Yankee Troller

Smoking year over here on Ontario too! We've put a 29.7 in the boat, a few 27's and a ton over 20lbs. The whole lake is seeing great action, which is NOT normal. I think something has to give eventually, but who knows. I will take more mild Winters like that if it means stupid fishing like this!

Nope...no Coho or Atlantic.....

Saturday was choppy in the morning. 2-4's with an occasional 5. Sunday was calm.

Sunday 6/24 - Today was one of our last days off until mid September, so we took this opportunity to grab the old man, and some friends and go have a relaxing day of derby fishing. We left the dock around 5:30/6 o’clock, and motored down to the ladders. The intention today was to scrape kings off the bottom in 100-150’ of water looking for a derby leaderboard fish. The picture got better the further East we trolled. by the end of the day the best picture was from the Glass House to Devils Nose. We ran our three Cannon DT10’s pulling meat and flies, two wire divers pulling flies, and three coppers (300, 400, 500) pulling meat and spoons. The water got colder as we trolled East, and when it was ideal the screen lit up. Big Kings were hanging in the lower third of the water column. Our downriggers took some nice fish on meat, but it just wasn’t grabbing as many as we’d liked, so we pulled the meat on them and sent down 10†Dreamweaver Spin Doctors with an A-TOM-MIK B Fly and a Hoss Fly and started to light up the big guys. Our divers were taking whacks with green chips and A-TOM-MIK green crinkles, a Dreamweaver clear green dot Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Hammer Lime Live, and a Dreamweaver Green edge Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am. Lastly, The long coppers had a pretty good bite going on with meat. We took some really nice fish. The biggest Salmon to hit the deck was 27lbs. Our catch consisted of a nice mixed bag of fish. We landed 15 Salmon (all year classes), two Lake Trout, a few Steelhead, and a beautiful 11lb Brown Trout. It was a very relaxing day with a nice lunch afterwards at the Black North Inn. Currently, our fish is in 6th place, but I don’t see it staying in the top 20 by the end of the Summer derby. Tripled on sharks! Check out this guy!

Saturday 6/23 - Started back up with charters after a long three week tournament schedule, and it felt much more relaxing. We scouted Friday night on a friends boat and destroyed the 2yr olds in 200’ of water, so that was our game plan for this morning. We left the dock a little after 6am and headed NE. The flats was where we saw our best picture the night before. We set up short of there and trolled into it. We set out our three Cannon DT10’s with spoons and sliders, four wire divers pulling flasher/fly combos, and two coppers. Our Cannons were down 65’ to 120’, our wires were out 225-325, and we ran a three and a four hundred copper first thing. We sat for a little while looking for that first bite. Boy was this slow morning unexpected after pounding on two year olds the night before. Talking with a few other captains it was obvious it wasn’t our program as many were struggling. However, as the day would go on the bite would pick up, and make up for the slow morning. Northern King Copper NBK’s and Dreamweaver Lemon Ice were the MVP’s of the day on the downriggers. On the wires the Dreamweaver Gator and 42nd Spin Doctor paired with their respective flies from A-TOM-MIK were good. The 300 copper was quiet for most of the morning until we put out the new Stinger UV Gator, and it became an instant Steelie stomper. The 400 held it’s own throughout the day with a white/green Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am fly. We never slammed a big guy, but we had a few teenagers, and some really nice Steelies. They got their fish before the end of the day, and left extremely happy! Nick, the little guy in the pictures, wore us out with his questions throughout the day, but you could see how exciting this trip was for him. I look forward to seeing these guys back again soon!

It's capped at 60 boats w/ $1000 entry. We have 3 of them on Lake O. Two are in Canada called the Tightline Shootout, and one I help put on called the Wilson Harbor Invitational, which is capped at 75 boats. All three are one day events. You can cull up to your 6 biggest fish using 6 rods, so just about any boat can compete, and have a chance at a big payday. If anyone is interested in the Wilson event let me know. We'd love to get some more MI teams involved. This past event we had 2. As for the Tightline event there is a waiting list to get in on that.

Thanks guys! Boy would that have been a nice pay day.....

