Fishtails

I went up to fish the A-Tom-Mic challenge with my 11 yr old son Justin, teammate Rollie (Final Flight) and his buddy Ed. We decided to launch out of Henderson on Friday to see what was cooking in the shipping lanes. It was our first time fishing the wall and the shipping lanes, but we wanted to give it a go on the hunch their may be mature kings lurking their. We made the 14 mile run from Henderson and arrived at the wall to a lot of bait, but only a few hooks. We made fishing a new area to us even more challenging by loosing our new Fish hawk X-4 probe the moment we got their We searched without knowing the down temp or speed, but only managed one small king for the first several hours. Just as we were getting ready to pull rods, I dropped a rigger 135 down over 130 thinking we could scrape something off the bottom for my kid. I sent a white spinny followed by a Big Weenie Proctologist fly down to do what it does best....catch big kings. Within minutes of dropping it, it started screaming drag and my son got on the rod and started working the fish. It burned out a couple hundred feet, Justin would get a hundred back, then the king would burn out another 150 We were all stoked to see his new personal best hit the deck at 26.8 lbs and get him on the loc board for the first time. So, we shot our tourney pre fish day in the lanes and now we gotta fish the Challenge without ANY pre fishing done in Oswego OR Mexico yet this season. I had no idea where to start, so I headed slightly west and set up over 250 fow. Some very good teams arrived shortly after I did, and set up in the same area so I'm thinking to myself, good guess Rod ! Everything looked great, nice temp break between 100 & 110 ( got a new probe at woody's ) and hooks everywhere. A few passes netted nothing, and I ain't feeling so good about my guess anymore We finally got things going with an 8 lb king on the white spinny/ Big Weenie Proctologist. We decided we needed fish, and not knowing where the kings were I decided to go deeper and get our tourney box on steelhead. Our hope was to get them with enough time left to upgrade with a big king or two, but it worked like most of my plans work....not so well We took our first steelie over 325 fow on the 600 copper pulling a white/blue spinny and a Big Weenie blue weenie fly. As soon as we put it back out, it took another shot that we missed. Then we proceeded to take a Coho on the same rig and a smaller steelie on a uv blue Yeck spoon free slid on the 45 rigger. With lots of time left, we are sitting on four fish....then the bite died. We searched, we changed up several times, but we burned up a solid hour without a fish. Then, our bite turned on and we doubled up. We landed one Steelie on the 500 copper with a custom blue/green spinny pulling a Big Weenie blue weenie and lost one on a 280 slide diver pulling a kevorkian. After a couple lost fish, we finally got #6. A steelhead that took a kevorkian off the rigger. The steelies didn't want anything to do with orange on Saturday. All blues and purples for us. So, we got 6 fish and 42 lbs and we know that ain't gonna get us no $$, but we only have 45 min left to fish. Well executed plan as usual We landed one more skippy king and had to pull lines and head in. Our 102 point box landed us in the bottom 20's somewhere out of 70 or so teams, one big king upgrade out of the $$. We had a blast and look forward to the Oswego Pro Am in a couple more weeks

My 11 year old son Justin made it on the board for the first time It was 4th at the time, now it's 7th and I explained to him he's gonna need a bigger one cause it won't last so he's ready to go fishing again so he can top it. That is, if I don't keep making him get up at 3am.... We caught the 26.8 lb king off the shipping lanes. We dropped our deep rigger with a 15lb shark down 135 over 130 fow. We used a white spinny followed by our best producing fly so far this year, a Big Weenie Proctologist. Justin hung in there and landed his personal best without any help from dad.

Iceman, Did I meet you at the Challenge? Your name is Dick, right? It was a good event Thanks to all involved. A lot of prizes were donated for those who stuck around till the end. I have to send out a special thumbs up to Lester Zimmerman, who is really stepping up to the plate on the youth end of these challenges. We need to put a special emphasis towards rewarding our young anglers for participating. It doesn't have to be much, but they need to be included. Lets face it, we all know trolling can be boring for a kid!!! Giving them a small token or reward can really make a big difference!! Lester understands that

And this is based on what....your opinion ? It's a put and take fishery....get over it !! I'm pretty sure all the towns and businesses that profit from the influx of tournament fishermen during any of the "to many" tournaments and derbies you are referring to would disagree. If you're anti tournament...how come you fish two of them? That's like being a vegetarian who occasionally eats fish or chicken. You either are, or you aren't.

