Yankee's Niagara Pro Am/Orleans County Open

[Yankee Troller]

 

Been a great couple of weeks tourney fishing the West end mainly with a Coho/Steelhead program. We won the Niagara Pro Am, and had a great comeback this Sunday to sneak into the top 10 at the Orleans County Open. These baits were our rocks. We fished these on our Cannon Optimum downriggers in the top 60', wire divers on 3 settings from 35-60' out, and on FishUSA Stealthcore from 2-10 colors. Fishing ain't easy right now, but the Coho and Steelhead on the West end are plentiful at times.

 

I heard a quote today from a buddy who fished with us this weekend. He quoted who he thinks is Michael Jordan. "You never lose. You just learn!" Tournament fishing is just that. The days your the bug are the days you pick something up and put it in your bag of tricks. I did that this weekend! When you're the windshield your don't take much away from it. But it's a good time, and a lot of fun!

 

Niagara Pro Am:

We put about 42 miles on the boat in practice and had a good pick most of the day on Coho and Steelhead. We ended up working the coldest surface water we found, and that had the best class of fish.

 

Friday, we fished 50-51* water in 370-400'. Only 1 king bite all day. We boxed by 12:15. Took us 20 bites to box our 12 with short fish and dropped fish.

 

Saturday, we were surprised to find that cold surface water still there with the wind that was blowing. Again, we finished our box by 12:15. On this day it took us 24 bites to get our box. We only had one short fish. We dropped a lot! We got very lucky and had 4 king bites.

 

Orleans County Open:

Saturday, we made some bad decisions and just kept pushing to find better water, or "the juice" as they say in Bass fishing. We put 52 miles on the ol' girl by the time we hit the pier heads at 2pm. We saw 70' of water, and we saw the Canadian shoreline. There were signs but we ignored them going for the gusto.

 

Sunday, we settled in and had our 10 fish by 9am. We spent the rest of the day looking for matures. 7/8 rods loaded with Familiar Bite Pacific Herring and a Team Dreamweaver Rod Father mag generated 5 mature bites. We landed 1! Cracked off two rigs, and dropped the other two. We could have had the monster box but in the end it was a great time, with great friends, and we learned something.

 

Ok, I'll end with this. Keep an eye on FishUSA's website. The Rod Father, a color we ran a lot in the past on Warrior blanks, will be a custom DW at FishUSA. The Coho and Steelhead LOVED the SS and DW the last two weeks, and the Kings chewed that mag all spring. The DW 6" spin doctors can all be found there as well. The flies were A-Tom-Mik Mfg. Coho flies in green/blue, green Crinkle, and hammer.

 

Coho Spin Doctors

 

 

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Edited June 15, 2021 by Yankee Troller

[Gill-T]

Fitting to place the five of diamonds next to the new rodfather pattern- June kitchen sink fishing at its finest. 

[Yankee Troller]

2 hours ago, Gill-T said:

Fitting to place the five of diamonds next to the new rodfather pattern- June kitchen sink fishing at its finest. 

 

I forgot how great the action was on those NK C5's. I actually found them in a box a few weeks ago and put them on the boat.

Edited June 15, 2021 by Yankee Troller

[SamonSez]

Congrats Rick and as always, thanks for the detailed report!

 

But I gotta say, you guys are killing me. 2 years ago it was Carbon 14. Last year is was DUV 2-Face and everybody sold out. This year it is Rod Father...next year Double Harpoon Ghillie Monster...

 

If I could just get a Gary-D, even at $100, it would save me a ton of money. As it is, I need to buy a dingy to pull behind the boat just to carry the lures and equipment. (I know...catch the fish...or catch the fisherman) My guess is that you would still do well with just a randomly twisted paper clip on the end of the line. Spending time on the water...can't buy that, gotta earn it.

 

Joking aside, thanks again and best of luck this season.

[Bustersit]

Thanks for the report!!


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[Sk8man]

Congrats on the win Rick.

[LongLine]

Congratulations Rick!

[garrymny]

Congratulations! And Thanks for always taking the time to give a detailed report to help us weekenders learn from you. It is appreciated by so many who read the reports but never post a thank you, I'm sure. Garry, the Lynn Marie.

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[dickey]

Congrats and as always thanks for the info


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[HB2]

On 6/15/2021 at 9:54 AM, SamonSez said:

Congrats Rick and as always, thanks for the detailed report!

