Yankee Troller

They're there if you are derby fishing. We have to put fish in the boat for multiple customers, so grinding out a few big ones isn't always the case. Offshore fishing is so much more consistent, and to be honest the big dark Salmon don't do it for me anymore. IMHO they look horrible in pictures. I also can't look a customer in the face and tell them that this fish, who is shutting down it's digestive system and starting to decay, is great table fare. That being said a lot of people eat Salmon from the rivers and enjoy them. It comes down to what the customers want. We'll deliver whatever that is.

We fished the Reelin' For A Cure woman's fishing tournament today in Niagara County. We tried to defend our title from last year, but came up really short. This morning I picked a heading out of the harbor and took it to the 29N line. Although our first fish was 23lbs we got dinked up with small Salmon and medium Steelhead the rest of the day. It just came down to a bad spot picked by the captain. I'd like to give a huge thanks to Stephanie Moot-Pierleoni and the entire tournament staff for volunteering and putting on this event. It continues to grow every year, and there's a reason for that. We can't wait to come back next year and do it all over again. For the event we had some shirts made up to help raise money to donate to the events benefactor. Proceeds from shirt sales, some extra money from our team, and help from ITZ Pro Fishing Apparel allowed us to donate $1500 to the tournament. We still have some shirts left. Sizes are limited, but we have S, M, and L left. Pics of those shirts are below. If you'd like one you can Paypal us @ [email protected]. Shirts are $30 and if you want it mailed to you add another $5.

August 21 - Our guests today were Lake Erie Walleye fisherman looking to do some Lake Ontario Salmon and Trout fishing. It was all about the kids as you will see in the pictures. We spent the day offshore on the 32-34N lines and worked a good amount of bait pods utilizing Humminbird's side imaging to locate them. Once we found it rods were poppin'! Our top two spoons today were the DW Rodfather on 200' divers, and a Carbon 14 on a 95' Cannon Optimum downrigger. We tossed back a lot of chunky skippers, and lost a lot of fish. Most of the catch we kept were really nice Steelhead, a nice Coho, and a couple 2yr old Chinooks. August 21 (afternoon)/August 22 - Ben and his crew from PA joined us last night and this morning to chase Salmon and Trout on Lake Ontario. They weren't disappointed! The zone this weekend was 30-34N. We fished East Saturday and today we took her West. Fish are everywhere out there gouging on Alewife. The ticket for us offshore this weekend was Humminbird's side imaging. It allowed us to scan 300' on either side of the boat to keep up with the moving schools of Alewife. As for the hot lures today it was the Carbon 14 and UV Green Jeans being the stud spoons. Carbon was fished 95' down on our Cannon Optimum downrigger, and the mag Green Jeans was out 180' on a diver. Earlier in the morning a Mupped DW Gold Spook took a few. Everything else that took fish were one hit wonders.

August 14th (morning) - What a great morning of fishing, and catching, with some return clients from Maine. Captain Craig picked an eastern course once he broke the pier heads. We stopped on the 25N line and trolled it out to the 30N line. We spent most of the day in that 27-29N area about three clicks East of the harbor. Everything was firing this morning. Divers out 275-300' on 2 settings, our Cannon Downriggers down 80-110', and A-TOM-MIK coppers in 400'/500'. Best spoons today were DW Glow Roy Boy in the morning and DW UV Green Jeans later in the morning. On the coppers 8" DW Spin Doctors pulling A-TOM-MIK Glow Stud flys were working. August 14th (afternoon) - On our afternoon trip we had some locals looking to do a father and son/grandson outing. We went back out to the water from the morning and it didn't take long to get rods moving. Best lure was a DW Glow Roy Boy on a 95' Cannon Optimum downrigger. Other setups that took fish: > DW UV Green Jeans on an 80' Cannon Downrigger > 400' A-TOM-MIK copper pulling an 8" DW Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Glow Stud > 300' diver pulling a homemade meat rig loaded with a Soco Prime cut August 15th - Our Maine guests joined us for a second morning on Lake Ontario chasing Salmon and Trout. The weatherman was far from right on today's conditions, but that's why we have a nice big wide boat for our customers. When we hit the dock they mentioned the two coolers they came with might not handle the fillets they're leaving with. Now, on to today's report. We hung out in the 27-29N area a few miles East of Port. Target depths were 75-100'. Carbon 14's were good early. Other spoons that went were DW Gold Sea Sick Waddler, DW Glow Roy Boy, DW Rodfather, and Spearmint. A-TOM-MIK flys that worked were the Glow Stud and Bam fly. We had a few meat rigs go loaded with Soco Prime Cut and Deep Rig Tackle strips 260-300' ' out on divers.

