Yankee Troller

Yankee in Wilson 5/22 & 5/23

Yankee Troller in Wilson 5/22 & 5/23
After a few middle of the pack tourney finishes we got back to chartering. Here are some reports from the last few days.

May 22nd
Brian and his gang fished with us today, and they were rewarded with a quick limit of Lake Ontario King Salmon! We pulled Familiar Bite meat on our A-TOM-MIK coppers in 300, 400, and 500. On our divers and our Cannon Downriggers we ran Dreamweaver Spin Doctors/A-TOM-MIK flies. Our top producers were Mt. Dew/Big Fin Glow, Two Face/Glow Hammer, Marvs Big Fatty/Ultra Green Glow. We also had a frostbite on our chase rigger with an Orange slurpee SS free sliding that took a few fish. Riggers parked from 60-150' and divers from 150-240 on a 2 setting. A lot of 2yr old Salmon today with 3 Coho, but we did grab a nice 3yr old 18lb King.

May 23rd
Warren and his wife joined us for a day of fishing with another couple that is soon to be wed. The Niagara region didn’t disappoint! We ran the same program that worked for us the day before, and it rewarded us with a great box of fish. We fished Familiar Bite meat on 300, 400, and 500 A-TOM-MIK coppers, Dreamweaver Spin Doctors/A-TOM-MIK flies on our divers and our Cannon Downriggers, and a pair of spoons on our chase rigger. Those spoons being a frost bite on the main line with an orange slurpee SS free sliding. Our top flasher fly combos were Mt. Dew/Big Fin Glow, Two Face/Glow Hammer, and Marvs Big Fatty/Ultra Green Glow. Our riggers were parked 60-150 down and our divers were out from 150-250' on a 2 setting. We had better quality today with more 3yr olds showing up in our box. We had two fish at the 17.5lb mark.

Yankee's last weekend in the ROC 4/22-4/23

FIshing is great out on Lake Ontario! Mixed boxes are the norm with Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Coho, Lake Trout, Atlantic, and Chinooks all being taken under 30' of water. Here are some reports from this weekend.

Saturday - We took our first King of 2017!

Wasn't a nice weather day, but the fishing was ON FIRE! We finally found good water after an hour of fishing through dirty water. After that it was on! Bay Rat Lures Ayu and Coho crusher were great off the boards back 100'. Our Cannon downriggers and Fishing - Chinook Diver-Stainless Steel Troll Fishing Divers took a bunch of fish as well with Mixed Veggies spoons being the best. Our downriggers were down 5-15' and back 40'. The divers we're back 10-20'.

Sunday

Today's motto....ALL GOOD! Had a mix of Coho Salmon, Brown Trout, and Rainbow Trout. Our last Charter in Rochester this Spring was a good one! Hot baits today were Mixed Veggies spoons on Fishing - Chinook Diver-Stainless Steel Troll Fishing Divers and our Cannon downriggers. On the boards we had Bay Rat Lures Coho Crusher, Candy Corn, and Ayu going consistently back 80-100'.

Now, it's off to the West for Salmon, Salmon, and more Salmon!

Thanks guys!

Yankee Troller - Rochester - March 27/28

March 27th, Afternoon

Ran our first charter of the 2017 season today! Mother nature kept us off Lake Ontario all weekend, but she let us play today. It was as good as you'd expect with hungry fish and no competition. These guys from Maine decided to let everything go, so these all went back to fight another day.

Our set up was simple. Bay Rat Lures, in any color you wanted to throw out there, back 100' on the planer boards. We used the new S3 series on the inside board and the Short Shallow on the outside. We saw no difference in preference! Our Fishing - Chinook Diver-Stainless Steel Troll Fishing Divers were good with spoons back 10', and we even grabbed a handful on our Cannon downriggers with spoons down 5' and back 45'.

