Yankee's Wilson Harbor Invitational

[Yankee Troller]

Thursday May 8th (Practice) – We left the dock with our charter after a quick fill up around 6:30am. We knew we had to head East to find warmer water, because the Niagara River was pumping out ice water. We set in at the power plant and began our troll working 30-60’. It was slow for about two hours. Not many marks, and ice cold water, but we would hook into our biggest fish of the weekend on a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler fished down 40’ on our Cannon out and down.

When we got down to Golden Hills the water temp spiked and the action picked up considerably. A Dreamweaver Orange Slurpee SS took a nice Coho and two Salmon fished on a split shot rig in the 45-47 degree water off the point. We also took a few shots on a new Stinger Stingray that looks like a Sea Sick Waddler but with UV tape and more green dots. It went a few times on our Slide diver with a 30’ lead and out 20’, but we never got to see the fish. The last Salmon fell victim to a Get-R Done Dreamweaver SS on a Slide Diver with a 30’ lead back 25’. We had our tourney box no problem with five Kings and a Coho as well as a bunch of other non-target species.

Friday May 9th (Practice) – We pushed off about 5:30am and back to Golden Hills we went to get an idea of run time, and to check on our little pod of fish. We had 9 people on board, so the boat was a little sluggish, but we eventually got there. When we got there the East wind from Thursday didn’t ruin too much. We still had colored water, and some warmer temps. On the set-up we banged a nice Salmon on our Cannon out and down. It took a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler down 10’ back 40’. In the next two hours we would go on to take three more Salmon shots. A Stinger Stingray Hawg Wild took a Salmon on the Slide Diver with a 30’ lead back 20’, and we took a shot on a split shot rig with a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler SS. Lastly, our Cannon out and down with the Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler back 40’ down 10’ went again.

Later in the day we set up in shallow, and tried to dial in a backup plan fishing Coho. It didn’t take long, and we were into a few Coho as well as some Brown Trout and Steelhead. They filled up the cooler a little bit for the clients, and we had a plan B if we needed it.

Saturday May 10th (Wilson Harbor Invitational) – The anticipation level was high! We knew not many guys were getting bit, and we didn’t see too many tourney boats in our water during practice. Again we had 9 people on board, which really hurts when you already have a slow ride! We made the trek down East to find out our water was GONE! The SW wind blew the color and warm water out of there, and we had to contend with 30+ tourney boats. We worked that water for a few hours trying to force the bite, but nothing ever materialized.

To plan B we went. We set in East of the power plant in 10’ of water, and not too long after set-up we banged a nice 21†Coho on a split shot rig. It took a Dreamweaver Caramel Dolphin SS. The rest of the way down the shoreline all we did were Rainbows and Brown Trout.

We activated plan C for the last two hours, which was to go across the mouth of Olcott looking for a Coho, and then to work the 30-60’ water between Olcott and Wilson. Nothing ever materialized of that, and we would go into weigh0in with one 21†Coho. Ashamed of our box we almost didn’t weigh in the fish, but we put our pride aside, and weighed it in. The weigh in was shocking! 2/3 of the field never weighed a fish, and three fish won the event! Truly a tough day on the water when it came to Mr. Salmon.