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Jolly II

Charter Captain
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Everything posted by Jolly II

  1. The weather this past weekend was a little rough, Friday's trip ended up being a scratch, but the weather on Sunday morning worked out, the lake had a nice 1 foot chop from the southwest all morning. Bob and I took the crew out to the 75 foot range and got Mike and Eric started on some brown trout for the morning. Most of the browns came on riggers, but one took a mag stinger fished behind a dipsy. When a brown hits a dipsy, it's usually a good one, and this fish was no exception, being the porkiest brown on the boat this year. Later we moved out a little deeper, 100-115, the sonar picture out there had lots of big marks mixed in among all the bait pods we had been marking all morning. We changed our gear a little in hopes that those big marks were kings. No kings, but we had a steady lake trout bite going on our dipsies, fished with flasher/fly and cut bait. Even our riggers did some damage on the lakers. Some guys were able to capitalize and get into a king, and even heard a good report of a really nice catch of kings. It's nice to hear that a good numbers of salmon are finally moving into our home waters, better late than never, and we are finally settling into a consistent summer pattern. We'll be looking to capitalize on that, and start putting some heavy fish over the rail this weekend. JD and Lou, I'm looking to take the lead!
  2. Fishing with my nephews on Father's Day, they were just as excited to use the fish bonker, as they were to actually catch the fish. We had a lot of fun!
  3. This past weekend I fished with Team LandingZone in the Niagara ProAm fishing tournament. The fishing this year was a far cry from what is was last year thanks to the stubborn east wind Wednesday and Thursday before the tourney. Friday during our prefish the wind came around west and by the afternoon things were looking like they were setting back up, we found decent numbers of fish and schools of bait off shore. Our catch consisted of mostly steelhead, with a few coho, and we finished up with a teenage king at the end of the day. We had deffinately caught a box of 12 fish, which is the goal to get for both days of the tournament, and felt confident about working our program for the main event. Unfortunately Saturday morning Mother Nature had different plans for us, and threw another curve ball with more east wind. When we got out to our waypoints from Friday, all the bait was gone and the fish were scattering quickly. We worked hard for our fish, and only brought 5 to the scales, 2 kings, 2 steelhead and coho, total weight was 43lbs. We were sitting somewhere in the middle. Sunday we made the decision as a team to go back out deep and continue to work over our water from the previous 2 days. Unfortunately the picture out there went from bad to worse, and the fish had all but disappeared. We spent the entire day searching, and working changes in our presentation to try and entice the fish we did find on the sonar. By some fish miracle we boated 4 fish, a king, a steelhead, and 2 cohos. We ended up finishing 19th among 30 teams, far from the 2nd place finish we had last year. It was still a great weekend on the water doing what I love, and despite the fishing we still had a lot fun, and a lot of laughs. Looking forward to it again next year! And congrats to the Reel Excitement team in putting together 12 fish boxes both days of the tourney, with some very tough fishing, to take the top spot.
  4. We had great crew this past Sunday morning, Patrick treated his wife Karen and daughter Victoria to a trout and salmon trip on Lake Ontario. Patrick is very familiar with our great fishery and fished with his Dad a lot back in the late 80s and early 90s, and his coaching on rod handling showed that he was a true Lake Ontario veteran. We started our trip in close, east of the harbor, looking to see if we could get a brown trout or two. There was good temp there, however with clear water and lots of alewives in spawning we did not put much effort into the skinny water. In 45 minutes we never moved a rod, and then pointed the boat north and switched things over to hunt for silver fish. We found the bite out deep to be pretty stubborn. Lots of streakers on the sonar swimming in and out of the riggers, and finally we popped the first fish, and young Victoria brought a nice 13lb silver Chinook to the boat. We stayed in that water for the rest of the day, 160-180, there was a good picture there. Fish and bait, nice colored water, with 45-46 degree surface temp. We didnâ??t break any records, but we finished up with another teenage king, 16lbs, a lake trout, and nice 8lb steelie, with a bunch of small kings and one small atlantic. By far the MVP for the day was a Get-R-Done SS free slider, but it took all small fish. Most of the action coming on riggers 55-65 down. Only one flasher fly bite, which we took the laker on. The kings are here and things seem to be setting up finally for some good offshore thermal bar fishing. Looking forward to heading to Wilson this weekend to fish the 2nd of the Niagara ProAms with team LandingZone. Itâ??s always fun to fish with these guys, and get in on some of that Gold Coast chrome.
