PRESS RELEASE                                                CONTACT: Krenzer Marine

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     Tim Habecker (315) 483-6986

March 9, 2010                                                                             thabecker@krenzermarine.com

 

KRENZER MARINE ANNOUNCES “THE COVE AT KRENZERS”

 

Krenzer Marine, one of Lake Ontario’s leading boat dealerships, today announced that they will be adding 20 additional slips to their marina.  The slips are geared towards fishermen and will be located in a private area on the South side of their Sodus Point facility.

Commenting on the new slips, Tim Habecker of Krenzer Marine said “We recognize the need for fishing-specific dockage at our Sodus Point location.  Fishermen are looking for an area where they can not only keep their boats, but also share in the fishing lifestyle with other fishermen.  The Cove at Krenzers will offer access to our shower house, electricity in each of the 20 new slips, lots of free parking and is within easy walking distance of downtown Sodus Point.  All of this will be available to boats up to 35’ in length.  Because these docks will be in a park-like setting with all of the amenities that fishermen expect, we don’t anticipate these slips lasting long.  We see The Cove at Krenzers as another step in our long-range plan to gain exposure in the Lake Ontario sportfishing market and we're excited to bring this new facility to the fishermen of Sodus Point! ”

ABOUT KRENZER MARINE

Krenzer Marine is based in Sodus Point, NY and is one of Lake Ontario’s busiest full-service boat dealerships.  With 50 years of experience, Krenzer Marine helps boaters get the most out of their time on the water.  From providing service,dockage, storage, gel coat repairs, boat sales, electronics installations, and boat hauling and lifting, Krenzer Marine is well known for delivering a superior customer experience.  For more information please visit www.krenzermarine.com

I've been getting a lot of emails and phone calls about the new Cannon IntelliTroll since I posted about it here a few weeks ago.  My production model showed up here at the house the other day so I thought I'd take a minute or two to share some more pictures & thoughts about it with you. 





The IntelliTroll comes with everything you'll need for your installation:  The head unit, probe, coated cable, power cord, antenna & cable, head unit mounts, mounting hardware, and an owners manual.  The head unit is bigger than the head unit on my Depth Raider, but not a lot bigger.  The numbers on the read out will be big enough that you'll be able to read them at the back of the boat.



One of the things that struck me as a major improvement over the other units I've seen on the market is the way in which the power cord and antenna plug into the head unit.  Cannon has used what appears to be the same connectors as we use on our Humminbird equipment - they just work and they stay put.  That's a good thing:



The next major improvement over the old Cannon Speed & Temp unit is the probe.  It's a LOT smaller and significantly more hydrodynamic than the old probe.  When we tested it against the Depth Raider probe we found it to have the same, if not a little bit less drag in the water.  It has a smaller frontal profile than the DR probe, but it's a little bit longer:



The batteries (4 AA) are reached by un-screwing the cap on the end of the probe.  The battery compartment is sealed with a double O-ring, and it's isolated from the pc board inside the probe.  One of the other differentiating features of the Cannon probe is the way in which it attaches to the cable.  You simply scrape off an inch or so of coating from the cable and thread the cable thru the locking mechanism and tighten it onto the cable.  Simple.  Plus the locking mechanism pivots so that the probe will always run true no matter how much of an angle the cable is at due to blow back.



One final thing to mention about the unit.  It not only displays speed & temperature at the ball, but it also provides actual depth by using a pressure sensor.  That's a very cool feature and if you're like me you'll be surprised at the actual depth your probe is running at given how much cable you have out.  Blowback really impacts how deep your riggers are!