A sliding cheater you put your downrigger down to the desired depth and attach cheater to your main line and toss it overboard. A pinned cheater you put the downrigger down 10-15' half hitch a rubber band to your mainline and attach your cheater to the main line and the rubber band. That rubber band pins it above your main line.

Mupped is a term we use at the Oak. It's when you run the Mag on the pinned cheater and a regular sized spoon on the main line.

Those "high marks" are typically small schools of YOY Alewife, and small Steelies feasting on them. Try not to let them distract you. Either way, I'm sure your boy appreciated that fish.

We were about 140' deeper all weekend

Aug 7th (morning) - Man, what a morning! Started off slow for our return clients from Maryland, but we found the chew around 10am sniffing the Canadian border. We started the morning on the 27.5N line and had some slow action. Talked to a few guys and the bite seemed tough. Made the decision to trek North and when we crossed the 32N it was GAME ON! It was a morning we’ll label as “what could have been.” We’re not usually about numbers but we cleaned 7, tossed back 4, and lost 15 fish. Most of those were screamers. Best spoon today was a Glow Roy Boy parked at 85’. Best flasher was a Marv’s fatty meat rig loaded with an MC Rocket. Other things that took fish: > Hammertime Flasher/Hammer Lime Live 180’ diver > Seneca Special FLasher/A-TOM-MIK Big fin fly > White Two Face UV meat rig with an A-TOM-MIK meat rig loaded with an MC Rocket on 500’ A-TOM-MIK copper > UV Glow Pickleseed on 400’ A-TOM-MIK copper August 7th (afternoon) - On our Saturday afternoon trip we had Dave and his son from Albany join us. There was no doubt in my mind we needed to go back out to where we had all those bites in the morning. Granted, it was only a 4-Hour evening trip, but that’s where the best bite was today. Right as we sat down on the 31 North line we got a phone call about some storms about to roll through, so we started rolling South and watching the radar. As soon as the storms hit the lake they dissolved, so we pointed it back North. This wasted about an hour of our time. As soon as we touch the 32 North line all hell broke loose again, but we encountered the same issue we had this morning of not being able to land our bites. We cleaned 4, tossed back a decent Salmon, and lost 10 screamers. Things that went tonight: > NK Green Monkey Puke Mupped on a 65’ Cannon Downrigger > DW Glow Roy Boy Mupped on a 85’ Cannon Downrigger > Green UV meat rig parked at 150’ on a Cannon Downrigger loaded with an MC Rocket > Mag Glow UV Pickleseed on a 400’ A-TOM-MIK copper > Mag UV Yellowtail on a 400’ A-TOM-MIK copper > White Two Face UV flasher/A-TOM-MIK meat rig loaded with an MC Rocket on a 500’ A-TOM-MIK copper > Seneca Special Flasher/A-TOM-MIK Big fin fly 200’ diver > Marv’s fatty flasher/homemade meat rig loaded with an MC Rocket August 8th - The anticipation was high this morning after we put them to bed on our evening trip. Scott and his gang from Maryland joined us again this morning looking for redemption on the missed bites yesterday. What we found was a bleak screen most of the day between the 31-34N lines. We stuck it out hoping for a late morning flurry, but all we got was a slow pick on steelhead. There was no stand out today, and most lures were one and done. There’s a nice pocket of mature Salmon out there somewhere with soar lips, but we just couldn’t locate it. That being said the Steelhead we caught were nice ones. It should be a nice September offshore chasing them.

Remember, you only hear the bad online. The guys with no problems generally don't go online and brag about products they paid for. Doesn't sound like an interference issue with other electronics. I run a 50khz on the Trojan, granted it's 15' away from the FH ducer, but there is no interference there. On my Lund I have my MEGA SI, 83/200, and FH transducer stacked right next to each other. No issues there either. I have heard of guys not running resister spark plugs in their engines getting engine interference. Hope you figure it out soon. It's a valuable tool.