Pretty awesome day for June! We fished 100-200’ of water 5-7 miles West of Oak Orchard this morning. High and low divers went with spoons out 75’-175’. Our Cannon downriggers went with spoons in the top 60’. 10 color Stealth Core and A-TOM-MIK copper to 300’. Spook type spoons and watermelon spoons took most shots. Gold 42 Team Dreamweaver Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK 42nd gold fly on the 300’ copper took our big guys.

June 4th - Morning

What a tough day! We covered a lot of water and burned a lot of gas to get the fish we had. We fished from 20′ out to 200′. Lake Trout saved the day for us, and we took some studs! Nice to see a few Steelhead showing up as well. Dreamweaver Blue Bubble was our best spoon for the Steelhead, and Hammerhead Lake Trolls took our Lake Trout. These guys from Pittsburgh enjoyed a nice day on the water with great weather.

June 4th - Afternoon

A little better tonight. We had a mix of silver fish (Steelhead and small Salmon) and some good Lake Trout action. Dreamweaver Blue Bubble and Blue Lagoon were our best spoons in the Super Slim size. Hammerhead Lake Trolls took our Lake Trout.

June 5th

We got a nice start on a foggy morning. Surface temps dropped 13 degrees overnight, and a slight roll from the NE was left over. We hit a nice 20lb Salmon on a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler fished off our Cannon DT10s, and lost another on a Carbon 14 on a 100′ diver. A Northern King C5 5 of Diamonds took a nice Steelhead on a short Stealth Core as well. Once the sun came out the bite died. We headed to Lake Trout land and went ½ on them before the 30mph+ gusts of wind kicked up.

First things first.....THANK YOU to all veterans for defending this country so every American can do what we love with the freedom you grant us. 

Saturday

We took a nice boat ride West about 12 miles to the chrome domes and set up the spread in 80-150' of water. It was a great morning bite with a mix of species. We had DW Martels and Sea Sick Waddlers going on our Cannon downriggers. DW Fire Cracker SS going on our 5 color Stealth Core. Stinger Frost Bite went on a 200' A-TOM-MIK copper. Later in the day DW Metalic Frogs took both of our decent Kings off a 60' Cannon downrigger. It was great to see some big Steelbows, and we were lucky enough to get a nice Atlantic.

We had the smart troll guys on board, so we used this opportunity to dial in our system. It's a neat system to say the least! There are a few minor things that they would like to address, and this trip also allowed them to learn more about how us Great Lakes guys use this compared to the Striper fishing they do in the Chesapeake.

Sunday

We went to the same water from the day before and it was void of marks. The bait was still in t here, but the fish had moved on. We fished between 70-200' and ended with 3 skippys. We made the decision to troll into to check Brown Trout waters and we were rewarded with 2/3 on Brown Trout in the high sun at 9:30/10am. Two took a DW Blue Bubble SS on a 5 color Stealth Core, and the big one took a DW SSW on our Cannon downrigger at 24' over 30. We ended teh day Lake Trout fishing. It took us 20 minutes to get our guys their 4 Lake Trout. 2 of them were beasts! One at 15lbs and another at 20lbs.

April 23

What a great day in Rochester! These guys from Maine were pleasantly surprised! The Yankee Troller Bay Rat Lures was a stud off our boards early back 100-115'. Then a black and silver Smithwick took over. Chinook Divers accounted for a few with NBK and Mixed Veggies behind them back 10-15'. 

April 24

We made a few passes in the morning for Brown Trout, and they were snapping pretty good. Black and silver Smithwicks and Bay Rat Lures Black Flash were good on the boards back 115-125'. NBKs were good on our Chinook Divers back 10' as well. After 3 passes we headed north looking for Lake Trout and Salmon. Almost struck out on that plan, but a Lake Trout hit a diver with 30 minutes left in the trip. All in all a decent day. I have a feeling these Maine guys will be back!

