Yankee @ Wilson May 10th-May 14th

[Yankee Troller]

May 10th - Start of practice for the Wilson Harbor Invitational

We woke up to a stiff NW wind blowing 10-20mph, so we took this opportunity to go into town and eat at the little corner diner. Many fisherman were in there fueling up on breakfast awaiting a window of opportunity to go out and see if the insane bite was still happening.

When we finished breakfast it was time to do a little work on the boat. We broke one of our Coastal Night Lights spreader lights a few weeks back, so we installed two brand new ones. Boy do these spreader lights illuminate the back deck! If you ever want to see how nice they are stop by the boat at night while we are there.

We were also able to network our Humminbird 1198’s though their new Ethernet system. What a simple task that was, and now either unit can use the transducer, the radar, or the GPS. It sorta takes over for the Interlink system Humminbird has had for years, but it is much simpler.

About noon we decided enough was enough, and we strolled out the pier heads to find a 2-4’ chop out of the NW. We motored down to the red can figuring we would ride the waves back. It was a grind, and we didn’t get on anything that looked promising. We slid into 60’ on top of the bar and out to 200’ with pretty much a blank screen. We worked our way back to Wilson and ended the trip around 4pm with the biggest Chinook Salmon being about 10lbs. Everything was small!

In conclusion, we eliminated waters instead of finding a gem West of Wilson. Anyone who fished Wilson, or to the East, seemed to have taken a few nice bites.

May 11th - Continuing practice while running a charter

We had Paul and hid girlfriend meet us at 5:30am, and we were one of the first boats out the chute. We slid out to 50’ of water and worked NE. It didn’t take long and we were into fish. Our spread consisted of three lines fished off our Cannon DT10’s in varying depths, three wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers trialed by both flasher/Fly combos and spoons, and two 300 coppers fished off our Big John Otter Boats.

The fishing was so good by 10am they had caught more than they wanted, but we fished until noon looking for a big LOC Derby fish and/or a big fish for the Friday event my brother put on in the marina. This day was no different than last weekend when a 30+ fish day was easily accomplished by noon. We also found the further East we went the better the bite got. Our screen was insane from the red barn to the microwave.

On our riggers we pulled Northern King Sea Sick Waddler mags, Northern King Lazer Spook mags, and a Moonshine Green Shorts (the spoon my brother picked up at Captains Cove). On our 300 coppers we had a Dreamweaver Blue Angle Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK UV Dolphin, and a Dreamweaver Mulatto Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK shredded white mirage. Those two combos were smoking hot on this morning. The divers had multiple lures go down on them, but one combo that was hot was a green Smart Fish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle.

Our big fish for the day was about 20lbs, but we had a ton of teenage fish that came to play. We knew where we were starting in the morning for the Wilson Harbor Invitational, and had a good feeling that we could put together a good box.

Yankee's Wilson Harbor Invitational Report

To say we were excited was an understatement! To begin with we had the ol’ man out fishing the event with us. That was enough to make the day great! We were one of the first boats out of the chute to wait for the shotgun start. It seemed like it took forever. When 6am hit we put the hammer down. We had her right to the wall for the short three mile run.

We dropped lines in around 80’ of water in front of the Red Barn. We set up our three Cannon DT0’s almost instantly, and put out two wires, and a 300 copper. The bite was slower than the day before, but we were getting our bites. Lots of fish in the 8-13lb range. We struggled to get six nice keeper fish. Lots of lures went in, and lots of lures came out. Our bigger fish seemed to come sporadically. We tried meat down deep, and we pulled the same class fish. At one point we sent the 20lb shark down to 240’ over 250’, and it fired with a teenage fish. There were no real MVPs for the day.

Around noon we swung into 65-70’ of water and picked up weeds on everything. The decision was made to pick them up and make a move. We shot back to Wilson, and fished the 175’-200’ area, and just kept taking the same class fish. The fish here seemed to be higher, and our Cannons really took most of the shots.

When we hit weigh in we saw many similar boxes. As one by one came through the weigh in line we would sink further and further down the roster. We would end up in the top half, but not by very much. We all had a great time at the event, and if your not fishing this event your definitely missing out! I would like to give a huge thumbs up to Kevin and the Wilson Boat Yard for their efforts, and to my girlfriend Melanie who fished on an all girls team and beat us!

May 13th - Mothers Day Evening Charter

Paul and Jack met us at 3:30 for an afternoon trip. We heard the morning bite was pretty good, so we were anxious to get back out there after a relaxing morning. We set up right out front and pointed the boat East. We set down our Cannon DT’s, four wires, and two 300 coppers. Spoons on the Cannon DTs and high wires. Flasher Fly combos on everything else. We worked down to the red barn with a slow slow pick. With about an hour to go the bite really turned on. A Northern King Metallic Frog, and a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler were MVP’s for the night fished off our Cannons. We got our limit for Paul and Jack, so we pulled lines and headed in to get some dinner.

Many things took a shot, but not many went more than once.

May 14th - Charter

Paul and Jack came back for some more! We left the dock at 5:30 all jacked up about a great morning bite. We set lines NE of Wilson, and trolled down to the red barn. We had a quick morning bite, but it really turned into a grind bite. We worked the 100-125’ are where we saw our best screen. Our program didn’t change from the previous few trips. Our three Cannon DT10s saw action as did four wires, and a couple of 300 coppers fished off our Big John Otter Boats.

The bite was much slower than anticipated. Our MVP for the morning was a meat rig fished on one of our low divers. We toughed it out in there until about 11am when we decided to point it North. Once we did that we got into them. Our Cannons were now the ticket pulling Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers down 45-100’.

[Mortigan]

Nice weekend's worth of work.