Friday Practice - Unlike many events we fish this one was only going to allow us one day of pre-fishing. Vacation time for many of us is running low as more and more tournaments are popping up all over Lake Ontario. This really isn't a bad thing either because Lake Ontario has a great fishery! A good friend of mine gave us some starting points since most of this water is very new to all of us. Our observer Jim (who we found on Spoonpullers) also fished with us during practice, and he was very knowledgeable of the area. We started right out front Friday morning because on the way in Thursday evening we saw a ton of bait out there, and we took a nice low 20's King Salmon right before it got dark. It wasn't long and we had those A-TOM-MIK flies fooling fish into taking our rigs. We fished flasher/fly combos on all three of our Cannon DT10's, and also behind our divers. We ran three coppers anywhere from 300-600 depending on how much water we were over. All of them smoked fish. These rods were loaded with meat behind big paddles. We were surprised at the class of fish we were on, and the fact we had very little pressure around us. As we trolled East our observer Jim told us we were getting close to a "dead zone." We joked about it at first, and then a triple on big Lake Ontario King Salmon happened! However, after that we would rot for the next hour. OK, so Jim was right... We picked up and ran 5 miles East to the Nuke plant. We set down, and as fast as we got the rods out more big Lake Ontario King Salmon were ripping our gear apart. We worked 90-200' of water picking away at some real nice fish, but we were still looking for that Tyee! Closest we came was 27lbs. After beating up on those fish a little and creating an area filled with waypoints we figured we had better go check out from the filtration plant and West. We picked up our gear and headed down there. When we sat down the bait on that piece of structure was more than we'd seen in a long time. It was actually comical. We had 30 minutes to fish, and it wasn't long before we were doubled once again. We noted that the picture was a lot better in our last spot, but we also saw that out presentation had to compete with the real food. Sometimes that's a bad thing. What we fished over! Saturday Tourney Day - We left the harbor and headed about 5 miles East to an area we had littered with waypoints from the day before. The picture was not there, but we sat down and began to fish it anyway. Our first bite took almost 30 minutes, but it was a good one! We picked away at a few fish, but it just wasn't happening. Two of the fish were real nice ones, and they ended up being part of our six fish box, but we knew we had to make moves. When we set lines we put flasher/fly combos on all three Cannon DT10's, and behind our divers. We let out one copper with meat, and once we were into our day we yanked a rigger and put out a second copper with meat. About 9:30 we picked gear and ran to the West waypoints. We set down and people were cranking in fish all around us. It wasn't long and we were doing the same. The amount of fish coming over the gunnel of our boat was hysterical, and tossing back 20-23lb Chinook Salmon because they were too small was even more hysterical. We were all having a great time even with five big egos on the boat for this event. We came close to our first Tyee of the year weighing just under 30lbs. Our 500 and 600 coppers were smoking as long as we could get them back in after they took a fish, and our two riggers were on fire as well. We fished 80-130' down on them, and put our wires in the same zone. In the morning white/green paddles were good and as the sun came up it was chrome/green paddles. The A-TOM-MIK flies that worked best were various Hammer patterns, Hypnotist, Ultra Green Glow, Sweet Peas, and Pro Ams. We knew we had a good box with about a 25lb average, but we knew a lot of people were catching fish. We were one of the first teams to weigh in, and when our fish hit the scales we had 153 pound with six fish. We were in first for a short while before team Vision Quest came through and beat us by .22 ounces. That stung a lot, but we figured we still had at least a top 5 box given the amount of 130lb boxes being weighed in. Towards the end of weigh in team Get It Wet puts their fish on the scales and beats our box by .14 ounces. Another kick in the family jewels! When it was all over we took third place, and ahead of 4th by about 4lbs. The three of us sat atop the leaderboard separated by ounces. That was the closest we've ever come to $25,000. I would like to thank my brother Craig, Casey Prisco, Captain Chris Lopresti, and Captain Andy Bliss for a great weekend. We laughed more than anyone should, and we butted heads as was to be expected. However, we got the job done, and that's what matters at the end of the day. We lost 4 fish on tourney day and probably put 35 in the boat. A stellar day by anyone's standards. Congrats to Pete Alex and team on a great win.

