Yankee Troller

One of my favorite lakes in NY to bass fish. It fishes many different ways, so you should find a pattern that suits you. For Largies fish really really shallow structure. Smallies can be found around the shoals and drops.

5/28 – Fun fished with Dad and some friends We left the dock a little late because we had to wait for my father and uncle to drive the hour trip from Rochester to Wilson. We left the dock about 7:30/8am and headed offshore to see if the Salmon were still out there from the week before. We set down in 300’ of water and kept her pointed North with 3 rods fished off our Cannon DT 10’s, 2 Walker Deeper Divers, and a pair of junk lines run off our Otter Boats. It didn’t take long and we were into fish. Just about everything we put down was taking fish. Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers, Stinger Purple Alewife’s, Stinger Gin and Tonic, Dreamweaver SS Glow Froggy, and many many more throughout the course of the day. We started the day with flasher/fly type baits on our wires, but they would only take one shot, which is when we switched over to a 100% spoon program. Riggers were parked in the top 100’ fishing the marks we were seeing on our Humminbird fish finder. All classes of Salmon were out there, but more 1 and 2 yr olds than 3 yr olds. We didn’t attempt to take any Coho, but we did see them rolling on the surface from time to time. Overall it was a great day, and the ol’ man had a blast. Anything has to be better than sitting in the house all day! Everyone tied into a fish, or two, or three, and we all ate like Kings. 5/29 – Charter Today we had John and his family charter us. This has turned into a family tradition the last few years. The first year John brought his daughter and her friends as a graduation present, but ever since then it has been his wife, son and daughter accompanying him. Being Memorial Day weekend the Salmon masses have moved off to other parts of the Lake so a few Kings are common, but it’s generally a Coho deal. Given our extremely cold winter and cold spring the Salmon are just getting started, so they were in for a treat! We ran offshore in some pretty thick fog very early. I don’t think there were more than 1 or 2 boats out there before us. Radar has been a very nice luxury this year! Again, we set out a typical program which consisted of three rods fished off our Cannon DT-10’s, 2 Walker Deeper Divers, and three junk lines (5 color, 10 color, and a 300 copper). Fishing was just as good as the day before for us, and the same lures took fish, but that Northern King Sea Sick Waddler was the hero of the day. Just couldn’t keep it down! We also were able to get a little fly bite on our 300 copper pulling a Wonderdot SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK shredded Glow Hammer. We would go flat around 11;30/12 o’clock, and go on the search with the boat pointed South so we could get through the debris field on a troll instead of on plane. About 1:30 we trolled into about 225, and the action just exploded. First the wire took off for Canada pulling a Dreamweaver Gator Mag. That fish would hit the deck and the 10 color pulling a Stinger Black Widow started to load up. A short battle and that fish hit the deck, and before we could clean the floor off the Northern King Sea Sick Waddler on the corner rigger started throbbing. In the end we would take three low teen kings within 30 minutes to end the day and complete our box on what turned out to be a spectacular day. Highlight of the day would be the 8lb Brown Trout taken over 350’ of water on our 10 color core pulling a Stinger Gin and Tonic. 5/30 – Memorial Day fishing First and foremost I want to say thank you to all who have fought for our freedom, which allows us to do things like fish and enjoy the outdoors. Today was a lazy day spent with the girlfriend. We slept in till 8am. Went and had breakfast at the corner café in Wilson called Lucy Lou’s, and then FINALLY we made it out for some fun fishing. The fishing trip didn’t start off the way I would have liked. When we left the Wilson Boatyard marina I realized I might need a little more gas than what I had, so I busted a ‘U’ turn and headed back in to drop a c-note in the tank. After that embarrassing move we were finally ready to head out to the lake. We were greeted by the thickest fog I have ever been in, and we pushed through monitoring the radar the whole way at about 10mph all the way out to 300’ of water. We set up slowly in the thick fog and watched as fish swam through our spread with very little action. Finally, the Walker Deeper Diver on the starboard side starts singing and Melanie was into her first real Lake Ontario hog. Not to mention it was on her favorite lure the Dreamweaver SS Dirty White Boy. I guess it catches those golden boots in Lake Erie too for her. She quickly found out why I love these Salmon oh so much over here on Lake Ontario as this heavy teen pumped the rod and splashed on the surface in between its drag screaming runs. We would go on to boat that fish as well as a bunch of jacks throughout the day. Given our late start I had no doubt the fishing wouldn’t be fast and furious, but there was enough action to keep us interested. The Northern King Sea Sick Waddler was again the go to lure for us fished off our Cannon DT-10’s. The 10 color also had its fair share of rips pulling a Stinger Black Widow. We would pull lines around 5pm, and it seemed as if the fishing was just starting to pick up, and the fog was finally lifting. However, she had a two hour trek back to Erie, and I had some scrubbing and cleaning to do on the boat. All in all it was a fun relaxing day to end a long weekend. The pro/ams will be here the next few weeks, and we are super pumped to get out there and compete. We will have many days on the water over the next 2 weeks, but the reports will have to wait until after the Orleans event.

