Yankee Troller

Thanks guys!

You hit the nail on the head! This is a "typical" year. Last year was stupid early because of the warm weather. Two years ago we were a month behind on Ontario with the cold Winter/Spring we had. You guys will be fine I'm sure, and if not Ontario is pumping out some slobs! Come get some! This past weekend in our first event there was a 26 and a 25 weighed in during big fish Friday along with a lot of 20-21s. Big fish of the tourney was 24.

Friday - Given the cold water temps we thought it would be best to head West in practice. We fished the Jordan Harbor area, and went 1 for 2 on Kings in the skinny water pulling Reef Runners. On our Cannon downriggers we also took 3 Coho's, a few Lake Trout, and a 12lb drop back Steelhead. Nothing real promising, but after doing a little networking it seemed as if there weren't many Kings being caught. We trolled back to Port Dalhousie and we noticed some great emerald green water right out front, and the temp was a degree or two better than we'd been seeing all day. We made a pass through there and hooked a nice 18lb King. The next pass was good for another Coho. It was time to head in to weigh-in so we couldn't explore that area much more, but it was something we wanted to try first thing in the morning. Saturday - When the horn sounded half the field went right, and the other half went left. Three boats stayed right there and did a slow roll out to the water right out front. We started deploying lines in 20' of water, and worked out. It seemed like it took forever for the first bite, but we were boxed with 5 Salmon by 7:30am, and we continued to pound on them from there on out. Our spread consisted of a spoon on each of our three Cannon downriggers, a wire on each side pulling a spoon, a 5 color core pulling a Dreamweaver green dot Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Ultra Green Glow on an in-line, an in-line pulling a frog colored Reef Runner, and a 10 color down the chute which we shortened/lengthened depending on the depth we were over. Our top spoon in the morning was hands down the Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler in a regular size. After the sun came up a Dreamweaver Superglow Hot NBK became the MVP. At one point we tripled on the fly, a spoon, and the Reef Runner landing all three Kings. We worked the 30' range for most of the morning, but as the sun came up our screen looked better in the 40-50' range. This is also when a Stinger Wonderbread got hot on the 10 color core. Heading into weigh-in we thought other teams had to of smashed them too. When we hit the dock it seemed like most teams were reporting tough fishing, and one or two fish in the box. We weighed almost last, and when our fish hit the scales it was 20 pounds heavier than the next team. We were pumped, but with that came nerves, and the knowledge of knowing we were going to be followed Sunday morning. Sunday - We put down the same spread, but this time we had half of the field fishing with us. The screen was just never there like it was on Saturday. We stayed in our water for four hours and went 1 for 2. Around 10 we made the decision to run to the bar and try to catch 4 Coho. We set-up on the Canadian side of the fence, and we weren't able to get our Coho spread out when a board line pops. We were into our first Coho. It took a Challenger Lady Bug, and about a net length away from being netted it does it's death role and cracks us off. We weren't planning on fishing Coho this weekend. We broke out our Brown Trout rods never checking the leaders, or switching out the 8lb Flouro leaders. Lesson learned on being lazy! We gave it the rest of the day, but all we could muster up were a bunch of healthy Steelhead and Lake Trout. In the end it was another tough day for the field, and that Coho wouldn't have done us a darn thing. We had enough weight on Saturday to only drop us to 2nd place, but it was still a great start to the 2013 tourney season! Here was Saturday's box:

Saturday was a blow of day which allowed us to do some work to the ‘Yank’, so when Sunday rolled around the decision came up again. Do we go to left or right after this big blow? An experienced local captain who runs the ‘Hooked Up’ boat simply said in a text the night before “Go West young man.†We were boat #2 out of the Genny, and West is where we went for the first time this season. We set up at Russel Station in 10-15’ of water and headed West. Water was dirty brown from the beach out to 12/14’. We made the decision to slide out to 15-20’ of water and the action began. We had a slow pick from the ponds to Braddocks. To be honest I was getting a little nervous that the fishing was going to be terrible. I should have known better! The last few hours of the day were very productive, but it took getting into the right water to figure that out. We were running the same spread that we’ve ran the last few weekends. 6 - board lines, our 3 Cannons, and two split shot spoons. Our best stick of the day was a white/chartreuse rogue. Hands down it produced the most fish, but a Rapala J-11 in GFR, and a Rapala J-9 in Chartreuse also took a fair share of fish. On the riggers a Stinger glow cupped frog was consistent. One thing we noticed today was the presence of Coho. We landed three of them, but we also saw our first Chinook and Rainbow of the season. We were an Atlantic Salmon away from the Lake Ontario Grand Slam, which would have been really cool for these guys to accomplish. The best water was West of Braddock point hands down, and it got clean enough that we were able to slide into 12’ of water by the end of the trip. Well, that’s it for Spring Brown Trout trips! This week we head to Canada to start the 2013 tourney season. I’m gonna miss the little speckled guys, but Mr. Chinook is waiting!

Thanks guys!

April 14th - We weren’t sure what to expect since the wind has been howling from every direction over the last few days. As we worked on the boat Saturday we could hear the chatter from the few out, and took notice of the two Kings taken down East. Just the thought of a King was all it took for us to choose which direction we were headed. We set out 11 rods total. Six off the boards, two on our Cannon out downs, a pair of split shot spoons, and a chute flat-line. We set-up at the bay and went 1 for 2 on that stretch to Ship Builders. Once we got past that stretch it turned on! Chartreuse was the color of the day, and the Storm UV Thundersticks were great in the colored water. Another great program for us was a Stinger Glow Frog and a Dreamweaver Glow Frog ran 70’ back down 5’. It was a nice steady pick without any real fire drills. The wind got worse as the day progressed and we fished in some sloppy seas. We did notice a lot of skinny fish this weekend, and a good friend of mine reminded me of all the rain we just had. I think we took a lot of fish that were just dropping out of local streams. So enjoy the next pod of fish that are out there looking to bulk up!

Thanks boys! One we filleted a few weeks ago had 43 gobies no bigger than 3" in it's stomach. One I cleaned this weekend had two 3-4" sunfish in its stomach as well as a few gobies. These Browns have been on the chow lately!

April 6th - We left the dock a little past 6am with a new crew. Breaking the pier heads we choose right, so down to Oklahoma Beach we went. We set out a typical Spring Brown Trout set-up. Three lines off each planer board with sticks, our Cannon out downs had spoons, and over the top of them we ran a split shot spoon. When we got to Irondequoit we knew it was gonna be a tough day if we didn’t find better water. It was chocolate milk! So, out went the bright colored lures. Things started slow! We decided to put a rod down the chute because of the slow bite, and we picked up a Brad’s ThinFish and sent it out. We’ve had good luck on these in the past for BT. It wasn’t out there two minutes and FISH ON! We loaded one board up with these baits and the fish started to come. We found a few pockets with water that wasn’t complete mud, and I think the rattles in those baits helped draw the fish in. Brads ThinFish in Green Speck, Blue Green Yellow Lazer, and Red Black Squiggles all took their fair share of hits. We would go on to work those pockets and pick away at fish. One of the guys had the lucky rotation and too three fish at the double digit mark. His buddies fish were much smaller, but surprisingly there wasn’t a lot of smack talking about it. I know I would have been running my mouth if I was him! April 7th - Back at it again with a crew that did a Salmon trip with us in 2012. They were looking for a wall mounter Brown Trout, and we almost made that happen! Again, we made the decision to go right when we broke the piers about 6;30am. Down to the waters from the previous day, and we notice right away the mud is gone, and we can see down 10-12’. Oh Boy….change out the spread! It’s amazing what a few hours of South wind will do! Out went the naturals in a typical Spring program. Three flat lines off each planer board, a spoon run on our Cannon out and downs, and a split shot spoon run right over the top of those. We hit the area just East of that tragic Christmas Eve shooting, and I think we moved 6 rods in a matter of 10 minutes. After only landing two of those fish we decided it was time for a lesson on light line Brown Trout fishing. After that these guys had it down! Those two fish happened to be Lake Trout, which we’ve been seeing a lot of on the beach this Spring. The few boats after us also hit that spot and pulled LT’s, so we decided to push on East. Water was very clear, and we only took two shots from there to Hedges. One being the beast of the trip. A nicely colored up 12lb Brown Trout. We finally went back to the area we pounced on them in the morning and would go on to take 2-3 fish per pass until mother nature decided to blow 40. Hot baits today were Smithwicks and Rapalas in natural colors.

