River Dave

Ugh! ???

Switched finally flipped around 3:00 but didn't last long. Their lockjaw finally quit for about an hour but then came right back. I think I'll give Silver a break and concentrate on lakes where the fish eat for more than 45 minutes a day. That place has sent me home with my tail between my legs too many times. It's too bad, it's such a nice lake and it's half the drive of some of the other lakes I go to.

Definitely not on fire today either. Still waiting for the switch to flip.

I will be hitting Silver Lake for the first time in almost two years tomorrow. This will be my first actual fishing trip of the year so I'm looking forward to it. I've been on the river twice so far but always taking kids out so I didn't really fish. Silver has been tough on me in the past but it's also given three of my top five biggest largemouth so I keep coming back. Hopefully I can at least find some pike, I would be very pleased with that. I plan to be out from sunup till close to sundown or whenever I get bored. If anybody's out tomorrow give a holler, I'll be in the bow of a blue and white Bayliner capri.

Wow! That looks like a Lake Erie hog right there! Nice going Farmer, that sounds like an epic day for sure.

Hey welcome to Buffalo. Do a little research into the creeks feeding lake Erie around the Hamburg area, like Cattaraugus Creek and 18 Mile Creek. That's a pretty well known Spring hot spot for smallmouth. I havent personally done it in years though so you'll have to figure parking and such and if they are even in there yet (they should be). We used to park by a bridge (paid some old guy $5 to park in his yard) and walked downstream to the mouth. Good luck!

Boat is probably coming out this weekend but did some shore fishing the other day. First time in 583 days! Man it felt good to hold a fishing pole again! Had a few hits but didnt land any fish. No big deal they were just dinks but it was great to be out again. Shoulder was hurting that night but I was able to cast pretty well so that's one hurdle cleared. I think the main challenge will be getting the boat on the trailer with this shoulder and if it will hold up to a 12+ hour day of casting. Looking forward to finding out!

This never ending winter is really killing me this year. Tore up my shoulder last year and never got to fish at all. Never took the boat out and couldn't even fish from shore. Been waiting a looooong time for fishing season to get here! Last count was over 550 days since I went fishing! Come on Spring!!

"The cheap blueberry wine the local store sells is a great after the kids go to bed drink that my wife and I drink together once in awhile." Like this I hear you there. As much as I enjoy a complex Merlot there are some times when I just want some fizzy grape juice with a lot of ice. I'm in Western New York home of Welch's and concord grape paradise. There are some pretty good local sweet wines made with concords that most real wine drinkers would turn their noses up at but, I gotta' say, they're pretty tasty. ? I hardly drink at all anymore. Couple of wine tastings a year and split maybe a dozen bottles with the wife out on the patio over the course of a summer. That's really the only time I drink anymore. As for spare tires...........mine would fit a monster truck

I've seen both House Wrens and Carolina Wrens in the yard before but they never move into my wren houses. We have a lot of feral cats here so I think that keeps them from nesting. Only thing I ever get in any of my houses are sparrows, lots of sparrows. Birds are definitely our thing, we've pretty built the backyard around the feeders. My favorite thing is to sit on the patio and watch the birds, I could do that all day. I keep track of the birds I see and so far I've seen 32 species from the patio with the high of 21 different species in one day. No hummingbirds this year though, that is extremely odd. Don't know why.

Some good looking chow right there Ski. My butts usually come out looking like a meteorite, love the way yours look there. Chicken look great there too. I've done a bunch of really good thighs and some pretty tasty drumsticks before but I'm thinking of doing whole chickens tomorrow. I tried it once before and it didn't come out very good but I know some of what I did wrong so I'm hoping for better this time. I've never tried a brisket yet, just too expensive. I attempted a chuck roast a couple weeks ago and over seasoned that poor thing so bad it was barely edible (I still ate it but nobody else would). Live and learn I guess. It's all fun. I love doing thighs. Almost impossible to screw up and even the "bad" ones are delicious. Still working on the perfect skin, that's the real challenge.

Certainly can't compare to Napa Valley but I'm not too far from some great New York wineries. The Niagara region and particularly the Finger Lakes area have some great wines. Going on wine tastings is a great way to spend a weekend. Great scenery and I love the whole atmosphere.

If you're looking for a true smoker tough to beat the value on the Masterbuilt electrics. Somewhere around $150ish and will give you consistent results over and over. The stick burners like yours are the top dogs but unless you have a really expensive one they never seem to work very well. Too many air leaks and not enough insulation are the trademarks of a budget friendly pit unfortunately. If you're getting that acrid taste on your food you either don't have enough airflow or, most likely, aren't getting a clean burn. What you want for smoking food is a thin blue sweet smelling smoke. Billowing clouds of white smoke will make your food taste bad (voice of experience ?). I am far from an expert but I love running the smoker and the grill!

None for me unfortunately. I winterized the boat the other day and will take out to winter storage this weekend. That trip to Cayuga a couple posts ago turned out to be my last trip of the year. Total bummer.

Muskie selfies rule! Catching a muskie on bass gear is always a blast. I see a lot of fish here, get a lot of follows, and hook several muskies every year. Even with all that I still rarely get more than one a year to the boat so it's a thrill when it finally all works out. That's why I can really appreciate your picture because I know how hard it is to get a fish like that for most of us.