SBHW Salmon Slam - August 1st, 2015

[TOP SECRET]

Results from yesterday's Salmon Slam. Congratulations to Bear Creek Bandit!

[Wolfhound]

Thanks Nick... Was a fun day and we got lucky with a big one. Our vet was marine sniper who served in Vietnam. It could not have been a better fit. 3 army vets on my crew. He reeled in that fish in 7 ft plus waves in 550 ft. Took 800 ft on wire. Two face pro troll and atomic pro- am fly. Setting out to 300 took it at 270. He was mean...2 of my crew were sick and took it like a champ. He did mention that you have to have a lot of heart to fish in those conditions. I just told him we are a little touched! Good times! Thanks to all who put this together.

I have video of it... Will try to post

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Gill-T]

Thank you to everyone involved with the event.  Team Gill-T Hooker will be back next year for sure.  

 

PS: The fishing and conditions were pretty good today off Sodus.  Big fish are around!

[mudflat]

Another great Salmon Slam spending time with some old friends and making new ones.

 

Met up with Tom, the vet who was on my boat last year, on Friday at Arney's and he must be a glutton for punishment because he wanted to get back on my boat again this year.  My boat was having some mechanical issues so I teamed up with Sammy Gee on his boat and we made plans for Saturday.

 

With a Small Craft Advisory posted for after 10 am with a strong west wind and 2-3 footers we planned to head west out of the chute and troll into the wind for awhile so we could surf back when the waves built during the day.  Sammy thought that was the best plan even though he thought the fish were East of the chute.  Everything went well and it wasn't long before we were hooked up with our 1st king on a Green Dolphin down 85' over 175 fow.

 

 

Tom was on the rod and it didn't take long for him to get the hang of it. The pressure was off, we had one in the box

 

 

We bloodied the deck on Sammy's new to him ride 

 

 

And we bloodied Sammy's leg just for fun

 

 

It's a good thing we had our medic on board just in case

 

Next up turned out to be a Steely on a wire dipsy out 300' with a blue mirage fly which Tom handled like a pro.  This fish won the steelhead division by .03 lbs.

 

 

We ended up boxing 2 more kings, both off the riggers down 90-110, one on a glow gator and the other on a carmel dolphin. Now the waves had built up to 3-4 with some 5 footers mixed in for fun and we decided to pull lines and motor in.  Even though we had headed West the wind had pushed us East and we now found ourselves East of Port Bay, Sammy was right, he had found the fish. But now we had a long ride back to Sodus into the wind, good thing we had Tom along to take us in

 

 

Lunch was waiting for us when we got in and I had time to catch up with some guys I'd met in prior years.  Every vet I talked with told me how much days like this mean to them and that they look forward to this every year. 

 

Thanks Nick and Theresa for putting this all together now for four years.

 

Thanks to all the sponsors who help make it possible with their donations.

 

Thanks to Arney's for taking such good care of us while we are there

 

Thanks to all the volunteers who give their time to make it happen

 

Thanks to all the veterans for their service

 

Can't wait to do it again next year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gill-T]

Good call on heading in early with fish as the seas grew to 6'-8'ers by 10:00.  Luckily we had a Navy vet!  Mac, as he is known by his fellow vets, handled the rough seas like a trooper battling kings on his knees to keep from falling over.  I think we gave him an adventure he will never forget.  I would have to say the sponsor product given out were FANTASTIC.  Anyone thinking about doing this event next year....do it!

 

PS: Unfortunately the rules committee will not allow smallmouth bass be submitted for the brown trout division

[stoutner]

It is truly ridiculous (in a good way) how much the sponsors throw in for this event. Nick and Theresa and Tim and Jeff and many others work really hard to get items donated and it really shows. I am shocked (in a good way) at how much SWAG is given away to the veterans and the captains at this event. I know all of us would be happy to take out these guys if no swag was given away. It is really nice of all of these sponsors to donate thousands and thousands of dollars to this event.

