 12” perch so far this Holliday weekend up in the Adirondacks. I finally got a “legal” 20-1/2” bass this evening on a 1/8 oz bucktail jig. She went back in with all the rest of the bass. I am looking for at least a 22” to mount. That was the last 1/8 oz bucktail jig that I had and I lost it on a snag shortly after landing the big bass. I will have to get by with 1/4 and 1/16 oz jigs on our last morning tomorrow. Also got 5 or 6 on a top water bait this morning (Zara puppy), and about the same number trolling a silver hot-n-tot after the sw wind picked up. The perch is in a fish cage at the dock, and if I get another in the morning, I will fillet them for my mother in law.

No sounds or signs of any turkeys in the woods, so I pulled the plug on that after 45 minutes. A nice sw wind is picking up, which should get the big bass fired up, so I am heading back out on the lake in search of that elusive 22” plus smallmouth for the wall.

On my row back towards the dock, I heard what sounded like a horny gobbler going off repeatedly on the good side so I am back in the woods now. I set up my decoy in a relatively clear spot in the area and let out a series of yelps. No response yet. The Repel tick and mosquito reppellant is holding the bugs off ok for now . I will give this an hour or so, then get back to fishing.

Other than the turkeys, the morning action ain’t bad out on the lake. I just heard my 3rd and fourth gobble of the morning, far off on posted land, on the far end. A beaver has been swimming around me, smacking his tail trying to run me off. The smallmouth have been cooperative on the Zara puppy in perch finish this morning, with 5 or 6 landed so far, the largest this 15”.

I tried to get out on the lake before sunrise but didn’t quite make it. I heard two distant gobbles behind the far shore, where I don’t have permission to hunt. It looks like a wrap for my 2022 spring season unless I hear one off the near shore before I row down to the end of the lake. If I do, I will set up on him tomorrow morning. If I don’t, I am done.

How did you attach the boards to the trees ? I always had trouble when I built tree stands (or tree forts when I was a kid) that were connected to more than one tree. When it gets real windy, they always move independently and tend to rip out the connections. I have better luck with stand platforms attached to a single tree, such as this big poplar, with galvanized lag screws and (2) pressure treated posts for front legs.

The sun came out, the wind died down, and the evening bite wasn’t quite as good as the morning. (2) more 17” smallmouth and a 12” perch. I kept that in the fish cage at the end of the dock. Hopefully, I will e d up with a few more by Monday morning.

You are on the right track there Bill, but just a few more tweaks would be good. First, add a special, statewide “traditional” archery season for deer, starting September 15 where only longbows and recurves could be used, then let the compounds and crossbows in together on Oct 1. Include regions 8 & 9 in the October 1 reopening of the fall turkey season. Reopen statewide spring sucker spearing in the creeks. That was a sport I loved as a youngster and would like to be able to do it again. I think they banned it in our local streams around 1990. I would like to see a third buck tag, for those who purchase archery, gun, and ML, licenses. Bucks are a renewable resource, and should be managed for meat not horns. The failure of the crossbow expansion this year was a minor setback. I really wish they would have left out the part about getting rid of the poundage and width restrictions. That might be what did it in this year. I am very thankful that we will still be able to use them in my favorite time to hunt deer - the peak two weeks of the rut. I thought it might go thru this year, after the momentum of all those great changes that the state made for deer hunters last year, each of which put a deer in my freezer: Early September antlerless gun season, restored antlerless Adirondack ML season, extra half hours of hunting time each day beyond sunrise/sunset, and Holliday ML season. I see the September early antlerless is already a go for this year. I am growing tired of turkey hunting, after not even hearing one on my last outing, and I really looking forward to chasing deer again. I am going to try and get an antlerless deer in September with my crossbow.

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A lot of that depends on the operation. On a disk, my diesel tractor still has the edge over my gas tractor, until the price difference exceeds $ about 2.50 per gallon. That is mostly because it is 4 wheel drive, while the gas one is not, and no implement benefits more from 4wd than a disk. Pushing that “dead” front axle thru soft ground wastes a ton of energy (and fuel). On a plow (which transfers the bulk of the traction force to the rear axle), or a planter, which operates over firmer ground, my 2wd gas tractor will do more acres per dollar now (at a $ 1.75 per gallon cost difference). The little gas tractor is also more efficient to plant small quantities of seed with, because it is lower to the ground and you can mount/dismount from either side. That makes checking the planter a lot easier.

I blew 1/4 of my food plotting budget on this fancy new red and white $27 special from Amazon, for my old gas tractor. With diesel so much higher than gas this year, it will see a lot more usage than normal. The old metal pan seat just wasn’t cutting it.