Thursday Practice - We strolled out of the harbor a little late due to some good eats at the 4C's cafe, and catching up with the old timers while drinking coffee. By the time we broke the piers it was after 7:30am. We planned to fish East, so we ran out to 50' of water and pointed it NE while we set up. We got tipped off the night before about some nice Brown Trout, so we kept that in the back of our heads as we searched the inside waters for any signs of Kings. As we zigged and zagged out to 150' and back in we remembered that tip on the Brown Trout. So, we changed up our program a little bit and deployed a few split shot surface lines with some short cores off the Big John Otter Boats, brought our Cannon DT10's up as the bottom got shallower, and our Walker Deeper Divers were parked out 40' on a 3 setting. When we hit that 20-30' of water down by the flats all hell broke loose. We had Brown Trout so aggressive they were hitting sliders on 15-20' riggers, and when they hit our divers and top lines there was more than one occasion when they got totally airborne. These weren't cookie cutter Brown Trout either. The average fish was 10lbs, and we lost one behind the boat over 15lbs. Our MVP's on these guys were the new Stinger UV tuxedos. Fat Nancy's had them put on gold blades. The Blue Tuxedo, Yellow Tuxedo, and Green Tuxedo were all taking shots off our Cannons. Thin Fish and stick baits off our short cores and split shot surface lines were also going very consistently. Knowing this is always a tough event we thought we found the ticket, and we were jacked up for Saturday to roll around. We straight lined trolled that program from the Flats to Devils Nose picking fish the whole way down. However, we noticed that the bigger fish were located off the flats. When we got to the nose we pointed it North and tried to find some Salmon, but to no avail. We would head back in to the dock around 2pm with a huge grin on our face. We aren't even close to being good Brown Trout fisherman, but boy was that fun! These weren't the big browns, but this was a double on one rod! Friday Practice - We entered into the Condor Memorial event, so we needed to find three big fish. We didn't want anyone to see us in tight on those BT's, so we went West and fished 100-300 looking for a few Salmon. We didn't take many bites, but we did get our fish we were looking for. Two Salmon and a very nice Steelhead was good enough for 6th place. Our program for the day was our typical program. Our three Cannon DT10s fished with sliders on our Daiwa combos, Two Walker Deeper Divers pulling a combination of spoons and paddles, and then three junk lines (two that were fished off our Big John Otter Boats, and one down the chute). No real MVP's, but for the Steelies the Dreamweaver SS Firecracker and Green Hornet were good, and the Stinger UV Yellow Tuxedo. The Salmon came deep on meat. At the end off the day we slid in to 30' in front of Johnsons Creek to see if we could catch a few BT's, and in 30 minutes we hooked three. However, we noticed the bottom got three degrees warmer. Saturday Day 1 - Pumped up doesn't explain it! We hit the water, and noticed our fish were not in tight. So, we went into search mode. We eventually found them pushed out in 45-50' of water and laying right on the bottom. We threw everything we had at them, but after two and a half hours of nothing we had to abandon Plan A, and we did that very disappointed. We pointed the boat North and put out a High/Low program for Salmon and Steelies. Two of our Cannon DT10's had Daiwa Combos with spoons and sliders, and the third one was buried with meat. We put one diver deep with a paddle/fly combo and the other was kept high for Steelies. We also ran three junk lines. We got on a North/South troll that was pretty good. Most of our bites came on the North troll. Our hot set-up was a Dreamweaver SS Green Eye Ghost fished off our riggers. That took a majority of the fish. Our meat rig took a teenage Salmon down 150', and our 5 color cores did some damage with Dreamweaver SS Firecrackers and Green Hornets. We would box out around noon, and it felt really good. We saw a lot of competitors around us sitting in the backs of their boats, so we though the fishing was tougher than we experienced. When we hit the scales we could see even the teams that didn't box had a few Kings in their catch. That struck us as odd since we struggled to get a decent King program going for three days in a row. We ended the day in 15th overall as we walked away shaking our heads. Sunday Day 2 - We left the dock with a big king program. The plan was to give half the day to just Kings, and if we needed to fill the box with Steelies then so be it. It didn't take long and we were dialing in the program. Our program consisted of deep meat on the corner riggers, Dreamweaver SS Firecracker and Green Hornet on the center rigger held high for Steelies, Walker Deeper Divers on a 2 setting out 250-325 pulling Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK combos, and three junk lines pulling either meat or Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK combos. We had a fast morning bite followed by a steady pick after that. Our 125' Cannon and our 600 copper where definitely the MVP's of the day. Both of which were pulling meat. Our 400 copper pulling a white Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK White Mirage Shred took some shots as did a Black and Dew Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Live TG behind our Walker Deeper Diver. By 10:30/11am we were boxed out with what we thought was a great tourney box. We estimated 130lbs, and it consisted of 2 Coho, 1 Steelie, and 9 Kings. The final weight ended up being 120lbs for our 12 fish. That box was good enough to take 6th place for the Day 2 Classic box, 7th, for Day 2 Trophy Box, and it jumped us up from 15th place to 5th place overall.

Thanks guys! There are going to be some great Steelies out there in the next few months.

Thanks man!

