Finders Keepers

Nice job Bill!! We headed a bit west today out of Port Bay and worked 180 - 220 fow, marked a few fish but nothing fantastic. Perhaps we should have slid in a bit shallower... :? We ended 2 for 2 with a 4 lb king and a 10 lb laker that bit a green echip/green fly out 225 on a #2 setting over 230 fow - go figure! The king came on a NBK down 75 over 130 fow.

I stopped into Abe's today and heard a report from this morning of someone landing 10 kings (some decent in the upper teens). Running spoons in 150 - 200 fow. No depths or specifics given. Hopefully they are back in numbers! We'll be out at first light tomorrow looking for the silvers - give us a shout if your out and we'll let you know how we're doin'!

Hit the water at 6am today and started in 50 fow infront of East Bay. Marked some bait on the bottom between 60-80 fow, but no fish and no takers, so we headed north and west. Worked all the way out to 550 fow picking up a 5 lb steelhead on the wire over 130 fow (Green echip/green crinkle fly out 120 on a #2 setting) and a 9 lb king over 380 fow (silver prism dodger/aqua fly down 32 ft set 5 ft behind the ball). Had 2 other releases with nobody home over 530 fow on the 65 ft rigger pulling a dalmation spin doctor/hammer fly with a pink vampire slider. They probably hit the slider and missed, or I was to slow at reeling in the slack! :roll: All hits came when running 2.7-2.9 on a NW troll. Tried running the riggers from 20 to 120 feet, wires from 80 to 220 without much going. Didn't mark a single fish or suspended bait pod all morning. Hopefully it won't be too long before both show up in numbers. Called it a day at 11:30 We'll be out next Sat AM if the weather is good.

I got out with my dad on Sunday and Monday this past weekend - fished off of Port Bay Sunday and ended up with one small steelhead and marked virtually nothing all morning. Headed off of Sodus Monday and scored a couple small browns in close 8 fow between Maxwell creek and the first point west of there. We then headed out deeper with the pack and marked some good suspeded hooks 40-60 ft down over 130 - 220 fow with bait hugging the bottom. Couldn't turn anything on other than real nice 9 lb stealhead that took a R&R watermelon 200' back with 3 split shots 8' infront of the lure. definately keep a steelhead spoon or two working the top waters! It may be the only thing that fires! Hopefully things will pick up soon - last year was much better earlier on, but I am sure it will pick up. Last year off of Port Bay we had many double digit mornings on the Big O, even when I was running solo! Good luck if you get out - T-storms in the forecast.

We had our shake-down run Sunday, and after a few minor repairs we were on the water with wet lines around 2pm. We fished until 5:30 and managed one 6 lb brown right in front of the chute in 8 fow on a white Jr. T-Stick run off the inside board. Nice fish with no lamprey marks! We worked the area from Port Bay to East Bay, from 6 to 75 fow, tried a series of spoons and stickbaits but couldn't get them going. Best temperature we found was just east of the chute at 51.8 degrees and slightly stained. It's always nice to start the season off with some slime in the boat!

Chris - Yeah, the past 4 or five years have been poor for pike, but this year seems to be much better. I have also seen less small perch and more of the keepers, which may be helping the pike bite. W.W.IV. - When you say the dep waters, where are you refering? Way out past Eagle towards the center of the bay? I used to fish in front of the old coal trussel and do quite well several years back, but the last few years it has been dry there. It seems that the most productive area has been between LeRoy, Eagle and Newark islands.

Nice! I've heard of other guys doing well off of the south end of Eagle Island and out where we were on a fairly consistant basis. I was happily surprised to see the pike out in such deep waters, I have always expected them to be in the shallows near weed beds.

Got out on the ice Saturday with a buddy of mine from 8am until about 3:30pm. We fished the area halfway between LeRoy and Newark islands in about 25 fow, where we had a good foot of ice. We ended up with about 50 decent jack perch (10-14") and two northerns (8 and 10 lbs). Perch came on swedish dimples tipped with minnows and the pike came on shiners set 1' off the bottom.

We used the Tekota 600LC's this year with 30lb stainless and they performed fantastically!! A bit pricey, but I highly recommend them if you can swing the $$ for them!! The drags are super smooth, they retrieve fast, and they feel great when you have a monster on the end of the wire!!

Tom - Yes I am a meteorologist, but I don't do the TV thing, instead I teach Earth Science at North Rose Wolcott High School in Wayne County. The reason they give info on what happened during the day is mainly for people who keep records and farmers. I'll pass your comment on to my TV cohorts though!!

