CaptSpike

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Long Haul ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):4/27, 4/28 Time on Water: Weather/Temp:cold Wind Speed/Direction:high Waves: big Surface Temp: Location:Oswego LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 15,30+ Total Boated:14, 25? Species Breakdown:sticks and spoons Hot Lure: fire tiger stick day one, chicken wing day two Trolling Speed: 2.2 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 25-40 Lure Depth: 5-20 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Arrived at Osego to a good SE wind. Launched and picked a nice brown while setting up just ouside the river. A 15lb king was next. We trolled in and out of the stained water and caught browns, lakers and a nice steelhead. Found out after we came in we should have fished deeper as kings were there. Friday we got blown off and went to Cayuga, repoert will go in the finger lakes area. Saturday woke up to freezing cold Again and wind. The lake was still kicked up so we decided to go back to Oswego. It ate up some time driving over there but not enuf as the lake was still rocking. Too many boats wagon training to bother getting in line so we went out for some breakfast. Aprox. hr later we launched and got out. It was still kicked up but fishable. We headed east to get away from ost of the boats and got our first hit. As we were pulling that fish in another rod fires. All six rods fired before all fish were landed. Lots of fun. Continued to work that area and catcha bunch of fish of which most were smaller than Thursdays catch at only 2-4lbers. We lost a couple steelies and got a few more lakers as well. no kings for us. Still a great day with too many fish to keep count. When the wind died the bite died for us (at least in the area we were working. Trolled back to the river and lost big fish of the day at the back of the boat. It was a brown about 15lbs. The duolock straightened out.....When we got back to Fairhaven we found out there was a big bite of kings out front. We were a little disapointed we didn't get into that but it is likely we wouldn't have known about it anyway. Had the radio on channel 5 and 68 all day and heard virtually no chatter??? Wondering if people were on a different channel or just not talking??? First day sticks in firetiger were best. Second day everything worked early and by the end of it Silver/blue sticks, MJ spoon and Chicken wing were top producers. I fished the sticks 100-120 back and the riggers 45-60 back down 5, 15 or 20 depending on what the screen showed. Planer boards had two two color core set ups and two mono with a weight in front. All produced at one time or another. Only our second trip out and lots to learn. We caught fish and that is what counts. If it wasn't for the wind and the cold it would have been a much better trip, but you deal with what you got. I wore the Artic Armor the whole time! Spike

Well it was so rough we never put out the fly rods. We just figured trying to land a fish on oneof the other rods and in the waves/wind we would surely get hung up in the fly lines off the side of the boat. So we opted not to run them. Thanks for the info on the flys, maybe next time we can try them. Spike

Some units combine a fish finder (depth sounder, shows you fish below your boat) and the chart plotter when hitched to a GPS antenna (internal or external) will show you your boat location and path that your boat has traveled (if you select to run a track). The path is very useful when determining where you caught a fish and allows you to navigate back over the exact spot (or pretty darn close to it). You can also save way points on the chart plotter that will allow you to return to the same spot even after your track line runs out (limited amount of data can be stored as a track). If you just have a stand alone chart plotter that is all you get on the unit. Which isn't so bad. I used to run a Raytheon chart plotter on my ocean boat. It had the ability to run a fish finder off it as well but I already had a commercial grade finder and only used it as a stand alone chart plotter. I also hitched the chart plotter to my radar and was able to have navigation data relayed to the radar, which helped a lot when you were looking for river buoy's in the fog and the place was littered with small boats fishing stripers. You knew for sure what target was the buoy and what wasn't. Hope that helps a little. West marine has some great definitions on there website and explain different features of the various units (at least they used). Spike

I will let you know how we make out with them, maybe even a little video. Spike

Pretty much everywhere is nice on the Cape. Definitely bring your boat. Fishing in Aug. is excellent, much to offer. If you said what part of the Cape you were planning to go I might be able to recommend a few places. Not all are boat friendly so you need to make sure they have enough room for parking when you check them out. I am lucky enuf to know a guy that keeps his boat there so we were never concerned with parking a rig. Spike

If your refering to the post above I believe he is talking about the blanks he uses and had custom made rods for trolling while keeping the action of a 7wt fly rod. Alot of people this way use fly rod blanks for "other than fly rods" when custom building a rod. If your refering to me look up down east rod holder and you'll see it isn't a problem at all. Spike

Sorry I don't own any of them, may I could borrow a couple of yours? Worms I can bring. Spike

You aren't kidding. Wish it would lay down for a while when I'm out there, doesn't look like it will....... Will this rain bring any fish into Oswego harbor? Might be able to eek out a morning troll if nothing else. What about Fair Haven harbor, and browns still cruising in there? Thanks, Spike

I had a similar problem. Mine would go down but not up. Then it would work again. I replaced the switch and haven't had any problems since. Spike

We have the rods and are quite successful locally. We get about the same sink rate as a 2 color core set up. We use Down East rod holders as they work great for fly rods. Just wondering if anyone else is into it? We are going to give it a go and see what happens. Spike

Was thinking about bringing a couple out. They are a ton of fun around here and would be even better there. Never hear of anyone using them though????? Anyone use traditional flies (not the spiny/fly combo) for browns this time of yr? What fly pattern works best? We use grey ghosts, joe's smelt and a few others here where the water is crystal clear. I imagine a bright fly in colored water would work well...... Thanks, Spike

