Yankee @ the Sodus Pro/Am

[Yankee Troller]

Captain Jack's Shootout - 5th Place!!!!

We were supposed to have a camera crew on our boat this morning, and what a morning it would have been for some TV footage! We talked with Billy V on our practice strategy, and it was going to happen like this. We were going to run about 5-8 miles West and set up and troll West, and Billy was going to start fishing right out front. I knew from my brother that East was a total dessert when he fished there Thursday. Well, 5:30a.m. came and there was no phone call or no camera crew, so I did what I do best at 5:30a.m. on a tourney day….I left the dock! Phone call came around 6a.m. from the producer saying they found my dock, but I wasn’t there. Too bad, because we had a heck of a day!

We ran west until we came about a mile from Pultnyville. We set up in 50-60fow with a Brown Trout program, and it didn’t take long! We ran a 3 downrigger, 2 wire, 2 core set-up with mostly Stingers and DW SS’s. Our BT spoons of the day were a Stinger Blond Chicken Wing, and my favorite BT spoon, the Stinger Penguin. We did a few BT, but not anywhere close to a limit down west. Reports from Billy V were that his BT bite was on FIRE! We kept pushing west and we started to put a little more water under us. My brother put a 300 copper out of the back of the boat with a DW Mag Gator once we cleared the 80’ mark. Once we hit the 95’ mark that rod exploded with a screaming reel. After a few great runs a 20lb King Salmon hit the deck. OK, so we have Kings around do we? Well, the screen lit up at 100’ with bait and fish, so down went the King program. DW Spin Doctors, Legendary SmartFish and A-TOM-MIK flies on every rod but one. It didn’t take long after that and the new DW Spin doctor called the Albino Gator trailed by an A-TOM-MIK Sweat Pea was ripping line off our Daiwa Saltist/Heartland wire combo. I grabbed the rod, but I just held on for the ride until he spit the hook and continued on his way down to the Salmon River for his September ritual. Mean while the 10 color off the board takes a shot, and a 10lb King hits the deck of our boat.

We worked this area off the Ginna Nuclear Plant for the rest of the day and even called in Billy V for some action. We would pick through a lot of Lake Trout up to 16lbs that were mixed in with the Kings. They were taking our DW Spin Doctors, Legendary SmartFish and A-TOM-MIK flies very regularly. At one point we had a rigger pop and I was on the rod. It was a Green SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist fly on the main line and a DW SS Shiznit on the slider. WE get the main line to the net and notice a fish was also on the slider. The paddle/fly had a 15†Lake Trout attached to it, and the slider took a 14lb Atlantic Salmon. This Atlantic would be one of the three fish we would weigh in at the Captain Jack’s shootout. The other two fish were the 20lb Salmon and a 16lb Lake Trout, and that would be good enough for a 5th place check!

We knew we had a solid plan for the weekend tourney after discussing what we had and what Billy V had. That’s the nice thing about having a GOOD friend to help cover some water in practice. We only get to practice one day before each tourney due to our work schedules. Lake O is too big to cover in one day! Check out some screen shots of the bait off the Power Plant:

Sodus Pro/Am 2010

Saturday 7/17 (Day 1) - Our plan was to Brown Trout fish the two points West of Sodus because that is where Billy V SMOKED them on Friday. I told our team if we can get 10 BT then we need to pull off them and go get two big guys. Well, as fast as we could get rods down BT were smoking our offerings. Well getting to 10 BT took us about an hour and a half, and that was with a lot of stockers that had to be put back and a few short fish. Not to mention the few we lost die to the soft mouths that these Trout have.

Our program was very simple and consisted of 3 downrigger, 2 wires, and a chute core. On the downriggers we ran cheaters on each rod. On the downriggers we ran a pair of Stinger Penguins, a pair of Blond Chicken Wings (which got changed out to Stinger NBK’s), and a pair of Dreamweaver SS Midnight Specials. On our wires I set up a pair of Walker Deeper Divers in the clear color with a 20lb McCoy fluorocarbon leader. I wanted a stealthy approach for this presentation. We set them out on a 3 setting, and we put a prototype Stinger Stingray Sea Sick Waddler on them. I would say that the wire divers accounted for half of our fish, and even accounted for the larger fish of the day.

As I mentioned above the 10th fish hit the deck about 8a.m. and it was decision time. The fish seemed to be getting larger, and our Easterly troll was taking our larger fish. SO 3 out of 5 guys said let’s stay on these fish, and that’s what we did. It didn’t take long and our limit was completed by 8:30a.m and we were headed back to the dock for some breakfast.

At noon we were able to put our fish on the scales, and by the end of the day not getting a few kicker fish hurt us, and we were sitting in 15th place. From 15th place to 2nd place was about 10-15 pounds. Well within reach of a good box on day two.

Sunday 7/18 (Day 2) – Our plan was to duplicate Saturday’s game plan. Same program and same lure selection. Well, when we set down and started to get lines down we noticed the warm water piled in. We ran our waypoints for an hour and we knew we needed to make a move. We picked up and headed west.

We set down a few miles West of where we were and Billy V said he had some fish going. He had cooler temps, and a better screen. Right away we started to hook up. Boat control was critical today as we battled 4-6’ waves, and at time even larger. We started to pick away at the fish, and thought it would not be a problem to box on this day, but the warm water kept piling in and we had to keep trekking West, which was a chore because that meant going into the waves the whole way. Again our stealthy diver set-up was our top producer.

By the end of the day we would box 9 fish consisting of 8 BT and 1 small King. We would throw back 4 or 5 stockers and 1 17.5†fish. We would also go on to lose 3 keeper fish mainly due to Mother Nature. Those three lost fish cost us a check, but that is fishing! I’m sure A LOT of people lost fish this weekend.

Anyone who knows our team can attest to the fact we DONâ€T BT fish EVER. So, this weekend was a fun weekend because we learned a few things about fishing for these fish. The only time we target BT is when we are banging the shoreline in April. So even though we came short of boxing on day 2 we gained a real confidence boost when it comes to targeting these fish. We would finish the tourney in 13th place, which is 3 places out of the money! It was our first time in 2 weeks and 4 tourneys that we didn’t place with a check.

On a side note our 17.04lb Steelhead we put on the Summer LOC derby leaderboard ended up in 2nd place. It now sits at Mountain Man Taxidermy where I will have it mounted.

[Pike Hunter]

Rick,

Thanks for sharing a fun filled adventure!

Everyone at LOU would really enjoy attending the weigh in event. I was so amazed to see how many BT the gangs has caught over the weekend. I am always learning something new everyday!

Tight lines.

Anthony

[Jolly II]

Rick,

Nice talking to over the weekend. That is one thing I really enjoy about the tourneys is talking to the other guys and meeting new people with our passion for fishing and the fishery.

Good job on that Steelie!

Chris

[Yankee Troller]

Good to see you again too! I hope any of my info I gave you on Saturday night didn't hurt you on Sunday. Def. was a more difficult bite and you had to find the colder water to find the fish.

[Jolly II]

I think it helped us out, we managed to box 6 fish on Sunday in those waves, plus a throw back Atlantic, and a mess of stockers. Thanks for the info Rick.

[choo-choo]

Thanks for such a great report,with lot's of detail.....and thanks for all your great reports this year,they are much appreciated...and i hope they continue for the rest of the year.Great job on the tourney trail this year,you guy's have done a real good job....keep up the good work...and keep them reports comin'!!! .......(steve)