8/18 - Real bumpy in the morning so we headed for breakfast. Once we
got out it was 10:30 and we fished till 3pm. We ended up with 7 fish, but nothing to brag about. A lot of low teen Kings
and one rainbow under the legal size limit. It was mainly a fly bite today with no real pattern except it had to have green
in it.
8/11 - What a heck of a day! From watching the reports all week and not seeing a solid
report I was worried we might have a tough day ahead of us. The day started off with a nice 10lb Brownie and then the Kings
came to play. Everything I put in the water today went. We started off this morning in 40-60 fow between Braddock's
point and Lighthouse point. Fish and bait were everywhere, and cold water was in. First King took a Copper NBK off the rigger
60 back 25 down (18lbs). Then the wire went with a coyote 28 on a 2.5 setting 50 back (lost it). A short while later the
10 color took off with a Stinger Gin and Juice. Foul hooked 15 lb Salmon that took too long to bring in. The warm water moved
in so we headed out to that 90-110 and started to pick up more kings between 60-90. Copper NBKs were the best spoon today.
Other lures that fired were the A-TOM-MIK Coyote fly (a fly I asked Tom Allen to tie up for me and this was my first time
running it), Stinger green dolphin in an alewife pattern took the big guy today 80 down 50 back (24lbs). The copper was the
last to fire out 450 with a Trash Can/Green dodger and an A-TOM-MIK crinkle green with some mirage in it. During a few of
the king battles we hooked up with some steelies in the 4-6lb range. All n all we ended the day 8-10 and green was the color
for the most part. Also, we hit the LO grand slam with a brownie, laker, salmon, and a steelie. It seemed like the kings
wanted a super slim or the small stingers today.
8/4 - Well, with the Salmon fishing off this
week and a charter that backed out I took my father to Lake Erie for some of those world class smallmouth. Well, word class
it was! My father caught a 4.8, 4.5, 4 and a bunch in the 2-3lb range. I on the other hand was trying out some new baits
and techniques, but finally turned to the tube and started picking away at the samllies. I landed one in the 4lb range along
with numerous 2-3lb fish. Technique today was to drag the tube over humps in 30-45' of water.
7/13-7/15
- For the second part of the East end cup we headed to Sodus. Practice greeted us with some high wind and waves.
We got about 3 hours of fishing in before we called it quits. It just wasn't fun! Day 1 we find ourselves
out in the fleet with a decent screen on the fish finder. This was my day from hell! I lost more equipment form
the currents down below than I ever have. We ended the day with a measly 3 fish and down near the bottom of the barrel.
Day 2 started off better and ended a little better with us boating 5 fish and loosing 3. Waves were an issue on this
day again, but we managed to get ourselves out of the last place position. Not a good showing at this one but a 1st
and a 3rd in our first season fishing the pro side isn't bad in my book! I want to individually thank all the
companies who have helped me put fish in the boat this year for my customers and during tournaments:
McCoy
Fishing Line - It never broke off a fish on me and even when the fleas were at its worst they couldn't stick to
25lb Mean Green!
Daiwa - Top
line rods and reels and a top notch customer service if an issue arises! When a King wants to fight you'd better
have something that gives you an edge.
A-TOM-MIK
Flies - Hey, when the Salmon want a fly there is no better fly on the market that can withstand the torture these Lake
Ontario Kings deliver. Not to mention the patterns this company designs.
Depth Raider - OK, so this company isn't on my sponsor page, but
without one I would have never conquered the currents on the East end of lake Ontario.
7/6-7/8
- Well, the same team that fished the Orleans with me teamed up again to try and do some damage in Oswego. Before WE get
to the damage part of the story lets take a step by step of the weekend. Shop up Friday and go out for some practice
to find the group of boats off Oswego. WE did a couple of Kings and then it shut right off. So, I make the cal
to head over to Ford Shoal to try our luck at some brownies. That didn't take too long and we were hooked up.
We pulled through there with at least a back up plan. We kept heading West towards West Nine Mile point and as soon
as we pass it there was the cold water. We start to smack them and big ones at that!
Saturday
(Day 1) we were met with some NASTY stuff from Mother Nature. Between the outflow of the Oswego River and the Northwest
blow with added boat wakes the waves were reaching serious measures. I have never took some many waves over the bow
of this boat since we bought it. We start to do our thing within the fleet and end the day shy of our limit by 2 (10
for 13). It was mostly a fly bite. Anything Tom from A-TOM-MIK made with some green in it worked well for us
(Green Glow, Packer, Green Mirage, Sneaker Fly....Oops that's a secret one, TG, and the green crinkle. All pulled
behind Spin Doctors! We ended the day sitting in 6th place.
Sunday (Day 2) much nicer
weather and in the end much better fishing! We head out to the same area from the day prior. Fish are there but
not as active. By 9am we make the call to run to the fish we found in practice. We get there to find a buddy
already with 7 nice ones in the box and we couldn't buy a bite. Finally with a little searching we find the school and
the bait it was crushing. Rods started to fly! First flurry was a triple on two wires and a copper. Then
a double, and a few singles. WE had out limit and it was 12:30! The cooler was packed full of Salmon, and nice
ones too! Best lures on this day were the same flies mentioned above with an NK Habanero, and Stinger Copper NBK.
We missed the biggest weight for the day by a pound and rocketed ourselves into 3rd place for the tourney.
7/4 - Took the Salmon rig out to see if everything
was OK and ready for the next two weeks. Boat ran flawlessly and the fish cooperated! Not sure the exact number
we ran into, but it was a lot! Fished out of Sandy Creek from 6am-12pm. 50-130 FOW was the target area with 10
colors being the best rig. Copper took its fair share out 300-400. Wires were HOT in the morning but cooled
down towards the end of the day. Finally in the last 2 hours we got the riggers to fire consistently. Basically
orange was the color today. ANYTHING with orange! Targeted the top 60 feet and the temp was in there too.