4/16 Morning

Great morning on the Lake. We had more Brown Trout than we could count. We went 0/2 on Salmon, we grabbed a couple of Lake Trout, and two Pike. Three generations from Maine on their annual trip. Hot baits today were Storm Jr. Thundersticks and Smithwicks Rogues. One of the Salmon cracked off one of our Yankee Bay Rats on the set up.

4/16 Afternoon

Spent the afternoon with a pair of father/sons. What a difference a few hours makes. This afternoon's trip was tough! Went 3/4 on the inside. Slid out to 40-80' and did a few Lake Trout on Team Dreamweaver Spin Doctors and A-TOM-MIK flies. We made the best of it, and everyone hit their personal best fish.

4/17

Although we had to work harder for them today we were rewarded with a better quality fish. Same family from Maine that fished with us yesterday morning. Our best water was off Braddock's point in 20-40'. Yankee Bay Rat Lures and LIVETARGET Lures Smelt banana baits were good for the browns. The Lake Trout were taking spoons off our Cannon and Fishing - Chinook Diver-Stainless Steel Troll Fishing Divers.

April 1st Afternoon

We ran an afternoon charter, and fished from the Genesee River to Braddock’s. The bites came in groups. We did some great numbers, but still lacked in the size department. Our Bay Rats were going well in My Secret and Yankee Troller. We also had black and silver Smithwicks firing. We worked 8-12’ of water all night and there was great color in there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/slikrik14624/2016%20Lake%20Ontario/IMG_20160401_180925108_zps25o2qcul.jpg[/IMG]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/slikrik14624/2016%20Lake%20Ontario/IMG_20160402_081637003_zpsi6rzbrhh.jpg[/IMG]

April 2nd

Another great trip today! We worked the inside waters and picked away at the Brown Trout from teh ponds to Braddocks. They really liked the Bay Rat Yankee Troller and My Secret again today. Mid morning we were rewarded with our first Salmon of the season. It took a Storm Jr Thunderstick off the planer board in 12’ of water.

Later in the day we slid out to 20-30’ of water. Out there we lost our second Salmon of the morning on a Chinook Diver pulling a Watermelon Stinger. It in that water we also did a bunch of Lake Trout and small Brown Trout.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/slikrik14624/2016%20Lake%20Ontario/IMG_20160402_085631133_zpsym0xmzrk.jpg[/IMG]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/slikrik14624/2016%20Lake%20Ontario/IMG_20160402_120900378_zpshgcykush.jpg[/IMG]

No we didn't. Grabbed a quick picture and sent them back.

March 26th

Well, our first charter is in the books! Matthew and family joined us for a day of fishing Lake Ontario, and they weren’t disappointed. We fished between Hughes Marina and Bear Creek in 10-15’ of water. They caught some serious numbers on a perfect day. Our stud stick bait was a prototype color were testing from Bay Rat. Their Brown Trout Candy was also really good. 120-125' back off the boards. On our Cannon downriggers black and silver spoons were our best even though the water was a little dirty. 

March 27th Easter

We hope everyone had a great Easter! We took a few hours in the morning and went and did a little fun fishing with friends. We fished from Oklahoma beach to Hedges. Bite seemed off. We fished from 7:30-10:30 and took 10 or 11 shots. Everything was tiny. Biggest being 4lbs. Thunderstick JRs and Live Target Smelt were our best baits in 10' of water or less.

I've been bad lately with a lack of reports. Just been tired I guess. I'll try to keep them coming.

8-22 Morning - Long time client Mike joined us with his step son and a friend. We headed out to the 27N line a few clicks West and trolled it North. Fishing wasn't great, and it wasn't bad. A steady pick. A-TOM-MIK Pro Am and Protein flies were good behind Marvs Fatty and UV Hammertime paddles. Top spoons were DW Salmon Slappers, UV Lemon Ice, and Silver Green Glows. Some nice Buckeyes showed up......finally!

