Storm Warning at the Can: 5/24, 5/25, 5/26 am

[Storm Warning II]

WOW! WOW! WOW!

The best fishing that we have seen on the Niagara Bar went down this weekend. Managed to go 38 for 62 over the 2 1/2 days of fishing.

Sat. am: Started out just off the "break" outside the red can and worked it east towards Wilson. Several quick snap offs on a bloody death Spin Doc and Purple Mirage Action Fly. OUCH!!! That's expensive...

Blasted 1 & 2 yr. olds all morning and managed to boat 1 13# fish and a 15$ fish. Deep rigger with the tried and true Old Yeller Magnum Silver streak took its fair share along with a MAG DW Goldie Hawn on the outside diver back 225 boated quite a few as well. Took both big girls on a MT. Dew Spin Doc and Pixie Dust Action fly out 250 on the outside diver.

Sat. pm worked the same waters after talking with Pete and Todd Pavlik about their days at Olcott and Wilson respectively and finding that their fishing was similar. Those same inside waters from 130 to 200 produced a ton of missed fish on Saturday afternoon with good rips but no payoff. Yuk. Did manage to boat 12 fish on our afternoon excursion with the biggest about 12#.

Sun. am worked the inside hard again and tried moving more rigs around in the water column in an attempt to locate matures. Really continued the 1 and 2 yr. old slaughter until we tried some deeper water. Worked 220 out to 300 fow and played the water column a little with very little action until I dropped my deep rigger from 100 to 150. Ole Yeller wasn't down there in the icy depths for 5 miniutes when she fired and I was rudely met with an angry 20#er that raced to the surface, gave us a show with two jumps clearing the surface by 4 feet! It proceeded to rip off a run towards Toronto of about 120 feet and then played race the boat and run from the net until it was landed about 15 minutes after hookup. Hmmmm. Maybe we are onto something here....

Proceeded to drop the probe rigger to 100, the inside wire divers to 210 and 230 respectively and the outsides both at 265 on 3 1/2s and work that water north/south to see if we had found some big fish. The first pass north yielded a double with Ole Yeller bringing a 15# King to the net and an outside diver with the Mt. Dew Spin Doc and Pixie Dust fly yielded a 17#er. Yep, I think we have something going here. There was a temp break from 43.7 to 39.9 still in the green plume of the Niagara River over that mile and a quarter or so stretch that was holding the kings. Turned the old girl around out in the gin clear water clear of the plume and headed back south. Just before the end of the South pass we fired on a triple hook up including both outside divers, again the Mt. Dew and Pixie Dust on the starboard and the Dark Green w/ crushed ice / glow with a Pickled Sunshine Action fly in tow had good screamers working and the Ole Yeller popped yet again. After a complete fire drill clearing lines and trying to keep the boat under control (only 4 guys on board) we managed to net 2 of the 3, a 16#er and a high 17#er. Its 11am , we're whipped, all the lines are out of the water, lets's go get lunch and a nap.

Sun pm. Went back out to our new "hot spot" and worked the north/south angle again and managed to pull another 3 matures, from 13 to 18# and losing 2 other good fish in the next 2 and 1/2 hours. The wind had picked up while we napped and made the temp gradient more extended and I believe the fish were more scattered now as well.

Mon. am: Went out in rough conditions (2 to 3' choppers) and worked the same waters for 2 1/2 hours before it was time to pick up and head back home. Managed a 13# and a 18#er on the deep rigger w/ Ole Yeller again and then the "one" hit. I had changed up because we had gone from sunny to overcast conditions and the outside port diver had a pearl on white Spin Doc and Kevorkian Action Fly. It got SLAMMMED! I saw the initial hit and listened to the drag. Long story short, 30 min battle yielded no fish, it spit the hook, but it was HUGE, we saw it 3 times on the surface.

Great trip!

[Diversion]

Nice to finally meet you SWII.

I thought I was the only one out there Monday morning. We fished for a few hours before being chased off by a thunderstorm with lots of lightning. That was freaky running back in from the red can with all the lightning and rain. :shock:

[Richard]

Great report SWII. Already looking forward to next year. See you at the motel again?

Richard

[jeb1340]

Storm Warning, I am amazed to hear that you did so well on Sunday morning, it must be tough fighting all of those fish when two of your mates are chumming the water for you!!! Let me know the next time you are coming up and I will hide all of the Grey Goose from your friends. We ended up landing just over 20 and the largest was 18#. We went out again this afternoon for a few hours and only managed two.

[Storm Warning II]

Actually Jeb or should we say Justin,

The only one that chummed was the heavier set one. Johnny chummed twice, but Darren was a trooper and stuck her out strong...

I thought I saw you to our southeast on Monday am Diversion. I believe we also came in with you on Sunday late am to the Ytown docs.

It was nice meeting you to, look forward to being there again. Lake Erie 'eyes and steel are NO comparison to the big Kings of Lake O. We'll be back on the bar again Labor Day weekend, if not sooner.

Richard, as always, had a great time shootin' the fishin' breeze with you and I have to admit, you are a life saver with the loaner net you let us borrow. We all look forward to seeing you again same time next year.

BTW...keep your eyes on your mailbox...