Fishtails

Hi Al, Thanks for the question, I just discussed this with Matt and we will clarify this better in the rules. To answer your question: The bonus lake trout will count for 10 points (assuming of coarse it meets legal state size requirements). There will be no points awarded for total weight of a lake trout. Am teams with a lake trout in their cooler will receive 10 points for 1 lake trout. There are no other limitations regarding the bonus lake trout. You do not need to meet your 6 silver fish limit to weigh your 1 bonus Lake trout. Example box = One 20 lb salmon, one 5 lb brown trout, one 10 lb steelhead and one 20 lb lake trout would give a team a 3 fish box = 65 points + 10 points for the lake trout for a final point total for the day of 75 points. Our thoughts on the laker is we don't really want to encourage fishing for lake trout. Lakers happen, some will be caught, and in many cases that fish will not survive so if teams catch one...keep it. In most cases however, teams will probably be better off targeting bigger salmon to upgrade their box. If the case were you smash 6 big kings and want to go for the extra 10 points...that will just add to the overall decision process and strategy. Hope this helps and we will adjust the rules to clarify this

Awesome job guys...can't wait to fish these events again. Have not felt this excited about Pro Am's in a few years

Yes, you want them angled differently so that when the longer rod with your high dipsey gets bit, it doesn't hit the shorter dipsey rod in front of it. Some days more dipsey's is a hot ticket....other days not as much. For several reasons, I personally prefer 3 Dipsey's over 4.on most days but then again I run 3 a lot more than I run 2.

For the sake of simplicity Nick, lets just say Am teams can weigh in their best 6 silver fish (salmon, steel or browns) plus a bonus lake trout. Teams can box their legal limit of all species combined, based on how many legal anglers are on the boat....up to a maximum of four anglers. By capping the team at four members, Am teams with large boats will not have an advantage by putting 6 anglers on their team to increase legal limits. Not that I see that happening, because Am teams are only allowed to run 6 rods anyway....but it keeps the smaller boats aware that we are doing everything to keep it fair for ALL teams, regardless of boat size.

We just updated a rule for the Am division. Thanks Captain Vince for the sharp eye. The amended rules read: Am teams are limited to a maximum of 4 members per team. Amateurs are allowed to catch up to their NYS legal limit for a 4 man crew, once a fish is kept you can not throw it back. For years many recreational fishermen have asked for the AM rules we put in place for this tournament. The Sodus Pro am has several former Am team members and current Pro team members on the committee. Both Am's & Pro's have a voice in this event, so be heard . If we want similar structure in other Am events, we need to speak loudly through huge participation as well as self policing ....so lets spread the word and keep this rolling guys

I personally run meat pretty much every time I fish kings. I have not been able to confirm real meat out performs artificial. I run both types of strips all the time, but we take just as many big kings on artificial as we do on real meat. I have always believed in using live bait to catch fish, and I want to believe real meat would out fish artificial...I really do. I just personally can't confirm it. One thing I do know is Artificial does catch a lot of kings on our boat ! I believe the trigger is the death roll of the meat rig that generates the strike....not necessarily the scent.

Northern Woods Outfitters won, taking home $1200+ in winnings and calcutta. Turnout was down this year, hopefully Jon has a better turnout next year because it's a great little tourney to fish. For $50, if you are fishing, why not enter and take a shot? As you can see by the results it was tough fishing with many teams not weighing in and/or getting no fish. I'm sure plenty of guys that didn't enter, could have won some $$ had they kicked in $50. Thank's to Jon for putting his own money into this event and putting on a nice little derby that was a lot of fun to fish

Awesome Bill.....great pics and report Good job getting the boys on the board and more importantly showing them the "fun side" of friendly competition. More dads need to get kids involved in these events. I need to take a lesson from you and teach the boys how to clean the boat after slopping it up

Good Question with the potential for many differemt answers. For me, most important thing is to understand why the conditions/fishing is tough. If you understand the reasoning behind it....and there is always a reason, you can improve your chances of overcoming it. How to overcome tough conditions will vary depending on the reason it's tough in the first place. Take this past weekend for instance. I launched out of Mexico for Jon's Brown Trout Derby. I fished solo Friday in waters I have never fished and crushed the browns once I figured a few things out. On Saturday I had two 14 yr. old boys with me and I figured we'd have a banner day.....nope, couldn't be that easy. 4 hours into the day we had 0 bites. I didn't understand it until I realized the water had really cleared up because there was no wind. I slid out and fished deeper water (50-80) looking for suspended fish and found some green water. Bam...we end up 6 for 8 with 4 browns and 2 lakers with big brown being 13.2 lbs. I was a bit slow in figuring it out on this day, but at least I got the boys on a few fish and they had a great time. Understanding why it's a tough day is the key to figuring it out....