  5. Fishing continues to be ridiculous, and Sunday afternoonâ??s trip was no exception. The guys came up from the southern tier and decided that a 2pm departure would be great, and thatâ??s what we did. I managed to get 4 rods in the water before we hooked up with our first fish, I was starting to think it was going to be a slow night, lol. But after the first fish broke the ice, it would be steady for the remainder of the trip. The guys brought a mixed bag of fish to the boat, lots and lots of brown trout, some cohos, a couple of small kings, and even a few husky lakers. We fished in the 7-12 feet of water range, and water temperature seemed to average around 44-45, with great water color. The only pattern to lure selection that seems to stand out has been that our stick baits are doing better than our spoons. Sticks 100â?? behind the boards did better than our spoons 100â?? behind the boards. Our weighted flat lines also took their fair share of fish too. This spring fishing has been the best Iâ??ve ever experienced, and at this point it shows no sign of slowing down. The LOC derby starts this Friday, thereâ??s still a lot of cold water out there, but things are looking good, and some kings are showing up. Weâ??ll see what the weather brings in this week, and hoping things will come together to get some big kings in the boat like we did last year at this time.
  6. Thanks Guys! The fishing this year for spring browns has been nothing but outstanding, and the shore anglers here on Lake Ontario have been doing very well too. Reminds of some of the springs we had in the 80's when I was kid. Got get em!
  7. Awesome fishing this morning out of Sandy Creek. Lots if great colored water along the shoreline, and we fished in 5-10 feet water. Temp was 40-42. Our rods were moving all morning, with only a few breaks in the action long enough to have a cup of coffee and a donut. We took bites on everything we ran, however our natural color stick baits did better than spoons. The bonus for the trip was a nice 10lb brown. It's going to be a beautiful weekend, go get em!!
  8. This post never made it up here. Just a quick report on the fishing from last Saturday's trip. This report is a little late, but it’s a good one. We had first charter of the season this past Saturday with a returning crew that wanted to get in on the April brown trout action. This trip they decided to bring along an up and coming New York outdoorsman, 6 year old Joey. Water temperature this weekend was much better than last weekend 36 -42 in the lake, some areas even warmer, but there it’s still a lot of cold water for this time of year. The water color was great, except for right in front of the harbor, lots of muddy water there. There were a lot fish scattered along the shore, and it didn’t take long for the action to get going. We would fish anywhere from 6-10 feet of water, and both plugs and spoons would take fish. We ran natural colored plugs and spoons, and spoons with orange, yellow and green, but no particular color stood out as an MVP. Just about everything we ran took a fish. Our box of fish consisted of mostly browns to 7 lbs, but we did bring 3 cohos to the boat as well. I do know that there were a couple of kings caught in that skinny water, as well as a handful of steelhead. The highlight of the day for me was having Joey pick out a spoon to run, a yellow NBK, and then 15 minutes later he boats a fish on that spoon. That spoon would take several more shots before the end of the day. The season is now in full swing and off to good start. We’re back out again this Friday and looking to put more fish in the boat.
  9. Here's Joey with a nice brown he caught on that yellow NBK he picked out. The kid knows how to pick em!!
  10. In my limited 3 years of experience running a charter service, I really haven't had too much of a problem with late costomers. When they are running late I make an effort to call them and to find out if they are on their way, are they having problems finding the marina, and try to get them back on track. Funny story...I did have one group that somehow wound up at another marina in the harbor. When I called them to see where they were, they told me they just pulled in, and would be at the boat in a couple of minutes. Ok, sounds good. 15 minutes later, they're still not there, because they are at the wrong marina, and carried their stuff down to some else's boat, and were making small talk with guy while he's getting the boat ready. They were thinking he was my first mate. Hilarious! They are really great people, and that was a really fun charter, and not just because the fishing was good. I did have one problem with customers drinking too much my first summer doing this. They opened a bottle of vodka, and were pouring screw drivers before we evening got out past the break walls. By late morning they were in rough shape, and I had to have them sit on the cooler while fighting fish. That lesson was learned quickly, and now I have a clear policy stating no hard liquor, and that I reserve the right to terminate the trip, at the customer's expense, due to intoxication. And I've never had any problems with it.