I read on here 9.5 and 11" for the length to the loop. Does this still apply for the double keel boats? A friend told me I'd need to adjust them a bit but I'm hoping to be as close to what I need when I first use them (away trip don't want to waste time). Last question Otter instructions now recommend new holes for the line 1" below the existing holes. I did read in my searches that someone moved the hole 3/4" and they pulled better so I'm assuming Otter got feed back from users and is now recommending 1" below. They do still recommend the 11" and 14" lead length though........Right now I am tied at 9.5" and 11". Hopefully close enuf to fish without adjusting right away. Thanks, Spike

We have a back up plan if it's rough (finger lakes or bass fishing in the bay). Long term forecasts never got much of my attention. Heck they can't even get it right day to day, lol. Bad part is they are usually wrong in the better direction and the actual weather is worse. We'll take what were given and roll with the changes. I think I'm bringing everything, lol. Hopefully not too many rods get broken in transport........ Spike

Fishing for Salmon and trout, mostly. I was afraid you guys would say bring it all......... I have my riggers that will get a couple rods deeper. Not sure I want to fight a brown on a dipsy rod so I think I'll leave them at home. I do have some 2 color core set ups and a couple full core (10 colors) which will also get me down deeper if needed. The of coarse the flat line set ups....... If the fish are deeper will I be OK with just spoons or do I really need to bring flasher/flys combos? I usually do better in Aug. with the flasher/flys, so much that I don't bother fishing spoons then (usually just targeting kings at that time). I think I may leave them home and wash my spoons. As I said I am limited on space for what I bring and it looks like I'm bringing more rods than I had planned on...... Spike

Last year we went out a week later and fished with sticks off planer boards mostly. Looking at reports fish seem to be moving deeper or at least over deeper water. So my question is what gear should I be bringing? I have wire rods and full core set ups along with the planer/downrigger rods. I was only planning to take the planer/downrigger rods but after seeing some reports I wonder if I should be bringing some lead core or wire rods??? Also Should I bring my flasher/fly's that I use in August if the fish are deeper? Or is it just the fish are over deeper water hitting the same baits used inside (targeting top of the water column)?? I have plenty of spoons and will be bringing them but wondered if the F/F should make the trip as well??? Too much to think about....I don't want to get out there and find out I left something at home. Yet I also have limited space and only want to bring what I need..... Thanks, Spike

I am missing something, it is FAIR Haven Not New Haven, lol who knew....... Spike

OK I think I am missing something. I am staying in New Haven west of Oswego (are there two? or do I have the port wrong?). Spike

Anyone have any recommendations for eats in New Haven? First time there and would like to have a few places to hit. I trial and error'd when I first started to go to Oswego and the errors were not good, lol. Hoping to avoid more errors, lol. Thanks, Spike

What I have done for gearing up for a couple trips a year is to buy Okuma magda reels and heartland rods. They are cheap enuf you wont break the bank getting set up yet should be fine for only fishing a couple times a yr. As time goes by you can upgrade the reels one or two at a time to keep the cost down. I also found my cost in tackle has far surpassed the rods and reels. might be better off chartering a boat to get a good feel for what you need and how to fish. If you let the Capt. Know ahead of time he could curtail the trip with gear you would use if just getting into the fishery. This way you get a fish hand observation of gear you would purchse and how to use it. Not necessaraly a full set up charter boat with multiple copper rodds ect. being fished with the rest of the gear deployed. they could keep it simple so you can see how it would play out on your own boat. Doesn't hurt to ask for that anyway. Spike

You may be able to make an adaptor plate that will interface the two together. Spike

I'm assuming you use one of the original holes on the other side, made the boards parallel and added the second hole. Is that correct? I'm upgrading mine and searched to find info but came up short (I suck at searching). Thanks, Spike

Depends on the age. I have the newer high retrieval ones and have no problems with 15lb sharks. I think the older ones are rated lower, I could be wrong but I thought I read the newer ones are good to 20lbs. Spike

I agree with that but at 1.5mph in a good chop it is highly unlikely going into the wind. Maybe on days like that I should just not pull bait. Spike

Booked up at Anchor marina. Thanks for all the suggestions. This will be my first time out of Fairhaven, anything I should know about the area as far as navigation hazards? How about direction to head after leaving the harbor (for browns). The marina mentioned a public ramp around the corner. Is that a good ramp? Plenty of parking? Will likely drop in there or Oswego the first morning and check in in the afternoon. Is Wrights landing open yet for licenses? If not where in Oswego can I get a license. I think the two tackle stores are closed up now. Thanks, Spike

Usually fish out of Oswego. Well the only place I have ever stayed with my boat is filled up with outage workers......... Thinking I need to push to the west? Any lodging recomendations west of Oswego? (or east if they are not filled up) Just looking for clean comfortable place to sleep and secure area to park the rig. I'm not a big fan of large hotel chains for parking my boat at when I am on the other side of the building....... Hoping to get out there the last weekend in April or the first of May. If I can't find anything by then is the fishing still good second week thru May? From reading past reports it slows down with early morning being best? I am bumming, but glad the local business are getting $$$. Spike