Storm Warning II

You guys need to corral SkeinMan to "guiding" you out of the Canadian side from late June to early August. They stack up the big guys over their for most of the summer and it is probably a shorter drive from Michigan to the Toronto area than to the NY shores. Skeiner is a MASTER... He is the Lake O equivalent of Keating... He knows all, sees all, has all... Heading up there again for Labor Day weekend, trying to hook a $20,000 King for the Fall LOC Derby that starts this Friday. May take a 40#+ this year....

37#er off Oswego last Sunday. 32#er off Oak Orchard on 8/2 MUST SEE VIDEO!!!!! Diver and Rigger shot video from the north shore of Lake O. Thanks Big D! + Google Video ERROR: If you can see this, then Google Video is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Heard several reports of Kings out of temp in the last week or two. Staging time is here!

Looks like rough weather is the "soup" du jour for the next 5 days... Not a forecast for less than 4s for the next 5 days. The good news: Ought to blow cold water in and some staging steelies with it.

Did a 3 man limit today while dodging storms and a few spouts. Wind did complete 180 but by 12:30 pm was stiff N 3 foot choppers, good thing we were done. Inside wire divers, 1 1/2 back 155 copper backed melon meat - HOT Outside braids divers, 3 1/2 back 190 mix of spoons Riggers just 2 fish: a FISH OHIO farm animal and an '03 'eye, Walleye Magic and VQ Goby Super Slims.

Thanks GLF. The only walleye tourney I've ever fished where you had to get them at SALMON Depths! Outside divers back 250? Inside wires at 195? WOW! This is different. As you can see from the official results page, a LOT of teams had a tough go of it.

I think some of you guys will recognize quite a few of the place winners. http://www.epsfa.com/2008tour/results.htm Pro Top 3: Pacific Time - Todd Pavlik (3rd in Spring Scotty) Vision Quest V - Pete Alex (1st at '08 Orleans Pro Am) Shirley B - John Bogdan (1st at 2007 Big Boyz on Lake Michigan) AM Top 3: Storm Warning II - Matt Cannon (yours truly) Rock n' Reel - Ralph Eades (2008 Western Lake O cup winner) Round Up - Shawn Jones (Shawn caught the 30# King at the Orleans Pro Am aboard Pacific Time) Weekend Big Fish: Free Spirit - Paul Czarnecki (If you fished at Oak Orchard on Lake O, I'm sure you've seen or know Paul) Tough weekend of fishing due to our abundance of warm water but some guys managed to get 'em.

