John Kelley

That is an awesome experience when they do that, especially when it is a 10 pounder or better. That happens all of the time with them, too!! I have also slammed them off the trolling boards right on the surface with orange Michigan stingers. Pretty fun when they hit the surface spoons too, because they instantly fly out of the water then as well, and the rod that has been released from the boards is the live wire! Experiment around, but they are not very hard to to get to bite, that is for sure. Sometimes getting them to stay hooked up is another matter!LOL:yes:

I guess 18 really isn't a kid, but it seems like a kid's age to me. Anyways, here a couple of Ben Diltz, who works at the Captain's Cove.

Yeah, I bought one with glow in it too, I think, and it worked as well!! Have you seen the size of the alewife in their bellies???LOL Of course those big flies will work!! Make any 8 or 9 inch ones??LOL

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Slammin' SODAK ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 7-5 through 7-7 Time on Water:5 to 6 hours in the mornings and the same in the evenings Weather/Temp: Hot and sunny, with a storm thrown in for good measure Wind Speed/Direction: Waves: Surface Temp: Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: Lost count, but lots Total Boated:Lost count of that as well, but lots Species Breakdown:Kings, steelheads, 1 brown, 1 nice Atlantic Hot Lure: Any SD and fly combination in the magic green, black, silver and white combinations. Trolling Speed: 2.5-3.1 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 95'-175' Lure Depth: 80 and 85' on riggers and 225' and 300' on wire divers ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== I was already pretty pumped up about the salmon fishing, after having a very good couple of days on Monday and Tuesday. I arrived at the Captain's Cove about noon on Thursday, got my room, put my boat in the water, dropped my trailer, and bought altogether too much tackle once again at the Cove!!LOL I think I started fishing about 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. and soon had my first couple of steelhead in the boat, including a nice 8 pounder on the downriggers. Since I had so much luch with SD's and flies earlier in the week, I put three out this afternoon, two on downriggers, and one on a wire diver set out to 225'. The downriggers fired first on the 2 steelhead, and then I had a couple of "drive by's" on the wire diver. One of my riggers fired off next, and the fish felt sort of heavy, but was not really pulling out any drag. Then it came to the surface and started jumping. It looked like an oddball steelhead, but I was not sure. When I got the fish about 20 feet from the back of the boat, I could see its large spots, and goofy little head, and could tell that it must be an Atlantic, even though I had only seen pictures of them. It was alright, and had nice X markings on its sides too. It was just over 30 inches, so I guesstimate it at about 10 pounds. I took some pics and released the fish. Then I caught a 10 pound king with a fresh and still bleeding lamprey wound on it. I wonder if the creep dropped off during the fight to the boat? Anyways, I took some pics of that, because I don't see that every day! By now it was getting towards dusk and I had switched to 2 diver rods and one rigger rod at 80' down. I was heading right at the light house in about 130' when my downrigger popped hard, and the drag started screaming away. Big fish, and it felt big for about 10 minutes, before it shook the hooks! I was very sad about that, but I didn't have time to cry, because just then my 225' wire diver rod started jumping like an epileptic having a seizure, and the drag started screaming out wire. I jumped all over that fish, and lightened up the drag even more, not wanting this fish to pull off as well. I took it easy fighting the beast, and let it go whenever it needed to run. Took me awhile to get the shark to the net, but it was well worth it, at 42" long and over 26 pounds! I was very happyabout that outcome, and quickly boxed the male king. I kept trolling was soon rewarded with a double header on my rigger and 225' dipsy on 10 and 12 pound fish that were both released. Then I decided I had enough fun for one night, and should call it an evening. It was already too late to get my fish officially weighed, but I was hoping to get my pic taken with him. When I got back to the Cove, the shop was locked up and the place was dark. I did see one other truck parked a couple doors down from my room, though, so I knocked on the door. When it opened, I asked the man inside if he would mind taking my picture with my fish. He was very friendly, and told me to bring it into his room where the lighting was better, and we could get some nice pics. It turns out that this man was Captain Tim Marshall (Whiskey Runner), and we swapped fishing stories well into the night. He told me the fish looked like a very nice specimen, with a big head, and good coloring, and helped convince me to get it mounted. Earlier that night, while I was still fishing, I got a call from Michelle from the Cove, and she told me there was a guy that came into the store from North Carolina, and was looking to go fishing on a smaller boat with a regular guy. She asked me if I might be interested in taking him fishing, and I told her yes. Pretty soon this guy named Steve called me up and we decided that I would pick him up by the lighthouse boat ramp at 5:30 the following morning. So, I did pick up Steve at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning, and we proceeded out to the lake. I never did get Steve's last name, but we started to setup in about 85' and I asked Steve to drive us straight north while I set up all of the rods. Steve told me had never caught any salmon, but had caught plenty of catfish up to about 45 pounds. I told him to expect a much more exciting fight than a catfish! I had decided to just start out with 2 rigger rods and two diver rods, 80 and 85' on the riggers and 225' and 300' on the wire divers. Pretty soon the 225' diver rod starts screaming, and I handded the rod to Steve. 