8-22 Afternoon - Lon and crew joined us again this year for an afternoon/morning deal. We lost half the fish we hooked. It's that time of year they are getting those hard mouths! We fished the 27-29N lines again a click West. Our Cannon's were on fire with DW Salmon Slappers and Roy Boys down 60-85'. Silver Green Glow on our divers out 150 and a Marvs Fatty/A-TOM-MIK Protein fly out 240'.

8-23 - We started inside and took 3 Salmon before the 8am vapor screen began. Ran offshore to the 27N and trolled it out to the 29N and picked away at them. Dropped half the fish we hooked, but we had plenty of action until the East wind picked up at 11am. On our Cannon riggers DW Salmon Slappers and Roy Boys were studs.

7/25 Morning – Morning of the Sandy Creek Shootout we broke the pier heads at 5:15 with the intentions of heading West. A last minute decision to go East between my brother and I found ourselves down off the lighthouse in 130’ of water at 5:40 with a boat load of clients. We set lines and the chaos began. We couldn’t get an 8 rod spread down, and the bite went like this until 9am. We ran one 400’ and two 500’ A-TOM-MIK coppers pulling Familiar Bite meat. Our divers pulled a Wonderbread Smartfish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly, and a Hammertime Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist fly our 200-250’ on 2 settings. Our deep Cannon downrigger pulled Familiar Bite meat down 90-120, we had a rigger set at 80-90’ down with flasher fly combos, and a high rigger down 60-80’ with Dreamweaver Sea Sicks MUPPED.

We found we had to troll NE/SW to deal with the current. 130’ to 225’ seemed to be the loops we were working, but 175’-200’ was where most waypoints laid on our Humminbird ONIX. We went to weigh in knowing it would be close. We've come up a little short a few times already at this event, and it happened again! Congrats to the winners, and thanks goes out to the organizers!

7/25 Evening – Nicholas from Norway joined us again this year. We headed out and it was a slow go. First bite came on a 500 A-TOM-MIK copper pulling Familiar Bite meat. We would sit and rot for most of the evening until 7pm. Watching our Humminbird ONIX units I see a few fish shoot off the bottom in 145’ off the ladders. Deep rigger pulling meat fires, and Nicholas is into a good one. We get it 40 yards from the boat and it finds our 500 copper and we have a mess on our hands. As we are slowly working it in the 500’ A-TOM-MIK copper fires with a Salmon. We net the first one, and Nicholas is into the second. He pulls a double alone with a 17 and a 19lb Salmon. Both took Familiar Bite meat.

7/26 Morning – Nicholas joined us for a morning outing looking to crack the 20lb mark. He’s got 3 at 19lbs between last season and this season, so the quest continued. The fishing was slow. We went 5/6 from 5:30 to noon. He landed a two small Salmon, a Brown Trout, a Steelbow, and a Lake Trout. As it’s been the last few weeks the noon bite kicked into gear, and between 12 and 1:30 we went 3 for 4 on some nice Salmon. They came on deep Cannon downriggers pulling Familiar Bite meat, and 400 and 500 foot A-TOM-MIK copper pulling Familiar Bite meat.

7/26 Evening – Wasn’t looking forward to an afternoon boat ride with these clients. The Povio’s fish with us every year, and they’ve had some stellar catches throughout the years. It started slow. We worked out to the 25/26N line and our South trolls seemed to be best. We actually did quite good for an afternoon charter. Stinger Black Tuxedos and Frost Bites on Cannon downriggers 55-80’ down. Divers out 250’ pulling a UV Hammertime Dreamweaver Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer Lime Live, and our 500 A-TOM-MIK copper pulling familiar Bite meat.

7/17 Morning - Well, the wind from Wednesday on really screwed up a nice Salmon bite we had last weekend. It was a tough day of fishing for our guys from Ohio. 8 bites, landed 5, and tossed back 2. Fish were scattered. We worked 100' of water out to 300', but there was no real picture.