FINALLY! For the first time in 3 years, we didn't drop the ball... Kind of... Day 1: No pre-fish, and actually hadn't fished in PA water since very early July we went on a hunch that steelies at least would be in the VERY deep water, where temps were more favorable to them. Also knowing that some of them are getting ready to return to the natal streams, mostly on the west side, we figured they would be ganged up on the western edge of the deep. Didn't know about our 12 'eye allotment, but figured at least a few natives and some migrants would have found the cold water before the warm water "fence" set up, way west. The big temp "break" was down between 80 and 85 feet and was really all over the place. above the break was 70+ water and just below in the high 50s. Worked like crazy most of the day basically pre-fishing the western side, picking a fish here and there, an 'eye here and a steelie there. Around 12:30 (could only fish until 2:30 due to delayed start) we popped an 'eye and watched another boat go by us and pop one. Hmmm. the bait pic was good, but very, very few marks. Worked the area around pretty good and monkeyed with depths on riggers and divers until we started to knock a couple fish around. Once we started dialing in (speed and depths), we worked the bait on a N/S troll and started boxing 'eyes that we had been missing in our alloted 12 to weigh in. From 1 to 2:30 we boxed 2 steelies and missed 3 others including a MAG off the deep rigger that threw the hook 30 feet behind the boat. We also boxed 5 walleyes to get to 11 and lost another 3. The sad part was, we dropped 5 fish in the last 1/2 hr. and were 1 fish short on our 12 'eye allotment and 1 steelie short of our 5 allotment. We honestly thought that the 5 dropped fish that would have filled allotments was gonna kill our chances. We got to the marina and found out that pretty much EVERYONE had struggled. NO FULL BOXES. Hmmm? Long story short, end of Day 1, we're in 2nd place, 18 pts. out of first (box the mag steelie and we're leading or bag 1 small steelie and an 'eye and we're leading). The leader had fallen a couple short on 'eyes but had all their steelies (averaging a bit bigger, and actually had boated 12 steelies day 1). At the end of the weigh in, it became clear that only 5 boats had a legitimate shot, based on the skinny bags a lot of the field had. Not bad, and hey; we've been in 1st before after Day 1 and ended up 5th. It is 2 days for a reason as we had learned from the past 2 years. Day 2: Long, rough ride out (1 1/2 hrs.) to get to our marks due to the stiff N rollers that had formed overnight. Basically got there 45 minutes after lines could go in. Knowing the rough seas would make it a tough north run, we started a little bit north of our "hole", a mere mile and a half or so of productive water. I honestly got scared early on in the pass, because the bait had dispersed DRAMATICALLY from Day 1. As I was debating my next move, the 95 rigger fired and we somehow managed to bag an 8# steelie that was bound and determined to screw something up. It went from 95 down to the surface in less than 30 seconds and went west crossing a wire diver and a flat wire line on the port side. EEEK! fluorocarbon rubbing on braided and monel steel wires! Thankfully, he decided to commit suicide and run to the back of the boat while Jimmy held the two encumbered rigs with one hand net him with the other. Whew! Dropped everything back and long story short, starboard side wire diver pulled 8 of our 12 'eyes over the next couple of hours. Every south pass we made through our fish, the action slowed. 5 fish, 4 fish, 2 fish, 1 fish. We hit the mid-day "lull" with 11 'eyes and 1 steelie. Uh oh, here we go again, 2nd day, dropping the ball. With only 2 hours to go, decisions had to be made. Go "turn and burn" and try to get some chrome and maybe get lucky on an 'eye or keep working our hole and hope steelies would enter the mix and we would get our last 'eye. Go for broke! We ran to just inside the International border and began, set lines and started a "turn & burn" program to try to box some steel. With 3 of our alloted 6 lines in the water, the port outside diver takes a whallop and steelie on! Wow! maybe we can box a bunch of steel out here. We boxed our second steelie, a mediocre 5 pounder and began the burn. For the next hour and a half we worked the extreme north and did not move a rod. Here we go again, half hour left, don't have all of our fish. I decided to "shake it up" and switched out a rigger spoon and and inside diver spoon and turned her towards home figuring we would make 1 last gasp through our old hole. Hadn't made it south for 3 minutes when the inside diver I had just changed fired and we brought our 12th 'eye to the boat. YEAH! At least we boxed our 'eyes, keep 'er burning to the end and maybe we can pick up 1 maybe a double on steel. Never fired a rod... The long ride in was an intraspective "what if" and rationalization that maybe everyone else had struggled again, yeah right, not the way we do in this thing. Pulling into the no wake zone, VQ IV pulled up and asked what we had done, only to find out he had the exact same box. Wow, maybe? Shortly thereafter, we tidied up to the loading dock and the day 1 leader, the Capt. of Team Round UP, fell in right behind us and looked concerned as he asked how we had faired. I looked at him with a half-disgusted grin and said "short again". 'Slayir asked how much and I told him we only had 14 of the alloted 17, he hung is head and said that they had only boxed 12. Hmmm, maybe there is an offbeat chance, but there are still 3 other boats to be concerned with and 'Slayir's box could be big enough to offset the now 1 fish advantage we had. The weigh in revealed that 2 of the other boats we were concerned with had not had stellar days either and were now out of contention. Oh boy, nail biter. Ironically, the 3 boats of the 5 in contention now found ourselves back to back to back in the weigh in line. Discussions certainly ensued and open box lids revealed it was gonna be close! The team in 4th place after day 1 (Rock 'n Reel, the western cup of Lake O winners) had 15 fish and some biggies. They had started the day 22 points behind us, but had 1 more fish, Uh oh. Round up, the first in the string weighed in their box and it was apparent it now became a weight issue as far as our box and their's, we stepped to the scale and put a decent number on the board, more weight than day 1 with 1 less fish. We had taken the lead, but Rock 'n Reel was next and they had the 1 fish advantage and a very good weight. Scale reads.... Uh oh, this IS gonna be real close! Finally the official tally was completed and their points posted... YEEE HAW!!!! We eeked it out by a mere 6 points! Congrats to all the top 5 for a very competitive tourney with tough fishing being the theme. In summary, we had fun, we went through the ups and downs and I learned how valuable the probe is for temps, breaks, and speed. No Depth Raider and I don't think we make top 10. All fish were taken within 15 feet, either side of the temp break and the walleyes were few and far between if you exceeded 1.8 on the down speed. On Saturday, I was shocked to catch several walleyes 95 feet down. Honestly had never fished water that deep in Erie, let alone park a rigger there. It was honestly a walleye and steelhead tourney that fished like a salmon tourney, never got a fish shallower than 65 down. It took a probe for speed and temp, wire divers to get baits DEEP and deeper than I ever could imagine fishing on Lake Erie, riggers. At the risk of being redundant, congrats to the 2nd and 3rd place teams, you really made it interesting and you have both had PHENOMENAL years. 'Slayir and the monster Lakers and June King as well as EPSFA Team of the Year. Rock n' Reel, you guys won the Lake O western cup, its really saying something to take that on waters any of us seldom fish. I'm pretty certain that with no pre-fish and some lucky breaks that we got, Storm Warning I was giving us a hand from higher places... Thanks Jack. Look forward to next year and another run at the silver and gold.

