Yankee Troller

Thanks guys! It was sweet to get out there, and yes those 10 meters fish really nice.

We knew going into the morning that weather was creeping upon us from the South West. It was only a matter of time before Gail force winds and thunder boomers (according to the weather man), but we needed to get a few hours of fishing in at the very least. We pulled away from the dock about 6:30am and figured we would run the same troll as the day before. Well, we found out quickly that the mud from the Genesee River got pushed down it’s Western shoreline. We trolled for a few hours in that milk chocolate until we reached Long Pond where it started to green up. Once we found the green water the fish began snapping. Today’s spread was a simple Brown Trout, or a typical April fishing spread, consisting of 6-8 lines off the planer boards and 2 riggers. We ran bright stuff on one side and natural stuff on the other. Again, today it didn’t matter. They ate both! We ran our lines from 125-175’ back on the boards and 40-60’ back on the riggers. That Stinger Sea Sick Waddler was HOT again today on the rigger down 4’ back 40’. It took our second biggest fish of the day! Braddock point was the key area. I think the warm water getting pushed out of that bay from the South winds put the fish right on that point, and every pass 3-4 rods would fire. With about 2 hours of fishing left the board on the shoreline side of the boat’s furthest line out, and furthest line back, takes a hit. It was a J7 GFR ran back 175’. I could tell it was a good one, but I wasn’t ready for what came swimming by the boat 20 minutes later. My eyes about popped out of my skull when this thing hit the deck of the new Trojan. I called it a mid-teens fish, but at the end of the day on an official scale it weighed 16 pounds and 11 ounces. Our second largest Brown Trout ever, and one that made our customers mouth drop! On our last pass of the day we took our second largest fish on the Stinger Sea Sick Waddler weighing in around 12 pounds, which was a great end to a perfect day!

Thanks

After a few small set backs our new Tourney/Charter boat was put in the water on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the lake was flat, and the scenery from Sodus to Rochester was kind of cool. I’m going to like these cruises up and down the lake I think! Here goes the FIRST fishing report of 2011 with many more to come! We left the dock with a few Cold Steel team members, and our ladies about 6:30am. After watching just about every boat head East we decided to go West to get some virgin water. We started to think our decision wasn’t a good one because it took a little while to get our first hit. Right where Buck pond empties into the Lake we found some warmer water and sure enough there were some fish in it. We more or less tripled up in there, but just kept trolling West because we had a parade of boats behind us. I knew there were more ponds and bays dumping warm water into the Lake ahead of us, so we took a shot. Well, we waited for our next bite for quite some time, but just after passing Long pond the water started to warm up and when we got to Braddocks it was game on. Everything was going on the boards. Bright baits and natural baits were all taking their fair share of fish. Our Stinger Sea Sick Waddler took the big boy of the day on the corner rigger back 40’ down 4’. We tried to hang in less than 10’ of water for most of the day. Our trolling speed was between 2.1 and 2.5 on the GPS, and water temps ranged from 39 degrees to 47 degrees.

That's actually a great idea, and I am sure Bert's or one of the other leading track companies could devise a solution. Bring that to them and see where you can get with it. I know I would be interested in a product like that!

We run Purple Metalic most of the time, but also have clear (for BT and SH fishing), Glow Froggy, and Black. All seem to work good. Build up some confidence in a color and run with it. I agree with an earlier post about how LJ took a good product and let it go to S**t, and Walker has taken that same product made it better and worked out their own bugs. That's good customer service!

We switched over to the Walkers last year, and we couldn't be more happy about the switch. The quality of the LJ divers recently has been terrible. I even tried writing the company and sending a sample of what was happening, and never heard a word from them. Walker has been GREAT to deal with! They took an old mouse trap (the LJ) and made it even better. The clicking settings on the bottom, better color selection, and a better releasing mechanism. My only problem with the Walkers, and it's due to being so used to the LJ's, is I tighten the bottom screw too tight and crack the bottom half.

We just ordered an arch from Atlantic Towers. I think we are going with an HD Go Pro this season. The camera shoots 170 degree wide angle video, which should be cool to catch diver shots. It can run for 2 hours on a set of batteries too. I was looking through their mounts and I think this one will work: http://gopro.com/camera-mounts/roll-bar-mount

Easily the Northern King Sea Sick Waddler. That spoon goes down every morning, and has put a ton of fish in the boat up here on Ontario.

I've heard good and bad about them. The bad being the fleas and the cottonwood. I used those rods in the Bass world for my flipping sticks, but never trolling the Big O. Cool concepts though.

I am also very curious about this. We just switched from Scotty to the new Cannon riggers, and the tilt up feature was one We will miss greatly.