7/17 Evening - Father, son, and friend from PA joined us for an evening of fishing. They just wanted fish, so down to Devil's Nose we went and pummeled the Lake Trout. They got one at 18lbs, and another around 16lbs with about 20 others. Great back up plan for the following morning if we needed to grab three nice fish for the KOTO #2.

7/18 Morning - Got an early start with our guys from Ohio. We left the dock around 5:30am and shot out to 80' of water. On the set up our 150' wire pulling a Wonderbread Smartfish/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer takes off. 20 minutes later we slid the net under a 20lb Salmon. Our bite would end there. We went on to pick up a nice Steelbow and a few skippers, but at 10:30 we made the decision to go grab some Lake Trout. We pounded on them with Hammerhead cowbells until 2pm, but we couldn't do better than a pair around 11.5lbs. I thought 45lbs would win, and we were right at 43lbs. Figured one good Lake Trout and we were golden! I feel I'm usually pretty good at gauging how good or poor the fishing is during an event, but some of these teams really impressed me with the boxes they brought to the scales. We definitely missed the Salmon bite!

7/18 Evening – New guys from West Virginia joined us for some fishing. We explained how tough the bite was with the exception of Lake Trout. Their answer was that they just wanted to catch fish, so down to Devil’s Nose we went. We broke out the Hammerhead cowbells and beat on them for a few hours. We kept a rigger high in case we ran across a Salmon or Steelbow, and that rigger pulling a Moonshine Green Shorts went twice. We landed 1 Salmon and lost another.

7/19 Morning – The West Virginia group joined us again. They had enough of the Lake Trout, so we were hunting for a few nice Salmon. We left eh dock around 5:15am and worked the 100-200’ range, but it was void of fish, and we never took a bite. We slid into 50’ and switched over to a Brown Trout program. The water and conditions looked perfect, but all we scratched out of there were 2 skipper kings and a hit and run.

We got a phone call from another captain that there were some Salmon biting about 12 miles West of port. Hammer down and we were off. On the set-up our 400’ A-TOM-MIK copper pulling a meat rig takes off. 20 minutes later we slid the net under our 2015 boat best. It was a rare 4yr old measuring 41†but only weighing 24.5lbs. We took a Lake Trout and a few Skippers in the mean time when the 100’ Cannon rigger fires with a meat rig. A few minutes later we slipped the net under that teenager. With the father and son having battled a nice Salmon there was one more kid left looking for a mature Salmon. Our 500’ A-TOM-MIK copper fires pulling a meat rig, but after a 100’ run it was gone. We went to the last 5 minutes of the trip. As I was cleaning fish out other 400’ A-TOM-MIK copper pulling a 2 face paddle/A-TOM-MIK Mirage fly takes off. 20 minutes later we scoop up a high teens fish. Mission accomplished!

Saturday - Left the dock at 5:30am. We fished 125-225' about 1 mile West and the screen wasn't bad. However, we didn't take a bite for about an hour and a half. Slowly the bite picked up, and we got into some fish. Seemed like the magical hour was from 11am-1pm. Our Cannon riggers were firing at 50' with Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped, 80' with Silver Streak Green Nukes Mupped, and 100' with Familiar Bite meat. Our 400 and 500 A-TOM-MIK coppers were going with Familiar Bite meat as well. Finally, got our divers to go out 225-250' on 2 settings with a Live Wire Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am fly, and a Green Nuke Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Jerge fly.

Sunday Morning - Clients were late by 40 minutes. We went back to the same water from Saturday, and it was on! Hit 3 on the set-up, and after that we picked at them the rest of the day. The morning we had our Cannon Downriggers going with Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped at 50', Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers at 80' Mupped, and Familiar Bite meat down 90'. Once the morning bite died, and the lake slicked off our 400 and 500 coppers pulling Familiar Bite meat became studs. Our wire divers also took their share of Salmon. They were out out 225-250' on 2 settings with a Live Wire Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Pro Am fly, and a Green Nuke Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Jerge fly. We fished from 6:30-12 and lost 12 Salmon, missed 4, and landed 3. We also took a rogue Brown Trout and a couple of Lake Trout. Needless to say these guys got spoiled! They weren't bad on the rods, but the fish were light biting something bad!