Thursday Practice - We knew fishing had been getting tougher and tougher with the Lake transition settling in a little bit earlier than in recent years. However, it was to be expected with the weird Winter/Spring we were having. For the last few weeks we had a very productive surface program going, so we wanted to expand on that because we knew getting your 12 fish was going to be key in this event. The plan was to fish out to the boarder and then head towards the NW corner. Our program consisted of 4 lines off our Big John Otter Boats. Two of those lines were flat lines pulling split shot spoons or Brads Thin Fish, and the other two were two and three color cores pulling various spoons. We ran two Walker Deeper Divers on a 3 setting off our wire rods out anywhere from 50-125’. Lastly, our Cannon DT10’s were all put into action fished in the top 50’ with sliders attached to our Daiwa combos. We never turned on any fish, or pod of fish for that matter. The further out we got the better the class of Steelies we caught. It was an AMAZING day of steelhead fishing. These fish were in the mood to dance, and that’s what they did. Seeing 8-12lb Steelhead grab some air is a majestic sight to say the least. We felt really good about this program going into the event, and getting 12 would be a non-issue. Our HOT spoons seemed to be Dreamweaver SS’s in Gold Watermelon, Firecracker, Monkey Puke, Gold Get-R Done, and Green Sparkle. Our MVPs were Dreamweaver SS’s in Glow Corn and Green Hornet, and a new Stinger UV Orange Tuxedo on a gold blank. Friday Practice - Let’s just call it a blow day! We tried to fish it, but there comes a point where it isn’t fun. Even in a big boat! Saturday Day 1 - Blow day again. I give the Tourney committee a hand for sticking to a rule they created, and one that I think is about as fair as you can get. Sunday Day 2 - It was a go in the morning after two long days of sitting on the dock. 15 minutes before go time we pulled up the temperature map for the Lake. We knew the Lake had been iced with the winds from the previous two days, so we wanted to see where the warmest water was. We found some 52 degree water a touch East of Olcott way offshore, so that’s where we headed. We found the water from the map, and it was game on. Our program again consisted of our three Cannon DT10’s that we fished in the top 50’ with sliding cheaters on our Daiwa combos. We had two Walker Deeper Divers in the water on 3 settings out 50-125’ pulling Dreamweaver SS’s, and short cores off our Big John Otter Boats. By the end of the day 5 color cores off the Otter Boats would be our hot set-up. Some of the same spoons mentioned above continued to be good for us, but under those cloudy skies I knew it was time to break out the Dreamweaver Green Eye Ghost, and that spoon took a few fish for us like it always does under cloudy conditions. We had a pretty good morning going, and we worked some waypoints when we caught fish. At one point boxing out wasn’t a concern, but by noon we knew it probably wouldn’t happen. We ended up boxing seven fish by 1:30pm, lost five keeper fish, and tossed back five short fish. We knew fishing was tough for most, so we went to weigh in with mixed feelings about how we did. Once the scales settled we were knocked out of the top 10 for the Classic box, but our class of Steelhead was a good one, and it kept us in the top ten for the Trophy box. Looking back I think we fished the spot out, and we should have ventured out to find more fish. I say this because after a few hours of no bites we decided to head it SW back to port for 30 minutes on troll, and that’s when we banged number seven. Either way it was a fun event even though it was a one day tourney.

Yes we are. Not much experience with it yet. I play with it every once and a while. I need to get used to it like i was with my old radar.

