Fishtails

Let me update you guys now that it's Saturday and Dave has had almost a week to respond to my emails.....no response from "The LOC Headquarters". I could call, but I know he got one of my emails so I will take his lack of a response as a no. That is fine, but all asked was is there any reason at all I should take my son Justin to the awards if he remains leading youth salmon. I expect someone to place a larger one, but what is so hard about saying yes or no ? And why have a youth awards division if there is no youth award Try telling your children that they are leading a youth award division, but not to get to excited because it appears as though there is no award in the award division.....see what kind of response you get, lol I just wanted a simple answer because I don't want my boy to miss out on a chance to go up on stage and participate if he gets a trophy or something, but I live 5 hours away so I need to know. I'm not bashing Dave, it's his derby and he has the right to run it as he see's fit just as we have the option to enter or not. But ignoring your long time loyal paying customers on such a simplistic issue is bad business.....just saying.

Hey Joe & Spike. Great to hear from you both. Justin and I look forward to fishing with both of you guys, so stay in touch !!

Sorry for the late report. The Sodus Pro Am was saved this season from near death and I would like to thank Matt Leclair, Dane Brown, Jeff Zimmer, Chris Kenyon, Matt aka Goudy, along with all the other volunteers, sponsors & friends who helped organize and run what turned out to be a really great tournament! Sodus is an amazing venue, and even the rough weather couldn't dampen the spirits and good times. Even though there were less than two months to put this tournament together, we ended up with 43 teams total Not bad at all, but it's far to great of an event to have less than 70 teams. Put this one on your calendar for next season, as the Sodus committee is already working on next years Pro Am. I fished this tournament with only myself and my 14 year old son Justin in the Am division. We knew this would be a tall order if for no other reason than we could only box 6 silver fish, leaving no room for upgrades. We started Pre fishing Thursday and quickly got 4 king bites in 160 fow off Afro point, landing 2 of them. Both fish came on the same white/green dot spiny with an Atommik ultra green glow fly parked at 81ft on the rigger. I then quickly realized I left the bags of ice in our very hot van laying on the floor next to the 28 trophies for the tournament, so we headed right in to make sure all was okay. Upon our return, the king bite died so we went in and picked up a few BT in 65 fow. Friday was an ok day for us, but we mainly fished BT. Our Fish hawk x-4 went on the blink and I would be fishing the rest of the tourney with no down temp beyond 50 ft of water. It worked fine to 50 ft, so that is where I parked it for speed and to see what temp was @ 50. As long as the fish stayed put, I'd be ok, but with a hard NW and NE wind on the way, I knew that wasn't going to happen. Sat: It's tourney day and we have high hopes for a quick six king box . As we head out and set up, I notice the water temp at 50 has warmed up a lot, meaning my BT would have moved out, but I couldn't tell where without my temp? We searched around, but couldn't move a rod. The waves had built and were good 4-6 from the NW. I decided to run west and search for BT using other boats positioning to locate my BT temp. Once we arrive, I see boats are set up 90-100, so we work that water and pick up a quick BT on a glow orange moonshine on the 90 rigger. I just couldn't stay in "the zone" with the NW wind without a driver and the Auto Pilot struggled, so we end the day with only one fish and in almost last place. Sun: As we drive to the boat, I tried to encourage my 14 year old partner that it was a new day and we could get back into it if we fish hard. 1st seamed impossible with a 6 fish limit, but we were 50 points out of 5th and that was our target. We had planned on BT fishing due to the hard overnight NE blow, but I smartened up on the drive to the lake and we decided to king fish for the first 2 hours. Once we got out of the chute, we were smashed in the face with 6-8 foot waves out of the NE. We slowly pounded out to 200fow and it wasn't long before the 700 copper was screaming. Justin jumped on the rod and I worked on slowing us down and moving stuff around to help land the fish in what had now built to solid 8's with some 10's thrown in for added fun. Justin did a great job keeping the line tight, which was pretty impossible when the fish and boat surfed the waves. We landed the fish, and high fived like 3 times. It was a great start at what ended up being a 27.1 king which won youth big fish and is leading the LOC youth big salmon. Justins king came on a stock green Pro Troll followed by a Big Weenie Lily Pad fly. We fished kings awhile longer, with no more luck, so I suggest we fight the waves out to 350 fow and search for steelhead. It was a rough run in a 24ft boat and we were the only boat out there, but it quickly paid off as we land 3 fish on our first troll in, boxing 2 of them. Our next two passes produce 4 more steelhead, but only 2 would be legal size and we end the day at 5. The fish were scattered all over the place, so I ran 4 riggers and two coppers most of the time (couldn't get a diver bite). We got steelhead on the 99 rigger as well as a free slider on the 45 rigger. There was no easy way to target them so we went to an all spoon program and spread it out the best we could with 6 rods, while leaving a flasher fly on a deep copper just in case. It's now that Justin tells me we are not where I thought we were. Instead of being 3 miles west like we started, we were 13 miles west with only a half hour to get in and solid 4-5 foot NE seas. I thought I was going to bust the boat in half as we did 27-28 mph all the way in, going airborne several times. The boat held together and we make it with two minutes to spare At weigh in, I didn't care how we placed. I was proud of my boy, and how he kept a positive attitude after a rough Sat and went 8 for 8 Sun. He was happy with our fish, and that was good enough for me. When the smoke cleared, we had climbed up from the cellar to 5th place and cashing a check, meeting out goal after all. We also managed to get the Come Back Award and big youth fish, so we were very happy with that. In the end, had I done what I should have done Sat and gone deep like I did Sunday, we probably win, but I'm really happy the way it all turned out because Justin experienced both the lows and highs all in the same tournament, and that made the high seem higher. 5th almost felt like first after a dq the week before and then such a tough start on Saturday. I couldn't ask for a better fishing partner and we'll get the fish hawk working and give it one last go at the Atommik Invitational. See you all there !!

