Okay, I'll start

[pat maio]

I wish I could say I spent a hard day on the water and came to the Pub for some relaxation, but I would be telling a big lie. The lake is frozen solid and now covered by the latest snowstorm. So what! I like this Pub and the people who come here and during the fishing season Its a good place to lie about your fishing experiences. Besides, the bar prices aren't that all bad. Of course, I never drink the expensive stuff (like some other spoonpluggers I know) but that's okay it's the camaraderie and sincerity of the place that I love.
Scott Jenkins is the bartender and you have to stare him down when he pours your drink. Better more than less. Right? JOanne is the cook inside and her food is legendary. Tonight I'm have the corned beef dinner with cabbage and boiled potatoes and horseradish sauce on the side. Now, grant you, I'm Italian but my wife is Irish and this is a must every Saint Patties day. Besides I love the stuff.
Scott....buy the next person who enters a drink. Put it on my tab. If Douglas comes in he is limited to the cheap stuff only. No Crown Royal.\
I'm goind to my table now and enjoy Joanne's artistry in corned beed.

[jwt]

Ciao Signor Maio. Come stai.

Step over to the bar and have a wee dram o' whisky wi' me.

Ice just cleared off Crystal Lake and I'm itchin to get out. John Bales gave a splendid presentation on casting, ice-out to fall, at the Spoonplugger Seminar, and I want to put into practice what he said.

Next year you and Marge should really try to get out here for the seminar. I'll be glad to put you up, and who knows, the ice may be out and we can get some fishing in. We had about 60 people attend from several states.

Do you still have ice on the Great Sacandog? By the way, I still have copies of several of the old topo maps of the area before the lake was flooded. I probably won't ever use them again so let me know if you want 'em and I'll send them to you.

Bartender. Gi Mr. Maio another dram o' whisky.

[pat maio]

I see Mr. Taylor has just arrived and taken his favorite stool. He looks thirsty. Be kind and give him his usual. My tab--grrr.
Yeah Jim, the ice is still there for a while more I believe. Today is the first day there is a hint of Spring. The winter was reasonably mild for up here. As usual I'm full of plans for what I intend to solve this year on the lake. Funny how life keeps getting in the way of those plans.

I won't say never to coming out there but it probably is unlikely. The ravages of age have prevented me from doing the traveling I once did. I look back now and wonder how I ever managed to drive up to Saratoga Lake early, put in a full days fishing and then drive back to NJ. Jim Mason loved the lake until the Zebra Mussels did their nasty business. Jim currently does the traveling I once did and has turned into a good spoonplugger.

I'm in pretty good shape as far as the maps are concerned. Through much painful trial and error (I'm no computer nerd) I learned how to isolate certain areas and then blow them up. I never did get a handle on catching the big walleye and I've come to believe that they just aren't in this part of the lake for most of the fishing season and it's about 16 miles to the dam and deepest part of the channel. Too far.I'm in the process of teaching my grandaughters Spoonplugging and they love it. Makes for great fun.

BTW Does the barkeep know what a dram is? How any drams to the ounce? Why doesn't this place have trophy fished mounted in back of the bar? Any chance of getting a 16 inch walleye mounted there?
Regards to the Missus from me and Marge........

[wr8o]

Pat:

Decided to stick around. I'm wondering if there are any Spoonplugger types out here in the Rocky Mountain area? Are clubs sort of a freewheeling thing or do they get guidance from N.C.? Who should I talk to about setting one up?

I'm at the point where I need to take the stuff in the study guide out on the water. Locating someone out here who is more advanced (could be anybody) at Spoonplugging would be great. I'll provide the boat; they just need to help me point it in the right direction.

Ron

[Bart]

wr8o,

Where do you live? I'm in the Charlotte area. Be glad to take you out if you're in the area.

Bart

[pat maio]

If you live in the NC area Bart has already solved your problem. If you're talking about the Rock Mountain area as in the west someone else will have to offer advice. Check out the Spoonplugger member guide to see who lives closest to you and if it is practical.
Getting an experienced S/P to take you out at the beginnng makes a great deal of sense. I consider myself an intermediate S/P and I can state with certainty that I wasted too many years at the outset trying to learn. I finally took the S/P course at Minaki Ont. many years back and that made a tremendous difference.
Like most things in life the mechanics of Spoonplugging are not difficult once you start on the right track. Another tip___Stay away from trying to take shortcuts.....

[wr8o]

Bart:

Thanks for the offer but I'm in Wyoming. Probably not many Spoonpluggers out this way but it might be time to change that.

