Yankee Troller

You have my support Tom. I was talking to Bob Cinelli today, and he asked that I pair you up with Sam Zucco, who is heading up the Rochester area opposition. Call or PM me and I can get you his information. At the Oak Orchard Pro Am captains meeting I will have a petition from the group in Rochester that is opposing the GLOW project. I will try to get it somewhere centralized, and I will also get it announced during the meeting.

I though Pices had the big fish of the tourney at 25. Must have mis-heard that. Was that fish the one you waved me off on? I knew I should have made a hard left! LOL Hows the Yankee look on video? Next time give me a heads up and I'll do my hair!

Thanks for the heads up Scott! See you there Rod!

Our team for this tournament consisted of my brother and I, Rob Wescott of Sandy Creek who runs Legacy Sportfishing, Jeremy Sage of Sandy Creek who runs JDs Custom Charters, and our uncle Eric Pappert. We had a great time! Fishing wasn't as good as it had been, but that is starting to become the theme of this tournament. Regardless of how good or bad the fishing was we still got to see a lot of our friends that we only get to see during tournament times. Friday June 4th (Practice) - We knew that the Niagara Bar had a load of Cohos on it the last two weeks, and my friend Bill Ruth, from Billy V Sportfishing, was heading down there to dial in that Coho program. With us knowing that information we skipped practicing those fish and searched for new water. We left the dock at 4:30am to try and capitalize on that early morning Salmon bite we had last Sunday. We set-up in 60' of water and the screen was OK. We fished out too 300 right smack dab in front of Wilson, and never moved a rod. Sort of disappointed we were off to look for new water. Throughout the day we would pick away at under sized Kings with the Dreamweaver Glow Green Alewife being their favorite spoon fished off our 45 rigger. We would also go on to boat a nice 7 pound Coho during the day, and lose a decent fish on the 5 color core. Not very productive, but we really thought we had a nice pod of fish on the Niagara bar since we were told the screen looked good. Our best screen on our Hummingbird 1157 was 7 miles West of Wilson in about 300-400 foot of water. At one point in the day we took two short guys on one rod. It was pretty cool! Check out the picture. Saturday June 5th (Day 1) - We headed for the Niagara Bar in a nice 2-3' chop from the West. Took us a little bit to get there, but when we did the screen looked very decent. We set rods, and the wait began. We would have great screens and blank screens on the bar at various times. We went through what seemed like 3 or 4 programs and changed out more lure colors than I thought we had. Spoons, flys, and Coho rigs. Nothing worked, and the only keeper fish we had hooked up with was still swimming. So at 11am we made the decision to troll to our waypoints from our practice day. On the way we picked at a few small fish, and one even touched 18", but we didn't want to bring in a small fish and tossed him back so he could grow up. Uncle Eric wasn't feeling well all day. He had just got into town from Mexico at midnight and drove down to the boat that same night. So, we didn't mind that he slept most of the day. It wasn't like we were killing them. He did wake up at one point and we asked him, "what would you throw down?" He mumbled "plain silver 5' behind the ball down 60'!" OK, so down that rig went. 10 minutes later and I hear "FISH ON!" Guess what? That rig Uncle Eric choose fired! We could tell it was a nice fish and we played it with caution. When it hit the deck a lot of pressure was lifted from our shoulders. The skunk was out of the boat! He weighed 23 pounds and looked very healthy. We boxed him and fished for the next 45 minutes trying to put something else in the cooler with him. However, we were not successful at doing so. We headed in and the word from everyone was that the bite was a tough one. Most teams had 3 or 4 fish, and only one Pro team boxed their 12 fish. Sunday June 6th (Day 2) - BLOWN OFF! Yup, thats right! Out of 6 possible tournament days this year we have been able to fish 2 of them. Mother nature has not been nice in 2010. We finished the tourney 35th out of 49 teams. Wish we could have hit the water because the screen we had out there at the end of the day seemed to be very promising. Maybe we could have jumped up a few places. Anyway, see everyone this week at the Oak.

It wasn't easy out there guys! EVERYONE struggled. Like you said above its all about the great time we have during these events. Sorry I wasn't at the captains meeting (stupid wedding) (not mine). I'm sure I will see you this weekend if your going to be there.