Blacks across the board for us. On our probe rigger we attach a Scotty release to the blacks to help eliminate the probe tangling up with the line attached to the rigger. This tangle up really only happens while going into big swells on our boat. Maybe the new ride will act differently???

We use the Daiwa Heartland 9'6" Dipsey Diver rods for ALL of our copper set-ups. It's almost like it was meant for this type of fishing. We dont have any copper set-ups under 300' BTW. If we have to go below a 300 copper we move to lead core. Our 10 color set-ups are on those same diver rods, but when we get to anything less than a 7 color we will go to a 8'6" medium Heartland Downrigger rod.

Another great use for the pool noodle is to make a cut down to the center hole and wrap it around one of your canvas top structural pieces. Then you can hang you flies from it so the bodies are stored hanging upside down to add more flare when you put them back in action. This also keeps your fly leaders nice and straight.

Spoons and Flasher/Fly are all you need. Set of riggers and a pair of wire divers should get the job done. Fish your screen. Fish can be caught from the surface down to 200' in May. Keep an eye on some of the local captains blogs, and Lake Ontario Tweets for the most up to date fishing reports and lure choices.

That I know! I really want them b/c I have no clue how I am going to run my big boards without them on the new ride. A few Trojan guys on Lake O have pullys up the Outrigger for the tow line, and I really like that concept.

We've ran both brands on our boats. Our Scotty's were bulletproof! No complaints about them ever. Our new boat will be equipped with the brand new DT-10's. I am excited to run these as they were completely re-designed with help from some very serious fisherman throughout the Great Lakes. You can't go wrong with either of these brands. I played with the new Scotty's last August on a friends boat, and they were nice. A little faster than the originals, but I don't think they are getting the speeds they are claiming. Could have just been the prototype too. I also played with a prototype Cannon DT last season which was really nice. I like the build up to full speed with the Cannons. The ergonomics of these new Cannons are nice, and they fixed a lot of the flaws people have had with them over the years. Cannon is a company that is listening to their consumer base, which I love! That Scotty ad has been around for a few years. You wonder why it hasn't been changed.

Somewhere in the 18-22' range and would prefer ones with a spreader(s). If you know of any that someone has laying around or doesn't want anymore please feel free to contact me. 585-704-7996

We run 2 wires on each side when it's a "King" bite. We use Daiwa Heartland diver rods. One set is on the 9'6" diver rods and the other is on the 10'6" diver rods. I'd love to get the Heartland 8' roller rod and give 3 wires a shot, but on Lake Ontario we are only allowed 2 rods per person, and we love our coppers! We like the separation we get with the different size rod, but I think we would do just fine with both sets running the 9'6" rods. I know Billy V uses the 9'6" Heartland for his high and low divers and doesn't have any issues.

We run Spin doctors 40% of the time, Smart Fish 40% of the time, and E-Chips about 20% of the time. The Smart Fish is REAL nice because I can get it to fish like a SD or a Chip by dialing in the rudders. The only issue with the SF is that it comes in plain Jane colors, which are good most of the time. However, that Gator and 42nd SD have been red hot off the Oak the last few years. First thing we do when we open a SD is switch the swivel in the back to the opposite side. Our average fly leaders are 22-24" from the top of the loop to the head of the fly.

We run more and more SS's every year. Great spoons! SO many colors worked well for us. Midnight special was good, green eye ghost, shiznit, Glow green alewife, and a bunch of others. An AMAZING steelie spoon, but the kings just tear them up also.

I posted this hear because we would love to get some teams from Michigan, or any other Lake for that matter. I hope I am not breaking any forum rules, and if so please let me know. This tourney we are putting on is going to be a PREMIER event. Something Lake Ontario has never seen. Check out the details below, and if anyone from out of the area is interested I can get you more information, and help with lodging. You will be fishing the Niagara Bar at the BEST time. 20-30 fish days of teenage-mid twenties Kings are the norm! The Wilson Harbor Invitational will take place May 13th and 14th 2011. We are happy to offer a new format, great fishing, and an awards banquet you wont forget. Invitations are being mailed. Feel free to contact us with any questions and concerns. WBI Follow us on Twitter and Facebook [email protected] http://twitter.com/WilsonHarbor http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Wilson-Harbor-Invitational/177551115593344 www.wilsonharborinvitational.com

Pretty cool looking spoons!

In the Spring here on Lake O its nothing to fish 100+ down for Kings off the Niagara Bar. I remember fishing 200-225 on Memorial day one years and smoking the big guys right on the bottom. Typically, your right though. 10# weights are fine for fishing shallow. But if you experience blowback and its bothersome to you just put out a heavier weight.