slipknot

Nice! We talked to a friend that was in the tourney and they had only managed one keeper on Sunday! So, feel good with your results Nice looking fish.

So, my friend and I brought our wives along for a fishing/tourist trip to Toronto this weekend. We left Olcott Friday around noon and travelled by boat to Toronto Harbor. Checked into the hotel and went to the Jays game that night. Great game... they beat the Yanks! Searched high and low for a fishing license... finally found that Canadian Tire outside of downtown sold them... Just my friend and I bought one, the girls wanted to shop the next morning. So, we headed on the water about 6am on Saturday. Made it out of the harbor and discovered pea soup fog everywhere. Thank god for radar and a good gps/chart unit. I headed east of the harbor entrance first thing as that was where we had been told the fish were biting the best. Man, what a challenge that was! I spent three hours with my head buried in the dashboard and peering through the 100' visibility fog. At one point we had seven other boats inside our visibility range! Wow.. Bad part was we never hooked a fish nor did we see anyone else hooked up. Finally decided to head away from the pack and went to the west side of the harbor entrance. No one was fishing there... no boats to be seen by eye or on the radar... now this was nice, no more nervous staring into the fog watching for boats. Good news... we weren't in this new location for more than ten minutes and BAM fish on the dipsey rod! For the next three and a half hours we hammered the kings. Almost every fish was 16 to 17 pounds with the biggest at 18.5 What a blast. We had several doubles, so it was fortunate that no other boats were around. We'd just let the boat go straight while we pulled in the fish. Everything was taken 50 to 55 feet down on two riggers and 150 to 175 feet back on wire/dipsey rods in 150 to 180 feet of water. The fish didn't seem to prefer any offer over the others; flasher/fly combos on the dipsy and spoons on the riggers seemed to bring just as many bites. However, the bigger fish were on the flies. Finally, when three of our four rods were out of the water (and we had just finished our fourth "last pass") we decided we better quit fishing and head in to be with the wives. Hated to leave feeding fish, but didn't want to be divorced while on vacation haha. That was our only chance to fish Toronto, but it was an absolute blast. Only wish the fog would have lifted, but it never did while we were out there. Lots of fish... but, as with our attempts in NY, no real big fish. I guess that just gives us reason to go back again, right? Good luck guys and thanks to those that gave me advice prior to our trip.

I posted this in the wrong spot first... just trying to get it on the rights part of the site... NH boys on Lake Ontario So, we made the trip from NH to Olcott this past weekend. It was me, my friend and our wives. Had a great trip. Just wish it was closer to home! That nine hour drive gets old quickly. We fished straight out from Olcott on Friday... started in 60' of water early and worked our way out to 280' by noon. Marked TONS of bait and fish from 50' of water on out to 80' the first two hours, then they started to break up into smaller groups in deeper water. We managed to catch a bunch of steelhead and kings, but the biggest was just over 15 pounds. We never found any of the real nice kings, but it was great fun. Most kings came off white spin doctors with white or green flies. Steelhead were taking the Savant holographic alewife spoon more than other colors. However, the steelhead red savant spoon was a close second. Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday morning we spent in Toronto. We left Olcott with the boat and it only took an hour and fifteen minutes to reach Toronto Harbor. Nice ride beautiful city. I'll put the fishing report for Toronto in the Canadian threads. Sunday at 10am we were back between Olcott and Wilson... started out in 290' of water 62' down on two riggers, 40' down on two riggers and 150' back on the dipsy rods with wire and monster rings. Had a complete blast for three hours! Landed many kings ranging from 3 pounds to 17 pounds. Actually had a double on one rod (cheater and main line) of two small kings. That was a first for us. Managed some really nice steelhead! Two were at the 13 pound mark and spent a lot of time jumping behind the boat. The girls loved it! Had one really nice steelhead that actually tore a split ring off the lure... actually bent the ring wide open... Same lures and setups as Friday were hot this day. One difference: we found running free sliding cheaters was working better for the steelies on the 40' riggers... they weren't as interested in the cheaters we had set using the rubber band method. Went to Niagara Falls that afternoon/night doing the tourist thing and came home yesterday. What a great fishery you guys have! Wish we could have broke the 20 pound mark at least, but no dice. Oh well, next time.

So, we made the trip from NH to Olcott this past weekend. It was me, my friend and our wives. Had a great trip. Just wish it was closer to home! That nine hour drive gets old quickly. We fished straight out from Olcott on Friday... started in 60' of water early and worked our way out to 280' by noon. Marked TONS of bait and fish from 50' of water on out to 80' the first two hours, then they started to break up into smaller groups in deeper water. We managed to catch a bunch of steelhead and kings, but the biggest was just over 15 pounds. We never found any of the real nice kings, but it was great fun. Most kings came off white spin doctors with white or green flies. Steelhead were taking the Savant holographic alewife spoon more than other colors. However, the steelhead red savant spoon was a close second. Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday morning we spent in Toronto. We left Olcott with the boat and it only took an hour and fifteen minutes to reach Toronto Harbor. Nice ride beautiful city. I'll put the fishing report for Toronto in the Canadian threads. Sunday at 10am we were back between Olcott and Wilson... started out in 290' of water 62' down on two riggers, 40' down on two riggers and 150' back on the dipsy rods with wire and monster rings. Had a complete blast for three hours! Landed many kings ranging from 3 pounds to 17 pounds. Actually had a double on one rod (cheater and main line) of two small kings. That was a first for us. Managed some really nice steelhead! Two were at the 13 pound mark and spent a lot of time jumping behind the boat. The girls loved it! Had one really nice steelhead that actually tore a split ring off the lure... actually bent the ring wide open... Same lures and setups as Friday were hot this day. One difference: we found running free sliding cheaters was working better for the steelies on the 40' riggers... they weren't as interested in the cheaters we had set using the rubber band method. Went to Niagara Falls that afternoon/night doing the tourist thing and came home yesterday. What a great fishery you guys have! Wish we could have broke the 20 pound mark at least, but no dice. Oh well, next time.