GLAngler had a really good article from the "Fish Doctor" an issue or two ago talking about targeting BIG rogues... 4 1/2 yr. old males...

I wondered where you were goin with that "G"? It sure is hard to believe they'll be charging the pier heads here before too long...

Believe it or not, he said it just popped off the rigger like a walleye. It never took drag till it saw the boat...

I know it is not uncommon to get them out of temp especially when staging. We got 'em last Labor Day off the Niagara River about 60 down when 50 degrees was down 85. All we got "in" temp was teenagers.

We all basically fish salmon gear on the east end of Erie. Braid divers, wire divers, lead core, and riggers. I know most all of my gear does double duty.

With no bait and that high a temp, dare I ask why you were fishing there???? Apparently you were marking good hooks???

WOW! Staging already... 62 down???? He is way out of temp. What did the bait pic look like Skeiner? Nice target...wink, wink.

This dandy was taken by Vision Quest Sportfishing Charters (www.dreamsteelie.com) out of Erie, PA this past Sunday. Where did this thing come from???? The Capt. told me it darned near wrecked the entire walleye/steelie spread he had out. It played limp wrist until the last 75 feet from the boat before it went NUTS.

I would have given you a call today Toxic, I would have given WorkDog a call too, but I have rewired our new radio 3 times and I am still getting BRUTAL interference from my sonar. You can hear every ping. It was nice getting into the 'eyes like we did, but I am hating myself for not fishing PA because we have a big Pro Am out of Erie next weekend. I am also hating my co-capt. because he is going to the same place tomorrow instead of pre-fishing, because I can't leave at 4am. Long story, but not good...

Just had to take the opportunity to go blast some Ohio 'eyes today. Launched out of Conneaut and made about an hour run NW quartering into 2 to 4s with some 3 to 5s mixed in. Started at the 2.5/44.6 (71 fow) and trolled east/north east with the rollers. Fish pretty much disappeared once you got east of the 42 or so. 3 passes yielded 5 limits + 2 other 'eyes we released and 2 jumbo perch (Yes, 5 tickets). Nothing "magical" today. A little on everything, some highlights: Early and overcast a Super Slim Walleye Slapper on the probe rigger down 60 pulled 3 or 4 right away, watermelon harnesses w/ copper backs were solid all day, especially on the wire divers 1.5 back 150 they pulled the majority including 2 of the 3 biggest (6 1/2#ers). Outside divers produced well today as well, 3.5 back 200. The deep rigger, down 71, also pulled a few with a Super Slim copper perch. Got 2 fish and lost a large one on a Firetiger Bango 350 back on the wire, down the chute. Lots of traffic out there today despite iffy weather reports yesterday and some relatively turbulent on again off again seas. The lake appeared to have "flipped" it was 69.8 on top and as warm as 73 down 60 feet. Seemed like the further east you got the warmer the water, I had 69.8 down 60 at our start mark and by vapor water it was up to 73. Talked to a couple boats that were into the middle of the school further west. Seemed like from the 50, east to the 43 was the best. Was nice to have some nice easy 'eye fishing again...

2008 Summer LOC Grand Prize Salmon: 31.14# pulled on Familiar Bite between Olcott and Wilson in 200 fow.

I heard from the guys fishing the Pro Am this weekend it was TOUGH fishin out east Billy. Lots of waves on Saturday, lots of fleas, and lots of WARM, WARM, water. Lots of zeroes (Ouch!) and 1 to 3 fish boxes. The VQ from Erie took 5th with a Brown program on Saturday and a deep water set up on Sunday.

Fished Wed. pm and marked a great number of fish NE of Conneaut along the PA line, just north of the perch pack in 66 to 72 fow. Fished them for 3 1/2 hrs. solid with countless different directional passes, countless different down speeds, countless different bait offerings and 1 22" 'eye to show for it. Low and behold, checked the 'net reports on a variety of sites Thurs pm and found that we were not alone. Many reports of lots of good marks and very, very few fish... Full Moon? Water too warm?

You were in the right water there Slip... Saw a good report with a 28# 7oz between 180 and 300 fow around the 60' mark.

Found the 35.46# porn...

Alright SkeinMan, give up the goods... We want the fish porn of the 35 1/2 taken off the Credit this week... 40# may happen before we even get to August!!!

Nice shootin' and some REAL nice targets (that's stealin' your thunder...)