Glen, you sure do have a way with words buddy LMAO !!! I think every team has their own dynamics that work for them. You can't label one being right or one being wrong. Teams that fish all four Pro Am's every year will be your more structured teams, while the teams that fish their home port event only, are more likely to be the type of team Gambler is referring to. Some teams are centered around one person, and have a revolving door of teammates. Some have a steady crew that fish every event together. Some teams fish for the sole purpose of winning, while some teams put more emphasis on having fun and enjoying the festivities. The impotant part isn't what other teams are doing, but rather that you're on the type of team that suits your personallity, and where you all share a common goal. I think our team falls in the middle. We fish all four Pro Ams, and we are in our third full year of fishing them. I'm lucky enuff to have two of the best teammates I could ask for, and they have a lot of say as to what happens on our boat. If you want to keep a team together, everybody on that team needs to feel like they have a voice. Nobody wants to be a donkey. That's fine for a tourney or two, but it gets old fast!! It's a tough balance though, because too many opinions on a boat are a major negative and a distraction, which causes you to loose focus. This season, I'm trying to tighten things up a little and take charge on the water more than I have in the past. At the same time, I fish with two excellent and very dedicated fishermen and I value their input. We succeed as a team, and we fail as a team. They are like the brothers I never had, and like brothers we sometimes butt heads. More than not though, we have a great time and that's what keeps our team united. We have fun during pre fish, and get very serious during the main event. In the end though, somebody on the boat has to take charge and have the final say. If you have tender feelings, you're probably not a long term tournament fishermen

Yeah, the sign up is a mild issue for me. I had to wait to see if I could swing it with work. I can, but it's to late for snail mail and I live in Philly, so I may not have a choice but to sign up @ captians meeting Tom. I'll call tomorrow to see if I can sign up via phone. One way or another...we're in

Way to go Al !!!! Congrats on the win!! Good luck in the upcoming KOTL.

I accept my part of the blame. I was sending in my entry on Monday I wasn't fishing till next weekend, so I hadn't sent the coin in yet. That being said, I'm only one guy. Sorry Dave, I should have sent it in sooner.

These are good people !!! You will have a great time fishing & observing with Nick & his crew

Nice....thanks for the report Al. Good luck to you and Mike going for that 3 peat Looking forward to the follow up report. I know my team will be working the MC Rockets hard in the A-Tom-Mik challenge as long as Mother nature get over her bad attitude Go get em boys

As hard as you guys tried to scare everyone off, I think we have both Pro Am's covered Paul, maybe you should consider wearing a thong? I think I can speak for your team when I say we'd rather look a thong than seeing your butt crack every time you set a rigger during the KOTL Thanks again to those who replied.

You guys better watch out when I get photoshop

Don't feel the need to apologize for one poster who took this in the wrong direction, as so often happens. This is all new news to me, and had I caught a foul hooked fish I would have released it! We did land one fish last week that took the main spoon by mouth, but got foul hooked in the side by the slider. I made the observer look at the fish before we netted to show it had a hook in the mouth AND the side. I was unaware that we could box a fish reguardless of hook placement, and I fully agree with the harvesting of these fish. With only 8 posts Dodger, you should be talking more....not less Thanks for the heads up

Maybe you just didn't have your coffee yet Gary. It comes up good for me And yes, the Proctologist was very good for us. It took a 27.18 king and two 14 lb lakers (we had to release both LT).

Orleans is now up !! Open division is now posted for the first time. http://lopacup.com/wordpress/?page_id=460

Lucky Enuff is looking to secure an observer for each Pro Am. We will be fishing the Friday before Oswego, and the Fri before Wayne and you are welcome to join us on Friday and fish with us if you'd like. We pay a hundred bucks ($100) cash for the weekend. You can sleep on the boat if you wish. We need someone we can depend on so please don't offer unless you are serious and sure you can do it ! Pm me and we can discuss further details. THANKS!!

Iceman....why ya always gotta be like that?? You never pass on a chance to bash these awesome events even thouh you have never participated. You have no idea what you are even talking about Loc is a "for profit" derby.....Pro Am's are "non profit" and run by volenteers. Apples and oranges dude. Get it strait.

You're not alone Rob, same thing happened to me on pre fish Friday with a similar size steelie on the 450 copper. I'll get razzed the rest of the season for that one. We were tripled up, and I yelled at the other guys to crank down the drags and horse theirs in cause mine was BIG and we needed it for our Friday box. Well, they did and when my fish got within sight I couldn't believe my eyes.....6 1/2 pound steelie It happens dude...lol Some of those Steelies are bad azz this year!!

After I let you pull all those fish in.....you wouldn't dare Mike I can't help that monster king I battled on the copper swallowed the hook and then regurgitated a 6 lb steelie it had just swallowed alive. OK, Lets just say we thought Rollie was trying to back the boat onto the trailer, and leave it at that. It was ugly, but then who am I to talk? When I dock it's more like a "controlled crash"

I can understand both poits of view here. It is absolutly unfair to think the committee could/should post the results any faster than they do. If you pay any attention at all, or fish the Pro Am's, it's easy to see all the work the committee puts forth. If you want real time results....FISH THEM !! That being said, I know many of us are interested in what's going on. That is up to those who fish to post some unofficial reports and results. This time the leader board was to low, and getting a picture was not possible. That should be fixed, and I'm sure it will be addressed. I didn't pay attention to the exact results much this time, except that Screamer won the Pro and Five More Minutes won the Am. Idon't know the order in which teams placed, maybe I'll take pictures of the leaderboards next time and post them.

