Live from the Water 2020

[Pygmy]

26 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

 

They are fun.  My favorite part is the strike.  There is no missing that, and sometimes it is so violent that they just about tear the rod out of your hand.  I used to fish for them a lot more but my wife is troubled by the bones in the meat.   I tried to get most of them out when filleting but it seems that she always manages to find a few.   

I hear you, Wolc….IMHO, pike is one of the best tasting game fish....Back when I was catching lots of them, I got pretty good at trimming out the Y  bones....I would freeze the bone free stuff for frying, and can the  bony parts for use in chowder or pike patties...The canning process would soften the bones..

However, whenever I served fried pike, I would warn my guests to be aware that there may be a bone or two..

I can do a bass  a walleye,  a trout or salmon and damn near ay kind of panfish and GUARANTEE  that there are no bones...

Never felt QUITE that confident with pike...

[ncountry]

52 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

 

They are fun.  My favorite part is the strike.  There is no missing that, and sometimes it is so violent that they just about tear the rod out of your hand.   

They are fun to catch! Our little lake has quite a few, but most run 16-18" long. 

While crappie fishing today. I caught at least 6 over 24"  . A blast on 4# test and a 7' ultralight rod.

I think I spent more time  pulling my jig away from bass and pike(fishing in 3-5' water) than I did jigging ..lol 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, Pygmy said:

I hear you, Wolc….IMHO, pike is one of the best tasting game fish....Back when I was catching lots of them, I got pretty good at trimming out the Y  bones....I would freeze the bone free stuff for frying, and can the  bony parts for use in chowder or pike patties...The canning process would soften the bones..

However, whenever I served fried pike, I would warn my guests to be aware that there may be a bone or two..

I can do a bass  a walleye,  a trout or salmon and damn near ay kind of panfish and GUARANTEE  that there are no bones...

Never felt QUITE that confident with pike...

Pickled y-bones are a delicacy up in the Thousands island area.   A neighbor up there used to fillet all I would give him and all he asked was that he could keep the y-bones.  He cut off all the meat in one big slab and then used a straight razor to cut out the part with the y-bones.  It was amazing how much meat he could get off those fish, with almost no waste.  He was super fast at it, probably having done thousands.  I never remember finding a single bone in any of those that he cleaned for us.   

I used a method that involved cutting off the back meat above the spine and then trying to stay outside the y-bones to remove the side meat.   Lots of meat went to waste that way and I sometimes missed a bone or two.  One year my brother in law choked on one and they had to take him to the hospital in A-bay to try and remove it.  The operation was not successful (y-bones don't show up on x-rays).  The following day, he coughed up the y-bone while eating an oreo cookie for breakfast.  My wife has not allowed us to fish for pike since that time which was at least 10 years ago.   Now, I mostly just catch them by accident while bass fishing.

[Pygmy]

2 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

Pickled y-bones are a delicacy up in the Thousands island area.   A neighbor up there used to fillet all I would give him and all he asked was that he could keep the y-bones.  He cut off all the meat in one big slab and then used a straight razor to cut out the part with the y-bones.  It was amazing how much meat he could get off those fish, with almost no waste.  He was super fast at it, probably having done thousands.  I never remember finding a single bone in any of those that he cleaned for us.   

I used a method that involved cutting off the back meat above the spine and then trying to stay outside the y-bones to remove the side meat.   Lots of meat went to waste that way and I sometimes missed a bone or two.  One year my brother in law choked on one and they had to take him to the hospital in A-bay to try and remove it.  The operation was not successful (y-bones don't show up on x-rays).  The following day, he coughed up the y-bone while eating an oreo cookie for breakfast.  My wife has not allowed us to fish for pike since that time which was at least 10 years ago.   Now, I mostly just catch them by accident while bass fishing.

Hehehehe..Good story...If I ever get into any pike again, I'll be sure to keep a package of Oreos handy....

