Yankee Troller

Plug - Lyman #136 Spoon - Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler Fly - A-TOM-MIK Hammer Fly Paddle - Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor

Yes, we do have the new Humminbird Radar. I believe we put it on about the middle of April. Our boat came with a Raytheon unit, which we really liked, but in an effort to run less head units on the dash we opted to get the new Humminbird Radar this Spring. Unlike 2011, 2012 was almost void of any fog on Lake Ontario. So I have little experience to compare it to the old Raytheon, which was dead nuts! I did run it "just for the heck of it" in heavy traffic situations just to learn and try to tweak it. For the amount of use it saw I was pleased with it. I feel I need to tweak it a little bit more though. I say this because sometimes I feel it's almost too sensitive because it will pick up waves. I used it crossing the lake coming back from a tourney in August and it helped us dodge in between two storm cells, which was nice. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. If I can't answer them I will get them answered. Here are some screen shots I took while it was on.

September 29th - This will be our last trip of the AMAZING 2012 season. We moved the boat to the Genny last weekend in preparation to head to Sodus for winter storage, and to have some work done at Great Lakes. We left the dock around 5:45am and set lines as soon as we cleared the marina. Out went a spread consisting of Moonshine spoons and plugs from Lyman, Moonshine, and LJ. Moonshine Bad toads off the divers on 3’s out 25-30’, Lymans off the corner Cannon downriggers back 40 down 5, Moonshine Flounder Pounder on our center Cannon downrigger back 50 down 10’, two flat-lined plugs back 75’ out 75’ on Church Tackle Walleye boards, and finally a 5 color core out 3 colors pulling a Moonshine Carbon 14. We didn’t make it to the end of the channel and the corner rigger fires, but no ones home. We trolled the mouth for an hour and a half and only had one more rip on a diver, which ended in a bent hook and an 0 for 2 performance. The call was made by the locals to head for Lake Trout water. When in Rome…….. So off we go with the pack. We haven’t LT fished in a very long time. The only blades we dug out that were rigged were Hammerhead Silver/Blue w/ glow blue peanuts behind them. Two of them went down and it was like dropping a minnow to a hungry school of perch. You couldn’t keep two rods down! After that blood bath we pointed it North to see if we could swing a few silvers. We would go on to lose two screamers on a 325 wire on a 1.5 setting pulling a Dreamweaver Spin Doctor Hammertime/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer. With an hour left we headed back to the pier heads looking for one Chinook to add to the cooler. We were awarded with one final shot on a corner rigger pulling a Lyman. The best part was we landed this fish on one of our Brown Trout rods! I was kinda jealous our customer got to experience that…… We ended the day and the season with a limit of LT’s and going 1 for 5 on Kings. Now we wait six months until the Yank is back in action!

September 22nd (Oak) - We fished until midnight and had a very good pick on Salmon casting glow spoons, so anticipation for the morning wall bite was high. When we reached the end of the piers the SW winds were NW and we were handed 3-5’ waves. Not what we were expecting! Anyway, we set out a 5 rod spread. #3 J-Plugs 75’ back out 75†on Church TX-22’s, 2 Lyman plugs off our corners 100-125’ back, and a Moonshine spoon on the center rigger 40’ back down 4’. The #3 Glow Green J-plug would take all three shots on this 4 hour morning trip. Fishing was slow for everyone, and out of the three bites we could only capitalize on one. It was a good one though! September 23rd (Genny) - We let the charter guys leave and get first dibs on the pier action. We canceled our trip due to weather concerns, so we figured we'd fun fish for 3 hours and then call it a day. Jim Piano joined my brother and I and we pushed off about 6:30am. We didn't reach the end of the pier heads and the 25' diver with a Dreamweaver Black/Dew Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK TG fly takes a vicious rip. By the time we got to the rod it was gone. Most likely a victim of a whipped fly! We did the pier shuffle for the next three hours and would manage just three more bites. A three color pulling a Moonshine Carbon 14 took a short ride, but eventually dropped the fish. Next to go was a Silver Bullet J-Plug down 4 back 50 on our corner Cannon downrigger. We finally got this one to the net, and it was a nice mid twenties Chinook. On our final trip up river to our dock we popped another fish on a Moonshine Shelly Snack back 40 down 10' on our center Cannon downrigger. Jimmy fought it to the boat until the hooks popped loose before we could slide a net under it.