15 minutes later he had his first salmon ever at 16 pounds, in the box. He was pretty excited, and said he never caught a fish that fought that hard before. We ended up catching a bunch more fish, including a nice 11 pound 7 ounce steelhead, that Steve entered into the derby, an 18 and 21 pound king, a small Brown trout, and released several kings in the 10-15 pound range. A very succesful day, and Steve went home very happy. I however, got scolded by Michelle and Paul at the Captain's Cove for not charging Steve for "at least gas money"!!LOL Earlier that afternoon, when Steve and I came in to register his 'bow in the derby, I met a cool guy named Tim, who turned out to be another charter boat Captain, and we had a pretty good discussion on fishing, and exchanged numbers as well. Turns out he is staying at the Cove as well. The next morning I was all set to pick up a guy named Don, that I had taken out fishing a couple of weekends ago, but he became a no-show at the dock. One thing I will not tolerate is someone that says they will be somewhere at a specified time, and then does not show up, so off to the lake I went by myself, and Don is no longer welcome to fish with me in my boat. Anyways, I digress. So I was actually the very first boat on the lake on Saturday morning, that I could see, anyways, and was setting up just after 5:30 a.m. Tim was not far behind me and setup just to the west of me about five minutes later, and then the rest of the fleet started making the water pretty rough around me with their big boat waves!!LOL Good thing I was already trolling by that point. I was having a very slow start this morning, and was watching other boats land fish all around me. Tim already had a triple header for his clients, and I was kind of jealous. Then I decided that maybe I should switch to a couple of spoons, since the spinnies and flies were not working for me. I put a moonshine ratchet jaw on one, and a moonshine crab face on the other downrigger, and dropped them to 80 and 85. Almost immediately the crab face spoon produced a skipper king that I released very easily. About 5 minutes later the ratchet jaw spoon takes off and the drag starts to scream hard. I was in some heavy boat traffic and trying to drive the boat and get this 23 pounder to the net. Not the easiest task in the world. I finally got the big girl into the boat, weighed her quick, and tried to revive her, to no avail, so I threw her into the box. Then I texted To Tim that I had a 23 pound fish that I could give to his clients if they did not box out. That's when I started to notice the sky getting pretty nasty and the wind change from the west to the north pretty abruptly. I also noticed that I was getting closer to Tim's boat than I should have been with his stern facing me, so I turned out sharply to avoid tangling iunto his wire lines. He then called me and asked me if that was me, and I apologized for coming so close to him. He said "no problem" and that he was dead in the water. He asked me if I would help, and of course I was already starting to pull lines. It seemed like an eternity while I worked my lines and downriggers up, and I felt bad that it was taking me so long to get over to his stricken boat. When I finally got there, Tim said he could not even get his downrigger balls up, because he had no juice left at all. I carry jumper cables, and we hooked our batteries together, and soon Tim got all of his downriggers up. While he was doing this, I asked his clients if they wanted another salmon, and they said they would take it, so I transferred my fish to their cooler. One more fish I didn't have to clean!!Yay Then Tim tried his engine, but it would not fire, so I pulled them to the dock next to the Black North. I was very envious of all of the other boats racing for the breakwater, especially when the lightening started to crack around us, but I knew that 5 people were counting on me to get them safely back to the harbor. As soon as we got to the dock, and Tim slingshotted his boat safely to the pier, the storm died and it was over, like it just had to prove a point or something!!LOL I waved to Tim's party, and headed up the Creek to the Cove to get some dry clothes on, as I was very soaked! Then Ben Diltz, the friendly little 18 year old kid that works at the Captain's Cove took my big fish and me to his buddy the taxidermist's house and we dropped my fish off. I asked Ben what his plans were for the evening, and he said he didn't have any, so I asked him if he wanted to go fishing. He replied that he would, and so off we went. We passed Captain Carl Bish on the way toward the lake, and Ben asked him what had been working. He replied that any white paddle and fly, and geezer spoons, or something like that, and we thanked him as we motored past. Then we passed Tim at the public dock by the lighthouse, and he said he was going back out as well, and that he fixed his problems, new belt and replaced his battery. We decided to look for fish shallow and work our way out deeper. We ended up catching 5 fish, including Ben's 20 pound king, almost 10 pound steelhead, and a few smaller steelheads and a skippy king. All in all, I think I had the best week of fishing of my 44 year life. I am in love with Lake Ontario!!!!