  11. After this long, cold winter, and some hoping the weather would work out this weekend we finally splashed Sunday at 3:30 in afternoon for a shakedown trip. Boat shakedown went well, I have a few things to button up this week, but overall I was happy with our trip. The fishing could've been better for us, and with all the muddy water we struggled along til 6:30 for a couple hours of fishing. Unfortunately the warmest water, 38-39 degrees, was the color of chocolate milk, and our brightest lures disappeared in the water right next to the boat. So it was no surprise that all our bites came on orange, carmel dolphin, orange crush, and an old school bright orange mauler. With water conditions like that, it was better to put the emphasis on water color, and not pay that much attention to water temperature. The most productive water for us was deeper than 10 feet of water, and water temperature 35-36 degrees. Even though we did run stick baits, we never had a touch on them. All our action was on spoons. We'll be back out again on Saturday, and hoping for a weekend that has some nice spring weather. I can't wait!!
  12. This is a very similar style that I fish. If the active fish for a day are in the 110-125 range, say, I try find the best troll direction in that zone. Speed and direction are probably 2 of the most important variables int he equation that =FISH. I try stay away from fishing cross current. I find my boat, and my presentation is not productive when my cables and dipsies are not straight. I'm not necessarily going right into the current, but I find the general direction at which things are tracking straight and that is almost always the most productive direction. Usually my first mate has a good handle on this, and I mess it all up when I take the helm to give him a break. lol Don't get hung up on maintaining a depth, maintain a productive troll direction. Also, don't be afraid to turn and go back through fish in the opposite direction. On Lake Ontario when the fish are hungry, stay on them and maximize your time while they're on the feed. Our lake has a lot of bait in it, and fish will stuff themselves quickly. I know what you mean by some of the strong currents on LO. I grew up fishing Wayne County. The days on our lake with those strong currents, 1.5-2.0 knts sometimes stronger, those are the days the fishing is only in one direction. I often head off shore on those days and get out of the strong current. Good luck! Fairhaven is a great port, fish there this summer for a few days. I've got go back!
  13. 14lb-6' mono on riggers with spoons 20lb mono on riggers with flashers 20lb-12' floro on coppers and lead core 20lb mono on dipsies 10lb-20' mono, tied to 14lb mainline, for spring BTs
  14. Another one here for Charter Lakes. $596 a year on my 85 Sportcraft with a lay up From October 1st to April 1st. I'm also covered for damages while towing. Great costumer service too!
  15. I fell the pain too. It's officially spring, and we are still getting intense lake effect here in westery New York, and up on the Tug Hill Plateau. But... as stated before it's better this way than the 80 degrees we had last year at this time.
  16. Exactly what I was going to say. I run alot the DW Spin Dr's alot, but I always have a protroll out there as well.
  17. Thanks guys! A big bright yellow ball in the sky just showed up here today. I think it's called the sun, and it seems like 4 months since I've seen it. Spring is on its way!
  18. Hey to all! I've got a wicked bad case of spring fever, and I've got fishing on the brain. Who doesn't at this point?? I've been fishing Lake Ontario since the late 70s, I was 5, with my Dad and my Uncle. Started in a 14' motor boat, flat lining rapalas for spring browns. In the early 80s my Dad designed a sideplaner release, some of the people who have been doing this for 20+ years may remember them, the Jolly Release. My Dad still sales a few to the last faithful holdouts. I still use them on my boat in the spring for browns. After all the years of fishing I decided to get my captain's license 2 years ago, and have been slowly building a charter business. It's been slow and coming, not the best economic climate for a new business, plus the Lake Ontario fishery isn't widely marketed as a tourist activity in our state, so much so that people I got to church with traveled to Lake Michigan to book a salmon fishing charter, lol. It's hard work (never been afraid of that), but I do love it. Just saying high, and looking forward to share my thoughts and practices with everyone here. Chris
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