Haven't run that one in a while....

It was a tough weekend boys! Easily the toughest of our season so far. Lets hope the next few aren't as bad. Although, can we really complain after how AMAZING the fishing was ALL season long? September 15th (Morning) - After not being allowed to showcase Lake Ontario to these guys from Jersey on Friday afternoon, we awoke to much of the same NW winds. The good news is that it made time for a nice breakfast at the 4C’s cafe as a bunch of captains sat around and BS’d. The bad news was we knew warm water was being forced into our fishing grounds. We finally made it out around 8am. Fishing was tough for most, and our bites seemed to come in spurts. We found our best screen down between the flats and the glass house in 105-120’ of water. The fish were pinned to the lake floor, but there were periods throughout the day where they rose up and chased out baits around. We ran a simple six rod spread. Our three Cannons pulled big paddles for the most part. 11†E-Chips, and 10 †Spin Doctors trailed by A-TOM-MIK fly’s worked well as did a Moonshine Carbon 14 and a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler Mag. We ran regular sized flsaher/fly combos on our divers. They were going out 300’ on a 1.5 setting. Lastly, we pulled a 500 copper with a Moonshine Carbon 14. Our HOT baits today were the 11†Stinger E-Chip Hammertime/A-TOM-MIK B-fly, and a Chrome E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly. We also took fish off a Dreamweaver Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Blue Glow Hammer. We started out with a few Brown Trout and a Coho, but by the middle of the trip it was all King Salmon action. We were able to pound out about 12 tough bites, and these guys couldn’t have been happier! September 16th - A few boats took a few fish at the wall the day before, so we wanted to hit that up before going deeper looking for some stagers. We left the dock around 5:30am and were surprised to see about a dozen boats already working the skinny water. Oh well, so we got in line. We sent out four surface lines and put one down on our middle Cannon downrigger. We ran J-Plugs on Church TX-22 boards back 75’ and out 75’. Inside those we ran a # 4 and a #5 Lyman off the corners. The first two rods to fire both came off the East corner of the wall. On the first pass the Salmon ate the #4 Lyman, and on the second pass the #5 Lyman went. Both Lymans were the same color - Chartreuse with a blue ladderback. We would take a few passes with nothing, so we switched out the glow J-Plugs to shinny ones. One was a bloody nose, and the other was a Mongoose. A few passes later and the bloody nose takes a ride. It’s hilarious to watch a Church TX-22 go skipping across the surface! We landed our biggest Salmon of the day tipping the scales around 22lbs. A few more passes led to just one dropped fish on a bloody nose J-Plug, and that would be the end of our wall fishing for the morning. We finally made the decision to put some water under us and target the fish we had going the day before. We made it out there and the screen just wasn’t what it was the day before. We fished it anyway! We went on to take a Brown and a 2yr old Salmon along with missing two other fish over the next 3 hours. We called it quits at 1pm, and headed for the dock. It was a tough weekend out of the Oak, which is rare, and we worked hard for every bite we got. Let’s hope it gets better for the upcoming weekend!

It was a nice Steelie, but not wall worthy. It was only about 8 or 9lbs.