There is a 10M for sale in my home port. No stripe like the Meter you guys have already. He's asking 31k, but I know you can get it cheaper than that. If he's interested tell him to e-mail me and I will get him details. It's for sale on another forum, and the listing is very vague. However, the boat itself is in good shape.

Gotcha! I tried talking my brother into another Meter, so we could run two, but then he reminded me about how much of a headache and money pit boats are. I still want two matching 10 Meters side by side.

So you found another meter? Nice!

March 30th - “The Shakedown†Talk about being excited! First trip of the season, and we couldn’t ask for better conditions. There was a slight 2’ chop from the West. We rolled out of Sodus Point and headed for the waters off Hughes marina. We trolled it down past Pultneyville finding 40-41 degree water in 8-12’. Bites came in spurts, but we had no real fire drill. We picked up and ran to Bear Creek and trolled between there and Ginna for the rest of the day. The water there was a bit warmer, and the fire drills began. Natural colored sticks 100-150’ behind planer boards were our top producers. A Stinger Sea Sick Waddler, and a Stingray UV Blue Tuxedo had our Cannons firing as well. Some Shakedown shots: March 31 - “Easter Sunday†Our last day to “play†so we grabbed the ol’ man and went out for an Easter Sunday troll. We fished out of Rochester, and found 40-41 degree water, but nothing warmer. Some spots had green water, but there wasn’t much of it. We set out our six board lines, two lines on our Cannon out and downs, and two split shot Stinger spoons off the corners. The naturals sticks took most of the shots off the boards. Rapala Black/Silver, Black/Gold, and Perch were the MVPs. The split shot spoons held their own too in Yellow Tail and UV Black Tuxedo. We had an eventful morning, but there was a troll direction and a small stretch of water holding the fish. Not many small Browns like we are used to seeing in the Spring. Everything has been of quality as you can see above in the pictures. One of the Fattest BT I've seen:

Thanks guys!

Well, with the nice weather we took advantage of owning a smaller aluminum boat and got out on the Lake for some early season Brown Trout fishing. Most of the Brown Trout this time of year are in the 3-7lb range, but if you find the right water the numbers can be astounding. Each day we took a TANK! On Saturday the official weight was just under 15lbs (bottom picture), and on Sunday the biggest fish pushed 12lbs (top picture). Sundays fish had to be one of the more picture perfect Brown Trout I have ever caught. The colors and the markings on that fish were just amazing. We fished the shoreline and found a pocket of water, which we worked hard. Our best colors were naturals. The Rapala F11 Yellow Perch might have been the MVP, but a Storm Thin Fin in the Crappie color was a steady producer on Sunday. F9 Black and Gold Rapala’s were also very good. Our leads ranged from 100-150’ back behind our Otter Boats.

For Kings we're lucky to get bit when it's dark. Morning and night. You will fish over the best screen you've ever seen, but they wont touch your baits. I don't know why, and it drives me crazy! Once that sun breaks the horizon it's game on in the morning! Now, on our east end of the lake the charter fleet gets out in the dark to grab their BT limits early before they shut off. That seems to work fairly well. For charter fishing it's easier on the clients who aren't used to getting up that early to leave at 6 or 6:30.

We never troll under 2mph, so I really can't answer that question.

