Salmon Slam/1K/LOC/Shakedown report

[skipper19]

Finally got off the road trolling for dollars one day before the events. Scrambled around trying to get things ready including the installation of the X4 FishHawk. Captain Mike "Mick" Grager came to help with the preparations and the actual shake down was the first day of the three events. From the first day of the seven day event, we would go on to fish the entire south shore from Devils Nose to mid point between Wilson and the Niagara Bar in search of kings. Everything ran well except the Yamaha 9.9 outboard, and we trolled most of the first day with the 225. The wind was west and even though the big motor was a bit fast at 3 mph we discovered the kings might like it that way.

Day one Mick and I decided to fish the waters in front of the power plant at Somerset. We knew the cold water was coming out of the Niagara after the boom removal and the west wind would push cold water down the inside toward Wilson. So we launched at Olcott and headed out to 40 fow and set up three down riggers with spoons and three long lines with sticks and spoons moving east. Later switched to divers flasher flies and moved deeper to 50 and 70 fow to discover laker land and couldn't keep them off anything. More than 30 came to the boat some were over 13 lbs but 90 % were 8 to 10 lb fish. We moved back to 30 and 40 fow and finally hooked our first king in front of the plant. It was the only one of the day and although not big we decided to enter the first of seven with it and called it the small fish of the group so we could concentrate on fish over 17 lbs for the next 6 days. First day done with a 10.40 entry and 1 of only 3 teams to weigh the first day.

Day 2 Sunday was a blow off for us. West winds increased and we discussed how the wind would affect the cold water from the Niagara. We figured it would cause a minefield of ice and debris to push down to Wilson area and decided to use the day to repair the problem with the 9.9 troller instead of battling wind and cold water out west. I found the carburetor to be fouled up with the electronic choke metering needle and now it runs with a cleaning but the troll master servo also failed and now we had to use the tiller throttle to control speed throughout the rest of the event.

Day 3 Monday, my good friend Tom Conine came up from Conesus to join the Stand & Deliver team and fish the next two days with Mick and I. We launched at Point Breeze to try waters east. We ran 3 riggers 2 outriggers and a chute line of copper out 150 or a mono split shot rig and 2 slide divers on a 3 setting for a total of 8 rods all depending on the depth of the water. The day was slow and the kings would not show up but the water was clear and we only found good color down in front of Eagle Harbor and out along the west side of Devils Nose. The usual troll pattern brought lakers again in the deeper water and a brown trout and a couple coho. Moving back west we never moved a rod back to the ladders.

Day 4 Tuesday was back to Olcott and try the waters west and found colder water than at Point Breeze. We ran a full spoon program to target the kings but they were scarce to nonexistent. As we headed west the water got colder although the color was good. Again the Lakers were snapping at everything down there when hitting the 50 to 60 fow zone. Tough to get any kings with the lures all coming back with Lakers attached.

Day 5 Wednesday, only the 10.40 salmon still on our list and five teams have put more kings on their list to help us figure the average weight to shoot for now and it is lower than expected. Now our low limit will be 16 lb and up we figure. Just gotta find them...not been easy for anyone. Tom had to leave for home Tuesday evening so just Mick and I are running the six rod spread again. We had to start later in the afternoon due to an appointment for Mick, so we fished Point Breeze again and decided to go west this time and started in front of port. We stayed close to shore with a full spoon program mostly NK28 and standard Moonshine or super slim Dreamweaver. Moving into Johnson creek water the temp came up and color was perfect. A shoal in front of Green Harbor was holding the warm water and color in close with the east wind like a dam. Soon it was fish on and screaming and launched like a rocket. Mick hands the rod off to me as the second salmon slams the out down and now we are doubled up. We were trolling into the wind and now there is no helmsman. The boat gets pushed in the direction of shore and we manage to get turned away and head deeper to play them, because these fish hit in 15 fow. Mick's fish is smaller and he let's it fight in a rod holder to man the net to get mine in the boat. He scoops it and then I scoop his and we decide to run directly to weigh at Olcott. We make it there 20 minutes before closing at the Boat Doctor. We register the bigger one at 18.15 lb the other was a 12 lb fish under our own set limit of 16 lb. Now at days end the average weight of other entries is a bit under 16 and we can go a little lighter to be competitive. We now have a king haven discovered.

Thursday day 6. We need some kings, we need them real soon. We hit the Johnson creek water again and east wind is still holding that water steady. We run directly to it and game on! 20 minutes later we are doubled again and box a 14.55lb king for weigh in. The other king was a 8 lb fish we returned to the lake. We went on to hook a nice 7 lb brown trout that Mick brought in and then the spot was burned up by boat traffic and the shallow bite clammed up. So we picked up to weigh the morning fish before it lost too much weight and launched that afternoon in Olcott to finish the day there. We went west out of port and found birds working the surface heavily on something so we trolled to them and found the bottom was covered in alewife and there were large hooks near them. A quick look on the navigation and a way point plopped on it revealed we were in the dumping ground in 55 fow. Not long as we turned out to come back around and hit the way point a king grabs one of the spoons on the down rigger and screams away 400 feet. Mick handily brings the salmon to the boat and the net scoops another nice salmon. We tried several more loops through the bait but only managed to snag the alewife on two spoons. It's getting late so time to weigh in. It tips the scale at 18.25 lb. at the Boat Doctor in Olcott. We need three more like that tomorrow...The last day...a bit spooky, but we have some knowledge now, and conditions are still the same with the water. It's a choice of two spots now that hold kings which are like gold this time of year.