Moldy alewife is basically their version of 42 second fly, and catches fish. I bought some saturday, and had a 20 pound King and a 10 pound steelhead come into my boat on them. Buy them before they get sold out!!

Haha, Tim, don't worry about it, you are a great guy, as well, and I enjoyed our discussions on fishing at the Cove. I am sure we will see more of each other this summer on the big lake. Salmon fishing is like a Heroin addiction or something!!LOL

Thanks, Big Dave.

I think quality beats quantity everytime, Captain Carl!! Way to go! Oh yeah, Ben from the Captain's Cove, reeled in a nice 20 pound king and a steelhead that went almost 10 pounds, on Saturday evening. He was quite happy with those two fish. Thanks for the advice about the white paddles on our way out the creek!!

Awesome report, and I know how you feel about having to wait for the weekend!! Damn work getting in the way of our fun!!LOL

Hey thanks Shawn, but it's nothing anyone else wouldn't have done. "No one left behind, brother"! Hooah!!

Haha, anytime Tim, but the name is John, not Robert!LOL Must have punched my name in your phone wrong, buddy! I was just glad to get you and your clients back safe, and we dodged the lightening, my friend! My skin is waterproof anyways. LOL!! Yay!!

Great report, Carl!!

Nice report.

Thanks Shawn, I hope to be back up there again tomorrow, trying for a big hog!!

Nice job, I bet your kid is pumped after that battle!!

Isn't that weird with the fleas, one day they will be worse than the next, and then not as bad the next again. I guess the wind direction might affect that. They were not as bad Tuesday at the Oak, as they were on Monday.

Great report, man. I will be heading back to the lake as soon as I can, too! Had my best day of fishing bar none, on Monday. My big fish is still 1.5 pounds lighter than yours, but I plan to rememdy that soon!!LOL

Thanks Captain Carl, and the people at the Captain's Cove have nothing but good things to say about you! Maybe you could give me some tips on the Browns, as I would not mind tangling with some of those fatties as well! Thanks again, probably see you in the next couple of days in the "creek".