 

But I gotta say, you guys are killing me. 2 years ago it was Carbon 14. Last year is was DUV 2-Face and everybody sold out. This year it is Rod Father...next year Double Harpoon Ghillie Monster...

 

If I could just get a Gary-D, even at $100, it would save me a ton of money. As it is, I need to buy a dingy to pull behind the boat just to carry the lures and equipment. (I know...catch the fish...or catch the fisherman) My guess is that you would still do well with just a randomly twisted paper clip on the end of the line. Spending time on the water...can't buy that, gotta earn it.

 

Joking aside, thanks again and best of luck this season.

 

Do you really  think it would make a difference ? 

 

I ran it this spring the 4 times I went out  till I gave up trolling and did the creek thing . Never had a hit on it . 

 

We will see  in a few weeks . 

 

I tell it like it is . 

Edited June 17, 2021 by HB2

[SamonSez]

I heard you have to use a special knot with the D rig. Problem is, he won't tell us what it is.

[HB2]

You must be referring to my failed attempt at a rapala knot I use to tie my jig  heads on with . So I came up with my own version . Want to guess what I  call it ? I haven't tied a jig head on without it for 15 years . And I use a ton of jigs . 

 

No special knot on my rig . 

[Norm Moser]

Nice Rick way to go. Rick if I can ask at what speed can you run the baby spin Doctors at, I have a lot and never ran them. Thanks

[Yankee Troller]

39 minutes ago, Norm Moser said:

Nice Rick way to go. Rick if I can ask at what speed can you run the baby spin Doctors at, I have a lot and never ran them. Thanks

 

Same speeds as a regular flasher. Coho and Steelhead don't mind a little faster speed though.

[tinfin]

W.T.G. Rich and Greg!! Congrats on another Win, love the Tournie shirts.

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[Hachimo]

Great report Rick. Fished the Orleans county open.  Absolutely loved the way U guys setup that tournament. Very well ran. 5 salmon/5 trout. Takes some strategy to fill that box. Saturday was definitely a grind for us but Sunday we redeemed ourselves with the Big king of the weekend.  24lbs.  Next year I’m haulin my boat out for it.  Thanks again Rick for your part of running it.  Great tournament. 

[ErieBuck]

 
Been a great couple of weeks tourney fishing the West end mainly with a Coho/Steelhead program. We won the Niagara Pro Am, and had a great comeback this Sunday to sneak into the top 10 at the Orleans County Open. These baits were our rocks. We fished these on our Cannon Optimum downriggers in the top 60', wire divers on 3 settings from 35-60' out, and on FishUSA Stealthcore from 2-10 colors. Fishing ain't easy right now, but the Coho and Steelhead on the West end are plentiful at times.
 
I heard a quote today from a buddy who fished with us this weekend. He quoted who he thinks is Michael Jordan. "You never lose. You just learn!" Tournament fishing is just that. The days your the bug are the days you pick something up and put it in your bag of tricks. I did that this weekend! When you're the windshield your don't take much away from it. But it's a good time, and a lot of fun!
 
Niagara Pro Am:
We put about 42 miles on the boat in practice and had a good pick most of the day on Coho and Steelhead. We ended up working the coldest surface water we found, and that had the best class of fish.
 
Friday, we fished 50-51* water in 370-400'. Only 1 king bite all day. We boxed by 12:15. Took us 20 bites to box our 12 with short fish and dropped fish.
 
Saturday, we were surprised to find that cold surface water still there with the wind that was blowing. Again, we finished our box by 12:15. On this day it took us 24 bites to get our box. We only had one short fish. We dropped a lot! We got very lucky and had 4 king bites.
 
Orleans County Open:
Saturday, we made some bad decisions and just kept pushing to find better water, or "the juice" as they say in Bass fishing. We put 52 miles on the ol' girl by the time we hit the pier heads at 2pm. We saw 70' of water, and we saw the Canadian shoreline. There were signs but we ignored them going for the gusto.
 
Sunday, we settled in and had our 10 fish by 9am. We spent the rest of the day looking for matures. 7/8 rods loaded with Familiar Bite Pacific Herring and a Team Dreamweaver Rod Father mag generated 5 mature bites. We landed 1! Cracked off two rigs, and dropped the other two. We could have had the monster box but in the end it was a great time, with great friends, and we learned something.
 
