Yankee Troller

So, this past weekend was the Scotty event out of the Port of Oswego. Considering we are a deep water team, and we had two top 10 finishes on the East end of the Lake this year, we thought it was going to be a good tourney. Well, we were wrong! Fishing was TOUGH, but the good times had both on the water and at the dock made up for it. Saying goodbye to all the tourney teams until next April, and talking about the 2009 highlights made for some good laughs. Friday 21st (Practice) - We went out and dropped our lines at 80'. The picture on our fish finder was amazing. We worked the 80-150' depths East down to the Power Plant with just one fish. My custom SmartFish (Green blade/Crushed Glow on the back/Twinkie tape on the front) pulling an A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist was the combo that took a dark 18lb Salmon. He hit on the wire diver. We then pushed North out to the 400' area and worked that West past the college. We took 2 shakers out there, but it just didn't look as fishy as the inside waters. So, to finish the day we headed back into 150' of water and trolled it East back to the Oswego River mouth. With minutes to go before we picked up our lines the Wire out 350' starts singing! We were battling another nice Salmon. This was the same combo mentioned above that the fish took. At the end of the day we heard the bite was tough for EVERYONE, and figured we should stick it out in that shallow water and see if we could scratch out our 5 Salmon. Saturday 22nd (Day 1) - Well, we headed straight out and the screen was still loaded with fish. So we set out our usual 8 rod tourney spread (3 downriggers, 2 wires, and 3 junk lines). Everything but the middle rigger had flasher/fly combos. Our first fish took a Wonderbread SmartFish pulling an A-TOM-MIK Glow Hammer down 120 over 120 on the rigger. Another one of our keepers would take a Chrome E-Chip pulling an A-TOM-MIK B-Fly later in the day on our wire diver out 180. Those would be the only two fish we would catch on day 1. We lost a salmon on a wire diver throughout the day, and would toss back 2 short fish and a Brown Trout. After everyone's catches hit the scales we were sitting in 17th out of 37 teams. Well within striking distance of another top 10. A total of 3 limits were brought to the scales all taken 20+ miles from Oswego. Sunday 23rd (Day 2) - Well, since we were unfamiliar with the water 20 miles away we figured we would stick it out in front of Oswego again. The fish were there, but they were just not eating. WE figured if we could scratch of 3-4 fish we would be contending for a top 10, which in this tough tourney wasn't a bad thing. However this day wasn't as good as the previous two. We would go 1 for 4! Our lone fish took a Northern King Glow Froggy (white cup) fished 240 out on our wire diver. We lost a screamer on a 375 wire, a fish off our 240 rigger, and a fish off our 700 copper throughout the day. All of which were various flasher/fly combos. That one fish would drop us a little deeper in the standings, and leave us wondering is we should have just made the run!

Thats cool! Rob your a bad azz! I would a been chittin my droors!

Yes, that's true. A few guys have been fishing them.

I try them a little, and if they don't produce they go back in the box. BUT when the fishing is really good I will throw them down to see if they do produce.

I'm selling the downriggers off the Yankee Troller. They have 3 years of use on them (weekends and tourney's). I have never had an issues with these riggers EVER. 2 of them come with 450' of 250lb Power Pro, and the third comes with 200' of brand new coated cable, and the GOOD Scotty antenna (Not the spring). I keep them covered when not in use, so fading is limited and the covers come with the riggers. I am asking $1100 for all three. This can be an early Christmas gift! Retail on these runs between $490-$500 for brand new!

It just lets me know the gain is maxed given the current conditions. I would hate to miss a fish on Auto b/c the gain was too low.

Nope, a little algae bloom, but t wasn't too bad.

Headed out with a buddy for an hour or so. I just helped him set up his new ride with all the Salmon gear he would need. We fished for about 45 minutes. Showing him how to rig on his ride, and playing with FF settings. We took two fish. Both hit the 240 wire diver on a 2.5 setting pulling a White Spin doctor/No-See-Um Action fly. Marked a couple of fish and a pod of bait here and there, but a quiet screen for the most part. We worked the 350' area off Braddocks point, and our Depth Raider down speed was 2.0 when both Salmon hit. One about 10lbs and the other around 5lbs

Nice fish Jerry! I guess Billy showing you how to run Flasher/Flies really paid off on Saturday! Hey Dex, he might even be dangerous in a Salmon tourney soon if he gets better at running them!

Didn't know that was you! SO your rollin' with a 24' Penny. I'll have to remember that.