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): Time on Water: 5:30 a.m. to noon and 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. monday and 5:30 a.m. to Weather/Temp: Sunny and hot Wind Speed/Direction: NW and SW Waves: 1 footers Surface Temp: 65-72 Location: Straight out from breakwall LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 22 Total Boated:12 Species Breakdown: Kings, steelheads and 1 coho Hot Lure: Green gator SD, 1/2 black 1/2 chrome SD with the green herringbone down the middle, Green glow frog SD, and white SD with the green spots, and 42 second Atommik flies and white crinkle(pearl/glow) flies. Trolling Speed: 2.5-3.1 Down Speed: Boat Depth:98-145' Lure Depth: 80'-90' down on cables and 225'-300' on wire dipsy rods, with #1 dipsy's on 3 & 0 settings ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Well, I had a pretty productive couple of days for the last two days, despite all of the missed fish!LOL I had actually been fishing since saturday, but all I could manage saturday and sunday, were tons of steelhead in the 3-5 pound range. I learned a valuable lesson over those two days, and that is to trust your guts, and listen to the advice of boat captains, instead of following the crowds!! Yankee Troller had told me that there were nice fish to be had in the 100-150' range, but instead of following his advice I thought I should be concentrating in deeper water, since I saw most of the boats zipping way out there on the weekend. I was trying to find the fish in anywhere from 175' to 315 feet of water, and did find many steelhead, although none with any size. I did not pull my head out of my rear end until Monday morning, while I was talking to the captain of the Buck a Roo, or Bucaroo, (forgive me on the spelling), and he told me that they had been getting some nice mature kings in 100' to 130' with cables down 80', when I remembered what Yankee troller had told me on this forum. I must give out a thanks to both of these boat captains!! I started out of the harbor and began setting up my rods in 80' of water, and put out my wire diver rod first to 225' with a green glow frog SD and black and green fly. By the time that one was out, I was in 95' and set out my first downrigger rod at 80' down with a green gator SD and 42 second fly. I was just starting to let the line out on the second down rigger rod when I saw my other rigger rod fire off. It was not an especially violent rip off of the release, so I was not expecting a very big fish, and was thinking to myself, " Oh here we go again with the steelhead!!!" As soon as I set the hook, however, that changed in a big hurry, as the fish immediately did a 90 degree turn, and began screaming line off of my reel. I had to do the over and under exchange through rods and finally got the fish in the clear, and the fight was on. I finally landed the nice, fat hen King, and it went almost 24 pounds on my digital scale, my biggest King yet!!Yay. It was only about 10 minutes later as I finally get all of my rods out, and was starting on my trolling run again, that the same rod fired off again, and I was into another nice fish. This one looked very similar to the first one, and read about a pound lighter, but was an inch longer, @ 38". Best start to morning I have ever had, but then things started to go sideways!! It was only about 7:30 by this point, and I am thinking that "hey, all I need is one more fish, and I can call it a morning" I kept trolling in the same circle of out to 130' and in to 95-100'. Oh yeah, I was not reading many big fish arcs at all near the bottom, but was reading all kinds of bait schools down there. I was reading all kinds of marks in the 50-60' range, however. After about an hour or so of trolling, and many peeks into the box, to look at my two nice fish, my other downrigger rod fires off, and fires off hard. This fish is soon on the surface and jumping out of the water, but really pulling drag and fighting hard, so I am thinking big steelhead, but he shook after a short fight. I reset and keep trolling and the same rod fires off really hard again, only this time the fish just freight trains out a bunch of line, and is making a beeline towards Canada. Strongest fish I have had on until this point, and makes those twenty pounders feel kind of puny!LOL I fought this beast for a solid tweny minutes, and got it to within maybe 150 feet from the boat. It was just going back and forth near the surface, and I could see it flashing in the morning sun, but could not move it any closer to the boat. Then the line went limp and I wanted to cry!! The fish had twisted up the fly leader so badly that it broke the hook right off, but the fly came back, so at least I didn't lose everything! I think that might have been a derby fish contender! Oh well. Then I started getting some texts from a friend of mine in Dansville, who has never been salmon fishing, but really loves to fish, so I told her to come on up, as the big fish were biting today, and I headed back to the Captain's Cove to meet her. I stopped off at the DEC fish survey boat on the way in, to have my fish officially weighed and taped, and they also took some scale samples. The big one was 23.5 pounds and 37 inches long, and the other one was 22.5 pounds and 38 inches long. The fisheries boys also told me that they thought these two fish were only 3 year olds, which really blew my mind!! The one fish had a large lamprey scar, which means they can survive lamprey attacks, and that makes me feel good. Anyway, I digress, I met my friend Heather at the Captains Cove just after I finshed cutting up my morning fish, and we headed back out to the lake at around 2 p.m. Man is it ever nice having someone else in the boat with you, after being so used to fishing all alone. Just being able to use both arms on the net is a Huge advantage, let me tell you!! Besides that, I can make the other person reel in all of the fish!!LOL Okay, so Heather has never been salmon fishing and she loves to fish, but usually just shore fishes, and catches fish up to about 2-3 pounds, so I try to explain to her how much power these fish really have, but that is something a person just has to experience to understand. I told her that just one 10 pound King will convince her, and turn her into a salmon freak! As we motored out of the breakwater, I noticed the wind had picked up a little more than the morning, but was still very manageable, and Heather did not seem to mind a little chop on the water. I setup the same as the morning but put two diver rods out, and 3 downriggers down. 4 SD and flies and one spoon. Our first hit was on the 225' wire line and fly, but it was a pop and drop. About an hour later the same diver rod fires off hard, throbbing and jumping, so I jumped up and set the hook, and the wire began screaming off the reel. I handed the rod to Heather and told her, "it's a good one"! This was one of the most rewarding sights I have seen in my years of fishing. I had her get up on the rear deck of my boat to fight the fish, and the fish almost yanked her into the water on a couple of different occasions, but she regained her footing both times, and kept ahold of the rod. I coached her on how to pump the rod up, and reel down to the fish without giving him any slack. She started to complain about how her arms were starting to ache, but would not give up, or hand me the rod for a break. I knew it was near twenty pounds when it got close to the boat, and when we netted it, it weighed just over twenty pounds. Then we had two monsters hit at almost the same time, and she tried to set the hook into the first one, but it just ran twenty or so feet off the reel and threw the hook, and I slammed the hooks into the second one, but it took off into my wire line and broke me off before I could even think about!!! Those big guys are mean customers, and I lost a prized Green gator Spin Doctor!! We then caught a 17 pounder, a nine pound coho, and a couple of so-so steelhead, but I definitely made another salmon fishing convert for life!! The next morning I trolled around for a few hours and caught an 18 pound male with a hooked beak, a 13 pound hen, and a steelhead, and called it a trip. I should be back in the next couple of days though, possibly tomorrow. Gotta get that 30 pounder!!!