Nice report....how big was that bow?

SW - we were off the water by 8:30/9am and headed to breakfast with the Billy V family by 10am. Saw Pacific run past us.

Mountain Man is right in Kendall. I just got our 32lb King from Labor day and he does a nice job. Streeter in Wayne does nice work also. Paul Czarnicki who participates on this website does fantastic work. He operates Tri-State taxidermy.

We can't thank you guys enough for the hard work you do protecting our country! I hope everyone had a great day.

GO to the tackle description forum. Billy V posted a picture of it there.

Did it end up being food or are you guys mounting that? That's a great Atlantic!

5/29 - Well, today was embarrassing. I woke up to my customer standing behind my boat wondering where I was. I thought they were coming on Sunday, but he booked Saturday. It was all good as my brother and I rushed to get the boat together, and ready for this charter. I knew the Cohos were all over he Niagara Bar, so we broke the pier-heads at 5am and rolled down to the bar. We were one of the first boats there and the bite was fast and furious for the first hour. We boxed 3 in the first hour and then we went flat. The Cohos would come in spurts of 2-4 fish at a time and we would end the day with a nice box of Cohos for John and his family. Our program today consisted of a few short short cores off our otter boats, short wires and slide divers, and three downriggers. Hot set-ups for today were A-TOM-MIK Coho flies in the Ludington and Blue/Green color schemes behind Dreamweaver mini spinnies. Also, a Dreamweaver Get-r-done was taking shots as a slider on our 45 rigger. 5/30 - It was just me and my brother today. We had heard that there were some Kings around, but the bite was very early. So, I woke up at 4:30, and we were leaving the pier-heads a little before 5. We went straight out and set up in 70 feet of water. Screen wasn't great, but we started to set lines. It didn't take long at our 400 copper started to freakin' scream! I handed the rod off to my brother and he began his battle with this fish that would last for a good 25 minutes. As it got close to the net I could tell it was a nice fish, but I had no idea how nice it really was until it hit the deck of the boat. Immediately we put it on the scale and it settled at 29.0 pounds. My brother said he wanted that silver Spring King on his wall so we ran in and put it on ice. We ran back out to the same area and set lines once again, and we began a slow pick for the next hour and a half. We would boat another King around 14 pounds, and two other Kings in the 5 pound range. At 8:30 we called it quits and went in for some breakfast. The big guy took a Smart Fish wonder dot towing an A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist, two of the remaining three fish took a wonder dot Smart Fish towing an A-TOM-MIK shredded Hammer, and the last one took a Northern King THAT spoon. All in all it was a great morning and a good weekend at the Wilson Boat House marina. When we dropped the fish off at Mountain Man Taxidermy he measured it at 40" from the nose to the bottom of the 'V' in the tail. The girth measures out at 25". I can't wait till August and September are here so we can fish for true 40 pound Kings in Lake Ontario.

That's been the program for the last week Dick! Sucks, but right now it's the best we have. I'm going looking for some sharks on Monday.

Definitely Captains Cove! I bought some there too last season.

Great job! Nice to see some fish showing up around the ROC.

Musky....no way that ride in your link has only 600 hours on it.

When we run a mag dipsey it goes no higher than a 1 setting and most of the time a .5 setting. Those mag rings really pull those divers to the sides. More than you know! I'm betting that's definitely your problem. However on the Yankee we let the Coppers out last. down the chute then attach it to the board and slide it down. If your using walleye boards they may not be pulling to the side enough, and on turns you are laying your copper right on top of your wires divers.

That's funny!

Tom, Can we all change out boat names to A-TOM-MIK. Talk about giving the committee grief. They wont know which A-TOM-MIK team it is at the scales! LOL I just got back to work after being on the water for a few days. I have to go through this thread. I am totally with you on this. BASS recently allowed their guys to run their own boats on the last day of TV coverage rather than giving them a sponsor wrapped boat top use for the day. This helps guys obtain sponsors in a tough economy. FLW has also gone this route. They are trying to HELP their guys out by doing this, and it was welcomed by every angler.

