GAMBLER

I would say sturgeon. The 34lb laker we caught on Lake O we didn't have to chase. Once we got it unglued from the bottom, it made a lazy 200' run and then came in easy.

Check out the Key lime taped meat head. That color is sick!

The GOSD derby in Canada has a $300 family pass and people pay it. Although, their payouts are way better than the LOC! A boat pass would have to be limited to so many people and they would have to have their names at the time the boat was registered or less people registering for the derby. I have a lot of different guys fish my boat over the season. If I could buy a boat pass, a lot less people would have to spend the money to sign up to fish on my boat. The division changes were mostly to add a walleye division (spring and summer Steelhead were removed and replaced with walleye). The laker division was taken out because a FEW guys were in Daves ear complaining about lakers and wanting more money in the salmon division. ( look back in the forum and you will find a poll showing roughly %90 were against the changes taking the laker division out). They didn't eliminate that divisions to keep the payout / entry fee balance. The eliminated divisions to appease a few and try to draw more people. I know a lot more people that do not fish the LOC because of the divisional changes in the Fall and now the summer derbies.

The point of the Derby is to put money in Dave Chilson's pocket. If it was to promote the fishery, you would not cut the Steelhead out of the Spring and Summer and the Lake Trout out of the Fall derby! We have world class fisheries for Kings, Browns, Steelhead and lake trout and they are not promoted equally at all!

I think we will see a steelhead division back in the 2021 Summer derby. This one was a complete flop. 2 weekends in with good weather and ZERO walleye weighed in! As for the lie detector test for BS, it should be used but it has not been used in the past when it should have!

I have seen a couple boats wash up on shore in the news on Lake O over the years on the news. I wouldn't want the death of someone that was fishing my derby on my mind. There is enough BS that goes on every year with tournaments and derbies every year on Lake O. Without a witness, I feel the integrity would go down the drain. The weigh station personnel at some of the weigh stations are clueless. One in particular, is a joke, We were weighing in a laker for the Orleans County derby (this place is also a LOC weigh station) and we had a 14lb coho in the box. We weighed the laker and the weighmaster asked us if we wanted to weigh in our big steelhead. Stuff like this happens all the time.

Running the "go to" stuff seems to change year to year. What was hot last year may not buy many bites this year. I have found changing up lures when the bite slows, changing presentations, not getting hung up on what worked last year, and changing speeds helped during slow times. I have found on somedays too many flashers can be a bad thing when the bite slows. Take some out of your spread and see if it changes things. Two years ago during the Sandy Creek Shootout, I was watching the fish streak into the rigger spread and not commit. I pulled the flashers out of the spread and we started firing rods like crazy. We ended up upgrading 3 kings in our box in the last hour and a half after I pulled the flashers. Also pay attention to the graph. Later in the day, we find more kings deep and out of temp.

Solo you cant have a witness and its unsafe to fish on the big lake alone.

You can sign up prior to 7am the day you fish. It can be done on any smart phone from the lake!

I have no experience with weighted steel but tone with Copper. Copper can be a pain but it flat out produces. I have been using Atommik Copper since the beginning and will not switch. Toms copper is awesome stuff. My most productive lengths are 300 and 500.

Very cool Steve!

I use Daiwa Saltist reels for my riggers. Best drag on the market and high speed gear ratio.

Daiwa Saltist for Lead cores and Shorter coppers. Seagates for Short and mid length coppers.

I use 62 degrees intersecting the bottom and troll zig zagging inside and outside of that intersection. Finding structure is another key to successful brown fishing. Smaller spoons in black and silver, black silvers with glows, and froggy pattern spoons. Somedays they will be warmer or colder if bait is around. Riggers, leadcores, divers and coppers all excel brown fishing if you present them properly. Cheaters on riggers account of a lot of browns most days. Speed is critical most days. I like 1.6-2.3 for browns depending on their mood. Here are some of my favorite brown spoons: Stingers: Gator Gator UV Tuxedo Tuxedo UV Green Glow alewife Green Glow alewife UV Purple Glow Alewife Moonshines: Carbon 14 Green Jeans Geezer

Tell me about it Chad! Covid shutdowns really set me back for building last minute inventory and I am WAY busier than past years. I have broke my sales record every month in 2020! Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Yes! We caught steelhead all over the water column. Mostly on spoons. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Take a look into what a lie detector test costs for EACH individual tested and you will see quickly that it is not affordable. I am with you on lie detectors due to some horrible things I have seen over the years but these tournaments are not big enough to cover the costs. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Finally able to get out and fish. I have been super busy building lake trout tackle, working and having boat issues. Yesterday was the maiden voyage for the season. We left the creek and set up in 150’. Fished out to 400 and found 225-275 was the best water. Worked that area and put together a decent box of Kings, Lakers , and steelhead. Steelhead were all over the water column. We took two steelhead over 10 (one on a 75’ rigger and one on a 210 diver). 2 and 3 color leadcores were good for smaller steelhead. 50’, 75’ and 100’ riggers all produced equal amounts of hits. Ended the day in the lake trout waters that was filled with bait and made for a tough bite. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app