 

I'd also like to make a special shout out to Sammy G. aka Sodus Point Sammy for his Super generous donation that comes out of his personal funds in order to help out the Captains in this event. It is one thing for companies to donate their products and in turn promote their products and an entirely different thing for Sammy to dig into his wallet and donate over $1500.00 toward this great cause. If you haven't had the chance to meet Sammy you should. He is a great guy.

[Fishtails]

I second what Wayne said, it was truly inspiring.  I didn't know that about Sammy, but I will thank him soon. I have not been to an event where more quality merchandise was ever given away. The vets all walked away with a great experience and memories, as well as some terrific product and plenty of fillets. 

 

For me, it was my first time at the Salmon Slam and it was a really good time. I ended up having three people aboard that had never fished Lake O, including our vet Bill who was just super cool!  Our vet had a BLAST, he said he felt like he was 20 years old again.  He wasn't concerned about catching fish, so I ran way west and trolled with a following sea in some pretty snotty conditions and we exchanged stories and had a few laughs more than we caught fish. There weren't many fish west, but we caught 4 smaller fish with a couple kings and a couple browns and it was such a comfortable troll I know it was the right decision, seeing this event is more about the fun than about the winning.

 

In the end we won first place Brown Trout anyway because we were the only boat to catch one   . The conditions were definitely not brown trout friendly, with 66 degrees on the bottom in 90 fow and 5-6 foot swells. I was surprised we even pulled a few to be honest. 

 

Everyone who organizes, volunteered and donated should be very proud of themselves for what they do for these vets. I was humbled and honored to be a participant.

Edited August 3, 2015 by Fishtails

[crumcake1223]

 the dipsy ranger feel so honored be among all of you! thank each and every one of you that helped make this event what it is. from the people  that help set this all up, to sponsors,to  boat crews ,to the vets. each and every year this has been the highlight for us. we have met so many great friends each year fishing the sbhw. that in its self has been such great reward! we cant wait until the next time we all meet again. until then our friends safe waters and tight lines to you all

[TOP SECRET]

Wow, what a weekend!  First, I would like to thank everyone who made this event happen.  Our volunteers and captains are the ones who make this event possible.  Without you guys and girls, there is no way we could continue to grow this event every year and help heal more and more Veterans.

 

After a long week at work in North Carolina, I flew into Syracuse and Theresa picked me up at the airport.  I turned airplane mode off on my phone and I knew immediately that it was Salmon Slam weekend.  12 missed calls, 8 voicemails, and 16 new text messages... yikes!  (My apologies to anyone I didn't get back to quickly or may have forgotten to get back to all together!)  We drove over to Screwy Louies and met up with Brendon to purchase some prizes with our remaining budget and then headed into Sodus Point.  We met with Dick and his wife at the Sodus Point Fudge and Gifts Shop to discuss options for their donation to the event.  We checked in at Arneys Marina and blocked off the corner of the marina we use for the event so that folks heading out for a weekend trip wouldn't park in the area we needed for the weekend.  Then we headed over to Chaz (Indecisive's) house to pack the Captain and Vet gift bags.  We had a small army of volunteers there to help us pack the 32 Captain bags and 35 Veteran bags.  We finally finished around midnight and Theresa and about that time the wave forecast for Saturday changed to 1-3 building 2-4, not good!  

 

Friday morning:

I woke up groggy and stepped out of the boat to a stiff West wind.  I took about two steps and an older gentleman started complaining to me about the marina blocking off space in the parking lot to have a party.  I explained to him how we were having an event for wounded and disabled Veterans, but he must have been having a bad day, so I walked away thinking, great this isn't a good start!  I checked my phone and had about a dozen texts... they fit into one of the following categories:

• It's really rough out!

• Is BFF still on?

• YEEHAAAA!