Ran to Oswego this morning looking for large, massive, egg-filled staging kings. Set lines at 6am east of the college in 60 fow and started marking a ton of fish near the bottom. Set riggers at 65 and 75 ft down, wires out 180 and 220 ft. Worked the inside waters for awhile (80 - 200 fow) then worked out deeper (200 - 400 fow). Went 4 for 5 on kings by 8 am, then nothing until we headed deeper and found some hungry steelhead and went 2 for 5 on those. Overall, 6 for 10: 2, 10, 12, 18 lb kings, 6, 8 lb steelhead. No derby fish unfortunately this year... Hits and fish came on dalmation spinny/blue dolphin fly, black/silver killer, NBK, Silver prism echip/hammer fly, frog dodger/packer fly, and Rrred Dodger/white fly. Riggers set 75 - 101 ft, wires out 160, 180, 220, 240 on a #2 setting. This was my last day out for awhile. Good luck to all who get out tonight and tomorrow to finish the LOC!!!

As a meteorologist I can rule out the possibility of a water spout - you need very cold air moving over the warm waters of the lake coupled with an atmospheric disturbance to create enough instability in the atmosphere. A water spout will develop under towering cumulus clouds below the main updraft. I would say that is a smoke plume of some kind.

Spot available has been filled...

I'm looking for someone who would like to derby fish this Sunday sun-up to sun-down out of Port Bay. It is looking to be a great day on the water with light south winds and waves 1 ft or less (if the forecast holds). Drop me a PM if interested.

It has always been our understanding that once the fish is hooked and rod initially passed to a person to fight, they need to fight the fish to the net without pasing it off again. That's been our take, although if multiple hand-offs are allowed, we won't complain.

My derby partner bailed on me so I headed over to Oswego to fish with some friends up from Michigan (no derby fishing). We were out for about an hour and a half and went 4 for 4: 2, 12.5, and 28.5 lb kings and a real nice 14 lb coho: Ran same spread as my AM trip, riggers at same depths, over 250-350 fow slightly west of the river. Will post pics later when I get a chance - that 28 lb'er was HUGE and the largest fish to date on their boat!!! It destroyed the treble hook!! Good times had by all, although a 10th place on the leader board would have been nice too! :roll: Funny thing is, they fished up in Olcott last weekend and landed a 14+ steelhead that would be in 4th place!! They're looking to come up next year to fish the derby with me now!!!!

Got on the water at 5:45 am and set up over 40 fow. Had a great screen with many fish and some bait top to bottom. Worked the 40-65 fow range with many marks on the screen for an hour or so, but no takers, so we headed north for deeper waters. Had one shaker hit at 90 fow down 75 on a white echip/white fly, then nothing for quite some time as we continued heading north. Had a blank screen all the way out to 215 fow then started marking an occational fish between 50-100 ft down. Set riggers at 90 and 78 ft with wires out 160 and 180 ft. When we hit 230 fow we found 'em!! Between 8:30 and 10:00 am we hooked into 10 kings and had our first triple!! :shock: Only problem was that we couldn't keep 'em hooked!! had to come in at 10:15 am and were 3 for 11 at that time: two 8 lb steelhead and a 20 lb king. 4 hits were on the 160' wire with a dalmation spinny/blue dolphin fly, others on the riggers at both depths on silver prism dodger/aqua fly, silver prism echip/hammer fly, and stinger NBK on a slider. The honey hole seemd to be between 220 and 250 fow straight out front of Port Bay. What a beautiful morning on the water!! Hoping to get back out this afternoon around 4pm for another go (and hopefully a better ratio of landed kings)!!

Hey Woody, I was beginning to wonder where you were! I believe there were 57 boats entered in the tourny - the best attendence to date. We came in around 27th or so, and had the 4th largest fish weighed in. Not too shabby!! I'll talk to you later today!

First I would like to say that the tourny was awesome!! Kudos to Screwy Louie's and all of the sponsors!! I will definately be looking forward to it every year. Also, congrats to Team Screamer for taking another tourny!! Put lines in the water just after 6am over 70 fow west of Port Bay. After setting second rigger, the first one fired and we had about a 6lb brown splashing behind the boat. Soon thereafter it spit the hook. That one came on a white echip/white fly down 75 over 85 fow. we continued to work out deeper and managed a slow pick most of the morning. Most fish came between 180 and 220 fow, riggers set at 48' and 35', wires out 85' and 110'. Ended the day at 1pm going 5 for 9: 4, 6, 7, 10, 22.5 lb kings. Fish came on silver prism dodger/aqua fly, dalmation spinny/blue dolphin fly, and Stinger black killer spoon. Hoping to get out tomorrow pending the wind/waves.