Fishing out of "The Oak" continues to be strong! There are some majors hanging in that inside water (70-120) along with some skippy Salmon and decent Steelhead. If you head offshore action can be fast and furious with the Steelhead, and the Kings are right there too. Some HUGE steelhead are swimming around out there. August 15th (Morning) - We headed out with a friend from work who brought along his wife and daughter. We stopped and fished the inside water to see if we could find a few larger Salmon to play with our baits. It didn't take long and we were hooked up. First to go was a 80 rigger pulling a couple of Stingray Glow Alewives. A Small Chinook Salmon hit the deck within minutes. Next was out 180 wire pulling a White/Green dot SmartFish followed by an A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist. He made a run. Gave a few headshakes, and he was gone. We would work the inside waters for a little longer making about 4 passes total. We took 7 shots inside and managed a few fish. A nice 18lb Salmon took Ed for a ride on the 10 color pulling a NK28 Lazer Spook. That fish stood no chance to the Daiwa Saltist's gear ratio. At 6.4:1 Ed had that fish and all of the 500' of line in the boat. One surprise that we had while fishing that inside water was a beautiful 7lb Walleye. He took a NK Mag Sea Sick Waddler mupped on my 70 rigger. About 8am we pulled lines and made a dash for the 27N line. We set lines and trolled north to the 33N line picking fish the whole way. The same program that has worked for weeks produced for us this day. Stinger Gator Glows on our 80 rigger, Dreamweaver Gators on our 70 rigger, NK28 Copper NBK's on our 60 rigger. Our wires would not fire at all out there today. We tried every color combo under the sun, but I never did try just running a clean spoon! We boxed a few steelies and threw a bunch back. The highlight of the day (sorry Walleyes may be highlights to some people, but if they don't run or jump there is no highlight for me) was a 23lb King taken by the 14yr old daughter. This fish took a White/Green Dot SmartFish trailed by that A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist fly. A deadly combo the last month! She fought this pig on the 400 copper, and it didn't take it lightly on her arms. She passed out in the cabin shortly there after. The other highlight was a 11.5lb Steelhead that was jumping like mad on our 10 color fished off an Otter Boat. This fish was out of the air even before we got to the rod. He made some nice runs and tossed in a few flips. He sure thought that Stinger Copper Glow Green Alewife looked good, but all it end that lure brought him to our cooler loaded with Salmon and Steelhead! At the end of the trip we were scorched! It was flat calm and hot out there on the lake. We totaled up the bites and we ended the trip with 21 bites. Oh, by the way.....those Walleyes have some tough skin! August 15th (Evening) - We headed out to the 27N line and set rods. Just my brother, his friend, and I on this trip. We fished for about an hour and a half in between run times, and took 9 fish. We got into some big guys on the 29N line! I took a 20lb King Salmon on Stinger Gator Glow fished down 80' on the rigger. We took a 12.5lb Steelhead on a Dreamweaver Gator fished down 70 on our rigger, and at the end of the trip we lost a pig just out of net range that hit our Captain Valium combo (New Spin Doctor/ATOMIK combo - chrome spinny w/ Green dots trailed by an A-TOM-MIK Wiggler fly) fished off our 300 copper. This trip was a decision maker for the following day! August 16th (Morning) - We had the guys from Rowe Video on board today. 4 guys and a son along with my brother and I and there was a packed boat! Considering the great class of fish we had out on the 29N line we skipped the inside water. We got a call on our way out that the 26N line had a great picture, so I stopped the boat a few miles short and continued on a North troll. It didn't take long to get a few fish going, but they were rather small. Same program as the day before. As we trolled north the fish began to get larger and by 11am we had 18 fish hooked up. Our wires helped us out today as I changed up some settings and slid them a little further back. I went from a 2 back 150-210 to a 2.5 back 180-240. Should of mattered too much, but they started to fire again. One was pulling a Green SmartFish that I had custom made for me with an A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist, while the other was that deadly Gator Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist.The Captain Valium combo did some damage today and took the largest steelhead of the day weighing in at 11lbs. Our big guy of the day was a solid 18lb Salmon that took the White/Green Dot SmartFish trailed by that A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist fly off our 400 copper. These guys where great and the kid took as many fish as he could get his hands on! His Salmon was just a shy smaller than the largest for the day, which I think might bring him back next year! Should have some pics posted tonight!

We stopped in there on Saturday morning. We took 7 shots. Lost a big guy on a 180 wire pulling a SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK combo. Landed a 18lb'r on a NK28 lazer spook off the 10 color. Some small steelies off riggers parked at 50-80, and some smaller Salmon. We found some BIG fish Saturday night out at the 29N line so we didn't bother stopping Sunday morning. However, we have stopped in that inside water every weekend this month and pulled 2-3 bites out of there. We are setting up at 5:30am generally, and it gets crowded fast. Im sure if you hit that mid week it would be consistent.

Nope, but I am only 30yrs old!

I would run mine in manual mode. Generally from 70-85%. I would turn it up till it started to snow. Any electronics manufacture will tell you auto mode isn't the best for every situation. Also, we would run the split screen. I would run the auto range out to 200' then go to manual, and just look at the top 150'.

That's a cool plume off the Niagara!

I know he invited me too! What guy! I just have to find some time to go down there so he can show me around.

WOW that last one is a BRUTE! Double Brows!

