Finders Keepers

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 9/4/11 Time on Water: 6am - 8pm Weather/Temp: partly cloudy, few sprinkles, warm Wind Speed/Direction: SW 10-15 becoming light west Waves: 1-2' chop becoming 4-7' swells from west then laying down Surface Temp: 74 Location: Salmon River LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 47 Total Boated: 40 Species Breakdown: Kings and coho's Hot Lure: RRRed Echip with Hypnotist fly Trolling Speed: 2.0 - 2.4 Down Speed: 2.2-2.7 Boat Depth: 70-90 fow Lure Depth: 60-80 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Final day of the LOC for us and it was a last minute decision to either go to the west end (Niagara Bar or Olcott) or the east end at the Salmon River. With the forecast for bad weather coming in and winds kicking up, we decided to head to the east end to try to get the most time on the water. So my brother and I headed east at 3:30am and splashed down into the Salmon River at 5:30am at the Pine Grove launch. Having never fished there before, we headed out to where the other boats were set up (65 fow) and started there. The screen was lit up with huge marks from 50 ft to the bottom. We set the riggers first with Green Glow J-plugs and then started on the wires. Just as I set the first wire out 200 ft pulling a wonderbread echip with Man-O-War sushi fly, the port side rigger fires and starts singing! Soon thereafter the wire gets slammed and we're doubled up with only one rod left in the water! We boated both low 20's kings and began setting back up our spread of two riggers and 4 wires. As the morning continued, we found the best depths to be 70-75 fow over a half-mile stretch. The number of fish we saw on the screen was amazing and so was the fishing! We had many doubles, a few triples, and at 10:30 we boated a huge 31 pound slob: We decided to run it in to try for the big fish of the day and possibly get onto the bottom end of the LOC. At Woody's it weighed in at 31.00 lbs, just shy of the board, but was the biggest of the day thus far. We then headed back out to our honey hole and were happy to see the groves of fish still there awaiting our return. The rest of the the afternoon was nothing shy of fantastic with big kings and screaming drags, like this 29 lb'er: Things were going great and we were having a blast, until the port side rigger fired with what felt like a monster king. Instead of running, it stayed deep beneath the boat. Then charged towards the surface, wrapped around the port side rigger cable TWICE, then took off snapping the rigger cable , hooking the starboard side rigger line, tying it into a knot and then shook free. Oh yeah, not only did we lose a 15 lb shark, but that rigger also had our probe on it! I still don't know why the downrigger cable broke and not the 30 lb fleaflicker line (???), but kudos to that king for being so smart! We definitely have a story to tell for quite some time! Just some more gear to rack-up on the huge list of gear lost this year... Items added to my Christmas list: (2) 15 lb shark weights (2nd one lost this year) (2) Scotty Downrigger Releases (2nd one lost this year) (2) Cannon Intelli-Probes (one to have as a spare - also 2nd one lost this year ) Well, we ended the day around 8pm as it was getting dark. We were still taking shots, but unfamiliar with the port and the fact that we were beat from fighting kings all day and couldn't enter a LOC fish anyway, we decided to call it a day. We took shots on almost every rig we put down, including the following: RRRed echip with hypnotist fly Green/Blue spin doc with blue glow whole familiar bite head Green glow j-plug (single and tandem) Mixed Veggies Nk Mag UV Green echip with crazy-b fly Blue Dolphin spin doc with Chasin' Tail fly White/green dots spin doc with Zilla sushi fly White/green dots XL spin doc with new orange head super teaser White/green dots spin doc with white glow teaser RRRed LJ metal dodger with Destroyah Sushi fly And several others that I can't remember offhand. We had the wires out 200 & 225 (on a 1 setting) and 250 & 265 (on a 3 setting), and riggers between 65 and 80 with 5-12 ft leads. We finished the day going 40 for 47 with mostly kings ranging from 12-31 lbs (most 20-25 lbs), and 2 cohos (8 and 13 lbs). It was a great ending to a fantastic season! We didn't find the LOC fish we were after (or maybe that was the one that took our probe), but it was a blast! For those of you who would like some insight into our success on the water, my brother and I will be hosting a salmon/trout seminar at the Auburn Bass Pro Shop next Sunday Sept. 11 from 1-5pm, where we will be showing how we set up our spread this past weekend (live demonstration using out boat), plus doing hands on activities, answering questions, and much more. See my post in "Open lake Discussion" for more info and registration info. Good luck to everyone getting out this fall and we'll see ya on the hardwater in a few months!

