Yankee Troller

May 15th - We headed for 4 mile creek at 6am and we were met with a nice 1-3' chop from the West. When we set down the screen lit up, so we started to set lines and it didn't take long to hook into our first King. He hit on our probe rigger pulling a NK 28 DL Glow Coyote. That fish set the stage for the rest of the day. We ran a 500 copper off each Big John Otter boat, 4 wires, and 3 riggers. Our wires in the AM were parked at 250 on a .5 and 300 on a 2.5, and 275 on a .5 and 325 on a 2.5. We slid them each out about 25' around 12pm.Those wires took 80% of our fish today. On one side we pulled a Wonder dot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Hammer, and a Black double crush glow SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly with the Smartfish set at 11:30. On the opposite side we ran a green dot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist, and a Green SmartFish with chrome on one side and crush glow on the other/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist. Those were set on an 8:30.Our 500 coppers took a few shots one pulling a green dot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist, and the other a wonder dot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK glow hammer. We worked from the red can to the fence for most of the day. Down speed didn't matter as we caught them at 1.7 to 3.0 at the ball. Our big guy today tipped the scale at 25 pounds! He is also our largest of the 2010 season. We ended the day with 6 Kings in the last hour, which was just incredible and exciting for everyone. We had LOTS of picture opportunities today. Make sure you check out the last picture! May 16th - I had some friends from work out with us today, so I HAD to produce! With yesterdays results I figured it would be NO PROBLEM! Well, I was wrong. Water color looked GREAT, and the screen was very good. It took us a while to get our first shot. Unlike yesterday, our wires never took a shot today. We ran the same program as yesterday. 4 wires, 2 - 500 coppers, and 3 riggers. An NK THAT spoon did half our fish today on our corner rigger parked at 100'. The other MVP for the day was a wonder dot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK glow hammer fished off our 500 copper. In talking to a lot of other boats out there today everyone struggled.The disappointment for the day was having two nice Kings get sawed off by our wire rods. We worked so hard for the bites we got, and to have that happen hurt. Regardless, there was enough action for the guys and girls today, and they left with plenty of meat for the fridge.

Didn't bother weighing it! 1st-4th looked like this (please remember to pick your jaw up off the desk) 32, 26, 26, 25. That's pounds not inches folks. We have some massive Salmon being taken this year, which leads me to believe that we may see a few 40lb brutes this August/September. Our Spring derby which typically takes a 24lb fish to win saw 2 - 32lb Salmon to the scales and 20th place was a 24lb King. Just an unreal leaderboard! I dont want the Fall to get here too soon, because that means the season is winding down, but the excitement of a 40lb fish hitting my deck is unreal! http://loc.org/derby/leaderboard/currentadult.asp

May 7th (Practice) - Our team left the dock at 6am, and the game plan was to head West to the 4 mile creek area and work the waters between there and the border. We didn't get our rods set, and they started to fly. The first fish took a 175' wire diver pulling a black double crush glow Smart Fish and an A-TOM-MIK hammer fly. While that fish was in play the corner rigger started to throb and I was on that rod. As I popped it from the downrigger I could tell it was a nice fish. However, about 10 seconds into the fight I could tell the fish went under my low diver. We tried to fix that, but nothing was working. So, I put the thumb down on that fish and never let it get more than 20 or 30 yards on me. What happened was the cheater caught the wire line on the way up. We fixed that problem and proceeded to put that fish in the boat. It was a very healthy 20 pound Salmon, and as I was pulling the Dreamweaver Moon Cricket out of that fish the fish on the 175' diver hit the deck. That was only a 7-9lb Salmon, and we sent it back to grow up. We boxed the 20lb'er because we were in the Dreamweaver Big Fish Friday tournament, and preceded to set the rest of the lines. We fished a 3 rigger, 4 wire, 3 copper program. Soon after getting all the rods set up our 500 copper down the chute takes off singing! Joe jumps on the rod, and he was in for a battle. This fish played with us by taking a few nice runs. Generally on long coppers one or two runs are the norm, but this fish didn't want to stop. After about 30 minutes of hoping it was big, and bustin' Joe's chops for allowing this fish to whoop him the Salmon hit the deck. Disappointment set in as this fish would hit the scales at 18lbs (not bigger than the 20lb Salmon already in the cooler), so we put him back to be caught another day. On the end of that 500 copper was a wonder dot Smart Fish trailed by an A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly. In the next hour we picked up two Coho's and at 8:45am our bite was over. We trolled until 1pm with just one more fish to add to the count. The predicted winds started to pick up out of the East, and we called it a day. The 20lb Salmon I battled. Joe taking a butt whoopin! May 8th and 9th (Tourney) - For the first time in 14 years both days of a Scotty event were canceled. The Gale Force winds on Saturday were spectacular! The piers in Wilson were submerged in HUGE waves. Not a chance we would have made it out there, and I applaud the tournament directors for making the right decision. The winds continued on into Sunday, and we even had some snow flakes to top it off. Just a miserable weekend for Lake Ontario.

