Finders Keepers Oswego Pro-Am Report

[Finders Keepers]

This weekend was nothing short of DYNAMITE!! We pre-fished out of Fair Haven on Wed and found a decent class of fish in fairly good numbers (we went 15 for 20 that morning and ended with all 6 rods firing ). On Thu we pre-fished out of Oswego and found very scattered fish (browns in close, steelies out deeper, with kings sitting on the bottom over 300-500 fow). Earlier in the week we had hit Sodus and had no problems putting fish in the boat - good numbers and good size. So our plan was to hit Sodus on Fri.

Friday morning we hit the water at 3:30am in Oswego and shot up to Sodus, setting lines a little east of port. Unfortately the bite had slowed significantly since earlier in the week and the fish were smaller in size. So we made the decision mid-morning to shoot back to Fair Haven and work the more scattered, larger fish. We banged one good king right off the bat about 20 lbs, and we thought we made the right decision, but then we washed lures for a looooong time. It seemed our area had turned into a desert, so we began working eastward towards Oswego in search mode. With about an hour to go, we finally marked two nice marks on the screen and soon thereafter, doubled up on 20+ sharks! We ended the day 9 for 14 and headed to weigh-in. Our 3 kings weighed-in at 64.__ lbs and landed us a 6th place finish!

Saturday our plan was to work the same area off Fair Haven, except this time get in on the early morning bite. Unfortunately, one big disadvantage we have as one of the smaller boats (the smallest for the Oswego Pro-Am), is that any rollers can really limit our ability to fly to any location. The lake looked flat, but there was just enough of a roll coming from the west that it limited our speed and it took over an hour to get to our starting point off Fair haven! We set lines and in the first hour we had 6 hits, but only put 2 teenagers in the boat. The bite seemed to die-off so we went into search mode working deeper. We found the kings in small pods and would get 2-4 hits per pod, but the pods were very few and far between. We decided not to go after browns and focus on our Trophy Box. Luckily we were able to get 5 good fish in the box plus a smaller king when it came time to pull lines and head to weigh-in. After we weighed-in, we had a 119.__ box and put us in third! We nervously watched as team after team weighed-in and when the last team came through, we ended up in 7th place for the Trophy Division! Since we had focused on the Trophy Box, our Classic Box was lower in the ranks at 17th place.

For Sunday, we did a lot of researching and came up with the plan to head to Sodus, despite the poor catches that had come in the day before, mainly because we knew the numbers of fish were there, and since most Pro boats wouldn't be targeting there Sunday, we hoped the kings would turn back on. In order for our plan to succeed, the lake was going to have to be flat in the morning so we could fly there without losing much fishing time. To avoid the washing machine from all the wakes, we made sure we were one of the first boats to the lighthouse and luckily for us, there was a light SSE breeze and at the shotgun start. So we flew towards Sodus and were very happy to see the last two boats following us set-down just east of Fair Haven. We were on our target zone at 5:40 setting lines, not too shabby for the 28 mile run! It wasn't too long before the first rod fired and it was GAME ON!!! For most of the morning we followed the same mile and a half line picking up one or two fish each pass, all kings, and all decent sized. The hits were very aggressive and we only missed a couple haeding into our last hour of fishing, which at the time we had 9 kings in the box. Other boats in the area had seen us tracking that line and had moved into the area shutting the bite down. So we moved a half mile east and doubled up! But the rigger fish came off! The other was a beautiful 18 lb'er. After setting back up and with only about 15 minutes left to fish, we doubled up again, only this time the wire fish dropped it, and we were able to land the rigger fish, a 15 lb king that hit the Shark Spoon! While my brother fought that fish, I pulled all the lines so we could run our box in, despite being one fish short of boxing out. Our plan had worked so far and we hoped everyone back in Oswego had targeted browns and that the salmon bite was still very slow and scattered. As we approached Oswego, we saw many boats in shallow targeting browns and we were feeling very good about our box!

We tagged the larger fish with the zip ties and started putting them back in the cooler. When we got to the last two fish (the largest of the box), they wouldn't fit! So luckily I had planned ahead for such an occurrance and we added a second cooler. We then headed over to weigh-in where we turned some heads when we pulled both coolers out of the truck. Our largest king was just over 25 lbs and our total weight ended up being 88.78 for the Trophy box, and 137.87 for the Classic box.

We finished with 5 titles: 7th place trophy box (day 1), 1st place classic box (day 2), 3rd place trophy box (day 2), 3rd place overall trophy box, and 8th place overall classic box.

Here's some shots after the awards ceremony:

A few days off then it's back on the water preparing for the Sodus Pro-Am!! See everyone there and good luck! Only one week left of the Summer LOC!!

[TOP SECRET]

Nice job guys! You were killing us on Sunday, we knew we were doing something wrong as we couldn't move a rod, but it took us most of the morning to finally figure out what it was

I'll be up Wed afternoon fishing through Sunday, see you out there!

Nick

[traveling man]

great job. im glad the weather worked out for you guys.

[Dirty Goose]

you need to buy a yeti!!

[stoutner]

Great job guys. It was good talking to you at the Weigh In. I was checking out your boat after and was surprised to see you guys fishing off a small boat like mine. Great job!

[Finders Keepers]

I'd like to note that the new format of the Pro-Am's is a winner! We were a little skeptical at first, but now really like the new format. It spreads the money out, gives you more chances to place (even if you have a poor day-1), and adds an element of strategy for the different boxes. For those teams on the fence about participating or not wanting to go against the "big boats", take this into consideration: both the Niagara and the Oswego Pro-Am's have had divisions won by the smallest boat in the tournament! Just some food for thought...