Sounds like the kings are playing Cat's Cradle with your lines!

How's the screen compared to yesterday?

Nice fish! Way to go!

Nice job Nick!

Good luck Nick! Let's see a LOC fish on the board today!!

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 8/27/11 Time on Water: 6am - 1:30pm Weather/Temp: sunny to cloudy and warm Wind Speed/Direction: none to light NE Waves: none Surface Temp: 76 Location: Nine Mile LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 8 Total Boated: 5 Species Breakdown: Kings Hot Lure: Dolphin SD w/ Chasin' Tail fly Trolling Speed: 2.7 Down Speed: 2.7 Boat Depth: 100 - 150 Lure Depth: 90 - 130 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== After a great day of pre-fishing Friday and finding our honey hole, we returned Saturday for the FHC with visions of our cooler stuffed with 20+ lb kings. We set down just west of our waypoints from the day before and the ff was lit up with tons of hooks 80 ft down to the bottom. Well, we started off with two quick releases on the riggers with nobody home and that would be the only action those rods saw all day! Then at 7am we got our first shot on the wires. Soon after a nice 19 lb king hit the deck. We continued to work the area and it was a slow go. We would take a shot about every 40 minutes slowly filling the cooler with decent kings (around 20 lb'ers give or take). Around 10:30am we had our 5th king boated and only needed one more to box out. With several hours left, we weren't too worried...until we had an hour left and still no fish. So we tried running some brown spoons up higher, switched to a meat program down below, switched colors over several times, nothing. We couldn't move a rod. So we ended with 5 kings which would weigh-in with 84 and change lbs, putting us somewhere in the middle of the standings. It was a great tournament and we'll look forward to fishing it again next year!!

Hey Motoman, Yeah, we actually had the right of way - he was on our Port side. This guy just wanted to get in skinnier water and we just happened to be in his way (and out-fishing them ). If we didn't have dual majors going (that would have been a triple if the first two didn't get wrapped), we may have been able to manouver a bit.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 8/26/11 Time on Water: 7-4 Weather/Temp: partly cloudy and warm Wind Speed/Direction: NE 10-15 Waves: 4's subsiding Surface Temp: 76 Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 15 Total Boated: 9 Species Breakdown: Kings and Browns Hot Lure: Trolling Speed: 1.9 - 3.0 Down Speed: 1.9 - 3.0 Boat Depth: 80 - 200 Lure Depth: 80 - 110 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Got out today with my brother and dad to pre-fish for the FHC. Got to the ramp early, but dad didn't like the rough seas, so we hunkered down at the launch until 6:30 before finally venturing out. The first half of the day was a slow pick with several nice 6-9 lb browns and a 10 lb king. The second half of the day was much better once we found the fish and it was GAME ON!! However, while I don't like bad-mouthing other anglers, there's no excuse for a particular charter coming within spitting distance of us while over 100 fow with our riggers were set 90 and 95 ft down, 2 wires out 500 and 450 on a 3 setting (around 90 ft down) and the other two wires with matures screraming out lines!! And the captain had the nerve to yell at us to raise our riggers and swing in shallow so he could keep the same line (oh yeah, he was on the outside of us with no one else around). Let's just say that we were in "hot persuit" of the kings at the time... One of the kings got off after wrapping into the other wire with the 2nd king, then after clearing that mess and just as the king was coming into our spread behind the boat, another wire took off screaming and with our buddy still close by, we boated both kings (24 and 20 lbs). I hope his customers had a nice look at our triple play and what big kings look like (they only picked up a small skip through the same pass). I'll post full details on our spread on our website reports page after the FHC tomorrow. Good luck to everyone fishing the tourney - I think it's going to be a kingfest tomorrow!!

I'm going with 42.2 lbs caught next week - I'm kinda surprised we haven't seen some upper 30's on the board yet, although we have had some wind to deal with lately...