September 7th - After a productive evening trip the anticipation of a great morning bite was easily expected. However, when we got out there other than a few quick fish the bite just wasn’t there. After a few hours it was time to point her a little bit North and look elsewhere for the bites. We pushed it North and found some fish to play on the 25N line. We ran a simple spread consisting of our three Cannon downriggers, two wires, and two coppers. Flasher/Fly combos were on almost everything with a Moonshine Shelly Snack in the mix. Through out the day we changed up combos, but the Stinger Hammertime E-Chip with an A-TOM-MIK B-Fly was good on the diver for most of the day. Another good combo was a Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor with an A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly. On the 25N line we found a King or two and also took a few Steelies. We ended up getting the bites we needed, but as always a few found a way to evade us. September 8th - We hit the water with a brand new group about 6:30am after watching a line of thunder storms roll through. We started in 40’ of water and the screen was pretty good. We worked 40-60’ of water for about 3 hours until we rushed off the water because of Strong winds rolling down the Lake. We ran a pair of 5 colors off our boards with Lymans, our three Cannon downriggers, and two divers. The Lymans on the 5 colors were our MVPs of the morning. We went on to take 8 shots, but would only be able to put 3 in the box. Other baits that went were an 11†Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK B-Fly, and a Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Blue Glow Hammer. Both fished on our riggers, and kept 5-10’ off the bottom. The rest of the day was spent at the dock organizing tackle as the wind howled out of the NW. It also gave us some time to catch up with friends we talk to on the water, but don’t get a lot of time to hang out with. September 9th - Well, we awoke to light winds, but still could hear waves crashing from the NW blow on Saturday. We gathered up the guys and hit the water early looking to make up for lost time from the previous day. We set down in 40’ of water and found what we expected, and that was warm water. We trolled it out to 110, and still had 70 degree water to the bottom. At 120 we started to see them laying on the bottom, and worked that area for a few hours. We deployed our Cannon downriggers, two wires, and two coppers (400 & 500). We stayed in there for a few hours, but it was only good for one shot on a 500 copper pulling a Moonshine Carbon 14. We made the decision to point it North and look elsewhere. We found some nice Steelies on the 25N line and worked them for a few hours. They were eating our Moonshine Carbon 14’s on our 500 coppers, and some Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers on our deep rigger. After hooking into about 8 of those we decided they weren’t much fun compared to the Kings inside, and made a troll South to see if they started to eat yet. When we got back in there we could see the Kings were holding a little higher in the water column, and the fish came almost instantly. The bites were coming about every 20 minutes, and the Moonshine Carbon 14 was still working on the 500 copper. Another bait that was going consistently was an 11†Chrome E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly 10’ off the bottom. We finished strong after a slow start. Those inside fish are getting fussy. You need to stick them out and they will eventually eat. The early afternoons have been good, so it wasn’t a shocker we had them going from 1-3:30pm when we picked up.

Lately, a lot have been clipped, but earlier in the year we saw too many with fins. We want clips!!

Nicely catches!

September 6th (Afternoon) - Left the dock at 4pm with not a clue of what happened over the past few days. Shut the boat down in 60’ of water and deployed the spread, which consisted of our three Cannons fished from 30’ to the bottom, two wire divers our 125-150’, a five color and a 10 color. First rigger down was our center rigger with our Moor Sub-Troll on it. I initially had a White on White combo on the rod at first, but before it went down I switched it over to a Moonshine Green Shorts. Parked it at 35’, and went on to setting the other lines. As I was setting the 4th or 5th rod that center rigger takes off for Wilson! We were into our first big guy right of the bat. The rest of the night would be a consistent pick with a fish coming about every 20-30 minutes. We ended up hooking into 8 matures, and we only dropped two. They ranged in size from 17-24lbs. Our MVP for the night was a Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly on our wire divers out 150’ on a 2 setting. The Moonshine Green Shorts took two shots on the 35’ rigger, and a Dreamweaver Oil Slick Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue LBB took a fish. Our 5 color and our 10 color never took a shot. We saw some Salmon splashing between us and shore, so they are getting ready! We worked 60-80’ of water the whole night about a mile east and west of port. The screen was hit or miss, but they were in there. I think what helped was limited boat traffic. These guys were ecstatic! For most it was the biggest fish of their life, and also the first Chinook Salmon.

He does doesn't he!