Pat

Appreciate the advice. I'll do some checking on club memberships and see if we have any western Spoonpluggers.

I must admit I have been thinking of some shortcuts. The one I might hang on to is an addition to the shallow water, contour following trolling passes. My GPS has tracking (breadcrumbs) that show the path taken across the area. By leaving the tracking on during each pass, it will show the general outline. I would delete any previous tracking before I started, to keep the screen clear. I would start and stop the tracking at the beginning and end of each pass. Although it should be obvious what might be there just by observing, the plotter should show a nice little map that I can use as the basis for mapping the area. Do you think this is a little "over the top"?

Ron

[pat maio]

I have no idea. I've never used the system. But, I can tell you how to get more info. Contact Jim Taylor, ( HE'S in the book) he's already played with just the thing you are talking about. He's always open for help.

Harry!(bartender), wake up...Our glasses are empty.

[Bill Patterson]

Hi Pat, Ron; Hope your sales are going good, Pat! Ron, take a look under "Mapping and Interpretation"; also, under "General Discussio", look at the topic 'Recording Sonar and Mapping Software. You'll see what Jim did with his recording GPS. He may not have been greatly impressed. Anyhow, it may be useful for an outline. May try that myself with little GPS 12. The latest directory lists no one in Wyoming, 1 in SD, 2 in Nebraska. But, not everyone is in the directory. And not all people who use Spoonplugs are members of the National and receive the benefits it offers. Anyhow, you can do this! Just helps to get a jump start and to actually feel what some of the structures and keys feel like so you'll be on the alert. Always improving. You can get a lot by reading the materials, viewing a few tapes, if possible, and getting help and suggestion on this board and on Buck's Official website. All put together, it's very interesting and eye-opening and you'll see the results. We all started from somewhere (even the ones who have become great fishermen) and it's never boring. Always more to learn and explore. Everyone no doubt used to think that their questions/problems were unique to them. Not usually...pretty generic for everyone. If your lakes and river systems are on the clear side, the guideline is to head towards the headwaters to look for better water color. Even some feeder streams may have better water color. Stable weather conditions and cloudier days will also help. Be wary of cold front conditions. You should do A-OK!

[pat maio]

I just found out that there is a Ron Gallo in Cheyenne who is a spoonplugger. Hope this helps.

[wr8o]

Thanks for making me feel welcome, Pat. Maybe we can get a Rocky Mountain Spoonpluggers club going out here. Will need to find someone who's a bit more advanced in the subject but I think it's worth trying.

Ron

[Jerry Borst]

Ron,
How do?

I wouldn't call using a gps "over the top" but for most fishermen it becomes more of a distraction than a tool used to increase our fish count.
Don't get me wrong I too own a cheapy hand held and I even use it at least a couple times a season.

They have there place, for instance a couple years ago Oct. I stopped off at Mille Lacs lake in MN for the 1st time, this body of water is a great little lake, lol. I think it's 18 miles across and 10's of thousands of acres so rifle sites can be nearly impossible at times. I picked out a couple of reefs to check out off a map and launched the boat on a beautiful cloudy 35* day but it wasn't long before the wind and the fog rolled in and by the time I arrived back at the ramp (8:30am) I could no longer see the truck in the lot. I left that lake and vowed to spend a whole $100 on one of those things!
This lake is huge and we must always be careful when we get where we can no longer see shore. Mille Lacs is a lake with not a lot of depth 40' max but it has huge reefs many of them are surrounded by 28'-32' and have flat tops of 22'-26'. No 2 are exactly the same and can be difficult to locate. In this situation a gps is a handy little tool to get you back in the desirered area.

I believe using a gps in most situations is a detriment to our fishing. Developing a picture in our minds of what’s below the water needs to be exercised without a crutch.

Here’s another time where I found a good use for it, the last couple of years I've gone to Canada with a couple of different guys and in both cases this was a new lake for them. I've been there enough to get around it without a map but when the newbie is in "his" boat and he see's huge rocks sticking out of the water it's a little scary. We have one area that is 8 miles away and another that is 5 or 6 but in both these cases we are winding in-between islands and passing through many rapid depth changes so to relax the boat owner we just saved the route.

Used in the right manor it's a nice tool, do we need one, NO! If we let ourselves become depended or distracted then I believe it only prolongs the time it takes to become a good mapper. Buck's study material is the only short cut.
Jerry

[wr8o]

Bill:

I'm going to post the reply under Mapping and Interpretation before I get in more trouble.

Ron