From the sounds of it, there were 2-4s out there, which is never fun to fish in, but yes BFF was still on with the forecast of it calming down.  Several of us used the time to start setting up the ez-ups and other items for the Salmon Slam.  A few boats ventured out as far as the light house and turned around deciding to stop by the marina and help setup instead, which was really nice.  Many of us ventured over to Nick's Diner for breakfast rather than fight the waves.  About 10am, the wind calmed down and many folks that stayed in, headed out to the lake.  I decided to take Theresa to the nursery to pick out some plants for the event instead of taking her out in rough water.

 

 

We returned to the marina and were greeted by Jeff and Tim from Finders Keepers looking to be the first to be weighed in.  That was of course the time I realized I didn't bring up the stand to hang the fish from and weigh them.  Roy (Mudflat) had a good idea to use a ladder as an A frame, so we borrowed one from Arneys and began weigh in.

 

A lot of fish were caught and it was obvious that there were some large fish around with multiple 20+lb kings caught!

 

 

 

 

At the end of weigh in, team Hairy Bee took home the $550 prize!

 

 

 

 

 

Once weigh in was complete, we headed to Docker's Restaurant on the other side of the bay for dinner.

 

We had 80+ fishermen, families, Veterans, and friends join us for an amazing meal of prime rib, chicken parmesan, and haddock casino.  Dockers did an amazing job and by the volume of the crowd it was pretty obvious that everyone was having a great time!

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, we headed back to Chaz's house to finish up prepping for the Salmon Slam the next day.  We finished up the gift bags, packed the cars with the bags, prizes, and supplies and we were ready to go... and it was only midnight!  This was also when the wave forecast changed for the worse.  3-5ft with gusts up to 25mph.  However, it looked like we would have a window in the morning where it wouldn't be as rough, which was good.

 

 

 

[TOP SECRET]

430am came too early and the alarm went off.  We crawled out of the boat and were met by a buzz of fishermen and volunteers, all of whom were as excited as we were for the Salmon Slam and came early to see if they could help in any way.  It was awesome.  We all got ready for the event and the lines of Veterans and Captains began to form at the check in table.  Gift bags were handed out and Veterans were assigned to their respective boats.  A quick Captain's meeting and the teams boarded their boats.

 

We assembled in the bay outside of Arney's Marina and were greeted by the Sodus Point Coast Guard, fire departments, and sheriff.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Coast Guard announced on the radio that they were going to provide us an honorary escort for our Veterans and teams out through the pier heads.  They fired up their lights and off we went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As many of us approached the 5mph no wake zone, we began to slow down... much to our surprise, the Coast Guard, fire departments, and Sheriff kept going full throttle!  WOW!  They brought us straight through the chute at full speed, an honor I've heard stories about, but never been able to partake in until then.  What an amazing moment, lights flashing with 32 boats going on plane through the channel.  It is a sight that I will never forget.  It was a bit crazy with everyone's wakes, but it was A W E S O M E!

 

 

 

 

We passed the pier heads and received a good luck signal from our escorts.

 

 

We were off, the Salmon Slam had begun!  It was a bit rough with 2 footers, but it was definitely fishable.

 

 

 

 

 

About 45 minutes passed and the radio was pretty quiet.  I started to get nervous that the fish weren’t going to show up and it was getting rougher by the second.  Then a few boats started to report hits, then more!  Some boats were in 500+ fow, some were in 100fow, but many were hooking up with fish.  Our Veteran, Dave, turned to us and said, I always catch my fish on purple when I’m with you guys, can you put out some purple?  So we put out the blood death board and fly on the dipsey, let it out to 300 on a #1 setting and I headed back to the wheel.  I didn’t even get there and the bloody death starts screaming!  Dave is hooked up!

 

 

Theresa had a bit of trouble netting the fish and I got to enjoy hanging off the back of the boat and pulling the fish in with my stainless fish holder, but we got it in!  At that point it was getting so rough that I couldn’t really get a picture of the king, let alone have Dave try to hold it.  We gave it a bit longer, but the waves were getting to that 8ft range and were pushing the boat so hard that the dipseys were popping and taking out line.  We decided to call it a morning and head in to take a tour of Sodus Bay.

