Billy V & Runnin Rebel at Sandy Creek Aug. 15, 2009

[Billy V]

The lake was dead-flat when we left port so we decided to try our luck off-shore today. We pointed the boat NW out of port and after a short run we set up in 340FOW. We had a steady pick of fish today, but the best depths for us were 460-480 FOW, and we found our temp from 60-80 feet down. Our best down speed was 2.0-2.1mph on our Depth Raider. We ran a mixture of DW spoons & Spin Dr/Sigg's Rigs Flys on both downwriggers and wire divers. Our best spoon pattern was the SuperSlim DW Gator fished at a variety of depths, and our best spinny combo was a white double crush glow Spin Dr/Sigg's Rigs Glow Ghost fished off our our 80' rigger. We also had multiple bites on both a Wonderbread Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Wonderbread UV Glow fly and a Green Dot Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist fly combo.

Today was mostly a steelhead bite for us, although we did manage a couple of kings, one of which was a 27lb bruiser that took a SS Gator spoon fished off of a 65' rigger out over 460 FOW:

The kids we had out with us both got to tussle with several steelhead today too:

Jerry and I both particularly enjoyed seeing the kids locked up with some Lake Ontario chrome....steelhead are the perfect size fish to introduce a kid to this sport. After a few turns on the rod each, I think we have two more kids hooked on this fishery; they both said that they want to come back again reaalllllly soon. Good call bringing them with you "Uncle Matt"!

It was fun to pit my spinny/fly program against Jerry's spoon program. I didn't keep track , but if I had to guess I'd say it was a draw...pretty much everything we put in the water got bit today!

I had a great time today Jerry...let's make time to fish together again soon.

[FX]

Those are some Great pics! The kids sure look like they're "hooked". Congrats on a good day and thanks for sharing. Any 3mph fish?

Shawn

[BlueEye]

Great pics Billy! Glad to see you guys had some great action out there Jerry always loves taking people out to put his spoon program up against.

[Charley Tuna]

Wow Bill you seem to be able to pull it off when the rest of us struggle. I'm amazed as usual!

I had another question or two for you. Last time I was fishing up on the big Lake I didn't do well but found the temperatures pretty warm (70's) down to about 50 feet which is as deep as my probe (Clinefinder) will go. Just don't have the extra $$ for the real deal probes that attach to the downrigger cable. I was wondering how cold was the water 60 - 80' down when you were offshore. It seems to me there is a lot of warm water in the eastern basin from everything I've experienced and heard lately. So my second question is how warm do you think off shore salmon will tolerate this time of year before they go elsewhere. I know they will sometimes stay in warmer water if there is a lot of bait there but you obviously look for a temperature range.

If this is top secret information, I certainly understand.

Thanks.

[chowder]

Off East Port Bay on Friday we took Kings in water from 48 to 60 deg from 70-110 down over 140-350 FOW. The steelies we got into were down 25-60' over 300-400 FOW.

[Charley Tuna]

Chowder,

You sure have been hitting em good both on the the Big Lake and Cayuga. What type of down temp probe do you use? Thanks for the guidance.

[chowder]

I have a Depth Raider and although it's helpful, the down temp was moving around quite a bit. I marked very little bait where we were fishing and only scattered individual fish, I just kept turning around and working anything that looked promising with different depths than the last pass. The best advice I ever got about this kind of fishing is "don't leave fish to find fish"!

[Charley Tuna]

Chowder,

Sound wisdom and thanks. Good info! Much appreciated.

[GAMBLER]

Nice report Bill. Glad to see you guys had a good day.

[Billy V]

Charley,

Temp down 60 feet was 54-58 degrees, and down 80 it was 45-48 degrees. It varied some, but there was a pretty tight band of temp that we were working. The later in the season we go, the stronger the Kings spawning instincts become so the more tolerant of warmer water he'll become, especially off the mouths of the tribs he'll be running up. We often find late season Kings in really warm water (60-65 degrees), so don't be afraid to fish the marks in that water.

Hope this helps!

[Charley Tuna]

Bill,

Much appreciated. That's great advice. Hoping to get out there tomorrow. Many thanks for sharing you knowledge.