Thursday 5/17 - We left the dock at 7am, and proceeded to head out to 100’ of water NE of Wilson. We worked the water from the Red Barn to the Microwave in 100-150’ of water for the entire day. Our program consisted of our three Cannon DT10’s with spoons and either a free or fixed cheater, three wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers trailed by either flasher/fly combos or spoons, two coppers with flasher/fly combos, and 4 surface lines pulling red body baits. Little did we know that the surface lines were going to be so hot! The Brads Thin Fish and the Challenger Lady Bug just clobbered the Steelies. The first few were throw backs, but the last 6 bites were all nice size Steelies, and boy were they acrobatic! The bite wasn’t as good as it had been the last few weeks, but we had our bites. The fish seemed to be good at getting unbuttoned on this day. Friday 5/18 - We saw a monster box come in from the power plant on Thursday, so we headed there on Friday to see if they were still willing to play. When we dropped in it didn’t take long, and we had our first King in the boat. After that it slowed a little until we get further East. The fishing picked up again, but it would shut down late morning when the NE winds began to blow. Our program was the same as Thursdays, but the surface stuff wasn’t nearly as productive. Our Cannon DT10’s really were the ticket on this day. Later in the day we ran meat down deep, and it pulled a few shots on Kings, but most of the day it was various spoons that did the damage. Again, we got our bites despite a difficult transitional type day. Saturday 5/19 - I was told that we needed to get two Salmon on this trip to make it successful! Easy enough! The guys wanted their wives to battle the famous Lake O Shark! So, when they stopped by the boat on Friday evening I told them to be back and ready to go by 5am. We wanted to see if we could score an early bite on some big guys! 5am rolled around, and we were pushing off from the dock. We strolled out to 50’ of water and the screen was lit up! We were able to get our three Cannon DT10s in and while my back was turned getting the diver rod ready the Sea Sick Waddler on the corner rigger fired, and we were tied into a good one. That fish hit the deck, and we set out both divers and a 10 color. Five minutes later, and the 10 color is zipping! Teenager #2 in the box that took a Moonshine Carbon 14. After that fish the screen really started to fade away. We swung in one more time, but the moss had invaded our area. We pointed the boat North and made our way out to 350’ before we would turn and head back into 175’. WE picked fish the whole way out. Mostly smaller Kings and Cohos. Our program consisted of our three Cannon DT10’s, two Walker Deeper Divers pulling flasher/fly combos, two coppers pulling flasher/fly combos, and three flat-lines pulling red body baits. MVP’s today were the flat-lines, and the lines fished off our Cannons. Sliders did real well too. No one spoon out did another, and we were running the same stuff we have been running the past few weeks. The area from 175’-250’ seemed to hold the best picture right out front of Wilson. Fish were in the top 90’ streaking through our gear constantly. By 10am we were done with our four man limit, and headed back in to the dock to clean some fish.

May 10th - Start of practice for the Wilson Harbor Invitational We woke up to a stiff NW wind blowing 10-20mph, so we took this opportunity to go into town and eat at the little corner diner. Many fisherman were in there fueling up on breakfast awaiting a window of opportunity to go out and see if the insane bite was still happening. When we finished breakfast it was time to do a little work on the boat. We broke one of our Coastal Night Lights spreader lights a few weeks back, so we installed two brand new ones. Boy do these spreader lights illuminate the back deck! If you ever want to see how nice they are stop by the boat at night while we are there. We were also able to network our Humminbird 1198’s though their new Ethernet system. What a simple task that was, and now either unit can use the transducer, the radar, or the GPS. It sorta takes over for the Interlink system Humminbird has had for years, but it is much simpler. About noon we decided enough was enough, and we strolled out the pier heads to find a 2-4’ chop out of the NW. We motored down to the red can figuring we would ride the waves back. It was a grind, and we didn’t get on anything that looked promising. We slid into 60’ on top of the bar and out to 200’ with pretty much a blank screen. We worked our way back to Wilson and ended the trip around 4pm with the biggest Chinook Salmon being about 10lbs. Everything was small! In conclusion, we eliminated waters instead of finding a gem West of Wilson. Anyone who fished Wilson, or to the East, seemed to have taken a few nice bites. May 11th - Continuing practice while running a charter We had Paul and hid girlfriend meet us at 5:30am, and we were one of the first boats out the chute. We slid out to 50’ of water and worked NE. It didn’t take long and we were into fish. Our spread consisted of three lines fished off our Cannon DT10’s in varying depths, three wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers trialed by both flasher/Fly combos and spoons, and two 300 coppers fished off our Big John Otter Boats. The fishing was so good by 10am they had caught more than they wanted, but we fished until noon looking for a big LOC Derby fish and/or a big fish for the Friday event my brother put on in the marina. This day was no different than last weekend when a 30+ fish day was easily accomplished by noon. We also found the further East we went the better the bite got. Our screen was insane from the red barn to the microwave. On our riggers we pulled Northern King Sea Sick Waddler mags, Northern King Lazer Spook mags, and a Moonshine Green Shorts (the spoon my brother picked up at Captains Cove). On our 300 coppers we had a Dreamweaver Blue Angle Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK UV Dolphin, and a Dreamweaver Mulatto Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK shredded white mirage. Those two combos were smoking hot on this morning. The divers had multiple lures go down on them, but one combo that was hot was a green Smart Fish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle. Our big fish for the day was about 20lbs, but we had a ton of teenage fish that came to play. We knew where we were starting in the morning for the Wilson Harbor Invitational, and had a good feeling that we could put together a good box. Yankee's Wilson Harbor Invitational Report To say we were excited was an understatement! To begin with we had the ol’ man out fishing the event with us. That was enough to make the day great! We were one of the first boats out of the chute to wait for the shotgun start. It seemed like it took forever. When 6am hit we put the hammer down. We had her right to the wall for the short three mile run. We dropped lines in around 80’ of water in front of the Red Barn. We set up our three Cannon DT0’s almost instantly, and put out two wires, and a 300 copper. The bite was slower than the day before, but we were getting our bites. Lots of fish in the 8-13lb range. We struggled to get six nice keeper fish. Lots of lures went in, and lots of lures came out. Our bigger fish seemed to come sporadically. We tried meat down deep, and we pulled the same class fish. At one point we sent the 20lb shark down to 240’ over 250’, and it fired with a teenage fish. There were no real MVPs for the day. Around noon we swung into 65-70’ of water and picked up weeds on everything. The decision was made to pick them up and make a move. We shot back to Wilson, and fished the 175’-200’ area, and just kept taking the same class fish. The fish here seemed to be higher, and our Cannons really took most of the shots. When we hit weigh in we saw many similar boxes. As one by one came through the weigh in line we would sink further and further down the roster. We would end up in the top half, but not by very much. We all had a great time at the event, and if your not fishing this event your definitely missing out! I would like to give a huge thumbs up to Kevin and the Wilson Boat Yard for their efforts, and to my girlfriend Melanie who fished on an all girls team and beat us! May 13th - Mothers Day Evening Charter Paul and Jack met us at 3:30 for an afternoon trip. We heard the morning bite was pretty good, so we were anxious to get back out there after a relaxing morning. We set up right out front and pointed the boat East. We set down our Cannon DT’s, four wires, and two 300 coppers. Spoons on the Cannon DTs and high wires. Flasher Fly combos on everything else. We worked down to the red barn with a slow slow pick. With about an hour to go the bite really turned on. A Northern King Metallic Frog, and a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler were MVP’s for the night fished off our Cannons. We got our limit for Paul and Jack, so we pulled lines and headed in to get some dinner. Many things took a shot, but not many went more than once. May 14th - Charter Paul and Jack came back for some more! We left the dock at 5:30 all jacked up about a great morning bite. We set lines NE of Wilson, and trolled down to the red barn. We had a quick morning bite, but it really turned into a grind bite. We worked the 100-125’ are where we saw our best screen. Our program didn’t change from the previous few trips. Our three Cannon DT10s saw action as did four wires, and a couple of 300 coppers fished off our Big John Otter Boats. The bite was much slower than anticipated. Our MVP for the morning was a meat rig fished on one of our low divers. We toughed it out in there until about 11am when we decided to point it North. Once we did that we got into them. Our Cannons were now the ticket pulling Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers down 45-100’.

