Yankee @ the Oak 8/18-8/19

[Yankee Troller]

August 18th - When we went to bed the NW winds were howling, so we didn’t know what to expect once the morning came around. We woke up to light winds and a 2-4’ roll. We ran out to the 27N line and set down with the boat pointed North. We sat down over a great screen and began to fish. However, in the first three miles we only took one shot. That 10lb King took a Moonshine Shelly Snack on our 400 copper. Something just didn’t feel right, and I said to my brother â€we need to give that another shot.†We turned the boat around at the 30N line and when we got to the 29N line the bloodbath began. We would go on to work the 27-29N line as well as we could with the boat traffic and hookups.

We deployed our typical program. Our three Cannon downriggers went down between 70-120’. As we pushed North the break came up, so that is why the band of water we fished was so thick. 85-120’ over the 27N line and 70-100 over the 29N line. We ran two wires and two coppers (400 & 500). Our riggers were loaded with spoons after the flasher/fly combos we had on them didn’t go. As is normally the case the Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers mupped took top honors. Other great baits today were a Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Big Fin Glow fly, Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, Moonshine Shelly Snack on the 400 copper, and the Dreamweaver 42nd spoons mupped.

We would go on to pull a few fish going North, but it wasn’t as productive as our south trolls. To say these guys were impressed with what Lake Ontario has to offer is an understatement. After a slow start the rest of the day was jam packed with action. Our big guy tipped the scale at 23lbs, and the rest of the fish ranged from 10lbs to 20lbs. We also hooked into some really nice Steelhead.

August 19th - We knew the cold water was settling back in when we were done with our morning trip on the previous day, so we figured we would check the inside waters first before heading out to those waypoints. When we sat down in 155’ of water the screen lit up. That’s all we needed to see! We had the same family out again today, and the goal was to get a few big ones. We had them packed up with enough fresh Salmon and Rainbow Trout meat from the previous day.

We set out our spread and it took a little bit for the action to start. Our three Cannons went down. Flasher fly combos on the corners and Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers mupped on the center rigger. Two divers went out pulling flasher/fly combos, and lastly we sent out a 400 and a 500 copper. Again today the first fish took a Moonshine Shelly Snack off the 400 copper. That would be the one and only shot for that rod. Early the divers were hot out 225’-250’ on 1.5s, but late in the morning the 500 copper started to take the reigns pulling a Dreamweaver Oil Slick Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Little Boy Blue fly. At one point my brother couldn’t even get it clipped into the release and it was pulled from his hand.

We worked 110-170 feet of water for the entire day, and the screen was great. A ton of bait in there, temp was below 80’, and there were fish in there eating. We didn’t bang a big guy, but plenty of fish in the 15-21lb range. There were even some really nice Steelhead in there. By the end of the day most of the fleet ended up in there, and I am sure they had fun. The screen was getting better as we left around 11am when our guys wanted to get a head start back to Jersey.

[KJ pluggin]

Nice job Captain Richard.

When you say you had a spoon mupped, does that mean it was on a fixed slider or something different? I am unfamiliar with that term.

[Yankee Troller]

Mupped (Mag Up) is a term we use on Ontario where you pin the mag on a cheater above the regular size. I like to keep them the same color combo, and generally will pin it 10' above.

[fishsniffer]

very nice steel pic:thumb:

[KJ pluggin]

Thanks for the definition Rich.

[Yankee Troller]

No problem!

[tltorrice]

Thanks captain Richard, great report.

[Just Hook'n]

Awesome job and great report. Thanks for clarifying the "mupped" term. Not something we here/use over here in Lake Michigan. Pretty neat technique though.