 

A couple of the boats that already went in called us and warned us that we were going to have fun trying to get in…

 

As we got closer, we saw why… the port looked like it had teeth and there were about 50 sailboats making their way through the bay and out of the chute!

 

 

 

 

Between the rough water and sailboats taking up most of the channel, it was a scary ride in.  We had a few close calls with sailboats sailing through the chute instead of engine power, but we made it through.  The DEC was there to do a creel survey at the end of the chute, so we stopped to give them our information.  They finished and I looked up to see a sailboat barreling down at us!  I quickly hit the gas and got out of the way.  We took a run around the bay to let my nerves calm down and relax a bit.  The bay was beautiful and we were able to show Dave where he had dinner the night prior (Dockers) from the water.

 

 

[TOP SECRET]

We returned to port and prepared for weigh in and a BBQ.

 

 

 

The grill was fired up and burgers and dogs began cooking.  RFH’s Hideaway brought salads and other items and there was some great food.

 

Weigh in began and there were a lot of nice kings caught by the Veterans!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After weigh in, we had our prize ceremony and prize raffle.

 

I don’t have all of the pictures uploaded yet of the Veteran raffle… I will try to add them when I get them from the person who took the pictures…

 

The Captain’s prize drawing followed…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our 4th annual Sodus Bay Healing Waters Salmon Slam and it was by far our best yet, even with the rough water.  Many of our visiting Veterans stopped by to shake my hand and let me know how great their Captains were and how much they truly appreciated everything that was done for them and the time and energy people put into building a relationship with them this weekend.  Everyone that participated should be extremely proud and know that they made a difference in people’s lives, mine included.  Thank you everyone for your help, support, and dedication to this year’s event.  I look forward to seeing you all at next year’s event.  It is with great pleasure that I announce our 5th annual Sodus Bay Healing Waters Salmon Slam will be held on Saturday, August 6th, 2016.  I hope to be able to enjoy this time with you all again next year!

 

 

[TOP SECRET]

oh and I also wanted to thank Jack and Janet from Echo One and of course Mary and Chaz from Indecisive for their help and long hours this weekend!  Chaz was our burger flipper along with Mark from RFH Hideway.  Chaz earned a new nickname this weekend... "Yellow Jacket".  Can you guess why?

 

[bout time]

I have sat back and let this years event kinda set in. I am proud to say i have been a part of this program from the start. i did not know anyone involved other than their " screen name " from LOU in the beginning. I have met many friends through this program and memories that will last a lifetime. I have seen this event grow every year and have seen the volunteer list also grow. it is truly amazing how much everyone gives and will do anything that is needed for the Veterans. i have participated in other similar programs (wounded warriors fishing) and can honestly say that this is the best run program with the most support. There are several people that truly step up every year to help (most mentioned above) but the two most un-selfish people, that if it were not for them this event would not be here are Nick and Theresa Allers. They put in more hours and behind the scenes work than most realize. They rarely ask for help and always have a smile on their face. They have taken this from a "what can i do" thought to what it is today. it is truly amazing to see this come together every year but i want to recognize both Nick and Theresa for everything they have done and continue to do. You both will always be considered in my eyes as two truly amazing people and my friends. From the entire Juskow Family we thank you both and look forward to all the future years.

 

Edited August 3, 2015 by bout time

[ryonybony]

Nick, You guys do an awesome job setting this whole event up. I am glad to be a part of it. Just like "bout time", I really had to let this event this year sink in. The vet I took out last year was supposed to come up the weekend earlier to come out with me becaues he wouldnt be able to make the salmon slam. I told him that anytime he wants to come up, I would be honored to take him out. I was up at the lake for three days working out different issues with my boat to get him out, and last minute had to cancel the trip, and honestly was even wondering if I could get the boat running for the salmon slam. A few days later, John found a way to make it up for the official slam and that same day I finally worked out the issues with my boat. I was phyched!