Lol [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Lots can change in a week! LOL Fishing was good!

Congrats Mike! Way to go!

Thanks guys!

No Problem bud!

We had a similar incident this Spring in Rochester. Boy did he get us FIRED UP! He didn't know who we were at the time b/c we were rolling nameless on our new ride. He quickly found out who we were and called to apologize the next day. My theory is if you have to apologize later for what you did don't do it. Well, I wasn't having his apology, and had to let him go to net some fish. I thought maybe I was over reacting, but having some Cold Steel tourney team members on the boat with us that day we were sure he was being a jack wagon. My brother was actually on his way over to cut his board line with a knife and take his planer board when I talked him out of it. Some of these guys think because they have been here for years they have right of way. I feel your pain Anthony! Don't sit back and take it.

May 20 & 21 The fishing on the West end has been tough the past few weeks. We are used to huge catches of Kings this time of year, but with the cold Winter and Spring we’ve had coupled with all the East winds the King bite just hasn’t materialized. I’d also want to mention that the Kings we are catching are so chuck full of bait by the time we are fishing in the morning they have their bellies filled with smelt and alewives. We left the dock Friday morning around 6:30am with our crew and headed down to the famous Niagara Bar. The only problem we faced was the dense fog that met us at the pier heads. That now makes two weekends where we learned how important radar on a boat can be. We stopped short because we weren’t interested in hitting another boat, or floating debris coming down from the Niagara River. The first few hours were slow. We finally got into a decent Coho bite on the surface and the corner rigger fires. I knew it had to be a Salmon, and then the line started peeling out. Within a few minutes a nice mid teens King Salmon was flopping around on the deck. We finished the day with a decent box of fish, but only one of those was a King. The King took a Dreamweaver SS Daves Salmon Slapper, and the Cohos were taking Challenger Puerto Rican’s. When we got back to the dock Friday afternoon we quickly learned the bite was tough, and very few King bites were had. We were also very surprised to learn that inside the King we caught was 19 Smelt. Saturday morning came, and the game plan was to go back down to the Niagara bar and grab some Cohos and hope for a king bite or two. When we got down there the Coho bite was much tougher than the day before. It seemed like they were off the body bait bite, and orange spoons were the ticket. A Dreamweaver SS Orange Slurpee and a Honeybee were our top togs of the morning. By later afternoon we noticed quite a few boats heading offshore, which we thought was interesting. So, our curiosity got the best of us and we pointed the boat NE and trolled out to see what the big deal was. Well, we found out quickly why everyone was running out there. Warmer water, and a lot of fish turned a slow day into a great day. We didn’t have to compete with the bait out there, like we did on the inside, and the mature Salmon were on the feed. Our riggers from 60’ to the surface were taking fish as were our short cores run off our otter boats. Everything we took came on spoons, but no one spoon stood alone as the top dog of the afternoon. The mix of fish out there was amazing. 9 miles offshore and there were Brown Trout, Lake Trout, Rainbows, and of course Kings. May 22 - Fun with some Family Our charter canceled on us earlier in the week, so we had an opening in our schedule. I really wanted to get my cousins kids out on the boat to take them fishing, so that’s exactly what we did. After experiencing the fast and furious bite offshore the day before we were filled with a ton of energy to get back out there to lay the smack down on some Kings. We left the dock at 6:30 and off we went. We got out there and it didn’t take long to get rods firing. Our riggers from 30-60’ down and our short cores were taking shots regularly. The Dreamweaver SS Midnight Special was our best spoon of the morning. We couldn’t find another color that was as consistent all morning, and we went through a ton of them. On the short cores it was the Dreamweaver SS Orange Slurpee and the same Honeybee from the day before. The mix of fish was still out there, and all classes of fish were caught. The big kings were a little too big for the kids, but they fought them like champs, and were amazed at how big the fish were. It was a great morning, and it was sad to see it end so soon.

