rdebadts

Chris, i think it has to do with current. Current generally runs east and north, so anything counter to that (ie north and east wind) will flip it fairly easily. A strong west will eventually flip it too, but it has to be strong and long lasting. South will flip near shore but has less of an effect further off shore which is why I tend to head deep with a south wind

I will say, 2 years ago I FINALLY broke the 30 lb mark, and I did it twice in consecutive days. Those 2 fish were instructive here I think: The first hit on a 110 rigger, immediately had a mind boggling, blistering run of 700+ feet, and several others of 300+. He bulldogged and slashed, and I knew from the first moment he was a biggin. When I netted him, my suspicions were confirmed. The very next day, I had a rigger hit 90 down- this fish fought like every other mid 20s king I have ever caught, with a few smaller runs but nothing that impressive. I was excited when he was on, but not nearly as much when I slid the net under him and saw that he was actually BIGGER than the fish the day before.... You cant tell how big the fish is by the fight. The only thing I will say that MAY help you judge size from afar is the TAIL. Big kings have freaking HUGE tails, and that you can see from 50 feet I bet.

Finally got back out of sodus today. Set up in 30 fow on a NE troll. Marked a lot of bait in close, but no takers until we got out to 75 fow. At that point I was seeing a lot of suspended hooks 20-40 down with bait, so I sent down 2 stacked riggers with green and black dreamweaver ss. We had a nice flurry of small salmon 30-50 down once we crossed 95 fow. We had some nice action working 95-110 with small kings. I pointed north 9:00 looking for bigger fish. We found a nice pod of active fish in 180-200 fow that we worked for several hours with nothing to show. I am sure they were kings, just not hungry for some reason. I ran dipseys with ff and lead core all day- nothing... On the way back in we got one last laker.... Don't know what I would do for a whole day without a laker. We ended 6 for 6. All rigger bite with all small spoons. If anyone goes tomorrow, work 100 or 180-200, there are great looking screens there. Out again in 2 weeks. Good luck out there. It will get better soon...

Most mates make about 5$ or so per hour before tip. Usually 10-15% (50-100) is a pretty generous tip. The captain often makes more than the mate but not much more after expenses, so good service should mean a tip or them too. Charters in NY are a fraction of what they are down south so tipping is a bit more doable up here. Just my 2 cents

Congrats man. Couldn't have happened to a better guy. Like other guys have said, a nice payback for you after years of great reports!

So, for the first time I trailered the boat to the oak this weekend for the Orleans Proam. I went in with basically no idea what the fishing was, with everyone on the entire west end of the lake being tight lipped with the tourney coming. I wasnt able to pre fish at all during the week because I had to work... so i was truly going out blind On saturday, we met at 4:45, so we could get out and start fishing before the huge glut of boats left. We started to set up at 5:10 in 80 FOW on a gentle NW troll. not knowing what to expect, I deployed a wide ranging arsenal.... 3 board lines with small red spoons, 2 dipseys set 120 and 180 with dodger/fly, and 2 riggers, one very deep (90+) with a mag glow UV moonshine crabface and one shallow (typically 50+) with a small DW SS glow spoon and a free slider with a gator. We got our first hit at about 130 FOW on a top line, but it was just a small slime ball so we worked further NW. once we crossed 170 FOW we found a nice batch of fish, and we would take about 6 fish between 6 am and 8 am working from 170-220 FOW just west of port (at least I think it was, it was foggier than a bastard out there!!!). The vast majority of the fish were small to medium sized steelies on top, almost all of which preferred the alpena diamond. We were able to cull through some fish and upgrade a few times. I dropped the deep rigger to 110 and we did manage a nice 14 lb king, which took a moonshine crabface. by 8 am, we have what we figure to be about a 60 pt box, and we are feeling good.... So, we kept working that same program most of the morning with almost nothing to show for it for the next 3+ hours. Finally at about 10:45 we move a little north and took one more steelie in about 270 FOW. I was really disappointed in our finish and I must say I didnt feel good about sunday based on how things ended, as the water was changing quickly. At the end of day one we weigh in and had a 58 pt box,good for 4th place! seeing what was coming in, I started to realize what a tough day it was. My box for the classic would have been low to mid 100s, which would have easily been in contention- nice to know... On sunday, we went out knowing that things would be different, so we started a little deeper at 120 on a NW troll. Our water from saturday was ice cold (45) and dead, so we kept going north. My brother and I made the decision that we had money in the bank from saturday and if we wanted to WIN we would need kings, so we kept our presentation a bit deeper to target more kings. we worked further and further north, and FINALLY when we crossed 550 FOW we started to catch a few. we would find most of our fish 570-680 FOW. Even though I only had 3 top lines out I think all but 2 of our hits came on the surface lures. We would pick away at steelies and lakers again today, but they were much smaller. we caught a half dozen fish, but only 2 where touranament legal (with one steelie that went 21 3/8 long!!!). Again a red alpena diamond was our MVP, with one steelie taking a 170 dipsey with a glow green dot SD with fly and a couple misses on a free slider with a DW SS. At the end of day two we had a pathetic score of 34, which would take 8th place. For our efforts on saturday, we would walk away with 300 cash and about 150 in tackle.... Not a bad haul at all for one good day. I love the whole idea of the open division of the proam. I will definitely continue to fish the open- maybe even in Orleans AND niagara next year. I love oak orchard-what a great port! Back to sodus next weekend, see you out there! Abe

Ill be there both days

I was just down on the lakeshore near oak orchard and there are a ton of dead gobies... One of my buddies asked what kills a gobie and I said "nothing that I know of". Should I be worried about this or do they die off after spawning like the alewifes? Is anyone else seeing this?