I was planning to head out to 400+ FOW because I heard it was good and I fish there often this time of year. As we were heading out of the chute, it was looking good...NW to 400 feet...here we ...yeah. As the waves started to build I realized it would take about 2 hours to get out to where I wanted to be and the waves were supposed to build. We decided to troll with the waves in 200 fow and see what we could do. About 30 minutes in we hooked up with a nice 18 pound king. 30 minutes later we were hooked up again...but it broke off. We trolled another 30 minutes and I looked at my dad and said lets pick up and drive back through the waves and go through the line again. Once we went to throttle is when it hit me... WOW these waves got big!  It felt like we were driving backwards! We set up about 45 minutes later and as I was putting the lines down I saw my rigger lines flying left and right, my dipsies were pulling drag and I heard Nick say he was heading in and I liked that plan. I played it safe, and a part of me wished I stayed out longer to get him on another fish or two. Tough call, I dont think there is a right decision. Let hope the fishing is just as good next year and with a little less waves!

[Finders Keepers]

We always look forward to this event because it has so many positive attributes, from the directors (Nick & Teresa) to all the volunteers to the captains to the community support to the very special guests the veterans - we feel honored to be a part of it all! Going into the event we were up in the air as to what our gameplan would be, especially if the winds kicked up earlier than forecast leaving us to fish the bay! So we brought a full arsenal for the lake and the bay! We were teamed up with Craig who was ready for the challenge and had no problems with facing Lake O and rising seas. So our plan was to see what the lake looked like when we came out of the shoot and either head straight out if it was already rough and play the inside waters, or if possible, shoot west and fish with the waves as they built throughout the morning. After following our escorts full throttle through the pierheads (that was an experience in itself) we were greeted with a stiff SW wind, but only a 1' chop over gentle swells from the west, so we motored west until we got to the other side of Hughes when we decided to point her north sideways to the building waves all the way out to 500 fow where we set down. As I was letting out the 3rd diver with the Salmon Slam Flasher/fly past 150 ft it began screaming out and we were hooked up! Craig battled the fish like a champ and brought the first 16 lb king to the net! We started setting up again and the port side 150 ft diver pulling a super UV Wonderbread Spin Doc/Shredded Glow Hammer fly gets nailed! Craig once again fought the king like a champ and we all had a good laugh when it came surfing the waves towards the boat! 17.5 lbs topping our first king!

(See video here:

)

We would continue a steady pick all morning going 6 for 7 (4 kings, a steelhead, and a coho) as we worked 500-600 fow and targeted the active fish in the top 60 fow, as we couldn't get anything deep to go. Once we made it back in front of Sodus, we doubled up while checking the wires and decided to call it a day since we already had 3 lines in the boat and the waves were pushing 6-10 ft. We were the only ones to catch a fish on the Salmon Slam rig, had the 3rd largest steelhead, and 10th largest king. But what mattered most was that we were able to provide Craig with an exciting, successful, fun trip! Thank you again Nick and Teresa for another fantastic Salmon Slam event!! 

[TOP SECRET]

Another great Salmon Slam spending time with some old friends and making new ones.

 

Met up with Tom, the vet who was on my boat last year, on Friday at Arney's and he must be a glutton for punishment because he wanted to get back on my boat again this year.  My boat was having some mechanical issues so I teamed up with Sammy Gee on his boat and we made plans for Saturday.

 

With a Small Craft Advisory posted for after 10 am with a strong west wind and 2-3 footers we planned to head west out of the chute and troll into the wind for awhile so we could surf back when the waves built during the day.  Sammy thought that was the best plan even though he thought the fish were East of the chute.  Everything went well and it wasn't long before we were hooked up with our 1st king on a Green Dolphin down 85' over 175 fow.