Ditto

Saturday Our group from PA met us at the dock at 5:30 with Tim Hortons in hand. Heck of a way to start off the morning! We left the dock with John and his friends promptly after hearing that the bite had not slowed at all since last weekend. In fact it got better, which is hard to believe! We fished in 1-3’s, then 3-5’s, and I think it went to 2-4’s by the end of our trip. To be honest we didn’t even realize it was that bumpy out because the fishing was INSANE! We stopped in 50’ of water, but would work 70-90’ for the entire day. Boat traffic was mediocre at first, but when Lady O kicked up we had much of the Lake to ourselves. The screen was loaded with Chinooks, and we started the day with a triple! We had a spoon program down all day, and we didn’t have to change much up. MVP’s for the day were Stinger Hawg Wild’s fished off our 10 color cores that were drug behind our Big John Otter boats. On our Cannon DT10’s pulled a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler, a Lazer Spook, and a Mulatto from 30’ down to the bottom. We also had those same spoons on our wires behind Walker Deeper Divers. The NE wind pushed the fish down West a little bit as the day went on, but we figured that out quick and followed them. As I stated above we started the day with a triple, and we also ended the day with one. The amount of doubles and a few more triples in between were more than I wanted to keep track of. Our group wanted to take advantage of the LOC derby, and that they did! We put a Chinook on the leaderboard weighing just over 25lbs, which was good enough for 6th at that time. We missed out on making it with another one that was 23lbs and change. Sunday We awoke to calm winds, and not too much later the smell of more Tim Hortons! We pulled out of the dock again about 5:30 and headed for the same water we fished yesterday. The boat traffic was unreal! More boats than I have seen in many years, and they were all fishing the stretch from the power plant to the bar. We didn’t change up our program much from Saturday. However, we did add two more wires to the mix. We ran a paddle fly combo on the low diver, and a spoon on the high diver. We quickly realized the bite was not as fast and furious as it was the day before, but we also knew the full moon may have allowed these beasts to feed through the night. With that being said we understood an afternoon bite may materialize. We would poke a few fish on the inside, but the combat trolling was terrible. We did drop a hog in there, but you can’t land them all! As the morning pressed on we would slide out a touch into the 130’ range and we continued to pick a fish or two every 15-20 minutes. We also realized the size was down from the day before. We went about our day catching and releasing the small ones (when I say small I mean anything under 15lbs). About 11am the bite really turned on, and it lasted until 3pm when we pulled rods. We slid out to the 150-200’ range, and the 600 copper was a constant producer with a green Smartfish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle. That combo was also going well on one of our low divers out 300’. Our deep riggers were also pulling fish consistently down 120-200’ with Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers, and a Moonshine spoon I don’t know the name of. One of my brothers impulse buys, but boy was it hot! I’m pretty sure he called up Captains Cove and put the rest of those aside. Right until we pulled rods fish were snapping. We ended the day with what we thought was another leaderboard fish that took the green Smartfish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle combo on our wire. That fish took us for a ride! Best fight of the year so far. On the scales the fished missed out by half a pound. The fishing continues to be unbelievable all along the south shore, and you can tell the word is out! From Olcott to the West small businesses had to have made out well this weekend! Get out there and get in on the action!