September 3rd (Morning) - A new group joined us today, and they also were in the LOC derby. So, our job was to try and get it done! We found a similar temperature structure in the same area we fished on Sunday. However, the bite just wasn’t there. The fish were there, but not nearly as thick. We worked from the Flats to Eagle Creek for most of the morning. We ran our three Cannons down 50-100’, two wires out 150-300’ on a 1.5 setting, and a pair of coppers. We worked that inside water for most of the morning, but we just couldn’t get them going. At one point we swung out to turn around and tripled in 135’ of water. We would go on to work that waypoint the rest of the morning and pick a fish on every pass. No one bait was “HOT.†An 11†Chrome E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly took a few deep fish down 125’ as did the Stinger Chrome Green Dot E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Sweet Pea fly. We had a short trip, but ended with just seven bites. Not a stellar day by our standards, but many of the people I talked to had similar results. No derby fish, but we did pop a beautiful 25lb Chinook, which I believe to be a great representation of what Lady O has to offer! September 3rd (Afternoon) - Well, what I thought was a 4hr evening trip turned out to be a 6hr evening trip. After how slow the morning bite was for us there wasn’t a real sense of urgency to get back out there. However, these guys were raring to go, so we hit the water around 2pm and went back to work in the same waters we’ve fished the last few days. We went about 3 hours with not even a touch. I made the decision to point it North so we could grab a few bites from some Steel and immature kings. The Lake was rocking from the NE and as we put some water under us the screen never really got better. Finally, about the 25N line I hear the starboard diver ripping. I grab the rod and handed it off. We fought it for a little while thinking it was a King, and about 40yds behind the boat I see the head of a nice Steelie come up and spit the hook in our face. That fish took a Stinger UV Frog E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK UV190. At the same time we also took a whack on our 125’ downrigger, but when I got there no one was home. The decision was made in my head that at 6:30pm we would be on plane headed back in to those inside waters looking for a few big guys. As I was clearing rods at 6:30 the deep rigger fires with a 2yr old and we had our first fish in the box. That fish came on an 11†E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly down 125’. At this point we were on the 27N line. We ran into 90’ of water and started to throw down rods. I set the probe rigger to get my speed right. As I am at the helm adjusting the speed that rigger fires with a 10†White Dreamweaver Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK White Halo fly down 60’. Our first big hits the deck of the boat! We’d go on to take another immature fish and lose another while we fished there in that last hour. It was a tough night for sure and we only would go on to take seven shots. Regardless of the tough bite the clients were very happy.

September 1st - We were joined by some eager clients that just one year ago put a 33.3lb King on the Fall derby leader-baord. It’s kinda hard to top a Lake Ontario beast like that! However, we were going to give it a go and see what Lady O was going to put out in 2012. We left the dock around 5:30am knowing warm water had to of moved in from the NW blow on Friday. We ran to the ladders and set up in 60’ of water. We worked from 60-100’ down to the flats with 74 degrees from top to bottom. Some fish were in there, but that bath water had them turned off. Talking with many boats nobody was moving many rods, and we went the first 2.5 hours with not even a release. This guy was very frustrated! We eventually pulled out a little deeper and found that the 125’-200’ mark was holding fish and bait deep, and we finally broke into the 50’s down there. We would work a NE/SW stretch off the Glass House for the rest of the afternoon, and just pound the snot out of fish. We started with a triple which consisted of a Brown Trout, an Atlantic, and a Coho. After that it was mostly a King bite. Our program was one you hear us talk a lot about. Our three Cannons were set down in the colder water, which was from about 90’ down to the bottom. Our wires were set on a 1.5 out 250-325’, and we ran a copper off each board. We don’t like to run coppers longer than 300’ for our customers, and generally we don’t have to, but with the temps deep and a LOC derby fish on the brain we just had to go longer. Our 500 copper was a smoker with a meat rig. It pulled a froggy paddle with a green mile twinkie, and at times we couldn’t get it down the planer tow line fast enough. Other baits that were working well was a White Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK White Halo, and an Oil Slick Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK LBB/Glow Blue fly. The Hammertime E-chip with an A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer took a few also. We finished the day strong after one of the slowest starts I can remember. We love fishing those staggers, but they can be so moody at times. We didn’t get one for the leader-board, but we had tomorrow to give it a go again. September 2nd - We had the same crew, and we took to the same waters as the day before. We ran to the ladders and set up in 60’ of water. When we left the lake on Saturday there was a NE wind. That wind brought back the cold water, and the bite was on! It didn’t take long and we were into them. A similar program from the previous day went down. A Stinger Green Dot Stinger E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Ultra Green Glow, a Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK B-Fly, and a White 10†Dreamweaver Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK White Halo went down on our Cannon downriggers. On the wires we pulled a Legendary Wonderbread SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer, and a Stinger UV Frog E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK UV190 out 250-275’ on a 1.5 setting. On the coppers we ran a Moonshine Shelly Snack on a 300, and a Dreamweaver Oil Slick Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK LBB Glow Blue on the 400. It was a slugfest with fish coming over the back of the boat like mad. We straight lined a troll from the ladders right to Hamlin Beach and picked fish the whole way. When we finally turned around we were fishing with the Sandy Creek boys. The West troll back wasn’t even close to being as productive as the East troll, but we messed with the speed and we were able to pluck a few fish. As the sun got higher we started to take some of the white paddles off and switch to chrome paddles. The Stinger E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Sweet Pea became a stud as did an 11†Chrome E-Chip pulling an A-TOM-MIK Hammer on our deep rigger. We never were able to get a derby fish for the guys this year, but we did boat our 5th 29lb fish of the season. It was another great day on the water, and you couldn’t ask for better fishing.