Sunday Afternoon - Left the dock around 3pm and fished until 7pm. Had kids aboard. Knowing the long coppers were studs in the morning I couldn't not put them out. They weren't out long, and started firing, but we quickly realized this wasn't going to work. They never went back in. We had to lean on our Cannon downriggers and wire divers to do the job, and they didn't disappoint. Our big fish of the weekend (20lbs) came half way through this trip on a wire diver out 225' pulling a Green Nuke Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Jerge fly. Our riggers were also firing with a Moonshine Green Shorts Mupped at 50', and Silver Streak Green Nukes Mupped at 70-80'.

We were the first boat out of port because we knew it was going to be a bumpy afternoon. Only saw 3 other boats out and they were all charter boats. We fished a break that went from 63 to 57 on the 28-29 line. The bite was in the top 30'. Fist fish out there was a Salmon, next few were a great class of Steelbows. We picked up one over and one under Coho, and then we almost got spooled on a slide diver. Would have liked to see that fish! Most shots came on short wire divers 50-70'. Our stud was a Moonshine Carbon 14 on a 50' diver set on a 2.5. Not a great bite, and tough fishing conditions with the waves from the East. Stuck it out offshore until 11:30. Everyone else bailed, so we were out there solo. Had 6 in the box, lost 1, and tossed back a few shorts.

On the way in we realized the inside water were fish-able, so we looked for some Brown Trout, and in an hour went 1 for 2 on them with a great specimen to show for.

Spoons that took shots:

Carbon 14

DW Sea Sick Waddler

Stinger Wonderbread

Stinger UV Caramel Dolphin

Stigner UV NBK

Saturday morning

WOW! If it weren't for the dropped fish we would have been done by 9am! Instead we were done at 10am! DW Sea Sick Waddlers on our Cannon Digitrolls in Silver and Gold were ON FIRE! Mags 20-30' back with Regs as sliders. We fished around 6 mile in 70-100' of water. Our bigger fish came on our deepest rigger pulling Familiar Bite meat.

Saturday afternoon

Checked out some new water and it was a bust! We heard the morning spot dried up, so down to the bar we went. A similar program to the one we ran in the morning worked well. 5 and 10 color leads, and our Cannon digitrolls took most of our fish. We also got DW Get R Done's going on a high Cannon digitroll and on a 10 color.

Sunday

We took a but whoopin! After a crazy Saturday we just couldn't get them going good on Sunday. We dropped some good fish, landed a few skippers, and boxed a few. We fished 80-120 around the 6 mile area, and had an AMAZING screen. Fish shooting through our gear, but they just wouldn't commit. Fish caught were on DW Sea Sick Waddlers, and a Shredded A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly. Found out late the bight was best down on the bar.

Monday morning

Headed to the bar for the morning bite. Screen was loaded, and we got on them fast! Familiar Bite meat on our deep Cannon Digitroll, and on our copper. DW Sea Sick Waddlers were good on our higher Cannon digitrolls.

Monday afternoon

We worked for our bites! We managed to get each guy on board a nice King. We tossed back some skippers, and lost a few other fish. Tough night, but everyone was very appreciative of their catch. Familiar Bite meat on our deep Cannon digitroll, and DW Sea Sick Waddlers on our high Cannon digitrolls. Our big guy took an A-TOM-MIK B Fly on our wire diver out 200' on a 2 setting.

Tuesday

Didn't move a rod for the first hour. We worked the 80-100' are on the 56-57W line. Finally pushed it north and worked 150-200 on the 58-59W lines and picked away at them. Hot ticket was DW Sea Sick Waddlers and Dave's Salmon Slappers MUPP'd on our Cannon Digitrolls. our 300 copper was consistent with Familiar Bite meat.