The Official rules are now posted on the website Our first short newsletter was sent out this evening with the most recent news If you are not signed up for our newsletter, you can sign up on the website or view it on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/SodusProAm

I have the results and will post them in the tournament section very soon.

I have my fingers crossed that meeting goes well Dane....thanks for all the help Just did a little tweaking on the website....it's now ready for some news! Lots of you signing up for the news letter....keep it going because that will be our main outlet as news unfolds.

The Website for The Sodus Pro Am is now live. http://sodusproam.com/tournament/ Rules are now up and registration info will be up as soon as we have it. You can't miss the sign up on the website for a mailing list Join the mailing list and you'll get updates as they happen. This newsletter is how we will be communicating a lot of information as it unfolds. Like our facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/SodusProAm

Awesome Tom, your help is so much appreciated!! With the help of yourself and a few others hopefully everything will come together quickly. I just launched the new website. This may be a good time to start a new thread, so I will post the info on that thread.

You always seem to have an excuse about why you can't fish anymore....what's up with that ? lol I could use someone to net all the kids fish you know....hint See all you guys at Jon's....Gonna be a hoot!!

That's okay Nick, I know you would and we understand buddy. The new Sodus Pro Am is gonna happen...no worries. Now that we have moved on, many prominent people are stepping forward and much is already falling in place. These people know who they are, and without them we'd be up a creek! We're moving on and many who were refused when they offered help the first time around are offering their support and it is being warmly accepted. The Sodus Pro Am website will be up soon, the dates are set, the rules should be up by weeks end, sponsors are being lined up.....Spread the word cause we're rolling boys.

Thanks Vince...I know nobody meant to step an anyone's feet and hopefully we can all man up and move forward for the good of the fishing community and Sodus Point Update...just had a phone conversation with Matt and it sounds like he's really working hard on this and had some really good thoughts. I know he's busy today so I just thought I'd throw this up to let all know that this tournament is going to happen and personally I am very excited about the ideas I have heard. I have agreed to help in many ways, and anyone else willing to help should contact either Matt Leclair or Jeff Zimmer. Hopefully, Troy from Warrens will accept that we are only trying to help get this going again and rejoin us in an effort to make this the best tournament Sodas has ever seen. Troy has done a lot to get this going and I know we all support his efforts and his establishments and would love to see him keep a leading role in this event. C'mon Troy....what do ya say ? I'm sure there will be plenty of info coming over the next week, so lets all support Matt, Jeff and hopefully Troy in any way we can.

Wow...I don"t think anyone intended to offend you Troy, I know I didn't and reading over my response I see how it could have maybe been taken differently that what I meant. I apologize if what I said ticked you off and I very much do thank you for all the effort you put out getting this event started. I am pretty sure Matt' & Jeff were planning on helping and supporting you in an effort to get this tournament moving because time has almost run out and things seem to have stalled. Backing out does no service to your community, and I hope you reconsider. Perhaps this was just the door you were looking for to back out? Hope not.... Either way....onward we go I hope. Perhaps a new thread is in order? There's not much time left if Sodus is to host a tournament this summer. A lot would need to happen in a really short time and lots of help would be needed.

Just a reminder that Jon's Annual Brown Trout derby is next Saturday the 18th. $50 bucks to enter...sign up at Jon's Little Salmon Shop in Mexico. Rules are available at Jons. I believe you can start fishing at 5am and you must leave from a port in Oswego or Cayuga county only. Call Jon's for further info @ 315-963-7800 I have a couple 14 year old boys ready to get after some browns....See everyone there

Oh Baby !!...Good call Matt We need to get this pointed in a clear and positive direction without any doubts what, if, when, where and to what extent the tournament will take place. Cold feet and apprehension will only hurt attendance. I had emailed Troy some time ago offering help, with no response. I know others offered as well. Sodus is my favorite tournament on the lake, It's just such a fun port. Let's stop kicking the tires and get this event set up...Sodus needs this event to happen !! My offer still stands, as I may have a good portion of July off work if all goes as planned. Just let me know if you need anything from me Matt.