Mel and I went out to do a little derby fishing. Although the wind was whipping we figured we’d give it a go. We were greeted with 2-4’s which were fish-able. We set down in 60’ of water right out front and deployed our three Cannon Downriggers and two wires. As we were setting up it was building, but the screen looked promising. It was tough to keep speed. I slammed the corner rigger down to 55’ with a Stinger Chrome Green Dot E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK shredded Sweet Pea, and then let out my wire. When that was done I went up to the helm to get the speed right as Mel had just set the center rigger with our Moor Sub-Troll on it. As I was taking her back from 2.5 to 2.0 at the ball I hear line ripping. I turn to see my corner rigger stretched backbehind the boat. I yelled over the whipping wind at this point “babe you want to catch that Salmon!?!?!?†She jumped on the rod with a big ol’ smile on her face and brought it to the net. It wasn’t a derby fish, but we quickly realized those 2-4s are now 6-8’s and growing fast. We tried to fish through it, but it just wasn’t gonna happen as it was building. It wasn’t long and we were pulling lines and heading in. There were some big dogs out there on the ride back in, and I was a little nervous as that might be the biggest water the Yank has seen. When we got back to the dock I was informed by Paul C of Free Spirit that a guy in a 17’ Lund was next to him when he picked up and ran in. We were 10 minutes behind him, and never seen the Lund. As we sat at the dock wondering what happened to this guy there was still no sight of him. A good while later Paul sees him putting into the mouth of the creek and confronts the guy. Apparently, his big motor died. Paul told him he was stupid to even be out there when it was 3-5’s and the old guy tells him he is 70 years old and he doesn’t care if he dies out there! Some people are just amazing! Anyway, the W/NW winds were pushing some warm water in there, and we had 74 degrees most of the way down the water column. The screen was good when we picked up in the 55-80’ range.

I did too! Not a monster, but just a good looking fish.