Steelhead on top out deep is a good bet. Start in 100 and slowly work out until you find temp, a break, or fish. I did hear of browns in shallower water (20-50 is a good bet) but that is more condition dependent.

There are plenty of pike in sodus, long pond and braddocks, or really any inlet of Lake Ontario with 5-15 fow and weed lines. I have had very good luck in sodus trolling big spoons and stick baits

👠Well done

Yeah man I hated to leave so early Saturday cause they were there and biting, but I couldn't keep speed or direction to save my life and fishing in those conditions is so mentally exhausting... Lol, I had a steelie hit a rigger 8 down and 80 back and PASS the boat before it tripped the rigger- crazy

We fished again out of sodus this am. We ran right out to 150 FOW at about 6:30 and set up the same as yesterday- 6 board lines with 2-3 split shot and small red spoons, and 2 riggers set at 8 and 14 feet with DW SS size spoons. It was 1-2 foot chop to start, and very quickly the NW kicked up and the seas built. We trolled out into it towards our waypoints from yesterday, and when we crossed 220 FOW we doubled up, a laker on the 8 foot rigger and a nice steelie on a top line. We continue to troll north to 260 FOW without another touch. By then the waves were about 2-4, so we turned and trolled with it to the SE. In the next hour or so we would manage 4 more goes, an even mix of steel and lakers. we ended up 4 for 6 in about 2 hours of fishing, so not too bad. By about 8:50, after riding a few 4-5 footers, and popping lines due to trolling at almost 4 MPH on low idle coming off of waves, we decided to call it a day. What a disappointment, as the fishing was good and they are still there to be had. It was fishable, but really really annoying and starting to build even more; we didnt want to test our luck! In the end we got back to the dock with our people and equipment all safe so we will take that as a win. I have to work next weekend, so I will be back in 2 weeks. Good luck everyone! Abe

What a trip out of Sodus today! when we left the channel today we pointed NW and ran to about 110 FOW. We set out 6 top lines off the boards, mostly small red spoons with 2-3 splitshot and 2 riggers with SS size spoons, mostly in red/pink/orange. We trolled out to 180 without a touch or even so much as a mark, so we soldiered north. Just as we crossed 180, we took a shot on a 9 foot rigger 80 back with a DW SS red spoon with a 8 lb laker? Shortly thereafter we took a shot on a top line with a red spoon with a 4 lb steelie. Seeing some life, we went to 220 and turned around and back through that same water, with 2 3-4 lb steelies to show for it. We had to decide whether to work that water or keep going north... So at about 8:30 we went north When we got to about 235 FOW all hell broke loose! We had a double on shallow riggers (8 and 14 feet respectively), then a nice steelie on the top (8 lbs) then a brown on the top, all within about 10 minutes. we figured the fish were out a little deeper so we worked 220-270 the next 2.5 hours or so. we had very steady action, including several doubles, evenly spit between short riggers and top lines with red spoons. It was primarily a steelhead bite with a few other species for good measure. I did hear of a few kings taken in the top 40 foot, though I really have no other details... We would end the day 15 for 15, with 11 steelhead, 2 lakers, 1 brown and 1 coho. I was one measly king away from my first slam. There were alot of "cookie cutter" steelies all right around 3-4 lbs, with a few hens that were pushing 8-9 lbs. I cant tell you how happy I am to catch something that is not a lake trout! I love this time of year- I was telling my brother that fog season is steelhead season!! See you out there tomorrow! Hopefully I can find one for the LOC board! Abe

We fished out of sodus today. We started in 40 foot of water and trolled our way out. When we got to about 80 we started noticing a lot of the hooks on the screen, mostly suspended. So down went a 70 rigger with a free slider, an 80 rigger, 10 color core and 150 dipsey, along with an assortment of top lines with red stuff. We worked 80-130 fow. Every rod took a fish. Sadly, every fish we took was a laker!! They were everywhere hitting everything. I was convinced those suspended marks were kings.., nope. We worked mostly spoons and flasher flies.... But after about two hours of catching lakers, I just gave up and switched to cowbells. We ended up with a put a dozen again, the biggest being 12 lbs. we were done by 10:30 before it got too hot. We worked mostly from the lighthouse to maxwell, 120 was best. At the end o the day I got a tip that the steelie bite is heating up 200-300 fow on top stuff, so that is all i am doing next time out. Enough lakers..,

Yeah, lakers have their place. It's great to have a fallback plan, that's for sure. The quality is great and they actually fight a bit this time of year... I was just disappointed that I couldn't get the brown bite going in April, this is the time to make it happen! I will definitely try the 15-25 range next time out to see if they moved out a bit

FIshed out of Sodus today. There was a hard south wind so we started on the shoreline for browns. It was CRYSTAL clear and quite cold still (warmest I found was 44, mostly 42-43). I ran 6 flatlines off the boards with 12 lb floro leader waaaaaaaay back (100-150) and used both naturals and bright stuff. Nothing. Why has the brown fishing this year been mediocre out of Sodus? I didnt hear of a single brown this am on the radio?!? I know that the conditions werent ideal today, but jeeze... I trolled from the lighthouse to past east bay with nothing to show, so I pointer her north... We got to about 110 and I saw some stuff on bottom, so down went the cowbells. For about an hour it was very steady fishing for lakers, all extremely fat and happy. The laker population seems to be VERY healthy! Most of the fish were in the 7-9 lb range. The fish were mostly in the 120-140 depth just a mile east of the channel. VERY good fishing to be had if anyone is interested in slime balls. After striking out on the shoreline I was more than happy to catch anything, even lakers! After about an hour of dealing with a south east wind and a west current and building seas, I called uncle and we went in. Fortunately I think we got most of the engine issues figured out so we were happy about that. I get that it is spring, but ENOUGH with the wind!! See you all out there saturday I hope Abe