 

IMG_0038.JPG

 

Tom was on the rod and it didn't take long for him to get the hang of it. The pressure was off, we had one in the box

 

IMG_0043.JPG

 

We bloodied the deck on Sammy's new to him ride 

 

IMG_0045.JPG

 

And we bloodied Sammy's leg just for fun

 

IMG_0047.JPG

 

It's a good thing we had our medic on board just in case

 

Next up turned out to be a Steely on a wire dipsy out 300' with a blue mirage fly which Tom handled like a pro.  This fish won the steelhead division by .03 lbs.

 

IMG_0046.JPG

 

We ended up boxing 2 more kings, both off the riggers down 90-110, one on a glow gator and the other on a carmel dolphin. Now the waves had built up to 3-4 with some 5 footers mixed in for fun and we decided to pull lines and motor in.  Even though we had headed West the wind had pushed us East and we now found ourselves East of Port Bay, Sammy was right, he had found the fish. But now we had a long ride back to Sodus into the wind, good thing we had Tom along to take us in

 

IMG_0057.JPG

 

Lunch was waiting for us when we got in and I had time to catch up with some guys I'd met in prior years.  Every vet I talked with told me how much days like this mean to them and that they look forward to this every year. 

 

Thanks Nick and Theresa for putting this all together now for four years.

 

Thanks to all the sponsors who help make it possible with their donations.

 

Thanks to Arney's for taking such good care of us while we are there

 

Thanks to all the volunteers who give their time to make it happen

 

Thanks to all the veterans for their service

 

Can't wait to do it again next year

 

Great job out there Roy!  I'm glad you had fun fishing with Sodus Point Sammy!  Thank you for all your help last weekend as well.  You forgot your fish grip, it is on my boat for the next time you are at Arneys.

[TOP SECRET]

Good call on heading in early with fish as the seas grew to 6'-8'ers by 10:00.  Luckily we had a Navy vet!  Mac, as he is known by his fellow vets, handled the rough seas like a trooper battling kings on his knees to keep from falling over.  I think we gave him an adventure he will never forget.  I would have to say the sponsor product given out were FANTASTIC.  Anyone thinking about doing this event next year....do it!

 

PS: Unfortunately the rules committee will not allow smallmouth bass be submitted for the brown trout division

 

I will say that smallmouth will be added to the event, prior to adding lakers

[TOP SECRET]

It is truly ridiculous (in a good way) how much the sponsors throw in for this event. Nick and Theresa and Tim and Jeff and many others work really hard to get items donated and it really shows. I am shocked (in a good way) at how much SWAG is given away to the veterans and the captains at this event. I know all of us would be happy to take out these guys if no swag was given away. It is really nice of all of these sponsors to donate thousands and thousands of dollars to this event.

 

I'd also like to make a special shout out to Sammy G. aka Sodus Point Sammy for his Super generous donation that comes out of his personal funds in order to help out the Captains in this event. It is one thing for companies to donate their products and in turn promote their products and an entirely different thing for Sammy to dig into his wallet and donate over $1500.00 toward this great cause. If you haven't had the chance to meet Sammy you should. He is a great guy.

 

A definite huge thank you to Sammy and PNC for their contribution to this event.  I am glad to hear that folks enjoyed the Captain bags and prizes, I always worry that there isn't enough, especially as we get more and more teams each year.

[TOP SECRET]

I second what Wayne said, it was truly inspiring.  I didn't know that about Sammy, but I will thank him soon. I have not been to an event where more quality merchandise was ever given away. The vets all walked away with a great experience and memories, as well as some terrific product and plenty of fillets. 