Thanks guys! It was fun!

The sealine is a great choice. You don't know how they were cared for when you got them since they weren't new, so you really cant blame the reel. They have been a staple on the Great Lakes for many years.

Love it!

Sweet! Glad we can make it this year.

Nope [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Great job! BT's in the prop wash huh? Very cool!

We had 8 of them, and they were made very well. We ran them in a track system. I think you saw ours for sale over the Winter on here. We switched over to the new Cannon rod holders. They are also built very good. I wouldn't hesitate to buy either rod holder. Both will last you a very long time.

Def get that. Also, Windfinder when set up right can be a great app. I have weather stations set up from Port Weller to Oswego to watch winds coming down the Lake. Port Wellar, Olcott, Durand Beach, Oswego Harbor in that order. You will get addicted to Angry Birds as does everybody. Pandora is a great music app for free. Sportsmobile for following just about any league. words with friends is a fun game if your into scrabble.

Thanks Hank.....Results were posted yesterday afternoon.

May 12 - We started out Thursday morning right out the front door where we ended up Sunday evening, but Mother Nature’s harsh East winds on Wednesday really iced the Lake. When we left on Sunday we had surface temps in the low 50’s. Thursday morning we had 40 degrees on top. So, we shot down to the red can where we had reports of some water that had better temps and a few fish roaming in it. When we got there it didn’t take long to get on the fish. There were all the cohos you could ask for, and we even saw a heck of a screen filled with Kings. However, not one King bite would materialize for us. Our baits of the day were a Challenger Puerto Rican, bite off from the original Puerto Rican Bomber, and our Brad’s Thin Fish. These were fished from the surface or on 2-3 color cores. We ended the day with a nice box of Coho’s and a plan to get to the bar early the next morning. May 13 - Friday morning the guys were at the boat by 5:30 and we were off. Right down to the bar we went, and it wasn’t long for our first King bite to happen. Just like last weekend our corner rigger pulling a Dreamweaver SS Glow Froggy starts singing! A short battle later and we have a nice 14lb Chinook flopping in our cooler. We thought we were off to a great start, but even the Coho bite became tough. The same two baits pulled Coho’s, but we also had a firetiger Matzco body bait that was pulling it’s own share of the bites.We would end the day with one Chinook and a few Coho’s in the box and some happy campers as they have realized the Coho meat is where it’s at! May 14 - Wilson Harbor Invitational - Well, Mother Nature through us a curve ball mid week that really put a damper on the fishing. We practiced for two days straight and could only turn up one King Salmon from the iced waters given to us by the East winds on Wednesday. However, we thought with the warming temps of Thursday and Friday we might be able to pluck a few fish from the bar by Saturday morning. The fish were there. It was just a matter of getting them to take our offerings. By the end of the day we realized we weren’t the only ones who had a tough day. We would rid ourselves of the skunk by taking a few Coho and an Atlantic, but no Kings would hit the deck of the Yankee Troller on this day. Once the weigh in was finished we realized that we were not the only soul in this boat. Over half the field came in with a goose egg, and 3 out of 71 teams could scrounge up the 6 fish needed to contend for the $20,000 first place prize. My team and I would like to send a huge congrats to Kevin Jerge at the Wilson Boat Yard for this amazing tournament. Everything went off with out an issue, and the eats at the banquet were very tasty. If you weren’t a part of this event in 2011 you will want to be part of it in 2012!

PM sent back

Never used. Just the antenna and about 3' of coax cable. We ran the scotty antenna instead. $25 pick up in Rochester or Wilson, or buyer pays shipping. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

3 - 124's and 1 - 107. 3 are gold and one if the 124's is copper. Brand new in the package. $25 for all four. Pick up in Rochester or Wilson, or buyer pays shipping. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Great fish Scott! Hope it's headed to the wall!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats to my buddy Matt Y. Embarrassing for Lake O! Lol [ Post made via Mobile Device ]