Justin thanks you bud! He was the boss man Sunday for sure. Since it was only him and I on the boat fishing in 8 footers, I never touched a fish and he went 8 for 8 and really stayed focused. He really made me proud and we are both looking forward to the Atommik Invitational.

I have emailed Dave 3 times already, can't seem to get a response from him. I agree with keeping it simple and I don't think any cash should be involved in youth. But, there should at least be trophies or certificate or product. Tons of sponsors would donate, so it's obviously a personal choice by the LOC, not a monetary decision. In The Sodus Pro Am, my son won a pair of Maui Jim Sunglasses for big youth fish and he was sooooo happy!! He won't take them off I have made about 10 people that fished on my boat this season buy a LOC ticket in order to fish with us. Those folks would have otherwise never paid for an LOC entry, but I required it.That's a couple hundred bucks extra I got Dave. We all do that, but do ya think I can get an email response from him....nope.

My wife was able to record the entire awards ceremony from her phone on out Livestream account. For the moment, you will need to log in via facebook or Livestream to view. The video will only be up for viewing for 30 days from the event, but we will try to get it onto youtube and on the Sodus website before it expires. Next year we will do a much better video production, but I think this was great for our first time Enjoy !! http://new.livestream.com/accounts/4011858/events/2269836

I have always had a problem with this rule also. It has been in place long enough that I hold out little hope for change, but it's a shame. Sometimes, we just have too many rules. If someone takes a child fishing just to run a few extra rods, why is that a bad thing? As long as the child is a paid derby contestant, I personally don't see how that can possibly be bad? Take a buddy or wife for two rods is ok, take a child and it's not ??? I would rather see a child being taken on a fishing trip with his dad for the benefit of extra rods, than see that child stay home playing video games. It is obvious those in charge have no children, plain and simple. Right now, my son leads the youth division Salmon. It's his 3rd fish on the board this summer. I explained he won't get anything for leading youth if it sticks and he thinks it's rediculous, but he's ok with it because he has won so many other awards in other fishing events. That being said, he has no interest in fishing the LOC with me for this reason. He just happened to catch ihis loc fish while we fished the Pro Am. All I can say is make yourself heard, and fish tournaments that support youth fishing instead!