Thanks guys!

No problem!

Thanks!

Practice - Not Much! We weren’t able to fish Thursday because of our day jobs. We knew weather was coming, so we ran over to Port Dalhousie Thursday evening. We went to bed with hard NW winds, and woke up to the same. By 11am we could see the wind had died down a little bit, and we made the decision to get out for a few hours of fishing. We rode the WN winds down to the bar where we eventually found some fish. The NW winds had the green river water pressed along the shoreline, so our bite was on top of the bar. We didn’t catch anything big, but we had a starting point that we would try to dial in as the weekend passed by. Saturday (Day 1) - We left in much of the same NW winds experienced on Friday. We made the 30 minute trek to the Niagara Bar in a washing machine of boat wakes, and the 3-5’ waves from the NW winds. Our program for the morning was 2 wires pulling Walker Deeper Divers, our three Cannon DT10’s, five color cores off the Big John Otter Boats, and a 10 color which we would run down the chute in varying lengths. We had a 100% spoon program with our Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers, Northern King Lazer Spooks, and Northern King Mulatto’s being our MVP’s for the day. We had a great morning. When you found a few kings you had to work that area. If you got out of them you caught Lakers. We worked from 45’-150’ on the bar, and eventually changed our program when our wires got red hot. We pulled the five colors and went double wires on each side. That bite went for a few hours and it was crazy good! We easily did over 40 fish, and we knew we had one 15lb fish we needed to cull, but it just never happened. A lot of great fish for next year out there! We did the weigh in thing and saw many similar boxes. At the end of day one we were 21st and 8lbs out of the top ten. Sunday (Day 2) - We woke up to calm waters FINALLY! The run to the bar was great! We had YT3 cranking at 26-27mph. I think we even passed a Lund!?!?!? We were pumped to get lines in the water! We started in the same water on top of the bar, with the same program as Saturday morning. The picture wasn’t as good, although we did grab a few fish. We slide out because we could see the river water had pushed out (after being laid along the shoreline from the NW winds). When we got off the ledge we started marking more fish, and it was game on. We pulled the 5 color cores and replaced them with 300 coppers, and the ten color was replaced with a 600 copper, which we varied the length of in 100’ increments. Coppers were HOT! A Stinger Hawg Wild on one, and a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler on the other. Our Cannons took quite a few fish too. The Northern King Sea Sick Waddler was definitely the MVP of the day. On our 600 copper a Dreamweaver Spin Doctor in Blue Angel pulling an A-TOM-MIK UV Blue Dolphin was going consistently. In an attempt to pick up some bigger fish we dragged bottom with a White Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Sweet Pea. It pulled many fish from 100’ to 200’ down, but they just weren’t the fish we were looking for. We knew we had a better box on day two, but we still had one Salmon that was 15lbs, and we just couldn’t cull it. When everything was said and done we climbed up the standings, but not enough for a check. We finished 15th out of 52 boats. Moral of the story………the fishing is GREAT on Lake Ontario right now. From Jordan to Oswego MANY kings are being caught. Get out there and enjoy this great resource!