Got on the water at 6am and fished until 10am. Still had warm water on the surface despite the stiff SE/South winds this week. Worked the same waters as yesterday, but a slightly stronger south wind kept us closer most of the morning. Worked 45-65 though 9am with not so much as a release. At 9am the wind backed down a bit and we swung out deeper - as soon as we hit 95 fow we marked our first good suspended fish sitting at 65 ft. Dropped one rigger from 65' to 75' and BAM! A nice 22 lb king hit the cheater stacked 8' above the ball. It hit a Stinger Black/Silver Killer. That was it for the morning. Seemed like most boats were in search mode all morning as none of them stayed in one spot. Next outting will be for the Fair Haven Challenge on Saturday. Good luck to everyone who gets out! Tight lines for all!!!

Got on the water at 6am with a stiff SSE wind. Set up in 45 fow east of Port Bay and worked the 65-120 fow range. Ended at 10am 4 for 7: 12, 18, 22, & 23 lb kings. Riggers started at 25 and 35 ft down when we picked up the 18 lb king (down 25 over 65 on NBK), had 2 others on off the riggers that shook loose (NBK and Dirty White Boy, down 25 over 75 and down 35 over 90), took the other kings on the wires out 120 to 135 with the Dalmation Spinny/Blue Dolphin Fly combos. Dropped the riggers to 65' and 50' and had the 65' rigger go, but lost another shaker on a white echip/white fly. We were a little deeper than most other boats (35-60 fow), I would guess they were targeting browns or avoiding the higher chop out deeper. We'll be out again tomorrow AM still looking for that 30+ lb'er!

Got out on the water this evening with a newbie and had lines in the water at 5pm. Ten minutes later had about a 10lb king dancing behind the boat and then it spit the NBK at us. Had 2 more releases on a Dirty White Boy and a Magenta Chad. Then I put out a wire rod with the Dalmation Spinny/Hammer Fly - no sooner had I sat down that it got wacked! Landed a dark fall colored 6lb brown. After that the young blood began to get green in the face and we headed in. Riggers were set at 60' and 70', wire out 135', and we worked 65-100 fow out front of Port Bay. The further west we worked the better the picture became on the FF. Just before pulling lines we were marking lots of bait with suspended marks (40-70 ft down) with more marks on the bottom. At one point there was a hugs bait pod and 5 fish on the screen!! The wind was blowing pretty good out of the SE, but we only had 1's and 2's with an occational 3 out towards 100 fow. Very fishable and it was backing down some as we came in. We'll be out first thing in the AM looking for that 35+ lb'er!!

After some engine trouble on the main motor, we made it onto the water at 6am. :? Went to start the kicker and the pull string broke, so we headed back in to put a new one on. :evil: :evil: Got it fixed and were back on the water at 10:30. Set-up over 70 fow and headed out to greet the other 15 or so boats in the 200-300 fow range. Hit 200 fow and things started to go. Ended the day at 2:30pm and went 5 for 10. 4 kings (22, 18, 12, 10 lbs) and one really nice 13 lb coho that gave us quite the aerial show behind the boat as part of a double with the 12 lb king!! Early the riggers were set 140 and 125 ft down and the wires out 385 and 420 ft and by the time we pulled lines we had the riggers up to 95 and 115 and the wires out 280 and 320. Stinger NBK, silver prism dodger/aqua fly, JV Cheerleader, and Dalmation SD/SIGGS Blue Dolphin all took fish, with other hits on Yellow Killer, silver prism echip/hammer fly, and white echip/white fly. The last rip of the day was on the wire out 320 on a #2 setting with the Dalmation/Blue Dolphin fly - that king hit harder than I have ever seen one hit before!! The rod was bouncing and singing something fierce!!! Then 2 very hard head bobs and he was gone, along with my fly! Apparently it hit so hard it broke the clip used to attach the fly to the SD!! :shock: I wish I could have seen that fish in the boat!! Next time! No pics today, I forgot the camera. I talked briefly with another boat that came in after us and they went 16 for 18 today in the same area that we were at: 180-260 fow slightly east/west of Port Bay, with several in the 24-28lb range. They were running 4 riggers/2 wires at the same depths. Once the wind picked up around 1pm the temps were coming up and the fishing bite seemed to slow down. We'll be out every morning/evening that the big pond isn't pushing waves. We'll also be participating in the Fair Haven Challenge next weekend. Good luck to all who get out and tight lines!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone good luck in this fall's LOC derby!!! Looks like tomorrow and Sat AM are going to be a little too sporty for us, but I am hoping to get out Sat PM and Sunday to see if we can get a name on the board!!

Hey Woody, thanks for the AM trip today! Too bad we couldn't get into them sooner! If you have any of the smoked salmon left over, I'll gladly take some off your hands next time we head out!!