Yankee @ the Oak 7/21-7/22

[Yankee Troller]

July 21st - Dave just couldn’t get enough Lake Ontario Salmon fishing a month ago, so he brought up some more friends to experience this great resource. We left the dock at 5:30am fully knowing that Mother Nature blew apart the inside waters we have targeted for about the last month.

We drove out past the fog bank, thanks to the cold water inside, and found the water starting to warm up around the 25N line. We set in and threw down our three Cannon DT10s, and watched the screen for 15 minutes. We saw nothing that made us want to stay, so we picked the lines and pushed it another mile North. We set in around the 26.5N line and out went our program. Since we were in search mode we threw it all at them!

We set our Cannons down between 30 and 70’. Temp was still pretty high, but it would gradually go down as we pushed North. We set our low divers on 2’s with flasher/flys, and our high divers on 3.5’s with spoons. We had a 5 color on one board and a 10 color on the other with a 300 copper down the chute. Everything had a mix of spoons and flasher/fly combos.

It started really slow for us, but thank god these guys took an 8 hour charter. As the day progressed so did the bite. We ended up going to an all spoon program with the excretion of our low divers. AS we crossed over in the 27N line the screen got better, and so did the action. We worked the 27-28N lines all day, but the annoying part was that you could only get bit on one troll. Our Dreamweaver Green Gator was our best spoon in the morning, but by the afternoon we had to pull it because it had shut down. Our low divers were going consistently back 200’ with Dreamweaver Hammertime Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly, and a Dreamweaver Green Dot Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK UV Dolphin. On our high diver we had a Moonshine Green Shorts going good out 225-250’.

We had a lot of missed opportunities, but we boated some nice fish too! Our two biggies went 26.5 and 23.5 pounds. The cold water made these fish very feisty. They would hit and immediately come up to the surface and shark to the left or right. It was a fun trip and I know these guys had a blast.

July 22nd Morning - We left the dock with intentions of fishing the same waters from the previous day. The screen was the same as were the water temps. We dropped in at the 26N line and trolled it out to the 28N line. We worked the 27-28N line all morning long. The bite wasn’t as good as it was the day before, but we managed to get our bites.

Our program was very similar to the day before. Low divers pulling flasher/fly combos, and high divers pulling spoons. The two combos that took fish for us on our low divers were the Dreamweaver Hammertime/A-TOM-MIK Hammer fly and a Chrome Green Dot E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Bobblehead. Our Cannons were parked from 30-80’ down with sliding cheaters. One one Otter boat we pulled a 10 color, and on the other was a 300 copper. The MVP in the morning was our new Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers parked on a downrigger. A nice 12lb Steelie liked it so much he bent our SS slider almost in half. A Dreamweaver Moon Cricket was also taking a few fish on the deeper rigger.

As the sun got high I remembered how much Kings like the Dreamweaver Get R Dun’s when they are high in the water column so I put two down on a rigger, and a mag verision on a high diver. Both took shots by the end of the trip.

We dropped half of our fish again today, and I am beginning to think it has something to do with the wicked currents. It was another morning where direction of troll really mattered. It was still a fun trip, and these guys had a blast!

July 22nd Afternoon - We heard of a good bite at the 31N line, so that was the line we wanted to check out. WE set in at the 27N line and trolled it N/NW out. We dropped two steelies on the way out, and both were pigs. One hit the copper, and another came unbuttoned off a rigger.

We kept a similar program to the morning trip. Mostly a spoon program with the exception of the Dreamweaver Hammertime/A-TOM-MIK Hammer, and a Chrome Green Dot E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Bobblehead on our low divers. When we hit the 31N line with an hour and a half left in the trip the rods went crazy! All big kings too! We had Northern King Copper NBKs, Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddlers, and Dreamweaver Gators down on our Cannon DT10s. Our high divers had a Moonshine Green Shorts, and a Dreamweaver Get R Dun Mag.

Fish were flopping on the floor, doubles were being fought, and everyone was laughing as hard as they could at the may-lay we were putting on these fish! It was a good time had by all!