Today and also again tomorrow I have my very first charter clients fishing with us. Great group of guys spread from Minnesota to the Jersey Shore. After what we did to the Cohos on Sunday it was a no brain'r to go back and beat up on them some more. We left the dock at 6:15 and ran about 9 miles West. When we sat down the screen wasn't great, but we started to set lines anyway. The screen finally got better, and rods started to pop. We ran a 2 color on the furthest line out on our Otter Boats, and a five color right next to it. On the 2 colors we had Dreamweaver Coho Killer and an Orange Slurpee SS going, and on the five colors were mini Dreamweaver Spin Doctors in Orange with blue/green and green/gold A-TOM-MIK Coho Flies. The green/gold was the HOT set-up for the day. On our riggers we put numerous spoons, but the one that went the most was a Dreamweaver SS Firecracker. A few shots on our wires today pulling Green SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist flies. We boxed out, and lost at least another one. That Coho roll is a real winner if you ever want to get un-hooked! Back at it again tomorrow, and the game plan is Cohos then maybe we go looking for a King or two. Not many Kings caught today from what I heard. Our Big guy today was a toss up between a 10lb Coho and a 9lb Rainbow.

Yup, they were everywhere. Im no marine biologist, so i wont even try to figure that one out. I wouldn't say its abnormal. We see bait die offs every year. Last year it was during the Pro Am.

It happens! Hey, it beats the Honey do List! Whack 'em hard next time bud.

5/22 - Today Jeff and his brother came all the way from the Jersey Shore with his son Jacob and his niece Sara. They were tipped off by my Monday and Tuesday crew that the fishing in Lake Ontario is pretty exciting. So, I made the poor kids get up and on the boat by 5:30am and we left for what we heard was a tough bite. We sat down in 60 fow right off Wilson harbor and the screen was LOADED with bait and Salmon. So we set lines on a NW troll. We tried to run a high low program today. High for some cohos to satisfy the kids, and low to try and WOW the kids with a MONSTER Salmon. It took a few minutes after we got set up to entice a fish, but once we did it was a steady pick until about noon. We never saw a Coho, but the skippy Kings put up enough of a fight to put some smiles on the kids faces. Our downriggers were going anywhere from 50-80. The spoon of the day was our Northern King Sea Sick Waddler fished on our 70 rigger. The 80 rigger went with an Northern King THAT spoon as did our 50 rigger with a Northern King dimple light Glow Coyote. We ended up throwing back five Salmon that really needed a few more years to grow up, and that was fully understood when this guy hit the deck and they saw what I meant: This guy weighed a hair over 19 pounds. Not huge, but a very good representation of a Spring King, and compared to the 12-15" Salmon we were catching this was a treat. Our program today consisted of 3 riggers, 4 wires, 2 short cores off one Otter boat and a 300 or 400 off the other otter boat. Just about everything took a shot. Jeff and family went home with a few bags of Salmon fillets, and the kids went home with a smile. To top it off on their way they got to see Niagara Falls, and they tasted some wings from Duffs. Here are some other shots from today: 5/23 - My brother Craig and I took our girlfriends out today, and the weather was exactly what they wanted.....sun and flat seas. Think they cared about catching fish? Nope! All they wanted was to get a sun tan, well they need to learn that those come faster than normal when your trolling on Lake Ontario. On the way out at 9a.m. (yeah that's right 9a.m.) I made a few calls and the story was that it was slow for EVERYONE. So, we just rolled West and pulled in at 4 mile creek before we started to set lines. It didn't take long and we were slowly moving rods. All Cohos for the most part, and there were some real beauties tipping the scale at 7-9 pounds. A-TOM-MIK Coho flies (Blue/Green), Dreamweaver SS's (Firecracker), and A-TOM-MIK Salmon flies (Hypnotist) were doing the trick. Around noon our ten color pulling a Moonshine Carbon 14 started to sing, and when that fish hit the deck we were pleasantly surprised. a 13 pound Atlantic Salmon! Thank you Canada! That fish went back to play another day. We pulled lines shortly there after and headed for the marina. Girls were baked, and our stomachs were empty. It was a pleasant day on the big pond, and we will be out Monday and Tuesday. Check out some pictures from today:

Sorry for your loss Jason.....you and your family are in our prayers.

Thank boyz! It was a good day. I got me a new Cimeter fillet knife from the 'ol lady, and a Blues Tooth. So now when Maniac calls me on the water I can talk to him.