We will be putting on a salmon/trout seminar at Bass Pro in Auburn on Sunday Sept. 11th from 1-5pm. The seminar will cover various techniques of salmon/trout fishing on Lake Ontario, including basic and advanced downrigging, using wire and copper set-ups, how to create an underwater spread, how to tie various knots (including the Tournament Tie for flies), how to tape/create your own lures using stock spoons, and much more! The seminar has 3 main components: lecture, demonstration (using the Finders Keepers Pro Boat), and hands-on activities for the participants (including knot tying and lure making). We are working with our sponsors to have some great grab bags for all those who attend, including tackle from bass Pro, Familiar Bite, Warren's Tackle, Screwy Louie's, and Frabill. We are also working on acquiring a downrigger rod or set-up from bass Pro to give to one lucky participant in a blind drawing , and we are holding our first Finders Keepers Seminar Tournament, open to only those who attend (free registration!), where the participants can submit photo's (posted on the Finders Keepers website) along with an official weight of their largest salmon caught between now and Oct. 31st. The winner with the largest salmon will recieve one of Frabill's high-end salmon nets!! Pre-registration is required and can be done by contacting Bass Pro at: 315-258-2700 The seminar cost is $20 to cover supply costs (fluorocarbon line, hooks, beads, stock spoons, various tapes, razor blades, etc.) and will be paid at the seminar registration. More information can also be found at: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPage?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&appID=94&template=listallevents.cfm&storeID=14#57695 Whether you are a beginner just getting started or an avid angler that would like some new tactics, our goal is to help you become more successful on the big pond! We hope to see you there!!

Nice job Abe!

Nice fish Nick!! Bummer on the timing, but be glad it wasn't a 42 lb'er!!

Nice job! We're heading your way tomorrow for a go at it! Let the Fall LOC begin!!

It almost seems like they are a different strain, like they are putting steroids in the stocking pens or something! If the one major we had on yesterday didn't break-off, we probably would have had to chase to avoid it spooled us - it wasn't stopping! I'll give you a holla tomorrow Nick!

Bummer on the starter!! Hopefully it will be a quick fix for ya! The lake was beautiful today!! I wish I could fish this weekend, but I have to DJ a wedding on Sat an hour south of Buffalo then spend one more remaining family day on Sunday before I hit the water almost every day through the end of the LOC. Mon-Wed we'll be down fishing the bar, then we'll be back to O-town for the rest of the season. I'm stoked for putting some BIG kings in the boat!! Has anyone else noticed that the kings are fighting much harder this year or is it just us? We've lost more gear this year than the last 10 years combined!! And the upper teens kings have fought and felt like 30 pounders. Maybe I'm just getting old... Thanks Tom! Yeah, I have missed being on the water! I think I'll get my fix over the next few weeks!

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 8/17 Time on Water: 8-11 Weather/Temp: Sunny & Warm Wind Speed/Direction: Light & Variable Waves: calm Surface Temp: 72 Location: Port Bay to Sodus LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 6 Total Boated: 1 Species Breakdown: Small King Hot Lure: Green Echip w/ Hypnotist Fly Trolling Speed: 2.5-3.0 Down Speed: 2.7 Boat Depth: 130-220 Lure Depth: 60-80 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Got out late today with some family members to see what we could find. Started in front of East Bay over 100 fow and worked out to 220 fow with a very blank screen, so we worked further west and swung back in to 135 fow where we picked up a small king on the 80 ft rigger. We started marking quite a few fish and occasional bait pods. In the next hour we worked a half mile honey hole and had 5 more hits, hooking into one major that almost spooled us before it bit the fly off. We had 50 degrees down 90 ft, but most of the fish we marked and all that we hooked up with were sitting in the bath water 60-80 ft down where we had temps 60-68 degrees. Hits came on Nader Gator stinger mags, green echip w/ Hypnotist fly, and carmel dolphin spinny with mirage sushi fly. Best screen was 130-150 fow. Will be out all day on Fri for the fall LOC - let's see that 40+ lb'er!!

The sushi flies have been killer for us this year! They have outfished regular flies on all but one occasion so far.

Good thing we're not fishing any tournaments this coming weekend!! We'd be hurting for information!

Sweet fish!

Have fun and good luck Nick!! We're looking to get out next week a few times.

Most probably an upwelling/quick change in water temperature - baitfish are sensitive to such changes.

Nice job Todd!

Nice going Nick! I'm hoping to get out Monday or Tuesday.