We don't run as many lines on Lake Ontario compared to the guys on Michigan. We also seem to fish deeper than the guys on Michigan on average. A typical set-up for us on Ontario is 3 riggers 2-4 wires, a copper off each otter boat and maybe one down the chute. Our average copper length is 300, and many times we are running 400-700' coppers. I haven;t used the TX-44s, but my experience with the TX-22s is that they don't pull far enough out to the side to clear my wires. Our wires are typically out 150-350'. I can stand up to about 10 colors with the TX-22's and then they bother me that I'm not getting it out and away from my divers enough. As for the Otter Boats.....I can't say enough about them, and I don't have any affiliation with them. We run the twin keels with a weight and a half. 9" from the front hole to the knot and 11" from the knot to the back hole. These boards will run off the side of my boat easily, and my planer reel is on my radar arch. Put 500-700' of copper on it and it will sag some, but it still gets my coppers out away from anything else in my spread. If you want to run multiple coppers or cores off them it's simple. You can put 2-3 300 coppers on one side and 2-3 400 or 500 coppers on the other. When the outside one fires you slide the others down. You NEVER have to fight a board, which is a PITA with customers. You can also read current with big boards.

Check the weep holes in the stringers to see if they are finished correctly. The older models had poorly finished weep holes and water was able to rot out the stringers, and eventually the transoms. Otherwise, they are nice boats to fish out of. As always a survey costing 400-600 bucks can save you thousands in the long run. It also helps you negotiate a lower price when it turns up some of the issues with the boat.

Completed

We use 50lb Flouro from Seaguar, ANDE, or Gamma if you can find it. Our treble hook is a VMC Spark Point 4x size 2, and above that we run a 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. We tie up multiple leaders at a time so when a fly is hot we can just slide the fly down and do a double surgeon knot. We run 22-24" leaders on 8", and 36-48" on 11" paddles. We store all our flies in those white plastic lure holders with the suction cups you can find at Walmart. We have One on each side of the cockpit, and generally there are 40-50 flies tied up on each. One of pet peeves is wrapping a fly around a paddle. I like the fly to hang upside down when not in use. We believe this allows the fly to flare a little more when put into the game.

If it doesn't work for you don't force it. If your happy with your catches on Spoons stick with it! You can use lighter gear, and have more fun. Especially since your looking for the smaller fish for table fare. If your goal is to learn how to run flashers better than stick with the hot combos, and don't experiment until you get good at getting the go to set-ups to fire. I think some guys put too much into the specifics. If the fish are around and they are hungry then they will bite. On tough days, or mid day, leader length can help trigger a few more bites. I've fished with members of some of the best tournament team on Lake O, and I've watched them tie up leaders by just looking at it. No tape measure! Start out with a combo on your wires and spoons on your riggers. I'll give you some of our go-to's but remember we fish a different Lake, and we are an A-TOM-MIK Prostaff Team: Wonderbread Spin Doc/Hammer Fly or Blue Glow Hammer Green Dot Spin Doc/Hammer Fly, Blue Glow Hammer, Hypnotist, Sweet Pea, or Ultra Green Glow Hammertime Spin Doc/Hammer Fly, Blue Glow Hammer, Hypnotist, Ultra Green Glow, or Big Fin Live Wire Spin Doc/Green Hammer, Ace fly, T-190 Chrome E-Chip/Mirage, Big Fin, T-190, Sweet Pea Gator Spin Doc/Sweet Pea, Gator, Ultra Green Glow, and Hypnotist

We have 3 DT10's with one season on them we'd let go for $900 a piece. We have new ones coming, so that's why last years are for sale. They are the Black DT10s and come with everything you'd get if you were to buy one in the store. We use Cannon covers on them when not in use. One has coated cable, and the other two have brand new cable on them since we bought spare spools to run Power Pro on them.

I really like this planer. I was explaining this to a few buddies who plug on the Salmon River. It would allow them to get a few more rods out if they wanted. I think it will be nice for those high steelhead too. The one tip I took from your thread was the Spring BT Tailgunner! I will definitely have one in the water this April!

Dave - I have the Orange one you have in your blog photos. One side is for "honing" and the other is for "sharpening." Which do you do first?

No problem. It's typo bad they didn't include that unit.