Sweet! Nice going.

Beauty!

Thank you for the locations. Sorry I didn't respond sooner... been busy and not on the computer. Will let you guys know how we make out.

Asking for a little guidance... PM or Email if desired, rather than posting here. I'm headed out to Lake O, from NH, with a friend and both our wives, from July 10 to 15. The wives are going to fish with us while on the NY side, but won't be buying Canadian licenses (shopping instead). We know the areas we will be fishing on the NY side... but when we cruise over on the boat (weather permitting) and stay in Toronto for two of the days, we'll be out of our element. One day, we'll be going to a Blue Jays game. The next day, the girls want to shop. Since we will have the boat docked there... or on the trailer... my friend and I would like to get a one day Canadian license and try trolling off Toronto. Any pointers for starter locations in that area or even what species we should target in that area of the lake that time of year? We'll be in a 24' Grady W/A and have been out there in some pretty nasty water conditions. We know what we can expect weather wise. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide. If you're ever on the New England coast and need help for offshore locations, I will reciprocate.

Very nice! Way to go on some real beauties.

Thats great to hear/see... Headed out from the 10th to 15th to give it a run. Hoping we get into some even bigger ones when we go back in late August and they've packed on some pounds!

Just watched them all... looks good! I don't have any videos to add right now, but will when I do. Where can I get a copy of the song playing in anmetcalfs video??? I never heard that one before. Pretty good stuff.

I've used tinsel flies inside/just behind squids a lot with good luck. However, now seeing your picture, I'm thinking I'm gonna have to try it your way. I'd guess the extra movement of the tinsel on the outside of the squid would do more than when its inside and only sticking out a couple inches? Thanks for the idea.

Thanks guys.

Thanks for the info. Thats a really cool reel. Gonna have to take a look into those, when I get home from work today.

Biggest king last year for me was the one in my avatar pic. Only trip out from NH last year! It was my dads turn on the "hit" and he brought it to the boat nicely. It was my dads first time ever fishing Lake O. I'm glad his first was on my boat. The king was taken on the exact setup seen in the pic (mountain dew on white flasher with a white/green fly) on a wireline dipsey. Taken in late August off Oswego. Tipped the scales at 26 lbs and change. I'm 270 pounds of fury, so I tend to make fish look smaller. Hahaha.

Answer first, to the above... yes, they showed that they were slicing up Storm artificial baits to use as cut bait. Neat idea. Comment: Those guys were a BLAST to watch! Now my question: What type of reels were they using? I've never seen anything like that before. Like a trolling reel bred with a spinning reel. At first I thought they were holding a typical reel upside down, but noticed they handles were turning correctly.... HAHA. Would like to try one of the buggers. Oh yeah, it only took about 15 seconds to start playing on my screen. I have DSL. Didn't think there was that much speed difference between that and dial-up? ANyways, I'm lucky I didn't have to wait long. Fun video.

Good tips. Going to make it a point to stay out a little longer this season. It did seem that the fish turned on right near sunset. Stupidly, I never thought to put on glows and try the darkness. Many less boats out at that time too.

Good tip. Where are you guys getting the tubing?

I'm running a 9.9 Johnson four stroke on my 21' fiberglass and the gas consumption is amazing. Amazing in a good way! Trolling at speeds up to 3.0 in heavy chop and wind, I'm still using less than a gallon an hour. (I really am being consevative here - I think its closer to 1/2 to 3/4 gph) I wish I had switched to a kicker a looong time ago. I was using upwards of 3 gallons per hour when I was using a trolling plate on my I/O.

If you're running on auto-pilot, then it would be nice to be able to watch your speed from the back of the boat (and know what the underwater currents are doing). However, if you have someone at the helm controlling the show, then it would be beneficial for them to be able to see the subtroll and be able to adjust the throttle accordingly. Mine is on the dash, as I don't have auto-pilot YET. Would be pretty confusing for the person at the helm to have to keep getting updates from the fella at the stern.

We ran a couple flatfish during our last trip to Lake O in August of last year. I tried them on the downrigger at the depth we were catching kings. Did not pick up any kings on them, but did get a couple browns and a steelehead. Honestly, I didn't give them a lot of time in the water. Maybe ran them for 8 hours total? I tried chartreuse green and orange. Fish on both. The kings were all over the meat rigs, so I stuck with what worked.

Lots of good info. Never gave it a thought of bigger trebles dropping down away from the body of the plug. Definitely worth a "sea-trial" when I get on the water again. You know, actually try a couple sizes of hook, with and without bead chains, at various speeds to see what happens to the action of the plug and placement of the hooks (with the lure running right beside the boat).

Couple of questions from a rookie... How many pounds are those bead chains rated for? I have found 4 bead chains but they don't give a weight rating. What size hooks would you use for each size of j-plug going with the bead chains instead of dacron or braid? Thanks for any help.

Do you have any pics of the interior or angle toward the back of the boat? If so, would you email me? [email protected] Thanks.

I keep a small notebook on board and mark all fish or definite "bites"... I put whether the fish was landed or not, time, color/style of lure or bait, how deep on rigger, how far line was behind rigger, if flashers were used, if on planer board, how much leadcore was out, what trolling speed... each time. I also list weather conditions and areas fished overall for the day. I figure I should keep track of info whether the fish was landed or just hit the lure, as it will still help show what the fish are biting and where they are in the long run. I just started my "anal" log this year, so it will take a couple years to be of much use...