OMG...annoying isn't the word for it. We spent 2 hours trying to clean them up, and we still have work to do when we get down to the boat this weekend.

Yes, we ran them on our 10 color rigs last year and we put two more on the boat this year for 300 coppers. Makes clearing lines NICE. Drags are very nice also. We did many 20-28lb Kings on the 10 colors last season, and everyone who has handled that reel has commented on how nice it is.

The weather this weekend was AMAZING! However, if there was ever a weekend I wanted some wind this was the one! There was a gnat hatch out there, and boy was it one of the worst ones I have ever seen. We had GLOBS of gnat's on our flybridge. We couldn't even think about going up there. A few made their ways into our noses, mouths, and ears, but we never stopped fishing for a derby winner! Check out some pictures of our boat from Sunday. By the way....these pictures do it no justice. Sunday May 2nd - Today we ran a charter with a friend I met on Lake Ontario United. This was Anthony's third trip with us over the last four years. He really wanted to put his name on the LOC Derby leaaderboard, but we just weren't successful at doing so again today. The good news is we fell just one fish short of a couple dozen. I couldn't get the rods in the water this morning! We tweaked our program from the prior day, and it worked out perfect. We started off with more Lakers than Salmon, but that slowly switched as the day passed on. An NK THAT spoon took a few fish, but it didn't come close to the Dreamweaver Moon Cricket's performance. Boy was that HOT today. A few fish also took a Dreamweaver Roy Boy. Riggers were parked between 30-45 for most of the day. The flasher/fly bite on our wires died late morning, so a Dreamweaver green dolphin mag on one side and a Dreamweaver blue dolphin mag on the other side took a few more Kings. 125' was our hot number on the wires again today. Check out a few pictures from the day. Saturday May 1st - After last weekend we were looking for a little revenge on some Salmon. Well, we got it! We spent Saturday looking for a fish to place on the derby leaderboard. We weren't successful at our goal, but we took enough fish to have some fun for a few hours. A great mix of Salmon, Cohos, and Lake trout. The Lake Trout we have been catching off the Niagara Bar have been some real beauties. 14-17 pound fish almost the norm. I might even go out on a limb and say they are becoming aggressive! We were taking them at King speeds, which really makes us shake our head. Dreamweaver's Roy Boy and an NK THAT spoon in a 28 size were the hot set-ups on our riggers parked at 30-40' down. On our wires we ran a Smart Fish (white with green dot) pulling an A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist, and a Dreamweaver Spin Doctor in a gator pattern with an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle. 150' wires were taking Lakers, so we pulled them into 125' and the Kings started to feast. We tried 5 and 10 color cores off the boards with little success, and a 300 copper run short down the chute, and that resulted in the same low success rate. Here is a nice picture of me and our largest King of the day. The Scotty Wilson tourney is going on next weekend. 52 boat field is what I am hearing, so there will be some fierce competition out there on top of all the derby fishing going on.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that all weekend long I had spoons flying out of the water at me. I would go to change a lure. Pop it from the rigger and start reeling. next thing I know a spoon is flying out of the water at me. That's how fast they are.

A-FISHY-ANODO, We switched all of our 47LC's over to the Saltist 30's too this off-season. We had our first REAL test with them this weekend. I have had limited expereince with a Tekota, but i can tell you the Saltist are a winner. The major thing you will notice is the drag on them compared to a Sealine. The Sealine has stopped a lot of Kings over the years, but this drag in the Saltist is BETTER. The nice big handle is another noticeable improvement over the Sealine 47LC. If your looking for a premium reel this definitely deserves some consideration.

Thanks guys! I can't wait to get out there and whale on them in the next few weeks. 6 more tourneys to go for us.

