Quick 3/27/10 Trip - Irondequoit Bay

We were the first boat at the ramp and the first boat in the water on Saturday morning, and let me tell you that it was COLD! The mud from the Genesee River was running right down the shoreline. We motored to Shipbuilders Creek and the water started to clear up, so we started to set lines. I went straight to the bright colored stickbaits. Rapala GFR's on the furthest and closest planer board lines, and a Rebel Fastrak chartreuse with green diamonds set between them. I had just got done setting the rebel and FISH ON. It was a little BT and we thought that it was going to be a GREAT day! Well, we set the rest of the lines and we waited, and waited, and waited. The fish weren't cooperating and the water was cold. Most of what we found was 39 degrees. After an hour or so of nothing I started changing lures up. I went to chartreuse on the furthest and closest board line and a silver black and orange on the middle line. The silver/black took a short strike almost instantaneously, and on the troll back West the chartreuse crystal minnow and the Rapala F9 in chartreuse took two more fish. 10 minutes before we picked up the inside Rapala F9 in chartreuse took another fish. Nothing was big on this day (unlike last week). We boated 4 and lost one, and we were off the water by 11:30am. Best water we found was East of shipbuilders hitting 41 degrees. That dirty Genny water is probably why chartreuse was so good. The fish could actually see it. Here are some pics:

First shot at some Lake Ontario Salmon and Trout!

Last weekends weather was atrocious, so we had to wait till today to make our first attempt at some Lake Ontario Salmon and Trout. Our Yankee Troller is in no way shape or form to get out on the Lake, so we took a buddy's boat out for his shake down cruise. The mud coming out of the Genesee River made fishing from Irondequoit Bay to Ship Builders Creek almost impossible. We didn't hook up with our first fish till we passed Ship Builders. We tried to keep the boat between 8-11' of water, although later in the day it was bumpy and this became almost impossible. We ran a mix of stickbaits (J7 and J9 Rapalas, Smithwicks, Kabooms, and Matzuo) in both natural and bright colors off the planer boards. We also had two downriggers in the mix pulling a variety of light spoons down 2-5'. Water clarity varied from mud to gin clear, and we had temps from 39 degrees up to 44 degrees. Mostly a Brown Trout bite with a drop back Rainbow Trout and an Atlantic in the mix. Our two best fish happened to be Brown Trout. One was 8 pounds and the other was 9 pounds on the boga. Here are some pictures of our catch:

State of Lake Ontario - Presented by the NYS DEC

Last night was the annual State of the Lake meeting held on the RIT campus. We enjoy these meetings because it gives us an idea of what type of data the DEC was able to come up with in 2009. This sort of paints a picture for the 2010 season. Here are some super interesting bits of information:

• Average 8.1 Trout & Salmon caught by charters per trip. 2.8 Trout & Salmon caught by non-charter. This is the highest on record.
• Stealhead – Best fishing in last 2 years. Catch rate much higher than harvest rate due to length regulation change
• Alewife “blip” downward. Comparable to 2003 level but higher than 2002-2006 average. 6.5” long Alewives were in good condition with an upward trend since 2006.

The full Report from Tom B. (Longline on LOU) can be found HERE:

A-TOM-MIK 2010

I was finally able to grab some pics of the new colors from A-TOM-MIK. Anyone who has read my reports over the years knows I am a HUGE fan of the A-TOM-MIK brand trolling fly. It has produced many of the Salmon that hit our deck each season. A-TOM-MIK just doesn't sell trolling flys, so stop by their website for the rest of the goodies they offers to Great Lakes Salmon fisherman. They are a local manufacturer with one of the best customer service reputations in the fishing business. A-TOM-MIK flys DOMINATE the Lake Ontario Counties (LOC) derby leaderboards year in/year out. They have reached milestones no other trolling fly company has reached. For example, A-TOM-MIK was the first to reach 200 colors of trolling flys. How about this stat - $52,300.00, 2005 L.O.C. Fall Salmon and Trout Derby on Lake Ontario!

Anyway, here we go with some of the new for 2010 stuff:

Our very own Sea Sick Waddler Fly. We ran this in 2009 with some success. However, a good friend of mine that fishes Sandy Creek had very good success with it.

The Vision Quest Fly:

The UV Dolphin:

The Screamer Fly:

Chartreuse Glow Pearl Fly:

The Blue Glow hammer Fly:

The Captain Valium Combo:

All of these can be ordered at A-TOM-MIK on thier website located here:

Update on my fathers unfortunate situation

Well, as most of you know my father had an unfortunate accident this past November. He has been on one heck of a roller coaster ride since then. However, we received some good news this past week. His skull cap will be replaced towards the end of this month. The doctors say he is ready for the surgery, and that once the skull is back in place the waxing and waining (up and down) should become less prevalent. They seem to see a much better recovery from patients with these type of brain injuries once the skull is put back into place. After that surgery is complete he may go to either the Canandaigua VA or the Syracuse VA to go through extensive therapy so he can come home and resume his spot as teh driver of the "Yankee Troller." 

During the 2010 tournament schedule we will be wearing t-shirts on the practice days dedicated to his recovery.

Rochester Sportsman's Expo

Boy was this weekend a long weekend for us. We have never done any type of sport show before. The Genesee Charter Boat Association generally buys a large booth and 4-5 charter business share the space evenly. Well, someone dropped out this year, and we were asked if we wanted to fill in. I used to work shows with my full time gig, so I knew a little bit about how they ran, and what to expect. We put in some long hours this weekend, but had A LOT of fun talking to sportsman in general.

To all the people who walked away with brochures from our charter business we look forward to hearing from you. Keep up on us by returning to this blog, and see how the fishing on Lake Ontario is during the 2010 season. We post on here at least once a week with fishing reports, information on Lake Ontario, and anything threatening my weekend office!

The new owners of this show are dedicated to making this show the best Sportsmans show in New York. They started off small this year with great hopes of making it larger each year. They seemed very energetic, and brought all the vendors together Sunday morning to get feedback from them. I am excited to see where this show goes in the next 3-5 years. Thats for sure! As we were working the booths this weekend we all discussed doing seminars on Lake Ontario fishing during the show next year. Time will tell.........

New Daiwa Saltist STTLW30LCHA reels, and the new Daiwa Heartland HLD-DR802M Rods are in!

Well that was fast! Ordered the new gear last week and they were on my front door step when I got home last night. You can imagine the smile on my face when I saw 6 boxes from Daiwa sitting there. Well, it didn't take long for me to break into ALL the boxes. Man are these reels pretty! It took about ten minutes before I was putting my wire diver combos together. The silver finish of the Saltist reel goes nicely with the hunter green color of the new Daiwa Heartland rods. Fit and finish on everything was very nice. The packaging for the reels was more than enough, and very stylish. 

So here i am with all these fantastic combos. Spread all over my living room floor. No McCoy Mean Green fishing line to spool them up and mother nature has ice covering any water that will lead me to Lake Ontario! It is going to be a long month ahead! 

Here are some quick pictures I took with my phone. I'm sure there will be more to come!