August 24th - We left the dock about 5:30 and headed for the staging kings we heard were awaiting us. The set-up was pretty simple as my brother was running without me. So, he ran our three Cannon Downriggers, two wires, and a 300 copper down the chute. We would work 50-100fow right out front most of the day. There was a good early morning bite, and then it turned to a slow pick. The 300 copper with a Moonshine Shelly Snack was a hot set-up. A Stinger UV Frog E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK UV 190 was also a great combo on the deep rigger. We picked a few Browns on our Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers as well. August 25th Morning - No need to go find fish when we had a decent pick the morning before. We headed to the same waters, and the fish were still there which is to be expected at this time of the year. My brother says he ran the same program as the day before. Our three Cannon downriggers went down with flasher/fly combos on the corners, Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers on the center rigger, flasher/fly combos on the divers and a Moonshine Shelly Snack on the 300 copper. The Moonshine Shelly Snack, available at Captains Cove, remained a top producer. Especially early in the morning. The Dreamweaver Livewire Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer was a decent combo as well as the Stinger UV Frog E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK UV190. A few steelies came to play today as well. The bite was decent in the morning, but slowed quickly. It was a tougher day for most out there, but we were able to grab a few fish for our guys. One was a nice upper twenties Chinook (King) Salmon. August 25th Afternoon - We left the dock around 4pm, headed out front, and pointed the boat East. We fished the Flats to the Glass house most of the afternoon, and we hit fish instantly. The action wasn’t fast and furious, but is was a nice slow pick on fish the entire afternoon. We would start off going 3 for 3 before dropping the next 4 matures, but we would end on a good note. Another simple program consisting of our three Cannon downriggers, two wires, and a 300 copper. We got some big paddles going too which were almost dead for us the last few outings. The stinger 11†Hammertime E-Chip was good with an A-TOM-MIK Mirage fly behind it. The Dreamweaver Livewire Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly was good as well. We fished 50-80fow and had most of the gear within 30’ of the bottom. The east troll was our best, because coming back west we couldn’t slow down enough. August 26th - We left somewhat in the dark and headed out to the 60’ mark. We hop-scotched a few boats and began to deploy our gear. We sent down our three Cannon downriggers, two wires, a 10 color, and a 300 copper. The picture was great on set-up, but as it normally does it petered out as the sun rose into the sky. Meat went down on one corner rigger, a Stinger UV Frog/A-TOM-MIK UV 190 on the other, and a pair of Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers on the center rigger. We ran a Legendary Wonder Dot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer on one wire, and a Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Mirage on the other. A Lyman plug on the 10 color, and a Moonshine Shelly Snack kn the 300 copper. That was the morning set-up, and the first rod to fire was the 10 color with the Lyman on it. It was a nice Steelie, but not what we were looking for. We never got that crazy morning bite, and the screen would come and go. The best screen was from the Glass House to Devils Nose. We would hit a fish about every 30 minutes. Most of which were matures, but we did do three steelies, and two Lake Trout in there. It was an E-Chip kinda day. I don’t know why, but they wouldn’t touch a Spin Doctor or a SmartFish. So we loaded up on the chips and went to work. A Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer took out big guy out 150’ on a diver set on a 2 around 11:30am. Meat took a couple of bites, and a pair of Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped on the center rigger was good for 4 or 5 bites.

No problem!

Mupped (Mag Up) is a term we use on Ontario where you pin the mag on a cheater above the regular size. I like to keep them the same color combo, and generally will pin it 10' above.

August 18th - When we went to bed the NW winds were howling, so we didn’t know what to expect once the morning came around. We woke up to light winds and a 2-4’ roll. We ran out to the 27N line and set down with the boat pointed North. We sat down over a great screen and began to fish. However, in the first three miles we only took one shot. That 10lb King took a Moonshine Shelly Snack on our 400 copper. Something just didn’t feel right, and I said to my brother â€we need to give that another shot.†We turned the boat around at the 30N line and when we got to the 29N line the bloodbath began. We would go on to work the 27-29N line as well as we could with the boat traffic and hookups. We deployed our typical program. Our three Cannon downriggers went down between 70-120’. As we pushed North the break came up, so that is why the band of water we fished was so thick. 85-120’ over the 27N line and 70-100 over the 29N line. We ran two wires and two coppers (400 & 500). Our riggers were loaded with spoons after the flasher/fly combos we had on them didn’t go. As is normally the case the Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers mupped took top honors. Other great baits today were a Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Big Fin Glow fly, Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, Moonshine Shelly Snack on the 400 copper, and the Dreamweaver 42nd spoons mupped. We would go on to pull a few fish going North, but it wasn’t as productive as our south trolls. To say these guys were impressed with what Lake Ontario has to offer is an understatement. After a slow start the rest of the day was jam packed with action. Our big guy tipped the scale at 23lbs, and the rest of the fish ranged from 10lbs to 20lbs. We also hooked into some really nice Steelhead. August 19th - We knew the cold water was settling back in when we were done with our morning trip on the previous day, so we figured we would check the inside waters first before heading out to those waypoints. When we sat down in 155’ of water the screen lit up. That’s all we needed to see! We had the same family out again today, and the goal was to get a few big ones. We had them packed up with enough fresh Salmon and Rainbow Trout meat from the previous day. We set out our spread and it took a little bit for the action to start. Our three Cannons went down. Flasher fly combos on the corners and Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers mupped on the center rigger. Two divers went out pulling flasher/fly combos, and lastly we sent out a 400 and a 500 copper. Again today the first fish took a Moonshine Shelly Snack off the 400 copper. That would be the one and only shot for that rod. Early the divers were hot out 225’-250’ on 1.5s, but late in the morning the 500 copper started to take the reigns pulling a Dreamweaver Oil Slick Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Little Boy Blue fly. At one point my brother couldn’t even get it clipped into the release and it was pulled from his hand. We worked 110-170 feet of water for the entire day, and the screen was great. A ton of bait in there, temp was below 80’, and there were fish in there eating. We didn’t bang a big guy, but plenty of fish in the 15-21lb range. There were even some really nice Steelhead in there. By the end of the day most of the fleet ended up in there, and I am sure they had fun. The screen was getting better as we left around 11am when our guys wanted to get a head start back to Jersey.