April 14th - Brown Trout out of the Oak We left the dock at 6:30am and headed East out of the chute. We were on a mission for some big ol Brown Trout. Water was in the upper forties, and we concentrated our efforts in less than 20’ of water. We had a super slow pick early in the morning. We weren’t satisfied with the water we were fishing, so we just kept going. When we pulled up to Eagle Creek we found colored water and 50 degree water. With that came all the action we could handle. We had 6 flat lines out on the boards with both bright and natural colored sticks. We also ran a few spoons off our Cannon DigiTroll 10s down 5-10’ depending on our depth. Our Stinger Sea Sick Waddler was killer down 5’. That’s turning out to be a GREAT Spring Brown Trout spoon. The fish were all good size unlike last week where most were cookie cutter size. We ended the trip with well over twenty bites. Enjoy some fish porn from the day! April 15th - Fishing from the Oak When we got off the water yesterday we heard there were some Kings to be had out in deeper water. Well, that was the game plan for today! We left the dock around 7am, and headed out to 40’ of water where we put out what I’m going to call a water covering spread. We had 6 lines off the boards with shallow sticks in bright colors for Cohos, and deep diving sticks for Kings. We ran our three Cannon Digitroll 10’s with sliders for Kings and Cohos, and two wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers with Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK combos. Shortly after getting the spread in we had action, but it wasn’t the action we were looking for. We wanted Salmon, but all we could dig up were Lake Trout. It was a lot of fun, and we boated some hogs. Around 11am we had enough of the Lake Trout bite, and with no Kings to show for we headed in to beat up on some Brown Trout. As soon as we settled in around Green Harbor rods started to fly. The structure around there is ridiculous! We found warm water between there and Johnson Creek, and we had a steady pick of Brown Trout. Same program as the last few with natural and colored sticks on the boards, a Stinger Sea Sick Waddler and a Dreamweaver Chicken Wing SS on our Cannons. AS we were picking up we got a pleasant surprise when a 10lb Atlantic hit the floor of our boat. Gorgeous fish! April 16th - Brown Trout fishing from the Oak Jerry and his buddies joined us again this year for some April Brown Trout action. Last year they were the first charter of the season and brought 30mp SW winds with them. We had to cancel last Monday because of heavy winds, and moved them to today. What did they bring with them again? Strong SW winds whipping 25mph+. I don’t know what to think about these guys! Good thing they brought lots of food, and good luck on some hefty Brown Trout. We took a short ride down to Lakeside Beach and set rods. We put out 6 rods on our planer boards, spoons on our three Cannon Downriggers down 5’, and two flat lined spoons off the corners. We had a slow pick until we got to Green Harbor. The 51 degree water off Johnson Creek was gone, and we had 48 degree water most of the day. Those flat lined spoons were Stinger Stingrays in Alewife, and Black Widow. Both of which took some nice shots. There were some nice fish off Green Harbor. We put two Brown Trout in the boat over 10lbs, and lost three others as big or bigger at the back of the boat when they went spin crazy, or bulldogged. The board lines that were hot were all naturals, so we switched all of them over to that. Around 11am the wind was unbearable. It would blow our planer releases right up our tow line, and make fishing the inside board impossible. We decided to move out and fish for Kings during the last few hours. It was blowing hard and there were 2-3’ waves a quarter mile offshore. Out over 60-100’ there were 3-5’ waves out of the Southwest. Once we hit 60’ we started to pop some very nice sized Lake Trout on an Northern King Sea Sick Waddler, and a Dreamweaver Chicken Wing SS. An hour into the change we hit a spunky Spring King Salmon on our 60’ rigger pulling a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler. That fish was all over the place! We ended the day with a very nice mixed bag which included a few Cohos that hit sticks off the planer board while we were seeking the mighty King Salmon. Until the next trip enjoy some fish porn! Lake Ontario baitfish - HHHUUUGGGEEE

Had to pick through a lot of 2-4lb fish to get a few nice ones like that. Some days they are big, and others they are small. Either way its a blast on light gear.

Tell me about it!

Happy Easter! We had another charter out of Rochester today, and after yesterdays bite we knew where we were headed. We rolled down to within a quarter mile of I-Bay and set up the spread. Same sticks as yesterday. Bright on one side and Natural on the other. 100' back on one side and 125' back on the other. As soon as we got to Oklahoma Beach rods started to fire. Not as fast and furious as it was yesterday, but we had very steady action. Most of the morning was filled with cookie cutter Brown Trout coming off the boards. Our best stick was a Rapala chartreuse and silver F9. Those same spoons from yesterday fished off our Cannons were quiet for most of the morning. We had a Stinger Sea Sick Waddler, a Dreamweaver Glow Frog SS, and a Dreamweaver Orange Slurpee SS. As the morning progressed we watched the size get better and better. We would slip out to 25' on turns and try to pop a King, but we never did hook into one today. It was still a fun day none the less with more action than you needed. Here were today's brutes: