Conference wahoo::fishing

    Keith, I can't help you on the Conneticut River fishing, never having
    fished it. But would you mind sharing some details of your past 
    trips; how long were you on the river, how many portages, how bad were
    the portages, how the fishing was, etc...                      
                                                                   
    I'm currently considering a float down the Merrimack and I had 
    considered the Conn. also.
               
    donmac

    The first trip we took 3 days and pulled out at the Vernon Nuclear
    power plant. We had to paddle our butts off the last half day to
    make our pullout by dark. We pulled out at Brattleboro our second
    trip(2 days) but fished a lot more on that trip so had a mad run
    at the end of day to make that pullout before dark also.(app.25
    mi.) Both trips we caught a lot of bass(largemouth and rockbass).
    We caught very few walleye, the most notable one I already mentioned.
    I caught that on a deep diving crawdad crankbait. The bass were
    caught on a variety of lures and salted minnows(a good walleye bait).
    We found a lot of worms in the bass which we thought was unusual
    since the trips were on Memorial weekend and the water still relat-
    ively cold. There are no portages, just make sure you put in at
    the bridge below the falls. There's even a parking lot where you
    can drop the car off. Very scenic and very enjoyable trip with lots
    of places to camp along side of river. I'm looking forward to this
    next trip with hopes of connecting with more walleye hopefully!

    
    
      Can't help you on that end of the CT. but can say there are
    Walleye at the Turners Falls Section of the river. I found them
    on a mans 20+ (chartruese) accidently of course.
      I never knew what one was till last year when the 6lb oversized
    pearched took me for a ride. I realized later through the 
    In-Fisherman that I was in a prime walleye spot. 25 feet of
    water that climed quikly to 5ft and a weed bed.
      Nice fighting !!! I did keep them. I asked my tennant, a noted
    trout a salmon fisherman what I should do with them. He said
    EAT'EM. 
      I'll be back for them agian this year.
    
     - Dave "Bassmaster?" Sullivan
     
       

Dave and other Walleye lovers::::::

	I just came back from walleye fishing Oneida lake (Near Syracuse),
we fished 2 of the toughest days, all it did was rain(last thurs and fri)
But we had some good luck, caught 14 and returned twice that amount that
were undersize...They probably are the best eating fresh water fish ever
caught.....mmmmmmm good =)... Going back again during the month of June,
my brother lives 10 miles from the lake and he fishs it all the time, the
fishing really picks up then. Oh, by the way I also caught 3 smallies in
35-40 foot of water, 1 was about 2 1/2 lbs, nice fish, but in N.Y. the 
season isn't open until july 15.....

I would be interested in taking a trip sometime later to Turners Falls,
any takers, the river is going like the devil now...Maybe again sometime
in June.....

Looking forward to any replys,

Bruce---Bigbird     
       

    Bruce,
    
      I've just gotten into "serious" fishing in the last few years.
    Most of my experience has been with bass, with an occasional Pike,
    and once in a while I will hook into a Walleye.
    
      I'm still trying to find effective Walleye techniques. What were
    you using for bait??? How were you fishing (still, drift, troll)???
    You're right, they are nice tasting fish. My wife and kids love them.
    I was lucky enough to catch a nice 24-1/2" 4lb Walleye last week. I
    caught it on a crankbait (Rebel Crawdad) while trolling. Any sug-
    gestions???
    
    -Ron-

    
    -Ron-

	Most of the time we were using Mr Twisters with 1/4oz or 3/8 white or
yellow jig head...Color of the twister was real important, we had great success
with purple and green, then we hung a nice juicy "night crawler" on the end of
it. And then, and then we went drifting all over the lake, it really makes a
difference how hard the wind blows, dead calm is bad, 5-10 mph is good, 8-15
is better. All we did was bump the jig on bottom and watch the rods closely, 
they were very timid when they found the bait. We did catch 2 on 1/2oz black
hair jigs, again with a worm attached, we did this when the wind was blowing
about 20 mph and we couldn't keep the other rigs on the bottom. Also we found
most of the fish in 25-40 ft of water, we talked to some other folks and they
had limited action trolling rapalla's and shadling's and that was it.

Also one other thing we tried was to use the floating jig head and attach good
ole "nightie" to it, we again used the same size sliding barrel sinkers apprx
18" to 20" inches above the jig head. Caught 3 fish this way......

Hope this answered all your ???'s, always glad to share successful tips with
other brothers of the "Fin"...

All the best,

Bruce

    Bruce,
    
      Thanks for the info. Looks like it's time for another order to
    Bass Pro for some more tackle. I have some jigs that I will try
    this weekend. The weather forcast is for dry and sunny (70+), so
    I'll be out there. Will let you know how it goes.
    
    Thanks,
    Ron

    Over here the most practised and producing methods for zander
    (a relative to walleye) are trolling and angling. Depending on
    weather trolling varies from topwater down to 50ft and most 
    fishermen rely on Rapala's (of course... ;-) ) and the like.
    Anglers may use dead or live bait in sizes 3 - 8 inches.
    
    Zander fishing is mostly nightly fun, starting an hour or two
    before sunset and continuing to morning. Employers really like
    those guys coming to work in the morning eyes crossed!
    
    On top of the lovely nature experience of light northern summer-
    night the zander makes excellent eating.
                                                                    
    Eki
    
     

    re.8

        
    Erkki,
       You can settle something for me once and for all. Is Rapala
    pronounced (RAP-a-la) or (ra-PA-la)?
    
    Thanks,
    Pete

    
    
      I know that I have been correct more than once at the RAP-a-la
    booths in fish shows for saying ra-PA-la.  About a year or so ago
    I saw a Roland Martin show were the owner of RAP-a-la was on testing
    new lures with R.M. and they pronouced it RAP-a-la.

    yeap, I saw that RM show also, and they mentioned how everyone
    pronounces it wrong... Les is right it's *supposed* to be pronounced 
    rap-a-la (as in "wrap")...
    
    donmac - who usually incorrectly pronounces them "ra-pa-la-s" even
    	     though he knows they are pronounced "rap-a-la-s"

    While we're on the subject, is it CRAP-ies or CROP-ies? I know,
    I know, this one is a personal preference/judgement call, and not
    at all a formal name like Rapala (I say ra-PAL-a sounds better anyway)
    
    Ed
    

    Speaking of RAP-a-la's   How do you think the new Rattlin-Rap fairs
    out.   The past week or so I have been having a feild day on
    RATTLE-TRAPS but end up loosing a couple of my favorite patterns,
    HOT TIGER and BLEEDING SHINER.  When I tied on the RAP-a-la's version
    the outcome was zero.  I have yet to catch one on RAP-a-la's version.
    I bought them cause like Don Mac I am a big fan of the traditional
    RAP-a-las lures, floater, shad rap, stick baits.   
        I think the main difference is that RATTLE-TRAPS have a little
    more wobble to them and about twice the noise.  I swear I can here
    them when they are 20 ft off the boat, but RAP-a-la's are quiter
    and seem to dive slightly.    Has any one out there had much success
    with the RATTlin- RAP?
    
    Les
      

    My wife bought me two for my birthday. I lost one the first time
    I used it, and the other has yet to produce...
        
    Ed
    

    
    Another vote for Rat-L-Traps vs. the Rapala imitation.  I bought
    4 of the buggers and haven't caught sh*t on one.  I have alternated
    Rattl'n Raps with Rat-l-traps and caught fish only on the rat-l-traps.
    
    -SSS-
    

    I know this may be some kind of sin but I read the inside paper of the
    box and it mentioned that the Ratlin' Rap is very useful when being
    jigged.  It supposably has a good motion when it is falling.  It falls
    in circles without snagging the line up with the hook.
    	I would have to agree that I haven't caught anything on the
    Rattlin' Rap yet either (except pickeral).  I feel the reason that I
    haven't caught anything on the Rattlin' Rap it that I have already
    stereotyped it as a Rat-t-trap clone.  Sort of like "It's just as good
    as a Zerox". 
    	What usually happens is that I will use the Rattlin' Rap for about
    1/2 hour and then start thinking to myself whether the Rat-t-trap would
    be better and I then tied on a Rat-t-trap and use it for about 5 hours
    and catch a few fish on it.  I have yet to catch a bunch of fish in a
    spot with a Rat-t-trap and then switch to compare if the Rattlin' Rap
    will work to (If it aint broke don't fix it) or have I had anyone
    fishing with me with a Rat-t-trap who was catching fish on it while I
    caught nothing on a Rattlin' Rap.
    	After writing this someone will probably catch a 23 pounder on one.
    
    Steve

    Well, well. It's hard to know exactly how you guys pronounce Rapala
    but thinking of it that "fonetic" RAP-a-la might be quite near the
    real thing. 
    
    Personally I haven't tried Rapala's rattlers yet but accordingly
    what I've heard it has raised mixed feelings. Some have praised
    it to heaven and some -err, umm- have been disappointed. Obviously
    it's productivity depends very much on the individuals fishing style.
    At least pike and zander have been caught on it.
    
    Eki