I'm pretty impressed with the final production version of the IntelliTroll, and I look forward to putting it through it's paces this coming season.  We'll have it on the boat as soon as we splash down for the year, so don't hesitate to stop by and ask us about it.  Based on our pre-production testing and what I've seen of the production model I have, I'd say that Cannon has a winner on its hands.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I was in Miami on business last week and had the opportunity to spend a few hours at the Miami Boat Show after I wrapped up my business calls.  First off, I have to say that the show is HUGE....far bigger than any trade show I've ever been to.  At the Miami Convention Center alone, there had to be 200 boats on display, plus hundreds of booths for anything and everything boating related.  Engines, electronics, docks, fishing gear, clothing, trailers, accessories, you name it and there's a booth or two or three for that at the Miami Boat Show.  And that's just the Convention Center.  There's another 75 or so boats in the water at the Miami Marriott, plus there's the whole Collins Ave brokerage area, where they have a 2 mile long section of docks full of brokerage boats for sale.  Like I said, it's HUGE!  I never even made it to the Collins Ave section of the show.  But what I did see at the Convention Center impressed me an awful lot.  Boat building has come a long way in the recent years, and the one thing that I noticed abuzz at every major boat builders booths was the addition of Volvo IPS to their boats.  I saw a demo of an IPS system at the Marriott and what they say about being able to pull boats into docks completely sideways is absolutely true.  IPS is a marvel of engineering and if I was in the market for a brand new boat you can be sure that I'd be looking at it very seriously.

Speaking of brand new boats, I spent the majority of my time in the Tiara booth.  I was lucky enough to spend probably 20 un-interrupted minutes talking with Bob Slikkers, President of Tiara, about their line-up of boats for 2010.  Bob showed me their new 4300 Open, which they introduced to the press at this show.  All I can say is WOW!  If I had the money, there's no other boat on the market that I'd buy.  Mom, Dad, PLEASE don't spend my inheritance...I want this boat BAD!!  OK, OK, I know...there's no inheritance....I'll just go buy a lottery ticket instead.  I don't have the exact specs in front of me but if my memory serves me right, it goes something like this:  43' LOA, 15' beam, 23,000 lbs, twin 750hp Diesels in an engine room that you can stand up in, room for 7 or 8 to sleep....it's just incredible.  I snapped a few pictures of it for you to enjoy:







I also spent a lot of time on the rest of the Open series boats, as well as on their Convertible and Sovran line of boats.  I liked the Convertible's and Sovran's but the Opens are the boats that made my pulse quicken.  Truth be told, any of the new Tiara Opens would work jusssssst fine as a charter/tournament boat for us!



I also got to spend some time with my friends at Cannon and Humminbird.  They had a big booth there and were very busy showing people what we've known for quite some time now:  That the new Cannon & Humminbird products rock!  It seemed to me that people were especially impressed with the sonar units from Humminbird and how they can interface with Cannon downriggers.  Here I am pictured with Dale Logue (on the left), Product Manager for Humminbird, and Dave Maryanov (in the middle, next to me), Senior Brand Manager for Cannon:



Dave treated me to dinner with the whole Cannon/Humminbird/Minn Kota crew down on South Beach after the show.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at dinner with the guys.  They're all about the same age as me and are all avid fishermen, so you know that they stories were just flying!  Thanks a bunch for dinner Dave, I owe you one.  We'll be sure to treat you to a great meal in Wilson this spring, OK?

I could go on and on about the show and all of the cool new products I saw, but I just don't have the time or space to go into it all.  If you've never been to the show before I'd highly recommend it to you.  I'm already working on plans to take a bunch of guys down with me next winter for a long weekend at it.  It's a great way to get yourself revved up for the coming fishing season, that's for sure!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT:    CYNTHIA  GEORGESON

                        262-631-6600

 

Johnson Outdoors Files Suit in Federal Court Against Maker of Lowrance

Navico ‘Willfully Infringed’ On Side Imaging^® Patent

 

RACINE, Wisconsin, January 27, 2010  - Johnson Outdoors Inc. (JOUT: Nasdaq) today announced it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Navico, Inc. for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,652,952 by Navico’s sale of the Lowrance LSS-1 StructureScan Imaging System. Johnson Outdoors’ patent protects the Humminbird^® Side Imaging^® sonar technology.  The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in Alabama, the home of Humminbird^® products for over 50 years. 

 

Johnson Outdoors’ Side Imaging^® sonar produces detailed and recognizable images of underwater objects and waterbeds enabling anglers to pinpoint habitat, structure and drop-offs which are prime holding areas for fish.   The patent application process began in 2004 prior to the Company’s introduction of Side Imaging^® sonar in Humminbird^® 900 series fishfinder models the following year. 