 

For me, it was my first time at the Salmon Slam and it was a really good time. I ended up having three people aboard that had never fished Lake O, including our vet Bill who was just super cool!  Our vet had a BLAST, he said he felt like he was 20 years old again.  He wasn't concerned about catching fish, so I ran way west and trolled with a following sea in some pretty snotty conditions and we exchanged stories and had a few laughs more than we caught fish. There weren't many fish west, but we caught 4 smaller fish with a couple kings and a couple browns and it was such a comfortable troll I know it was the right decision, seeing this event is more about the fun than about the winning.

 

In the end we won first place Brown Trout anyway because we were the only boat to catch one   . The conditions were definitely not brown trout friendly, with 66 degrees on the bottom in 90 fow and 5-6 foot swells. I was surprised we even pulled a few to be honest. 

 

Everyone who organizes, volunteered and donated should be very proud of themselves for what they do for these vets. I was humbled and honored to be a participant.

 

Rod thank you for joining us this year!  Hopefully, next year will bring nicer water conditions!

[TOP SECRET]

 the dipsy ranger feel so honored be among all of you! thank each and every one of you that helped make this event what it is. from the people  that help set this all up, to sponsors,to  boat crews ,to the vets. each and every year this has been the highlight for us. we have met so many great friends each year fishing the sbhw. that in its self has been such great reward! we cant wait until the next time we all meet again. until then our friends safe waters and tight lines to you all

 

Crum, I know your team loves rough water, so you should have felt at home this weekend

[TOP SECRET]

I have sat back and let this years event kinda set in. I am proud to say i have been a part of this program from the start. i did not know anyone involved other than their " screen name " from LOU in the beginning. I have met many friends through this program and memories that will last a lifetime. I have seen this event grow every year and have seen the volunteer list also grow. it is truly amazing how much everyone gives and will do anything that is needed for the Veterans. i have participated in other similar programs (wounded warriors fishing) and can honestly say that this is the best run program with the most support. There are several people that truly step up every year to help (most mentioned above) but the two most un-selfish people, that if it were not for them this event would not be here are Nick and Theresa Allers. They put in more hours and behind the scenes work than most realize. They rarely ask for help and always have a smile on their face. They have taken this from a "what can i do" thought to what it is today. it is truly amazing to see this come together every year but i want to recognize both Nick and Theresa for everything they have done and continue to do. You both will always be considered in my eyes as two truly amazing people and my friends. From the entire Juskow Family we thank you both and look forward to all the future years.

 

WP_20150801_038.jpg

 

Mike thank you and your family again for all of your help in putting this event together, without people like you, it wouldn't happen.  I spoke to the Project Healing Waters coordinator and he said the Veterans were all smiles and fish stories on the way back home!  I'm sure we provided memories that will last a long time with some of these guys.

[TOP SECRET]

Nick, You guys do an awesome job setting this whole event up. I am glad to be a part of it. Just like "bout time", I really had to let this event this year sink in. The vet I took out last year was supposed to come up the weekend earlier to come out with me becaues he wouldnt be able to make the salmon slam. I told him that anytime he wants to come up, I would be honored to take him out. I was up at the lake for three days working out different issues with my boat to get him out, and last minute had to cancel the trip, and honestly was even wondering if I could get the boat running for the salmon slam. A few days later, John found a way to make it up for the official slam and that same day I finally worked out the issues with my boat. I was phyched!

I was planning to head out to 400+ FOW because I heard it was good and I fish there often this time of year. As we were heading out of the chute, it was looking good...NW to 400 feet...here we ...yeah. As the waves started to build I realized it would take about 2 hours to get out to where I wanted to be and the waves were supposed to build. We decided to troll with the waves in 200 fow and see what we could do. About 30 minutes in we hooked up with a nice 18 pound king. 30 minutes later we were hooked up again...but it broke off. We trolled another 30 minutes and I looked at my dad and said lets pick up and drive back through the waves and go through the line again. Once we went to throttle is when it hit me... WOW these waves got big!  It felt like we were driving backwards! We set up about 45 minutes later and as I was putting the lines down I saw my rigger lines flying left and right, my dipsies were pulling drag and I heard Nick say he was heading in and I liked that plan. I played it safe, and a part of me wished I stayed out longer to get him on another fish or two. Tough call, I dont think there is a right decision. Let hope the fishing is just as good next year and with a little less waves!