This was one of our favorite tourneys last year! Fishing shallow Spring Kings last year made for a fairly new experience. We had a good day on the second day last year, but struggled on the first day. Putting together two solid days in a tournament is a crucial thing.So, for the last 12 months we looked forward to this tournament, and putting together a top 10 finish. 4/23 - (Practice) Given the warm Spring we have had we launched the boat at the Niagara bar hoping to find some Kings on the Niagara Bar. Well, they were there, but they weren't stacked in there like they will be in a week or two. We caught 7 Kings and as many, or more, Lake Trout without an issue. We found them on top of the Bar in 35-50' of water. Downriggers in the top 30 took half the shots while our 5 color cores took the other half. Maybe a fish or two off a slide diver. On the downriggers the Sea Sick Waddler Norther King was the popular lure. 28 size on the main line cheated with a Mag above it. On the 5 color cores a Dreamweaver Carmel Dolphin in the Super Slim size seemed to be the go to bait. Our largest Salmon was just shy of 18lbs on Friday's practice. Our biggest five on Friday would have looked like this: 17lb, 17lb, 12lb, 10lb, 5lb. Back at the dock it sounded like a tough bite for most, so we felt good about what we had done. 4/24 - (Day 1) With high hopes we took off from the back of the pack and headed East. We saw some warm watter off the Welland Canal on the way in Friday, so we stopped to take a look. That 30 minutes yielded nothing, and the picture was bleak. We pulled rods and ran to our waypoints from Friday! When we got there the water had changed. Down Temp dropped 2 degrees as did the surface, and the green water turned clear. We set lines and started looking. We found some decent marks in our area from Friday, but all we could pull were Lakers. We went into search mode and headed East and North. We had a decent picture most of the time, but getting them to go was almost impossible. About 9:30 the corner rigger fires with a Dreamweaver regular sized Roy's Salmon Seeker. We ended up boating a 7lb Salmon. Thinking we were onto something we changed over some gear and gave it another run through our waypoint. Well, not another rod fired the rest of the day with a Salmon on it. We ended the day with one Salmon in our box. Very disappointed! When we got back to the dock we started talking to other teams and most struggled, but a few got the bites they needed. The top three teams fished the same area we did! Out of 66 teams about 15 teams brought in a limit of Salmon. Plain and simple we got out fished! It happens! We also heard the they were calling for 30+ winds from the North East on Sunday, and we made the decision to get out of Canada Saturday night given the fact we weren't in contention for anything, and we all had jobs to get back to on Monday. I heard they canceled day two when I woke up Sunday morning, so we made a good decision. Congrats to Joe Toomey and Paul Czarnicki for a 1st and 2nd place finish.

I never ran copper on my 57 Accudepths. I just had 10 colors on them. I currently have 300' of copper on my 50 Saltist. Albright knot went through without an issue. However, the spro swivels will fit through it too. Google animated knots. Its an east knot.

No copper rod. We have the 9'6" diver rods on ALL our coppers. We can't even get them to make a copper reel for more than 300' of copper. FYI.....the Firewolf and Wilderness rods are a Graphite rod. The Heartlands are a graphite/Fiberglass composite. My recommendation would be that if you are going to use a rod for wire or braid divers use the Heartland. Fiberglass makes it a little more forgiving. With no stretch in those types of lines that can be the difference between landing one and not landing one.

I am biased because I am a Daiwa Pro-Staffer, but I have used Daiwa gear since I can remember. Their reels and rods are bulletproof for Great Lakes fishing. They have a reel and a rod that will fit everyone's budget. On my boat I have the Accudepth set-ups for my Brown Trout gear. Saltis/Heartland on my riggers, wires, and short coppers, and Sealines for my short cores.

Spro Coast Lock Size 3 (60lb) on our Salmon gear, and Spro Coast Lock Size 2 (45lb) on our Brown Trout gear.

Get a camera man on my boat! I'll put on some tackle and techniques sessions! I think that would promote and help the Great lakes fishery a lot! The Best Chance II boys sell a lot of instructional DVDs! Someone wants to learn how to do what we do.

Thanks guys! Yeah, that Brown fought a little tougher than the rest of the 3-4lb Cohos he was getting used to catching. Pretty sure they will be back!

Yesterday's weather was miserable! Todays weather was tolerable. However, the 1-3' waves out of the North West put some rock and roll into our lures. Unlike yesterday, todays fish wanted more natural looking baits. Yesterday they wanted Chartreuse and Orange Rapalas, and today they wanted Black/Silver and Black/Gold Rapala J11's. The water was 49 degrees when we started fishing and warmed up to 51 by the days end. We did manage to find 55 degree water off the Genesee river at one point. The bite for us today was mainly off the mouth of the Genesee River, but we did hit 3 or 4 on the troll down and back from Irondequoit Bay. There was a good school of Cohos hanging in the warmer dirty water right off the Summerville Pier. Every pass yielded a fish or two. Today was mostly a Coho bite with 2 Brown Trout mixed in. One of those Browns was a real Beauty! That Brown Trout took a Stinger Stingray Mixed Veggies 50 back down 4' on the corner rigger. We had just come out of the deep side of the Genesee River plume. That smile tells it all! On the boards the lines set back 150' took more shots than the lines set back 125's on the other side. We kept our down speed between 2.0 and 2.4mph for most of the day. These last few days of Brown Trout Fishing has been FUN, and we love to fish for them during this time of year, but next weekend we will be moving on to Port Delhousie, in Canada, for our first tournament of the year.

