8/28-2/29 Yankee @ the Oak

[Yankee Troller]

8/28 – Evening trip

We completely tuned up the boat in the morning, and tackled some odd jobs we wanted to get done. Little things like fixing the navigational light that blew, organizing some tackle, and tying new leaders. Jobs still waiting to be completed are measuring some coppers that have been cut short, and spooling up another 10 color! Anyway, I was kept up to speed about the fishing by my friend Eric who runs the Maniac boat throughout the day, and the idea of a short evening trip was on the table. 5 O’Clock rolled around and Eric and his son were standing on my boat waiting to head out for some evening fishing.

We fished from about 5:30/6 O’Clock till about 8/8:30, and had a great time. It’s always fun to fish with different people, and when they have their own ride and crew it makes it tough. Anyway, we set down on the 27N line and trolled it north to the 29/30N line, and about 9W. We ran a very simple spread consisting of 3 riggers and 2 wires. We were out there to have fun! Especially when I found out that neither of them had DERBY TICKETS!!!!!! Throughout the night on the riggers were some DW Gators, Midnight Specials, NK Copper NBK’s, and Sea Sick Waddlers. Behind our Walker Deeper Divers we had DW/A-TOM-MIK combos in the 42nd and Gator patterns. Our DW Gator SS’s really had the spotlight on them for our evening trip. They took the first fish, which was about a 9-10lb Steelhead, and they would take 3 out of the 5 or 6 fish we would hook up with.

On the way in we trolled into the 26N/25N line and saw a GREAT picture down below 100’ on our Humminbird. I threw a few things down there that Kings like to eat, but it was getting late so that program lasted about 15 minutes. However it gave us something to look forward to in the morning.

By the way, our tune up which consisted of plugs, wires, and a cap and rotor really made a HUGE improvement in the performance of our ride. She really woke right up! Anyone who knows us knows that my father was the one who took care of this, but since his accident he just can’t do it. I guess we should have learned this stuff from him over the years!

8/29 – Charter

We got a very early start because we were so anxious to see if we could get those deep kings going. We set down over 150 fow and trolled NE. The marks were there, and they were still deep. I put out a simple 6 rod spread consisting of 3 riggers, 2 wires, and a 600 copper. EVERY rod had a paddle/fly combo of some color combination attached to it. We marked fish from 150 out to 300 anywhere from 100-200’ down. We never moved a rod, but it gave us peace of mind that the Kings are there. My guess? They are probably sick of Mother Nature pushing water back and forth every few days so they are hanging out in more stable water.

Once we figured out those fish didn’t want to play we pointed the boat due north and went in search of Steelhead. Out to the 32N line we trolled with no real WOW factor. Small Chinooks made up the catch the whole way out there. So small they wouldn’t keep, but our customers were very happy to see the time we put into making sure a 20†King gets revived!

By about noon we were headed back in on a southerly troll with only 3 or 4 fish in the box. We just couldn’t get on a pod of Steelhead like we hoped. Lots of action, but lacking size. At this point we were down to 3 riggers, one copper, and 4 wires. On the riggers were DW gators, NK Copper NBKs, and a mix of other things that just wouldn’t get the job done on the third rigger. Maybe I should have thrown down one of the previous two color combos that were working! Anyway, on our deep wires we ran a DW/A-TOM-MIK Gator combo and chrome green dot paddle with an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am Glow fly. Both of which would go on to take the two biggest fish of the day. One being a 15lb Chinook Salmon and the other being a 15lb Coho Salmon. Our high wires pulled mag sized spoons, and took one shot on a Moonshine Bad Toad. We ran our low deeper divers on 1.5’s and out 225 and 250, and our high deeper divers were set on 3’s and set out 50’ more than the low wire. By the end of the day our box looked much nicer. We found a pod on the 26/27N line a tad East. First troll gave us 4 fish and the next two gave up 1 each.

[Just Hook'n]

Your dipsey roads in that picture look like they are going to snap.

What do you run on those (rod strength) or are you running extra fast?

Nice work on the fishes.

We too tuned up the boat this weekend.

But mine was, new bilge and new solonoid for the trim (guess they had a party and decided to crap out).

[Yankee Troller]

I guess your right! They do look like that. We run a Depth Raider and keep the speed between 2.1 and 2.5 most of the time. Those are Dawia Heartland Diver rods with Walker Deeper Divers in a 107 size. Could have been a turn or my brother not paying attention to his speed.