Friday. ..last day, it's decided to go back to Johnsons creek very early and beat boat traffic in the skinny water. Straight down there we go and set all spoons on the riggers and outriggers and a chute rod of split shot on mono. 20 minutes later we have a triple of kings on and like before no helmsman. All of the fish are in the boat but no biggies. However we do have our seven total needed to max out our registered fish. We troll some more in that water but being in 15 fow for too long will spook the fish out. Soon the bite died and there were close to a dozen boats in the same water by 7 to 8 am. It was toast for the tiny spot that held kings for 3 days in a row again. We moved away and fished other waters without another fish other than the Lakers again. Some coho were mixed in and a couple browns but we need kings. By about 2:30 PM most of the boat traffic in there went away and we decided to come back into the skinny water one more time. This time the fish were spotted a little deeper in 18 to 20 fow. Spoons again and we finally hookup but it is short lived as the king came unbuttoned. It was a good one and could have been an upgrade to the small box. A big let down and discouragement began to set in knowing we needed to maintain that 16 lb average. We gave the spot a rest again for an hour. Then trolled the area one more time at 5pm. Again in 20 minutes another king with shoulders takes a 42 second spoon of the down rigger 12 feet down over 15 and screams off then stopped and ran at the boat then twisted and pulsed and managed to dislodge the hook....heartbreaking! A fast moving storm was blowing in from the west and I had to pull rods and run for cover at port...end of the day...end of the Slam and 1K. Those last three fish could not be upgraded and we fell down the list with a poor average on the last day. Three fish weighing 7.20..11.95..and13.55... for a 7 fish total points of 94.05 and we needed those two that escaped to have a chance at the money.

We had a great time and it was fun to play strategy to find the fish during an extremely tough lake and conditions. We had fun and that's what counts..especially with friends!

Most of our hits came on dark colored spoons in regular size like the 42 second and some spooks. Some were taken on flashier spoons like the Moonshine RV Crab face in either regular or mag. All the kings came from less than 20 feet except 2. The most productive speed was 2.8 to 3 GPS sog. Not one king came on any long lines other than the 50 to 60 foot leads off the ball on the Scotty riggers.

Mark

One of a hundred! Lol!

Mick's nice brownie!

Fully deployed!

Tom with #101 oye!

Mick with one of the 18 lb kings

No net! Keep the slime on the outside!

cent frum my notso smart fone

[Mick]

It was a fun, but LONG!!!! week of fishing. I was wore out by Friday!! We fished hard for those 6 days, and in American waters to boot, to come up with our 7 fish!! Even though we didn't finish in the top 5, I think we did the best we could with the conditions we had on the US side during a week of very tough fishing!!!! With only 2 of us on board for 4 of the 6 days that we fished also! I had fun fishing with you, and Tom, and I hope you guys did also. - Mick

[poplar kraft]

Holy essay....lol

[BrokeOff]

when ur troll master servo went bad did it display anything on the screen?  mine has been displaying black squares of death all the way across the screen as soon as the battery switch is turned on and i cant get rid of them.

[Big Water]

Good read.  Thanks!

[FX]

Great report Mark! Hope you guys got some much needed rest. Good chatting with ya out there.

Shawn

[skipper19]

when ur troll master servo went bad did it display anything on the screen? mine has been displaying black squares of death all the way across the screen as soon as the battery switch is turned on and i cant get rid of them.

You must have the newer digital model. Mine is the troll master 2. The servo went bad before another time and I received a new one free of charge.. free shipping from Bill at the company. It worked up until this year. The unit is 4 years old. The servo pushed the throttle to wide open when it failed. Then it wouldn't work at all. It's a servo used in radio control planes and stuff so I was looking locally for it but couldn't find any in stock. They are only about 12 bucks and it is a tower pro brand ST 5010. When it goes full throttle on you it is probably toast.

cent frum my notso smart fone

[BrokeOff]

funny you say that.  when i pulled the boat last year from the marina it did exactly that.  the kicker was rev'd up and wouldn't back off I couldn't figure out why.  i have the troll master pro2, pictured below.  I contacted the company with my issues and they told me to pull everything wires included and send it in for repair.   Where is the servo located?

 

This is the unit I have:

[GAMBLER]

Nice job guys. 

Edited May 12, 2014 by GAMBLER

[skipper19]

The servo is on the motor mounted to a bracket. Follow the wires to it and there is a plug on the lead to it to unplug and remove the servo. It has a round wheel on it and the throttle control rod is attached to the carburetor linkage. Each motor has different linkage but the servo is probably the same. If it did that high rev, and no control, it is likely just a bad servo.

cent frum my notso smart fone

[skipper19]

It was a fun, but LONG!!!! week of fishing. I was wore out by Friday!! We fished hard for those 6 days, and in American waters to boot, to come up with our 7 fish!! Even though we didn't finish in the top 5, I think we did the best we could with the conditions we had on the US side during a week of very tough fishing!!!! With only 2 of us on board for 4 of the 6 days that we fished also! I had fun fishing with you, and Tom, and I hope you guys did also. - Mick

Yes Mick! You were working hard for those fish and your experience with charter trips was a great plus in rigging with speed. Both of us were happy to have you on the team and the combination of knowledge and skills are evident in the placing with fish from the USA that were scarcer than frogs hair. I think we found kings in a total of 8 acres in water that was holding them. What a needle in the haystack kind of fishing! Thank you for being there with me and helping sort out the puzzle, and most importantly, FUEL!..LOL!

Mark

cent frum my notso smart fone

[BrokeOff]

thanks skipper