Yankee 9/11 & 9/12

[Yankee Troller]

9/11 – The Lake blew all week long, so we didn’t know what to expect when we got down to the boat on Friday night. A few chats with some of the local guys revealed some decent off-shore fishing, but to be honest with my followers……we had enough of that! We wanted some big fat dark Kings! My buddy Scott Clemens and his gang joined us for a half day trip. Half days make it tough because there is that half the amount of time to put fish in the boat, so your decisions better be solid.

We left the dock a tad after 6am and set lines right across from the count y launch. Still waiting to hook up in the mouth of Oak Orchard creek! We spent about an hour, or maybe an hour and a half, working the plume out front without even a drive by. The nice things about combat trolling is that you use a minimum amount of lines, so when it’s time to move it doesn’t take 30 minutes to clear rods. We shot out to the 26.6N line straight out front and down went a spoon program. I didn’t get the wires in the water when I hear my brother yell out fish down 100 on the Hummingbird. I look over to the opposite corner rigger and there it goes. A NK Sea Sick Waddler parked down 100 on our Scotty Downriggers. That fish would be it for a while. With a little over an hour to go we pointed the boat back South on the 29N line and started our troll of shame back to port. Well, we also found out that this was the magical troll direction for us. We did 5 more fish in the next hour. Every fish was a cookie cutter Chinook Salmon in the 5-8lb range. Riggers down 100 and wires out to 300 took our fish. The only spoon to go more than once was the NK Sea Sick Waddler. Others that took fish were the Moonshine Bad Toad off a high wire, and a Dreamweaver Midnight Special SS.

We ended the day with a half dozen fish and batted 1000! All fish were released to fight another day, and the guys on the boat had a great time.

Evening – We went out to make a few passes at the wall just for fun with about an hour of light left. We again, set lines in the creek and trolled out the East side of the wall. Right at eh public Launch our Lyman #136 takes a shot. It didn’t feel like a Salmon, and when we got it to the boat it wasn’t a Salmon. It was a 24†Northern Pike. We set the Lyman back out and on our first pass at the wall the same plug takes a shot. Again, it didn’t fight like a Salmon. Once we got it close to the boat we discovered it was a nice healthy 8lb Brown Trout. That would finish our trip at the wall, and we would head back to the dock wondering if the morning would bring some Salmon in for a little combat trolling the following day.

9/12 – We had another short trip this morning, and we found out real fast that Mother Nature did us a favor for once. The East wind that blew late in the day and early Saturday night pushed some ice water into the region. That pushed a good group of fish right into the Oak Orchard river plume for the morning bite.

We set lines in the Creek again, and made a left out of the break walls. We made a pass down West and turned to hit the wall up. On our way back through the Lyman #136 takes a shot. This was another one of those fish that didn’t act like a King. We get the fish to the net and it’s an immature Salmon all colored up, and ready to run the river. We set lines again, and within minutes the same Lyman takes a shot. Off to the races it goes! Now that’s what we were looking for! This fish didn’t want to come in. We finally boated that fish and we had our first mature Chinook in the box. We set lines again, and I made an attempt to get a few more lines in the water. I had 3 Lymans flat lining 100 and 125ft back on the sides and 75’ back down the middle. I took 2 Moonshine mags, Carbon 14 and a Bad Toad, and set them back 50’ and down 3-5’ on our riggers. The Carbon 14 didn’t last long and I look up to see a Salmon rocketing out of the water. I got to the rod before it came loose from the release and it was game on again! Another mature in the box and we have only been fishing for an hour. Without fail we set lines and quickly hook up with another Mature. This one would be the largest of the day, and it would take that same Lyman #136 that has been so hot for us! We put this beast in the net and it was a beautiful copper colored 25lb male. With about 2 hours into the trip we had 4 fish in the box and it was looking like we may finish early. Well, that’s when it shut down for us. We made a half dozen more passes, and it accounted for nothing. The water dropped 5 degrees from the beginning of our trip and the fish shut down to a slow pick for everyone.

With a few hours left to fish we trolled out to the 60-80’ range and made our way down to the flats. Screen was pretty much blank and the water was 39 degrees down 30’. Ice water! We pulled our deep lines and set up for 40’ of water and that’s when our 5 color core took a shot pulling a #158 Lyman plug. That fish was a little immature Chinook that went back to fight another day, but we quickly noticed that the cold water had pushed a ton of bait and fish into the skinny water. However, our trip was done and we had to get back to take some pictures and clean some fish.

[BlueEye]

That is awesome Rick! Congrats on finding some of this big matures I have had good luck on the Lymans this year as well.

[Yankee Troller]

Boy, do they have some great action! I was impressed when fished side by side with a J-Plug. Not that the J-Plug wont work, but they are definitely worth a try. Some great colors too!

[BlueEye]

Rick -

That was my first impression as well...... I was almost in disbelief of their action. I immediately pulled out a J-Plug and ran them side by side. I think it has to do with the buoyancy of the lure stemming from the fact that they are made out of wood and not plastic. They handle high speeds well and I have already ordered some large ones to try out musky fishing after seeing how well they triggered salmon hits when nothing else seemed to work.

Chad

[Yankee Troller]

Funny....I ordered some size 3 in Coho and Steelhead colors for the Spring when 2-5 color cores are HOT. They see too many orange dodgers and blue flies!