Ok, I'll end with this. Keep an eye on FishUSA's website. The Rod Father, a color we ran a lot in the past on Warrior blanks, will be a custom DW at FishUSA. The Coho and Steelhead LOVED the SS and DW the last two weeks, and the Kings chewed that mag all spring. The DW 6" spin doctors can all be found there as well. The flies were A-Tom-Mik Mfg. Coho flies in green/blue, green Crinkle, and hammer.
 
Coho Spin Doctors
 

 
Sent from my Pixel 5 using Lake Ontario United mobile app
 
 
 

Awesome work in the tourney!! Where in your spread did you run your 6 inch orange spinnies? How do you balance not giving up kings but yet still putting fish in the boat??


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[ErieBuck]

 
Been a great couple of weeks tourney fishing the West end mainly with a Coho/Steelhead program. We won the Niagara Pro Am, and had a great comeback this Sunday to sneak into the top 10 at the Orleans County Open. These baits were our rocks. We fished these on our Cannon Optimum downriggers in the top 60', wire divers on 3 settings from 35-60' out, and on FishUSA Stealthcore from 2-10 colors. Fishing ain't easy right now, but the Coho and Steelhead on the West end are plentiful at times.
 
I heard a quote today from a buddy who fished with us this weekend. He quoted who he thinks is Michael Jordan. "You never lose. You just learn!" Tournament fishing is just that. The days your the bug are the days you pick something up and put it in your bag of tricks. I did that this weekend! When you're the windshield your don't take much away from it. But it's a good time, and a lot of fun!
 
Niagara Pro Am:
We put about 42 miles on the boat in practice and had a good pick most of the day on Coho and Steelhead. We ended up working the coldest surface water we found, and that had the best class of fish.
 
Friday, we fished 50-51* water in 370-400'. Only 1 king bite all day. We boxed by 12:15. Took us 20 bites to box our 12 with short fish and dropped fish.
 
Saturday, we were surprised to find that cold surface water still there with the wind that was blowing. Again, we finished our box by 12:15. On this day it took us 24 bites to get our box. We only had one short fish. We dropped a lot! We got very lucky and had 4 king bites.
 
Orleans County Open:
Saturday, we made some bad decisions and just kept pushing to find better water, or "the juice" as they say in Bass fishing. We put 52 miles on the ol' girl by the time we hit the pier heads at 2pm. We saw 70' of water, and we saw the Canadian shoreline. There were signs but we ignored them going for the gusto.
 
Sunday, we settled in and had our 10 fish by 9am. We spent the rest of the day looking for matures. 7/8 rods loaded with Familiar Bite Pacific Herring and a Team Dreamweaver Rod Father mag generated 5 mature bites. We landed 1! Cracked off two rigs, and dropped the other two. We could have had the monster box but in the end it was a great time, with great friends, and we learned something.
 
Ok, I'll end with this. Keep an eye on FishUSA's website. The Rod Father, a color we ran a lot in the past on Warrior blanks, will be a custom DW at FishUSA. The Coho and Steelhead LOVED the SS and DW the last two weeks, and the Kings chewed that mag all spring. The DW 6" spin doctors can all be found there as well. The flies were A-Tom-Mik Mfg. Coho flies in green/blue, green Crinkle, and hammer.
 
Coho Spin Doctors
 

 
Sent from my Pixel 5 using Lake Ontario United mobile app
 
 
 

Awesome work in the tourney!! Where in your spread did you run your 6 inch orange spinnies? How do you balance not giving up kings but yet still putting fish in the boat??


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[zach]

^^^ eriebuck, thanks again for selling me the items I paid for here on the classifieds which you said you shipped just to refund my $ and renig on the deal.

Bty if you read Yankees previous posts he has graciously written for us so we can have the success he's having- that he normally runs the coho stuff off boards on fishusa stealth leadcore up higher. Almost like what you were going to sell me.

#1 lure of 4 Musky Inc National Champions in last 3 years.

[ErieBuck]

^^^ eriebuck, thanks again for selling me the items I paid for here on the classifieds which you said you shipped just to refund my $ and renig on the deal.

Bty if you read Yankees previous posts he has graciously written for us so we can have the success he's having- that he normally runs the coho stuff off boards on fishusa stealth leadcore up higher. Almost like what you were going to sell me.

#1 lure of 4 Musky Inc National Champions in last 3 years.

I PM’d you earlier that I can ship them now and ready to sell. Sorry, I was trying to figure out my spread and had some second thoughts based on new info I had learned and experience with new reels I had ordered which is why I promptly refunded you. Sorry you are mad and not empathetic. If you want them still — they are yours, if not — no problemo. Tight lines!




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