 

Consumer demand prompted Johnson Outdoors to expand utilization of Side Imaging^® sonar technology across a broad range of its Humminbird^® portfolio and was a key driver behind the brand’s growth over the past four years.    Following a comprehensive and methodical review process, on January 26, 2010, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the Company’s patent for “Side Imaging^® sonar.”

 

“Our intellectual property policy is very simple: we will respect the property of others and fiercely protect that of our own.  We were diligent throughout the Side Imaging^® sonar technology patent application process to ensure we achieved both because real innovation brings real value which our customers and consumers expect and demand.  By taking steps to protect our ideas and inventions, we help ensure our ability to continue to bring forward meaningful advances and innovative products that excite consumers and build our customers’ business,” said Kelly Grindle, Group Vice President Marine Electronics & Watercraft.  

 

The Company’s complaint says Navico, Inc. expended substantial resources to inform the trade and relevant purchasers of fish finding products, that it too would use side scan technology to compete directly with Humminbird^® Side Imaging^® sonar products with knowledge that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office had approved the Company’s patent.  The complaint further says Navico actively induced infringement of the patent by resellers. .

 

The Company is asking the Court to enjoin Navico from further infringement of the patented Side Imaging^® sonar technology.

 

 

ABOUT JOHNSON OUTDOORS MARINE ELECTRONICS, INC.

Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc. consists of the Humminbird^®, Geonav^® Minn Kota^® and Cannon^® brands.  Humminbird is a leading innovator and manufacturer of fishfinders, fishfinder/GPS combo units, chartplotters, marine radios and digital depth gauges.  Geonav is a manufacturer of high-quality, easy-to-use marine electronics products.  Minn Kota is the world’s leading manufacturer of electric trolling motors, as well as offering a complete line of battery chargers, Trim Tabs and marine accessories.  Cannon is the leader in controlled-depth fishing and includes a full line of downrigger products and accessories.

ABOUT JOHNSON OUTDOORS INC.

JOHNSON OUTDOORS is a leading global outdoor recreation company that turns ideas into adventure with innovative, top-quality products.  The company designs, manufactures and markets a portfolio of winning, consumer-preferred brands across four categories: Watercraft, Marine Electronics, Diving and Outdoor Equipment.  Johnson Outdoors' familiar brands include, among others: Old Town^® canoes and kayaks; Ocean Kayak^™ and Necky^® kayaks; Lendal^® paddles; Carlisle^® and Extrasport^® paddling accessories; Minn Kota^® motors; Cannon^® downriggers; Humminbird^® fishfinders; GEONAV^® marine electronics; SCUBAPRO^® UWATEC^® and Seemann^® dive equipment; Silva^® compasses; Tech⁴O^® digital instruments; and Eureka!^® tents. 

Visit Johnson Outdoors at http://www.johnsonoutdoors.com

Today I joined two of my Krenzer Marine tournament team mates, Dan and Tim, for an afternoon at the SSS tackle show on Grand Island.  We visited with a lot of the manufacturers reps that were there and had an opportunity to see some of the new tackle that will be in stores in 2010.  There's an awful lot of exciting stuff coming this year! 

We visited with Matt Edwards from Cannon/Humminbird/Minn Kota and saw some of what's new from them for 2010:



We also spent some time with Shane Ruboyianes from Dreamweaver and got to see some of their hot new colors for this season:



Even though I didn't get pictures of them, we were also able to visit with John Ruffino from Daiwa, John Distaffen from Northern King, Tony Salerno from Great Lakes Planers, John Williams from Big Jon, Yvan Charrios from Scotty, Darren Ford from Walker, and Tom Allen from ATOMMIK.  It was pretty obvious to me that these folks have been very busy in the off-season.  Look for some cool new products from them in the coming months as you visit your local tackle shops.

We also ran into a few of our local Lake Ontario friends there too.  We bumped into Andy Bliss, Rob Ripka, Troy and Shelly Creasey, and Sharon Narburgh.  I really enjoyed being able to spend some time talking fishing today, and I can't think of a better group of people to do that with than the folks we saw today.