4/16 - Gave it a shake down. Boy did the boys at Krenzer do a job on the boat. She has never run so well right out of the gate. Fished for about an hour, and managed one Shaker BT on a Firetiger F11. 4/17 - Chris and some friends from Newberg, NY joined us for some HOT April Brown Trout action. The only problem was it turned into some HOT Coho action. The weather looked bleak all week. They were calling for 6-8's at one point! We headed down to Irondequoit Bay because that gives us the option to fish in the Bay. We peaked outside the breakwalls and it was fishable, so we set lines. It wasn't Fast and Furious, but we had a slow steady pick most of the morning. Chartreuse F9 Rapala took most of our shots with a J9 GFR Rapala coming in a close second. Off the planer boards we ran them between 100-150' back, and on the rigger 50-75' back. The bait was LOADED on the shore. You wanna know how I know this? Well, first off the birds were divebombing all morning, but every time I would go to change out a spoon on my riggers there was a Alewife on the hook. Funny and irritating at times. I guess if you want to catch some Alewives run the alewife Stinger Stingray, because that seemed to always have a alewife on it. Chris and the boys left with some very tasty Coho meat, and they had a great time given the 40 degree or colder day mother nature threw them. Oh, by the way we did land one little Brown Trout. So they sorta got what they came for! We will be out tomorrow, so stay tuned for another report! I apologize about not having any pictures. I forgot the camera at home! I wont let that happen again!

I'm looking for the 2XG chip right now. Kind of hard to find.

Heard the same thing.

So, what are you excited to put into action once the season kicks off? On our boat we switched all our Daiwa Sealine 47LC's over to the High Speed Daiwa Saltist 30's. We also ripped out all the electronics and went with Humminbirds. An 1157 in the cabin, and a 958 on the bridge.

We will be finishing our first Salmon Tourney less than a month from today, and the the Spring King fishery will fire up on the West end of Lake Ontario right after that. We are psyched! Got lots of new toyz to play with in 2010!

Sorry for the delayed report boyz! You know how things in my life are going right now. Anyway, We were the first boat at the ramp, and the first boat in the water on Saturday morning and it was COLD! The mud from the Genesee River was running right down the shore. We motored to Shipbuilders and the water started to clear up, so we started to set lines. I went straight to the bright colored stickbaits. Rappy GFR's on the furthest and closest board lines and a Rebel Fastrak chartreuse with green diamonds between them. I just got done setting the rebel and FISH ON. It was a little BT and we thought that it was going to be a GREAT day! Well, we set the rest of the lines and we waited, and waited, and waited. The fish weren't cooperating and the water was cold. Most of what we found was 39 degrees. After an hour or so of nothing I started changing. I went to chartreuse on the furthest and closest board line and a silver black and orange on the middle. The silver/black too a short strike, and on the troll back West the chartreuse crystal minnow and the Rappy F9 in chartreuse took two more fish. 10 minutes before we picked up the inside Rappy F9 in chartreuse took another fish. Nothing was big (unlike last week). We boated 4 and lost one, and we were off the water by 11:30am. Best water we found was East of shipbuilders hitting 41 degrees. That dirty Genny water is probably why chartreuse was so good. The fish could actually see it. Here are some pics:

I haven't read through all of the responses, but I can answer your questions quickly. You want 300yards of 50# Power pro backing on that reel. You can get a max of 600' of 45lb copper on a Penn 345. mark it every 50 or 100ft so if you choose to run it down the chute you can adjust it to where the fish are hanging. If you want to run it off a board put a 50lb mono section between the copper and the Power pro. Hold on, because this is a deadly copper length for big guys!

I honestly watched a guy this weekend take a nice BT on a turn in < 8' of water on his rigger. I watched the fish splash 10' behind his boat when he hooked him. However, I think this is the exception and not the rule. That is why we run planer boards this time of year with flat lines off them. The concept is that they will catch them after the fish spook outside the boats path. We like our baits back a little further. Generally no less than 100'.