Yankees Orleans Pro-Am

[Yankee Troller]

Our team this week consisted of my bother and I, Rob Wescott of Legecy Sportfishing, and Jeremy Sage of JDs Custom Charters. Both of which fish from Sandy Creek. If you want to cash a check, or even win one of these tourneys, you need two consistent days. The teams fishing these tournaments are SO good that you can't slip up. This was the case for our team this weekend. Mother Nature threw us a curve ball on Day 1, and we paid the price for it. I'm not so sure I will ever like her!

Friday 5/11 (Practice) - We headed East because my friend Bill Ruth was fishing down from Wilson. With one day of practice a good friend to help cover water is a must! So we ran down a few miles and setup in 80 foot of water heading East. It didn't take long and we were into fish. The first one being a 14lb King Salmon that took our Dreamweaver SS Glow Froggy slider on our 40 downrigger. I was like WOW, thats high! Well, that would be the last time that downrigger went. The rest of the day the leadcores took over with a bunch of different spoons. Dreamweaver SS Firecrackers, Stinger Wonderbreads, and Stinger Mix veggies were our hot spoons of the day. We would have never boxed our 12 in practice, but we never turned on any fish either. We ran a 5 and a 10 color off each Otter boat, 3 downriggers, and 2 wires just trying to cover the water column.

Saturday 5/12 (Day 1) - As I was checking Lake Ontario Tweets Friday night I saw that my buddy Jeremy slayed the big guys off Olcott. After a few phone calls with him, and a NOAA marine forecast update we said it would be foolish of us not to make that 23+ mile run. Well, at the dock in the morning we had mixed reports on the weather. I saw SE turning to SW, but my buddy Rob on the Hideout boat saw ENE 10-20. Thats bad news for this end of the Lake! Well, our team looked at each other and agreed to stick to our game plan. So, down to the power plant we went. Once we got down there and started to set lines the temperature started to drop and that stiff NE wind started to blow. Within 30 minutes we were rockin' and rollin' in 6-8' waves! 23 miles from port might I add! We tried to troll into them knowing that going with them was not an option. Well, that didn't last long! After 10 or 15 waves over our bow we said this is stupid and we collectively made the decision to run back to port safely. 10 miles an hour all the way back and two hours later we were in front of the Oak. Might I add it was almost 10am, which left four hours to fish. As we set up our 8 rod spread the wind just died! I was thinking to myself "you have to be kidding me!" Once everything was in the water it didn't take long to hook up. The 5 color core with a Dreamweaver SS Firecracker goes off. I grab the rod and bring an 11lb Rainbow to the net. That fish would be our only fish on, and our only fish boxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday 5/13 (Day 2) - Team decision on the dock this day was to run 10 miles West, set up, and troll NW until we figured something out. We stopped in 100', 175', 200', and finally 250' before we set lines. We popped a quick Rainbow, and then our program started to develop. We ran a pair of 5 color cores off the Otter boats, a 10 color down the chute, 3 downriggers, a wire, and a slide diver. That first fish took a Dreamweaver SS Firecracker off the 5 color core. Then the 45 rigger with a slider started to put out. Both spoons were Dreamweaver SS Da' Shiznits, and either the slider would go or the main line. It didn't matter. That was our hot spoon of the morning! We tried to find something similar to it for the other riggers and finally did with a Dreamweaver regular Green Eye Glow Ghost, which would take our 21lb King Salmon today. We boxed our 12 by 10:30, and headed in for some lunch. Another spoon that took a few shots was a Stinger NBK fished off a 120 wire diver, and also the Dreamweaver SS Firecracker o our 5 color. We finished with 3 Kings, 1 Coho, and 8 Rainbows for a total weight of 82 pounds. We were the first Pro team to box out, and one of only 5 Pro teams to box out on day 2. The fish wanted it on a strict NE troll into the slight chop. We had a line that was absolutely sick! Doubles and even a triple at one point. We would box our 12 toss back 2 shorts, and drop 5 fish. Some of the Rainbows we caught this weekend were real giants, and they were very acrobatic.

We finished the tourney in 16th place, which wasn't bad considering our 1 fish day on Saturday. We also took claim to the Siggs Rigs Comeback award for the tourney. The West end is done, and it is time to head down East in a few weeks. When I fish sliding cheaters its mainly when I am fishing a Rainbow or Coho program. Usually with sliding cheaters you loose A LOT of fish. There is just too much slack in the line. However, those new Daiwa Saltist with the high speed retrieves have come in very handy when trying to catch up to these fish on the sliders. A few other boats running these reels have seen the same thing. I can honestly say that these new Daiwa Saltist are putting more fish in the boat!

[fdny76]

Great report. Nice job guys.

[FISHIN AGAIN?]

Congrats on a great Sunday of fishin. But please, way too many pics of Jeremy first thing in the morning.

[muskybob]

Fantastic job Rick, Congrats

[Slimy Hooks]

Great job guys...

Sorry to here that Saturday did not turn out as you wished but you made the correct adjustments and boxed out with some great fish...Congrats on the comeback award...

See ya in Oswego...

[Yankee Troller]

Thanks guys! See all of you in Oswego!

[Fishtails]

Great report Rick. The weather man boned us again. Great comeback, especially considering it wasn't a fly bite .....that had to feel good.

[Dex]

Congrats to Team Yankee Troller on a few fronts:

1ST AND MOST IMPORTANT - GREAT TO SEE YOUR DAD THERE RICK!!

Secondly - great catch on day 2 - way to persevere!!

Dex