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, Pygmy said:

Hehehehe..Good story...If I ever get into any pike again, I'll be sure to keep a package of Oreos handy....

The last few years, the pike numbers have been down up in the St Lawrence.  I remember a time, maybe 15 years ago, when we would get about 6 pike per largemouth when fishing the shallow weedbeds.  Now that ratio is just about reversed, which is real good as far as my wife is concerned.  I do miss those hard-striking pike a bit however.

My family's camp is on Goose bay (one bay down-river of A-bay), and that bay used to be infested with small pike (they call them "hammer handles" up there.   Now they are few and far between.   They used to get tons of them, and some big ones, thru the ice on that bay.   40" was my personal biggest pike, and that one came from Lake of the Isles (caught on a big spinnerbait while bass fishing).   That mount now hangs in our billiard room next to a 30" St Lawrence walleye and a 50" Niagara rive musky.   

  

Edited May 26, 2020 by wolc123

[Robhuntandfish]

11 hours ago, Lomax said:

The Seneca River and Cross Lake and Owasco Lake hold big northerns and walleye.  Lake Ontario has some huge walleye and the bays hold huge pike.  Oneida has a lot of walleyes too.  People catch 10lb walleye now in Oswego river w decent regularity.  We used to set up pike camp on the Seneca River back in the early 90s good times miss them. 

lots of big pike waters in NY .  But like anything else they ebb and flow.  Gotta hit the spots that have the huge pike while they have them.  Big ones take a long time to grow and it seems it only lasts a while on any water.  Then its a lot of hammer handles for a while.  Best pike bite ive ever had was on a buzzbait he came full out of the water and did a complete flip - 40" in the barge canal.   This one in pic is my biggest NY pike - dont really fish for them anymore these days.  But the Dacks have several good pike lakes that get overlooked.  (this is the only big un i ever kept - had it mounted.  Plenty of perch and panfish around for fish fry) 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Robhuntandfish

[Robhuntandfish]

10 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Pickled y-bones are a delicacy up in the Thousands island area.   A neighbor up there used to fillet all I would give him and all he asked was that he could keep the y-bones.  He cut off all the meat in one big slab and then used a straight razor to cut out the part with the y-bones.  It was amazing how much meat he could get off those fish, with almost no waste.  He was super fast at it, probably having done thousands.  I never remember finding a single bone in any of those that he cleaned for us.   

I used a method that involved cutting off the back meat above the spine and then trying to stay outside the y-bones to remove the side meat.   Lots of meat went to waste that way and I sometimes missed a bone or two.  One year my brother in law choked on one and they had to take him to the hospital in A-bay to try and remove it.  The operation was not successful (y-bones don't show up on x-rays).  The following day, he coughed up the y-bone while eating an oreo cookie for breakfast.  My wife has not allowed us to fish for pike since that time which was at least 10 years ago.   Now, I mostly just catch them by accident while bass fishing.

 

10 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Hehehehe..Good story...If I ever get into any pike again, I'll be sure to keep a package of Oreos handy....

My Dad always had bread and butter when we had fish.  He liked it but it was also in case of a fishbone. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

My Dad always had bread and butter when we had fish.  He liked it but it was also in case of a fishbone. 

Anytime we ate fish my dad would make sure we had a piece of bread lol, not really sure what it even did


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[The_Real_TCIII]

Got a few standard issue stockers in the Koy last night



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[squirrelwhisperer]

Took grandsquirrel out to the lake today. He never fished before. His first fish was a bluegill but his second was a nice bass! And yes, he caught them by himself!!

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

Nice bass!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[doebuck1234]

Any input on Chautauqua lake???shore fishing access?cousin is buggin the crap outta me to take the 2 1/2 hr ride and want to make sure its worth it as we dont have a boat.he's shooting for pike n musky fishing and i just want to catch fish.any info would be greatly appreciated!!!

