Olcott 8/16 to 8/24

[big easy]

Fished eight days out of Olcott,and have to say that unfortunately,(for us) we didn't do very well on kings.

The Steelhead were much more cooperative,thank god.We fished from Olcott, east to the power plant,and west to Wilson,and from 40' out to 450' of water.

We boated a lot of steelies the biggest around 10lbs,and most of the rest between 6-8 pounds.

Most of our fish came on the riggers down about 50'-60' over 250 to 420 feet of water.

The last day(sat.8/23)was our best.We started in close 40' and marked lots of fish.We managed to pick up a nice 9lb brown,but no salmon,so we edged out deeper,and had a slow but steady pick of steelies.We trolled a circular pattern,north and south in and out from 175' to 225'.

Most of the fish came off the riggers on spoons in greens and yellows.

Our wire divers were very slow,accounting only for a few fish on Spin Docs and flies in the Hammer,and mirage patterns,pretty odd,as they are usually smokin hot.

I have to say that we were humbled by our poor salmon catch.We worked hard for every fish we caught.It was no go for a boat ride trip,we tried every color spoon and fly,along with constant pattern changes on the riggers,cores and wire.

With a few exceptions,it seemed slow for lots of boats during the week.The chatter on the radio was mostly negative.

I spoke to a DEC guy at the cleaning station,and he told me that the salmon catch was down quite a bit this year.He said the last three years were record years for the salmon catch.

Oh well,it was good to be back on the boat on the lake,and to spend some time with lots of good friends in Olcott.Now it's back home,and back to work on the new boat to get it ready for next spring.

Good luck to all you guys fishing the last week of the derby,and into september.

[Guest ReelDiel]

John, glad to hear you guys got out and had some fun!!