Thanks guys, I hope to get some big ones this weekend! Good luck to everyone out there!

Thanks for the good advice on that!

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): Time on Water: Fri 4 hours, Sat 12 hours, Sunday 8 hours Weather/Temp: warm, windy Wind Speed/Direction:N/NW Waves: Surface Temp: 55-68 Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 40 Total Boated:32 Species Breakdown:Steelhead, steelhead and more steelhead, with a couple of Kings and a coho for good measure.LOL Hot Lure: SD and Atommik flies in all black and green color combos, and purple and black and green spoons. Trolling Speed: 2.2-3.0 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 175-245 Lure Depth: 50-80' on riggers, and 225-250' out on wire divers ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Well, I showed up at the Captain's Cove earlier than usual on Friday afternoon, and decided to just head on out and do some fishing after throwing my bags into my room. I got out on the water about 5:00 p.m. and started setting up in about 50' of water, heading straight out north for deeper water. I did not have any hits at all until I hit the 175' mark, and then the wire divers started to fire. Ended up catching 4 steelhead, one nice 13 pound king, and a Coho that was about 7 pounds, and had a nasty lamprey attached to it. The lamprey fell off in my boat, and promptly lost its head. The Coho went back into the lake and swam off nicely. I put one nice 8 pound steelhead and the King in the box. The next morning was a little bumpy on the big lake, but I set up the same as the night before, even though it was a little tougher to let lines out with those waves breaking over my bow!LOL At about the 140' mark my one wire diver rod started screaming, and I fuinally had a big fish on, and was pretty excited about it. About 10 minutes into the fight my line went slack, and found out that the King had bitten off my fly right above the hooks!! Very sad. I kept battling the waves, and then finally hit the steelhead spot form abpout 225'-245' of water. Every time I put the lefte diver rod, with the green and black spotted dipsy and the MT dew and spotted SD and fly out to 225' I would get a steelhead on as soon as the rod was in the holder. Got a good workout anyways!!LOL I went in about 2:00 p.m. after catching and releasing a dozen or so steelhead from 5-7 pounds, and keeping one 8 pounder. My Bilge pump died on me, and my boat had developed a leak, so I figured it was a wise move to head back in. I located my leak back at the dock, went to Albion to buy some compound to fix the leak, and fixed it pretty good. Then I saw a couple fishing from shore at the Captain's Cove, and offered to take them out on the lake for the evening salmon bite. The guy Don, had never fished on Lake Ontario, and he ended up reeling in his first 10 pound King salmon, and a nice 6 pound steelhead, and was very excited. I think I made a salmon convert out of him! The next morning I located the steelhead in the same 225' to 245' feet of water and caught a bunch of them again on just about anything I put out there. I caught a nice 13 pound King on the way back to the harbor, in 175' of water, and put him and two nice 8 pound steelies in the box. Still hoping to catch that 25-30 pound King, but very happy with my results this far!

Yeah, you just won't be able to get as much of it on your reel.

Nice job, yeah that is a big Golden shiner, great walleye bait!!

Awesome steelhead, man, wow!! Has the shape of a King. I had to look at its tail to make sure for myself!!LOL What an impressive beast!!