Dunkirk Report -Con Club Tournament July 31, Aug 1, 2

[times two]

July 31-Day 1

We were short 1 team member due to work, so we ran a simple 4 rod set up. Did 3 fish early, 3 fish late.

In the Con Club tournament, its 3 fish per day to the scale. Our 6 fish was one of the better boxes for the day.

Ended up putting in 22.8 lbs, good for 3rd place out of 100 boats.

Aug 1-Day 2

We fell victim to the dreaded 2nd day jinx...boxed none. But we were not alone. Fishing could be described

for many as horrid. Miles of blank screens and no fish. The #1 boat only weighed in 1 fish for 3lbs....

We probably put 45 miles on the boat today, looking. We slid to 15th.

Aug 2-Day 3

Have to be in line by 1 to weigh in, but one crew couldn't get out of work until 7:30....so one he showed, we

rolled 12 miles west towards barcelona. Ended up putting 2 in the box before we rode the 5 footers back to

the harbor. Finished 17th out of 100.....and also had the 15th heaviest fish for the tournament, so not to bad.

10 color with a big green chatterstick was good...with 2 oz.; WD Buffalo bill off the 75 rigger.

TOUGH fishing....there was about 15 boats that didn't weigh a fish for the tournament! I don't know where

all the walleye went...but it is tough going right now....

John

[ray koziatek]

great job for the conditions!!! if you need a teammate in the future get ahold of me or better yet ( landshark) mike who tends to get lucky with a walleye or two.. viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9326

[walteye]

John-it doesn't seem to be a very good year so far. Like I had said from the time I was up there-there was so much bait around and now for it to disappear??? I had thought that the Barcelona area might be more productive-but?

Congrats on at least doing what you did.

Walteye

[times two]

I can't tell you how many times we heard on the radio phrases like "blank screen", "desert", etc.

The 6 fish we did on Friday came with absolutely 0 fish or bait on the screen. That was 7 miles

straight out of Dunkirk. 105 fow.

Yesterday, we ran the shoreline to get up to Barcelona, and noticed some good areas of bait in 65 fow,

so when we turned to troll toward Dunkirk, we slid inside, and ended up getting our 2 in their. But,

inside waters means sheephead galore......

[walteye]

John-when I was up there 2 weeks ago-the first two days I was working a school of big fish-and there was bait galore. On the Wednesday-the fishing slowed and I wasn't into a fish unless I was marking bait (and it was all close to the bottom-no suspended bait clouds). And yes-many times over the years I was not marking a fish but was catching 'em. I assumed that they were coming from off to the side out of the sonar's cone. I am certain that just like you-I start a search when I am finding bait or marks. I didn't catch a fish that week in any depth less than 90'.

Walteye

[bigkahuna069]

i'd like to ask you what a chatter-stick bait that you run up in your area who sell it john thank-you frank

[times two]

bigkahuna:

A chatterstick is basically a renosky stick bait with a special metal lip.

Zman tackle.

I tried to post a pic...but can't figure that out. I got all mine at Bills

Hooks in Dunkirk.

John

[times two]

Couple other tidbits leftover from the tournament....

69 teams did not even weigh in on the 3rd day, probably a combination of the weather,

waves and lack of fish.

Also, 20 teams did not weigh in for the tournament......

**

I can tell you that the lake trout fishing offshore has been awesome. Several fish

were caught this weekend in the 27-30lb range....

John

[walteye]

John-I have been fishing out of Dunkirk since 2001-I have never caught as many Lakers in the past years as I have caught this year alone! For the most part-I always found the bait to be suspended-I found it more hugging the bottom-possible corrolation?

Maybe because of the cooler water temps? I don't have my previous year logs-but I seem to remember 72-74 degree surface water temps- I could't find a temp that topped 70.5 even on the sunniest day.

Good fishing and thanks for all the info.

Walteye