The sweetcorn that I planted was mostly a 72 day variety (cappuccino) and a little 89 day (candy corn). Last year, I put in bodacious (85 day). which I didn’t care too much for, and just a little cappuccino, which was great, then silver queen (92 day) as a later planting. I hope to get in another 1/4 acre or so this year, split between candy corn and silver queen, around June 15. I know the cappuccino will be good, but I am really looking forward to the candy corn. I haven’t grown that in a few years. You can identify it by the purple stalks. It is extra sweet, and holds that sweetness quite a while after harvest. Silver queen has always been my favorite tasting variety, but it does not hold its flavor very long after harvest. With God-caused global warming in full tilt now, our fall frosts have been coming later and later. I love having fresh sweetcorn right up till October. Folks who think man is causing global warming are out to lunch.

I should have a bb roast left over from last year, to stuff this years turkey with, so I won’t be needing more of those. Last years made that the best Thanksgiving ever. First time I didn’t have to eat any turkey on that day. I guess I did eat the heart and liver from a couple and they were ok but not as good as that turkey roasted bb.

I googled NY early gun season and it shows up right now on that the dates are September 10 thru 18th for 2022. Both of my local spots are in wmu 9F but I see 9A is in also, as well as many others. Like last year, that includes (4) weekend days. I hope to be able to hunt all of those weekend days this year. Last year, I missed two of those weekend days because my brother got married out of town. I prefer the weekends, because the carcasses need to be skinned and refrigerated then, due to the warmer temps, and that is too hectic to try and get done on a weeknight. Having double the hunting time this year, and likely a freezer still in decent shape as far as venison, I plan on being more selective, targeting only mature (1.5 yr plus) does.

That does look nice. I did the opposite (planted before projects) to take advantage of the brief lull between rains. Last year, the corn I planted after Memorial Day didn’t amount to Jack Sqwat and I feared a repeat. I plan (2) new blind locations this year. I can move this one into place, in less then 15 minutes, using fork extensions on my loader tractor. It will also take about that long to set up my pop-up in the other spot. I hope to be able to squeeze that half hour into my busy “free time” schedule, sometime before September 8 , when I think the early antlerless gun season for deer starts in my home wmu.

If one of your boys wanted to hunt deer with a crossbow would you support that choice ?

The other 2 acres, plus 2 more that was corn last year, will be getting my usual wheat/clover mix after September 1. I was going to hold the weeds at bay over the summer on those plots with buckwheat, but that was a no-go at $ 75 for 50 pounds. Thankfully, I still have a gas tractor and should be able to keep those 4 acres relatively weed free with a drag till then, for less money than that. I’d probably about break even on the buckwheat seed, doing it with my diesel tractor at almost $ 2 more per gallon. For me, it is all about minimizing my venison cost per pound after subtracting all input costs.

I cut back to just 2 acres of RR fieldcorn this year, due to high fertilizer and fuel prices. I hope it lasts until January 1. I plowed a couple weeks ago, disked 3 times in between, then cutimulched and planted on Saturday. The 4 acres that I planted last year lasted until March 1. 2 acres ought to make January 1, so long as I keep the coons trapped out of it. I also put in about 1/2 acre of sweetcorn, which I will start trapping hard, as soon as it starts making ears in early August. Standing corn is the only sure fire way that I know, to keep deer on my ground, after December 1. I saved a bag of fertilizer for about 1/4 acre if brassicas, on the back of that corn plot, which will go in in July. Standing corn and brassicas is a great combo for late ML season.

This is the one that I use “Lifestyler Rower”. It was a combination Rower and Skier but I never used it as a skier and lost the parts for that many years ago. The wheels and sleeve bearings wore out a few years ago. I installed those heavy duty roller bearings under the seat and some angle brackets as guides and it now works better than it did when new. I use it for 20 minutes most Tuesday and Thursday mornings, year round, switching from wide grip to narrow grip every other month. I split that up into (4) 5 minute sets, alternating palms up and palms down. After that, I do (2) sets of 50 decline crunches with weights. My weekday morning workouts take 30 minutes total. I do some weight training Monday, Wed and Friday mornings, and stationary bike, leg extensions with weights, and leg raises (about an hours worth) Monday, Wed, and Fri evenings. I always look forward to the Tuesday and Thursday morning rowing sessions the most. It’s kind of like a reward, after busting my ass with the weights on Monday, Wed, and Friday. As I mentioned earlier, what I like best about the rower is that you can set your own pace, going as fast or as slow as you want and the resistance force is directly proportional to the speed. It uses two extension dampers for resistance that are valved for minimal force on the compression stroke (similar effect as oars thru the air in compression or thru the water when pulling). It definitely works your legs and arms at the same time. It has no electronics of any kind, but I have an old tv in front of it, and my stationary bikes, with a vcr and DVD player.