Spring King of the Lake

Friday's practice was decent. We found a patch of green water right off the mouth of Port Dalhousie, and the fish were piled in there! Similar to the shallow water program we left in Rochester, but the stud was a Hawg Wild and Froggy Glow spoons. Riggers 40-60' back, 5 color lead, and Slide divers 25' leads on a 4 setting back 80'. Only three tourney boats found it, and after trolling around the Canadian side the rest of the day we felt that was the deal.

Saturday we headed to the green water off Port Dalhousie, and boy did it shrink. We still pulled 10 bites out of it, and boxed out. However, the big guys we took in there on Friday weren't there. All we had were cookie cutter 10-15lb fish. Knowing the winners of Big Fish Friday came from the bar we figured we'd go try to upgrade there. Not to mention the tourney teams fishing the bar should be settled in nicely and show us where to go. We fished the bar the rest of the day and picked away at a few fish, but nothing of any size. After day 1 we were pretty much out of it, and sitting below the half way mark.

Sunday we knew we needed to swing for the fence to have a chance. We know what a big fish program is, and that's what we rigged up. Typically, big fish eat A-TOM-MIK flies and Familiar Bite meat! Only 1 rod had a spoon on it, and that was a 10 color Stealth Core. On the set-up 7 rods went in and before we could get the 8th in 6 of the 7 rods had fish on them. It was like this for the rest of the day! A-TOM-MIK Big Fin Glow was a stud behind a Green E-Chip. Familiar Bite also took a ton of whacks behind big and small flashers. We had riggers going from 50' down to 175'. Wires out from 200 to 275'. It was a slaughter fest! At the end of the day we came in with one of the heavier boxes for the day, but it just wasn't enough to climb into a check.

Wilson Harbor Invitational

We fish this tourney with clients. They fished it one year, and they've been hooked ever since! They showed up to pre-fish Wednesday night and fished with us right through Saturday. Wednesday night we fished off the bar and did OK. 10 color Stealth Core with a Froggy Glow and a Wonderbread took a few Salmon, but the bite wasn't HOT. We were dealing with a slight East wind, and we figured that might have them shut down a little bit.

Thursday we headed back to the bar. We put down a heck of a spread. A little bit of everything. Spoons, flies, and meat. It was a King-A-Thon! At least 35 Salmon hooked, and about 15 Lake Trout. We stayed busy, but there was nothing special about these fish. All the same cookie cutter fish we had the weekend before. Our meat program was solid! We were running some of the new Familiar Bite Whip Flash paddles and they seemed to work well!

Friday we looked for larger fish knowing our numbers would suffer. It started off slow, but we found some water and ended up plucking a LOC Derby fish out of it. That fish took a Frost Bite on a high rigger. We definitely found the fish we needed, but knew it would be a grind.

Saturday was tourney day and we were pumped! For once the fishing was good at the WHI. We worked the water from the day before, and slowly picked away at them. Our stud for the morning was a Familiar Bite Whip Flash on a 225 diver. Later in the day we had to get it out to 275' to get it to go. Even though that deep stuff was our numbers deal the big fish of the day came high again and on a spoon. Our 19lb Salmon took a Wonderbread spoon on a 10 color Stealth Core.

At weigh in I knew we were 1 kicker fish away from winning the deal with our box. I didn't know it would be that close, and that a lot of great teams struggled. We would end up in 2nd place for the event, and just a few pounds out of 1st!

Big Coho

April 25th – Another weekend with clients from Maine. They came for some April Brown Trout action, but the brutal winds all week really put a lot of mud on the shoreline. After a half hour of trolling through mud Captain Craig pointed the boat out to deeper water where we found the green water outside of the mud in 25-40’ of water between ship builders and Webster park. The minute we hit that green water we doubled on Chinook “King†Salmon! We swung back around and doubled again! The rest of the day we dialed in a Salmon program in that mid water section that would grab us over 20 King bites! On top of that we hooked into and played with 20+ Lake Trout and Brown Trout. One of our BEST Spring days off Rochester!