Here is my GF's bro with his biggest fish EVER! A nice 20lb summer King.
6/30 - Since we didn't feel like donating money to the winner of
the tournament we headed to Conesus to restore our confidence levels from the prior two days. What a difference Conesus
was from Keuka! From the first spot to the last spot we hammered them. In the end we weighed out biggest five
bass in at 19.3lbs. Where's a partners tourney when you need one! Soft plastics were the ticket for us today.
More of a finesse presentation.
6/28-6/29 - Pre-fished for the Avon Anglers tournament on Keuka lake on 6/30. Didn't fare too well on
either day. We could see the fish hanging on various bits of structure, but they weren't hungry for anything!
We pulled all the tricks out of the bag today but couldn't establish a pattern. The pickerel were on fire if your
into that kind of thing.
6/24 - Took my father to Honeoye Lake since I was away for a tourney
on fathers day. We launched around 6am and fished till 11:30. Fishing was really good, if you wanted 12"
bass. I should have known! I did take a 3lb Largemouth though on a 7/8oz Jig and pig. Everything else was
between .5lbs and 1.5lbs. Finesse worms and Sweet Beavers did the trick today.
6/17
- Took a ride to Sodus because I couldn't fish the tourney and found a small open tourney there to enter. Well,
I should have keep the money in my pocket! Caught a lot of fish, but they were all dinks! Best set-ups were Sweet
Beavers rigged Texas style and Finesse worms in 8-10 Feet of Water. Biggest Largemouth was around 3lbs.
June 9,10, and 16th - I fished on Oneida Lake practicing for my first New York State Bass Federation tourney of
the year. I put it my time only to find out that I wouldn't be able to fish the tourney due to a new rule, that I didn't
know about, pertaining to national dues. Oh well, you live and learn! Anyway the fishing was pretty good and
I felt like I could place in the top 5 easy. I had some Largemouth on shoreline structure and I found where the big
Smallmouth were hanging. They were chasing down the schools of emerald shiners in the Eastern basin of the lake.
The Largemouth were taking Senkos and the Smallmouth were taking Lucky Craft jerkbaits and roboworms on a drop shot.
2007 Orleans Country Pro/Am - Team Yankee Troller participated in
the first of four events on Lake Ontario this past weekend. The Pro-Am went out of Oak Orchard, and this was my first year
participating in the pro division.
Day One - Ran up to Olcott. Found a ton of Coho and rainbows in the upper
part of the water column and a few kings under them. Finished out limit by 10:20 with the exception of the 15lb king (25points)
that flopped out of our cooler. It would have been our tenth fish at the time it flopped out. Ended the day in 2nd
place behind team Vision Quest.
Day Two - Ran back to Olcott and the fishing was tougher only because we concentrated
on the Salmon and not the cohos and rainbows. Finally got our limit by 12 and headed for the Oak.
In the end
team Yankee Troller finished in 1st place by 5 points.
5/20 - Smoked em again
today! Highlight was a 9-10lb steelie. Many cohos and small steelies. Lots of small Kings too. The big ones eluded me today,
although we may of had some on and they got off. Lots of salmon fell off the hook today. Best spoons had white cups. Worked
150-250 FOW. Fish the marks and up even if there aren't marks in the top 40.
5/19 - Another
good day even though it started off on the slow side. Nice 20lb King was our highlight along with a 13lb laker that fought
like a teenage king. NBK's, Coyote's, Wings, and the usual Coho and steelie colors on the surface. worked 150-300
fow.
5/18 - Worked 200-300 FOW. Surface
temp 50-53 and 90 foot down ranged from 40-46. Worked the temp break and managed a boat load of cohos, 2 nice 8lb steelhead
and had 8 Salmon on and boated 5 with the biggest tipping 20lbs. Best lures today were coyotes mupped, stinger chicken wings,
and 42 spoon off the riggers. Cohos were taking A-TOM-MIK Coho flies fished behind a 00 red dodger (2-3 colors of lead pulling it off boards) Lots of fun out here right
now so if your looking for a place to fish this weekend it might be worth the trip!
5/12 - Fished from 9-11 and did 3 kings, 2 cohos, and dropped one king.
All fish came high between 30-50. Coyote 28 was a hot for us today. Fishing 150-200FOW
5/11 - played with the cohos for about an hour and it wasn't fun, so I pulled those lines and looked for
the salmon. Had 7 bites landed 5. all 10-18lbs.
Hot lures this week so far are coyote 28's, chicken wings, and
anything green. No real fly bite yet .
5/10 - For 4 hours strait we smacked cohos from the surface down
to 10'. We were looking for steel, but no luck. Ran into 4 salmon bites, and one of them was 22 and 3/4's 4-5 hours
after sitting in the cooler!
5/6 - Wasn't too
happy to get out this morning and it showed with the poorest performance of the weekend. 2 bites/2 lakers
5/5 - Ran to am area on the Canadian side that looked like it was
holding Kings, but after 3 minutes of trolling we figured out they were Lakers. Ended the say with 15 bites and only 2 were
Coho. ALL LAKERS and I tossed a 17lb'er back in the drink. Would of been in top 10 with it.
5/4 - Ran to the Welland canal and managed a 12lb king on a slide
diver with a black/gold bomber. Another King around 15 on a "Yankee Troller/Billy V" Hammer Time. Small Coho off
the top and a couple of lakers later on in the day. Very SLOW, and very COLD!