Bob and his son Dave joined us for an evening trip. We started off in 70’ of water, and although there was some bait and a few hooks we never turned a rod. We pointed the Yank NE and began to get some water under us. We would end up fishing the 26N line because it had the best picture, and the fishing wasn’t all that bad. We had heard it was a little tough out there from a few people, so we expected a slow start. We put out a good spread to cover as much water as we could. We ran our Cannon Downriggers down anywhere from 65 to 125. There were some good deep marks by the way. Our low wires were parked between 200 and 250’ out on a 1, and the high divers were out 250 to 300’ on a 2.5 setting. We ran a 300 and a 400 copper to complete the spread. First rod to go was a low diver pulling a Hammertime Stinger E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Big Fin Glow fly, but that would be it’s only shot of the night. The Finger Lake Tackle King of Sting took a ride with a small Salmon, and the Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler would end up taking a few fish both off riggers down 65 and 80’. A lot of one hit wonders tonight. The Northern King Copper NBK went on a high diver, the Moonshine Shelly Snack went on a 300 copper, and the Dreamweaver Gator Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Sweet Pea Shred took a ride on the 400 copper. We would go on to boat 4 and drop 6. Two of the dropped fish had some weight on them. One we saw behind the boat while the other stayed deep after taking an 11’ Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Big Fin Glow down 125’ on the downrigger.

Thanks guys!

Nice job!