 

My Veteran was ok staying out longer, but I was having trouble keeping the dipseys set even with trolling bags out.  We were only in 250fow and it felt like we were on a skateboard half pipe!  I can't imagine what it was like out deeper!

[TOP SECRET]

We always look forward to this event because it has so many positive attributes, from the directors (Nick & Teresa) to all the volunteers to the captains to the community support to the very special guests the veterans - we feel honored to be a part of it all! Going into the event we were up in the air as to what our gameplan would be, especially if the winds kicked up earlier than forecast leaving us to fish the bay! So we brought a full arsenal for the lake and the bay! We were teamed up with Craig who was ready for the challenge and had no problems with facing Lake O and rising seas. So our plan was to see what the lake looked like when we came out of the shoot and either head straight out if it was already rough and play the inside waters, or if possible, shoot west and fish with the waves as they built throughout the morning. After following our escorts full throttle through the pierheads (that was an experience in itself) we were greeted with a stiff SW wind, but only a 1' chop over gentle swells from the west, so we motored west until we got to the other side of Hughes when we decided to point her north sideways to the building waves all the way out to 500 fow where we set down. As I was letting out the 3rd diver with the Salmon Slam Flasher/fly past 150 ft it began screaming out and we were hooked up! Craig battled the fish like a champ and brought the first 16 lb king to the net! We started setting up again and the port side 150 ft diver pulling a super UV Wonderbread Spin Doc/Shredded Glow Hammer fly gets nailed! Craig once again fought the king like a champ and we all had a good laugh when it came surfing the waves towards the boat! 17.5 lbs topping our first king!

(See video here:

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We would continue a steady pick all morning going 6 for 7 (4 kings, a steelhead, and a coho) as we worked 500-600 fow and targeted the active fish in the top 60 fow, as we couldn't get anything deep to go. Once we made it back in front of Sodus, we doubled up while checking the wires and decided to call it a day since we already had 3 lines in the boat and the waves were pushing 6-10 ft. We were the only ones to catch a fish on the Salmon Slam rig, had the 3rd largest steelhead, and 10th largest king. But what mattered most was that we were able to provide Craig with an exciting, successful, fun trip! Thank you again Nick and Teresa for another fantastic Salmon Slam event!! 

 

Tim, Jeff, thank you guys for all you do to help bring sponsors to this event as well as the preparation for it.  Every year I hear from the Veteran that went out with you and how much fun you made it for them.  I did forget to slip Craig a pair of ear plugs before he boarded though

[Finders Keepers]

Tim, Jeff, thank you guys for all you do to help bring sponsors to this event as well as the preparation for it.  Every year I hear from the Veteran that went out with you and how much fun you made it for them.  I did forget to slip Craig a pair of ear plugs before he boarded though

Always a good time!! We actually have racing headphones now for anyone who may have sensitive hearing.     

Edited August 4, 2015 by Finders Keepers

[sammygee]

As a new boat owner, who has spent his whole fishing life looking out the back of the boat, I was put into a new situation when I teamed up with Roy (Mudflat) during this years Salmon Slam. It was not the best lake conditions for me to venture out as Captain.  I soon found out that I was in way over my head, and if it wasn't for Roy, I would have not have made it out of the chute. His experience and ability to untangle rigger cables, and lines which were one, due to my driving (dis) ability, allowed us to make it through the day. We showed Tom, our vet, a great day, and had some success catching fish. 

 

Roy was patient, experienced, and a real pleasure to be around.  I thank him for allowing me to be part of this great event, which Nick and Theresa put  so much into.  I never realized how much I didn't know about driving a boat in those conditions. 

 

I never intended to visit Fair Haven !!!!!  Thanx Again Roy......