[mlammerhirt]

Did a little casting from shore tonight for walleye.....no dice but got to watch a great Lake Erie sunset.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[ny hunter]

Beautiful 

[The_Real_TCIII]

15 hours ago, doebuck1234 said:

Any input on Chautauqua lake???shore fishing access?cousin is buggin the crap outta me to take the 2 1/2 hr ride and want to make sure its worth it as we dont have a boat.he's shooting for pike n musky fishing and i just want to catch fish.any info would be greatly appreciated!!!

What direction are you coming from? Theres gotta be a dozen better places to fish from shore. I know in April and May guys hammer crappie from shore down the south end but I think thats over with

[Gencountyzeek]

17 hours ago, doebuck1234 said:

Any input on Chautauqua lake???shore fishing access?cousin is buggin the crap outta me to take the 2 1/2 hr ride and want to make sure its worth it as we dont have a boat.he's shooting for pike n musky fishing and i just want to catch fish.any info would be greatly appreciated!!!

You can try long point, or by the bell tower. Fish for bass around the docks.

[cynthiafu]

21 hours ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

Took grandsquirrel out to the lake today. He never fished before. His first fish was a bluegill but his second was a nice bass! And yes, he caught them by himself!!

 

That is one dark bluegill

[doebuck1234]

3 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

What direction are you coming from? Theres gotta be a dozen better places to fish from shore. I know in April and May guys hammer crappie from shore down the south end but I think thats over with

Spencerport ny to be exact

[chrisw]

Interesting fishing trip after turkey hunting today. Targeted tiger muskies in creeks, ended up seeing 5 tigers, missed 2, landed one. Also, while I was walking past a big log jam in the river I noticed what looked like a time sticking out of the water. I prodded it and realized it was a dead buck. I went back to the truck, got some Paracord and attached a noose to it and with a long pile and standing on a log over 6' of water I was able to pull it out!

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[ny hunter]

Shame.... Looks pretty good

[mlammerhirt]

So do the tiger muskies spawn in the creeks? Is that why they were in there?

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[chrisw]

So do the tiger muskies spawn in the creeks? Is that why they were in there?

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

Honestly, I'm not sure. The lake the creek feeds has a lot of tigers but we fish a long way from the lake. My guess is they start going up in the spring due to the warmer water and as long as they can find food they don't leave. It's possible they still try to spawn, even though they are sterile they don't know that.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[518BowSlayer]

Pickled y-bones are a delicacy up in the Thousands island area.   A neighbor up there used to fillet all I would give him and all he asked was that he could keep the y-bones.  He cut off all the meat in one big slab and then used a straight razor to cut out the part with the y-bones.  It was amazing how much meat he could get off those fish, with almost no waste.  He was super fast at it, probably having done thousands.  I never remember finding a single bone in any of those that he cleaned for us.   
I used a method that involved cutting off the back meat above the spine and then trying to stay outside the y-bones to remove the side meat.   Lots of meat went to waste that way and I sometimes missed a bone or two.  One year my brother in law choked on one and they had to take him to the hospital in A-bay to try and remove it.  The operation was not successful (y-bones don't show up on x-rays).  The following day, he coughed up the y-bone while eating an oreo cookie for breakfast.  My wife has not allowed us to fish for pike since that time which was at least 10 years ago.   Now, I mostly just catch them by accident while bass fishing.

I've only kept 1 pike ever but I watched a few videos on the 5 filet method and it worked great and wasn't that difficult. No bones at all and the meat was better than I expected. Wouldn't hesitate to keep them now. You get 3 long strips of meat which are perfect for a fish fry on a roll and 2 smaller tail filets

Sent from my SM-J327T using Tapatalk

[squirrelwhisperer]

18 hours ago, cynthiafu said:

That is one dark bluegill

It has been sunny here, I guess he was working on his tan.

[squirrelwhisperer]

Finally got the call late yesterday. My boat if FINALLY done. Get to pick it up today. 

How do I explain why the motor looks different to Mrs. Squirrel? Maybe she won't notice, lol.