Lightly used Minn Kota Ulterra. 72" shaft, 112lbs thrust, 36v. Comes with quick disconnect bracket and battery charger. $2500

We've done that for years, but I left it on my other boat and keep forgetting to grab it.

July 24 - Rock and his pals from PA joined us this morning on their annual charter. Lots of chop busting went down today! As for the fishing it was a tough bite, but we figured a little something out to get our clients some nice fish. Flashers just weren't the deal today and we slowly pulled them and replaced them with spoon offerings. Top spoons today were: DW Mag Green Jeans on a 300' A-TOM-MIK copper A green/Glow/UV spoon we found at a local shop fired several times on the 400' A-TOM-MIK copper FishUSA's custom DW Glow Roy Boy and Glow Gladiator on our 85 & 100' Cannon Optimum downriggers. DW Green Jeans on a 65' Cannon Optimum downrigger All our downriggers were Mupped with matching spoons. July 25 - "Doc" and Kurt, regulars from PA, joined us last night and this morning on Lake Ontario to chase Salmon and Trout. Not a lot of pictures were taken of "charter fish" because we put them back rather quickly due to them not wanting to keep any fish. The bigger ones, as usual, fought to the death and we're not revivable. Best water for us was 250-350' on both trips. Saturday afternoon we fished East, and this morning we fished West. Most fish came 70' and deeper. Top spoons were Carbon 14, Glow Gladiator, and Glow Roy Boy. The flasher bite wasn't great for us, but late morning and in the afternoon they seem to go better for us. Yesterday afternoon we took a few fish down 175' on a meat rig loaded with a Soco Prime cut. Our best flasher/fly combo today was a DW 8" Spinny Kryptonite/A-TOM-MIK Glow Stud fly. July 27 - This morning we had three generations on board from Wisconsin. They've been on a fishing road trip the last few days, and ended it chasing Salmon out of the Oak with us today. The fishing has been tough the last week, and today was no different. Our big Salmon today was 24lbs. Jack, the youngest, caught his biggest fish ever right around 19lbs. Our best lures/presentations today were: > DW Glow tip Silver Green Glow on a 300' A-TOM-MIK copper > Big paddle in Seneca Special pulling an A-TOM-MIK big fin fly Other set ups that took fish were a DW Gold Spook on a Cannon downrigger down 65', Kryptonite Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Stud fly, Chrome two face Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Stud fly. Everything was fished below 60' today.

Of course you'd think that......

I'd say prior to staging it still could have put on 2lbs, but I'm no biologist.

Right now the thermocline is super high from all the East winds, but late July/August fishing is right around the corner. This FishUSA custom Dreamweaver Glow Roy Boy is a killer spoon when the thermocline gets below 70'. That's why I'm stocking up! Get you some at FishUSA - fishusa.rv5k.net/0JmmEY

Tom and his crew, from Pennsylvania, joined us Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Boy did they hit it just right! This will go down as a trip of a lifetime for them as well as for us. We hooked a lot of fish both days. Saturdays afternoon trip was one of the best we've seen. It was so good we turned two doubles on the same rod, and caught a Coho on a meat rig that was dragging on the surface in the prop wash. The highlight though, was landing everyone's personal best Salmon weighing in at 34.67lbs. Saturday afternoon we fished 150-200' is water a few miles west of Port. Our Cannon Downriggers parked at 30 & 40' with spoons back 30' were our hottest setups. Geezer and Frost Bite were the best spoons. The beast was part of a triple. First fish took a deep meat rig. When that fish hit the deck big boy hit the 200' diver and headed for Niagara county. Minutes later the 150' A-TOM-MIK copper took a ride. We landed both and the high fives were endless Sunday morning started out like gang busters. Same set up as the night before. Our best spoons were Geezer, UV Watermelon, Midnight Special, Wonderbread, and 42nd. Most action came on our Cannon Downriggers fished 30-50' down with sliders. Divers fired from 90-115' out on 2.5 settings. 10 colors of FishUSA Stealthcore and A-TOM-MIK coppers in 150' & 200' took fish.

I work at Krenzer Marine. I'll try to remember to grab a few this weekend when I'm at the boat to get you by.

I had them make me a bunch this off-season. Where do you fish from?