Yankee Troller

It was a tough weekend boys! Easily the toughest of our season so far. Lets hope the next few aren't as bad. Although, can we really complain after how AMAZING the fishing was ALL season long? September 15th (Morning) - After not being allowed to showcase Lake Ontario to these guys from Jersey on Friday afternoon, we awoke to much of the same NW winds. The good news is that it made time for a nice breakfast at the 4C’s cafe as a bunch of captains sat around and BS’d. The bad news was we knew warm water was being forced into our fishing grounds. We finally made it out around 8am. Fishing was tough for most, and our bites seemed to come in spurts. We found our best screen down between the flats and the glass house in 105-120’ of water. The fish were pinned to the lake floor, but there were periods throughout the day where they rose up and chased out baits around. We ran a simple six rod spread. Our three Cannons pulled big paddles for the most part. 11†E-Chips, and 10 †Spin Doctors trailed by A-TOM-MIK fly’s worked well as did a Moonshine Carbon 14 and a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler Mag. We ran regular sized flsaher/fly combos on our divers. They were going out 300’ on a 1.5 setting. Lastly, we pulled a 500 copper with a Moonshine Carbon 14. Our HOT baits today were the 11†Stinger E-Chip Hammertime/A-TOM-MIK B-fly, and a Chrome E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly. We also took fish off a Dreamweaver Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Blue Glow Hammer. We started out with a few Brown Trout and a Coho, but by the middle of the trip it was all King Salmon action. We were able to pound out about 12 tough bites, and these guys couldn’t have been happier! September 16th - A few boats took a few fish at the wall the day before, so we wanted to hit that up before going deeper looking for some stagers. We left the dock around 5:30am and were surprised to see about a dozen boats already working the skinny water. Oh well, so we got in line. We sent out four surface lines and put one down on our middle Cannon downrigger. We ran J-Plugs on Church TX-22 boards back 75’ and out 75’. Inside those we ran a # 4 and a #5 Lyman off the corners. The first two rods to fire both came off the East corner of the wall. On the first pass the Salmon ate the #4 Lyman, and on the second pass the #5 Lyman went. Both Lymans were the same color - Chartreuse with a blue ladderback. We would take a few passes with nothing, so we switched out the glow J-Plugs to shinny ones. One was a bloody nose, and the other was a Mongoose. A few passes later and the bloody nose takes a ride. It’s hilarious to watch a Church TX-22 go skipping across the surface! We landed our biggest Salmon of the day tipping the scales around 22lbs. A few more passes led to just one dropped fish on a bloody nose J-Plug, and that would be the end of our wall fishing for the morning. We finally made the decision to put some water under us and target the fish we had going the day before. We made it out there and the screen just wasn’t what it was the day before. We fished it anyway! We went on to take a Brown and a 2yr old Salmon along with missing two other fish over the next 3 hours. We called it quits at 1pm, and headed for the dock. It was a tough weekend out of the Oak, which is rare, and we worked hard for every bite we got. Let’s hope it gets better for the upcoming weekend!

4/0 Octopus and a #2 Treble

Congrats....that will be hard to beat!

Sorry for your loss. I know how you feel.

Nice!

Nitro - There is a plug in it, but the tread is in very good condition. I think it was a spare off the trailer of our Bayliner. My brother found it in his garage. As far as the make.....I don't know off the top of my head. I figured it would be a good spare for someone.

In good shape. 215/75/14 $40 pick up in Rochester or at the Oak. [ Post made via Android ]

It's funny you ask. We have been running it for a while, and when people are complaining about fleas we have little to no issues with the 25lb test McCoy. I have a few friends using it and they see similar results.

Nice!

Nothing wrong with Scottys Bruce. Had them for about five years on the Bayliner and liked them a lot. However, those Cannons mounted on the back of that 10 Meter look sexy! We also love the pre-set depth feature. Hook the rod into the release, push a button, and walk away to start rigging the next rod.

It's always worth it. We'll be out. [ Post made via Android ]

Should everyone get a trophy at the end too?