Great report Rick. The weather man boned us again. Great comeback, especially considering it wasn't a fly bite .....that had to feel good.

Great pictures Sean.....looks like she had an awseome time

VERY well done guys. You put the right team on that new Luhrs Lester to make sure she gets nice and bloody Great win for one of the most consistant teams on lake Ontario

Thanks guys...looking forward to seeing what Oswego and Sodus have in store for all of us in July. My guess is wind, waves & BIG sharks !! Rick, I'm tucking that one away to use on Rollie as needed this season. After all, it was his first time driving the boat so I can't beat him up to much or he won't offer to do it again. Hmmm, maybe after that I don't want him to I should send out a big thanks to 4 c's marina for helping us out on Friday evening. Running in to weigh in, the port motor was running hot, so I decided not to risk it and came in on one motor. We pulled the boat out and they stayed open two hours late to pull the outdrive off and get her fixed up. Also, thanks to all the teams that showed genuine concern as they saw the boat being worked on and thanks to Bob Buck for offering up his boat Salmonbound to us If we couldn't get ours ready. A lot of good people fishing these events!!!!!

I never got to post a report for Nigara, as I was only home a couple days and back off for the Orleans Pro Am. Both Pro Ams were a great time as always. Ya gotta join in on the fun and put a team together for one of these events. You'll be suprised at what you are missing out on if you haven't fished the Pro Ams before. It was great seeing everyone again and I'm already looking forward to Oswego. Here is our Orleans report.... Friday: We entered the Friday 3 fish derby and headed east out of port to Devil's nose. We couldn't move a rod for the first couple hours, but eventually started picking away at the kings out over 170-200 fow. Our biggest was 19+ and that king took a Moonshine purple nurple behind a wonderbread walker deeper diver 275 out on a 3 setting. We then tripled up over 120 fow, landing all three fish on various spoons and decided to pick up and test new water. We ran 18 miles and set up 7 miles west of port in 200 fow. We caught a couple more kings before heading to weigh in. It was a heavy spoon bite for us, with a mixed bag of spoons and colors taking fish. Our 40+ lb box landed us in 9th so we collected a little cash and felt really good about Saturday....maybe to good Sat: Damn you mother nature!! Another rough tournament day, but at least we got to fish. We had solid 4-6+ footers after about the first 45 min of leaving port headed for Devil's nose , with one actually crashing over the flybridge as we were trolling and soaked the guys in the back of the boat...a first for us! I saw it coming and said "oh crap"...then BAM. I'll never forget looking up at that wave as I stood in the back of the boat as it rolled away from us. A heavy NE wind made fishing tough for us. We struggled big time, and just couldn't find our fish. We landed a 3 lb laker to get the skunk out, and we were running most of our gear in the top 60 fow. 1 slide diver, 1 dipsey, two riggers and a mix of the 5 & 10 color cores and 200 -450 coppers were deployed in our 6 rod spread most or the time. Our junk rods and dipseys never got hot. Most fish came off the riggers and slide diver. I decided to drop a white/ green dot spinny followed by a Big Weenie Proctologist fly 130 down and before long it started screaming with a major king. Jeff did a great job and when she hit the deck we were thinking things were looking up. It weighed in at over 27lbs, but would be the last legal fish of the day for us. We generated enough bites to get a full box, but had to throw back some short fish. Still, our big king was the biggest fish for the Am division and held up on day two also, so congrats to my teammate Jeff J for that accomplishment. Sunday: weather was good, but we had no idea if our fish would be there after the blow? We knew everyone was either running deep or west, but in the end we felt we could get enough bites by running east again. We set up off the flats and picked up two skippy kings so we picked up and ran to Devils nose again. Within an hour, we found our fish from Friday and the fun began. We caught about 12 fish in an hour's time, boxing a 4 lb laker, 3 kings and a steelhead and tossing back a bunch a short kings. Feeling great, we continued to move rods but the fish kept coming up short. After landing a 24 1/2" Atlantic that had to be released, we boated two 14 lb lakers and had to throw both of them back also cause we already had a small one That hurt, and even though we generated around 25 bites, we only boxed 6 fish! We only dropped two fish the whole day, but they just kept coming in short. We did manage a 19 lb king that hit a DW dave's salmon slapper on a rigger parked 57 down before heading in. We finished up in 7th place over all. Not the finishes we hoped for, but good times were had!!! Sunday was a spoon bite again in the top 60 fow, with anything black being the ticket. DW ss salmon slapper took the most fish, but we had the water flooded with anything we could find that was black and they all took multiple shots. Both lakers took the white/ green dot spinny with the Big Weenie proctologist fly. Here are a couple pics of the 27+ lb king