My guess would be June 5/6 for Niagara, 12/13 for Orleans, 10/11 Oswego, and 17/18 for Sodus

Nice job Rob! That's a real pig! What did it take? What part of the family is she in BTW? Sister, cousin, niece? Brian, No need for that bud! It is what it is. Big fish are mostly luck in a derby! Tourneys is where you find your best fisherman, or put your money where your mouth is. Motoman did just that by motoring down to the Oak this past weekend to fish.

Hello All: We have had a few inquiries about king salmon with missing adipose fins, and how to identify salmon and trout.... Someone in region 8 thought that a missing adipose meant that it was a pink salmon. Anyway, we thought that a "canned" response might be useful to you all and save you some time when receiving inquiries about marked fish. Please see below. MC ***************************************** In 2008, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources began clipping the adipose fin of all Chinook salmon (A.K.A. "King") stocked into Lake Ontario as a way of telling "hatchery" fish apart from wild fish. Each year, 2.3 million Chinook salmon are stocked into Lake Ontario and an unknown number of wild fish are produced in tributaries from "natural" spawning. The purpose of the marking study is to determine the relative contribution of wild and hatchery Chinook salmon to the lake fishery. Some marked salmon also have a microscopic wire tag placed in their snout that contains a unique number linking individual fish to a particular year, stocking method, and location. This tag can only be detected with a special handheld wand that senses the tag magnetically. New York and Ontario fishery biologists will be sampling fish at fishing ports, cleaning stations, fishing derbies and in tributaries to collect the tags and other necessary data to determine the relative success of the various stocking strategies. The marking and tagging of millions of fish each year was made possible when the NYSDEC purchased a cutting-edge, mass marking technology called the Autofish system. Developed by Northwest Marine Technology Inc, the tractor-trailer sized system rapidly and accurately marks and tags 7,000 fish per hour automatically. Both agencies plan to continue this study on Chinook salmon for at least the next five years and there are plans for marking other salmon and trout species with the Autofish system in the future. Currently only smaller batches of lake trout, rainbow trout, and brown trout in Lake Ontario are hand-marked with fin clips. For more information about fin clips on salmon and trout in Lake Ontario, please contact the NYSDEC Lake Ontario Unit at 315-654-2147. Several species of trophy-sized salmon and trout are available to anglers in Lake Ontario and each have unique features that help identify them. The adipose fin, the fleshy thimble sized one located on the fish's back about one-third the distance between the tail and the dorsal fin, is a key feature common to all salmon and trout. Fish biologists believe that removing this fin does little harm to the fish. Besides the adipose fin, Chinook "king" salmon can be identified by their silvery color, an anal fin containing 11-15 rays, black gums, and spots on both lobes of the tail. Coho salmon also have a broad anal fin (similar to Chinook) but the first ray is two thirds or greater than the length of the base, spots are only on the upper lobe of the tail, and they have pale grey gums. Rainbow trout (AKA, "steelhead") have fewer anal rays (9-11), many small spots on the body and all over the tail and sometimes a reddish band along the midline. Atlantic salmon (often confused with brown trout) have a forked tail with few spots on the back and sides, and their upper jaw extends to the edge of the eye, compared to the brown trout which has an upper jaw extending past the eye. Brown trout can have a silvery or brown color with red/orange spots (pale halos around dark spots) on their body and on the upper edge of their characteristically nearly "square" tail. For more information and pictures, see the New York State Freshwater Fishing Regulations Guide provided to all anglers when they buy their fishing license.

Your better off just heading to Fat Nancy's and splurging! They have a heck of a selection. They have all the top name brands. If you must place an order they will ship.

Nope, they don't have anything even close to the iphone. I am up for a new phone and there ISNT anything they have that I want. I currently have a Motorola Q. It syncs with outlook. I can carry this phone with me and when someone calls for a charter I can check dates immediately. Every once and a while I can hook it up to my computer and let it sync with outlook, so if anything ever happens to my phone I have all my charters in a calendar in outlook. Im holdin on to my phone till next summer. there is speculation verizon will have an iphone lite, but we wont know till a news release happens. Im a technology geek, and I want the iphone, but I have seen AT&T service compared to my verizon and it aint worth it.

I'm sorry, but I have never heard of shutting off the click when the Salmon is running. I mean how does the customer know when to start pumping and reeling again? That sound of the clicker is the one thing they can listen for. In the last 3 years I have bought all Sealine 47LC's, and I have only burnt out 1 clicker. I don't think that's bad! That one clicker was on a wire rod with an angry king at one of the pro ams this year. I run 7 of these every trip I am out. I also run Scotty's and run them with both 15 and 20lb weights. I set them on free fall every time I go down. So they are trucking! My Penns on the other hand, that I use for copper, have JUNK clickers in them!

If im gonna pay $60/month to have a phone I WANT TO USE IT! Therefore Verizon is the only choice ESPECIALLY on the lake or southern regions of New York where I hunt. AT&T would get my business b/c of the iphone only if they had better service.