We run a line that's not common on the Great Lakes, but it is such a great fishing line. We have had numerous opportunities to get discounts on other lines, and some of them for free, but McCoy Fishing Line is such a great line and we have so much confidence in it that we wont stop using it. We run the 25lb Mean Green on all our mono reels. When we are fishing spoons we will leader down to 15lb McCoy Flouro, and when it's paddles we use 20lb McCoy Flouro. The line isn't cheap, but I promise you it wont let you down. Especially, if you are anal about checking your line and leaders for bad spots.

I'm only one person, and wouldn't be able to hit up the East end boys. However, if we laid the ground work in the West someone could borrow or make it theirs in the East. Sure did.

LOL....Paul is the auto-pilot coming in 2013? LOL

Per event

Tim - I love those things this time of year! They look so cool.

Any interest in getting one started? I was tossing around the idea of one. Probably fish just from the Oak or Sandy. Two Saturdays in July and two in August. Bring in your best 4 or 5 fish. Points accumulate for an overall champ. Not a huge entry fee. Maybe $50/boat for the daily payout, $10, for big fish at the daily payout, $15 towards league champs (1st and 2nd)?

September 7th - After a productive evening trip the anticipation of a great morning bite was easily expected. However, when we got out there other than a few quick fish the bite just wasn’t there. After a few hours it was time to point her a little bit North and look elsewhere for the bites. We pushed it North and found some fish to play on the 25N line. We ran a simple spread consisting of our three Cannon downriggers, two wires, and two coppers. Flasher/Fly combos were on almost everything with a Moonshine Shelly Snack in the mix. Through out the day we changed up combos, but the Stinger Hammertime E-Chip with an A-TOM-MIK B-Fly was good on the diver for most of the day. Another good combo was a Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor with an A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer fly. On the 25N line we found a King or two and also took a few Steelies. We ended up getting the bites we needed, but as always a few found a way to evade us. September 8th - We hit the water with a brand new group about 6:30am after watching a line of thunder storms roll through. We started in 40’ of water and the screen was pretty good. We worked 40-60’ of water for about 3 hours until we rushed off the water because of Strong winds rolling down the Lake. We ran a pair of 5 colors off our boards with Lymans, our three Cannon downriggers, and two divers. The Lymans on the 5 colors were our MVPs of the morning. We went on to take 8 shots, but would only be able to put 3 in the box. Other baits that went were an 11†Stinger Hammertime E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK B-Fly, and a Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Blue Glow Hammer. Both fished on our riggers, and kept 5-10’ off the bottom. The rest of the day was spent at the dock organizing tackle as the wind howled out of the NW. It also gave us some time to catch up with friends we talk to on the water, but don’t get a lot of time to hang out with. September 9th - Well, we awoke to light winds, but still could hear waves crashing from the NW blow on Saturday. We gathered up the guys and hit the water early looking to make up for lost time from the previous day. We set down in 40’ of water and found what we expected, and that was warm water. We trolled it out to 110, and still had 70 degree water to the bottom. At 120 we started to see them laying on the bottom, and worked that area for a few hours. We deployed our Cannon downriggers, two wires, and two coppers (400 & 500). We stayed in there for a few hours, but it was only good for one shot on a 500 copper pulling a Moonshine Carbon 14. We made the decision to point it North and look elsewhere. We found some nice Steelies on the 25N line and worked them for a few hours. They were eating our Moonshine Carbon 14’s on our 500 coppers, and some Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers on our deep rigger. After hooking into about 8 of those we decided they weren’t much fun compared to the Kings inside, and made a troll South to see if they started to eat yet. When we got back in there we could see the Kings were holding a little higher in the water column, and the fish came almost instantly. The bites were coming about every 20 minutes, and the Moonshine Carbon 14 was still working on the 500 copper. Another bait that was going consistently was an 11†Chrome E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly 10’ off the bottom. We finished strong after a slow start. Those inside fish are getting fussy. You need to stick them out and they will eventually eat. The early afternoons have been good, so it wasn’t a shocker we had them going from 1-3:30pm when we picked up.

I thought I saw you leaving as I was cleaning up the Yank. The place to be was the flats and to the East in 115'. When we picked up yesterday afternoon it was getting good! Nice fish BTW!

Congrats bud!

When you pull the plugs apart don't wiggle them apart. Pull them straight apart.

Nope.

Bulk copper used to come marked. No one does it anymore. Kinda sucks to be honest. I would buy the individual spools. It makes life easier. I should be around. Let me know what night works for you.