August 10th (Morning) - We got an early start and headed out to the inside waters. We gave that a go, but it just wasn’t happening for us so we started to push it North. We would end up fishing the 27-28N lines and doing pretty good on both Salmon and Trout. We ran our typical program sending down our Cannon DT-10s, four wires, and two coppers. Riggers were good from 50’ down to 80’ down, and wires were going consistently from 150 - 250’ out. Low divers set on a 1 with flasher/fly combos, and high divers set on a 2.5 with mag spoons. The same two combos that haven’t left our divers in quite some time were still hot. A Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, and a Legendary Wonder Dot Smartfish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly have just been great for us since June. The riggers started the morning off with flasher/fly combos, but it just wasn’t happening so we started to switch over to some spoons. Once we did that they started to pop. A new spoon for us from the Finger Lakes Tackle Company called the King of Sting went blow for blow with Dreamweaver’s Sea Sick Waddlers. One was down 70’ and the other was down 80’, and both were mupped. There were no shortage of bites once we got on them, and the action was pretty good. Although we never took a big mature King Salmon we had plenty of teenage to low 20lb fish to keep us busy. We also had some big ol’ Coho Salmon join in on the fun in the morning. August 10th (afternoon) - We left the dock with storms looming, but thank god for our new Humminbird Radar! We watched them going NE, so we headed West. We hit a little rain, but no lightning. Fishing started off slow, as is to be expected on afternoon trips, but it ended up great. We ran a simple program consisting of five rods. Our goal was to get an old time Salmon fisherman a few Salmon, so copper and core were out of the question. Our three Cannon DT-10s ran spoons and our two divers pulled the Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, and the Legendary Wonder Dot Smartfish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly. Our downriggers were parked from 50’ down to 80’, and our wires were out 175’ to 200’ on a 2 setting. Our Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler was great down 80 on our Cannon downrigger. Our bites came in the last few hours of the trip for the most part, and we accomplished out goal! Not only did we get him a couple of Salmon we also got his nephew and his girlfriend some Salmon and some steelies. At one point a nice Salmon took Augie for a ride so we pulled everything and threw the boat in neutral so he could tame the beast. That really made his day, and it wasn’t difficult to see that. August 11th (Morning) - We headed out to the same waters we finished up in the night before. We set up inside and worked that 100’ mark with a few bites, but nothing spectacular. We took a few nice Cohos, and we dropped a few matures, but the screen just didn’t look great. We heard of some better fishing out on the 27/28N line, so we pointed it North. We had a great day on bites, but our landing percentage wasn’t good by any means. When we got out over the 27/28N line our program consisted of our three Cannon downriggers run between 40’-80’ depending on temps, and fish we would mark on our Humminbird fish finders. We also had four wire divers out with the low divers set on a 1 pulling flasher/fly combos and the high divers set on a 2.5 pulling mag spoons. They were set out anywhere from 150’ to 225’. We also ran a 300 and a 400 copper off our Big John Otter Boats. Both of which pulled flasher/fly combos. Top flasher/fly combos were: Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly Smartfish Wonder Dot/ A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly Dreamweaver Oil Slick Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Little Boy Blue Dreamweaver Green Dot Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer Top Spoons: Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler Finger lakes Tackle Companies King of Sting Dreamweaver 42nd Dreamweaver Green Eye Ghost We ended up with a great box of fish. Some matures, some teenagers and a couple of nice Steelies. We left them biting knowing we’d be back out in a few hours to pound on them some more! August 11th (Afternoon) - Back out to the 27N line we went to find warm water moved in and the picture was gone. Here we go again in search mode! We pointed it North and in the first 2.5 hours we took 2 shots, and dropped them both. Once we got to the 30N line we saw the bait and the fish, but they were deeper than we fished them the previous few outings. Our trusty Moor Sub Troll explained why! The temps dropped down 20’! No biggie! We put our program down there and in the last 1.5 hours we lit the world on fire! Multiple doubles, and times when we’d clear rods by catching fish. In an 1.5 hours we did over 15 fish, and filled the box for the guys. We ran our three Cannon downriggers from 70-120’ down pulling spoons Mupped. Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler was HOT as was the Dreamweaver 42nd. Our divers were out on a 1 setting from 225-300’ and firing well with a Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, and a Legendary Wonder Dot Smartfish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly. The 400 copper went, but the 300 copper rotted as would be expected with the temps. On the 400 copper was a Dreamweaver Green Dot Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Mirage fly. August 12th - We left the offshore waters with a very good bite, and figured why not go back in the morning. We knew fully that weather reports called for t-storms and water spouts. So on went the new Hummibird Radar, and we kept an eye on every cell that passed through. We ran a simple seven rod program. It wasn’t very nice out on the 30-32N line. Our three Cannon Downriggers were parked from 60-100’ down, and our four wires were parked from 150’ out to 275’. Our low divers pulled the Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, and the Legendary Wonder Dot Smartfish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly. On our high divers we had a Dreamweaver Green Eye Ghost SS that was hot for the big chrome. The bite wasn’t as good as it was the night before, but if we stayed on the bait we got bit. Compared to the night before the Kings seemed to disappear and more Steelies came to play. Although, as the morning pressed on we got our mature bites out there. We called it early out there around 11:30am because it was getting rough. We watched numerous waterspouts try to drop, but none ever went further than 1/3 of the way down. On the way in we stopped and fished for an hour with everyone else and went 0 for 2 on bites while we cleaned fish.