Once we dialed in our Salmon program it was very similar to one we use in skinny water during the Spring Scotty events in St. Catherine. On our Cannon Downriggers we ran spoons back 40-50’. Glow Mixed Veggies seemed to be our best spoon hands down! We ran our center rigger the deepest back 40’, and the corner riggers 5’ above it back 50’. Our wire divers were out 40-50’ on 3 settings. Glow mixed veggies and a Yellow Tail like custom spoon were going consistently on those. Over top of the wires we ran 2 slide divers 25’ lead and 60-80’ back on a 4 setting. Similar spoons on those. Off our Otter boats we ran deep and medium diving Reef Runners. Glow/Green and Barbie being the best color combos on those back 125’.

For hours it was all we could do to keep rods in the water! What an amazing day and boy did they get spoiled on KINGS!

April 26th – Well, the Maine peeps came for Brown Trout and that’s what they wanted to target, so we ignored the Salmon, and targeted the Browns for the day. It was a stellar day from Ship Builders to Hedges in 10’ of water. Firetiger sticks did work! Many fish, but the biggest we landed was 6lbs. 100’ back off the boards for the sticks, and 50’ back on our Cannon Downriggers with bright spoons.

We had some new guys from Maine this weekend. The boys got their fathers a Brown Trout charter for Christmas. Nice job boys!

Saturday morning was a tough morning, but after a quick tip from a board memeber we moved and we landed on top of them. Thanks Tomy Lombardozzi! The Atlantic was an EPIC battle on light line! Lots of pups today, but you can see some nice ones were mixed in. Natural stick baits were best until the wind kicked up, and then it was back to bright stuff. Studs today were a Rapala Brown Trout F9 and a Smithwick Rogue in Firetiger.

Sunday we went back to the same water we finished in on Saturday. The bite was a slow pick for us. It was very spot oriented too even though there was good water all the way down. Best stick was a Smithwick Firetiger. Lots of pups today too. Good to see for the future of the fishery!

Both days we had to deal with wind, but these guys went home very happy!

We broke the pier heads around 6:30am and took a right. We fished the stretch of water from Ship Builders to Hedges. Water color came and went, but the morning bite was insane! 75-100′ back on the boards, and 40-50′ back on our Cannon downriggers. Stud baits today were Bay Rat’s short shallow “My Secret†and “Glow Green Frog.†Also, Rapala’s Brown Trout F9, and a Firetiger Smithwick Rogue. A great mix of small and decent sized fish.

HIGHLIGHT of the DAY! In the cove East of Hedges we took a shot on our Cannon downrigger 5′ down 45′ back on a Stinger Mulatto. A 10lb King Salmon comes up to the surface half out of the water, and then heads for Sodus. His run lasted about 10 seconds, and the hooks pulled. Needless to say I was jumping up and down whining like a fool. A few Salmon were hooked on the South shore today from the Oak to Sodus. The 2015 season is on!

We canceled our charters for the weekend due to the forecast, and the distance our clients were driving. Well, the forecast was wrong for Easter Sunday. So, we took advantage of it and brought the ‘ol man, the original Yankee Troller, out on a morning shake down. Happy Easter to everyone and enjoy the first fish porn of the 2015 season!

Nothing was "the man" when it came to baits. Bay Rats, Thundersticks, and Rapalas mostly in natural colors worked on the boards. Blue Sea Sick, Mulatto, and Mixed Veggies on our Cannons.

The regular Suffix leadcore is good stuff, but boy are the colors bright. We used it for a few years. Last Season we switched to Stealth Core, and we are very pleased with that leadcore.