I guess that's about it for now.  Keep an eye out here for more new product info as it becomes avaialble to me.  Until then, THINK SPRING!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

You know we're big fans of Dreamweaver.  We run their spoons and flashers all the time.  We promised you a sneak peak of the 2010 lineup, so here you go.  You saw it here first.  The NEW 2010 additions to the Dreamweaver lineup:


Man there's some SWEET additions to the lineup here...I can't wait to get some of them wet!

Here's a link to the full pdf if you're interested: 

New from Dreamweaver in 2010

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I just received the following info from Cannon announcing their new Intellitroll Speed & Temp unit.  We did a bunch of pre-production testing for Cannon on this unit last year and I'm really excited to see what the finished product looks like and how it works.  We were running the unit through our Mag 20's and displaying the data on our Humminbird 1157C via the Cannonlink feature and it worked pretty slick.  This is the first time I've actually seen the head unit however, and I think it looks pretty cool.  I can't wait to get my hands on a production model and put it through its paces. 



Click here to see the full-size pdf:  Cannon IntelliTroll

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

You all know by now that I'm a huge fan of Sigg's Rigs trolling flies.  Matt Siggeman has become a good friend of mine and we've helped develop and test a lot of his flies for him over the years.  I just got off the phone with Sigg himself, and he sent me pictures of some of the new stuff that's coming for 2010.  I think that there are some sure-fire winners here, and I'm especially happy with the way the Billy V Glow Ghost came out!  Thanks Matt.  I can't wait to get these wet this spring!  Check out the new 2010 additions to the Trophy Fly line:

  Billy V Glow Ghost                                                                              Watermelon

  Martini                                                                                                   Al Capone

Matt also has a series of Coho Candy flies, and there are a few new tasty treats for 2010 here too:

  U.V. Pink Slip                                                                                       Martini

  Hangover                                                                                             Blue & Copper Crinkle


Believe it or not, spring is on its way.... It's time to start gearing up and getting your tackle set for spring.  You can check out Matt's website at http://www.siggsrigs.com

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

              

PRESS RELEASE                                                CONTACT: Krenzer Marine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    Tim Habecker (315) 483-6986

January 4, 2010                                                                          thabecker@krenzermarine.com

 

   KRENZER MARINE ANNOUNCES TOURNAMENT PARTNERSHIP

Krenzer Marine, one of Lake Ontario’s leading boat dealerships, today announced that they will partner with Capt. Bill Ruth and Billy V Sportfishing to fish the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Series in 2010.

 

Commenting on the new partnership, Tim Habecker of Krenzer Marine said “Our business focus has expanded beyond our core recreational boating market to include new opportunities such as the Lake Ontario sportfishing market.  Partnering with Capt. Bill and his team will allow us to gain a greater level of exposure in this market, will prepare us to better address customer needs, and will allow us to position ourselves for growth for the future.  Bill is a true professional who has demonstrated a long term commitment to our industry and I expect this partnership to be very beneficial to our entire organization.”

 

Captain Bill Ruth is a successful charter Captain, outdoor writer, and tournament fisherman with over 25 years experience fishing Lake Ontario.  “I am thrilled to be partnering with the Krenzer Marine team,” says Ruth. “Krenzer Marine has been providing boaters with an exceptionally high level of service since 1959. I look forward to using my contacts and expertise to assist them with the realization of both their sales and service goals.  Plus, it’s going to be a lot of fun having them on the team this season.  Let’s go fishing! ”

ABOUT KRENZER MARINE

Krenzer Marine is based in SodusPoint, NY and is one of Lake Ontario’s busiest full-service boat dealerships.  With 50 years of experience, Krenzer Marine helps boaters get the most out of their time on the water.  From providing service, dockage, storage, gelcoat repairs, boat sales, electronics installations, and boat hauling and lifting, Krenzer Marine is well known for delivering a superior customer experience. For more information please visit www.krenzermarine.com

Exciting stuff!  I'm ready to go fishing NOW!!

Until Next Time,

Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

It's a few days after Christmas and it's snowing...pretty cool if you ask me!  I'll be headed over to the hill to enjoy the snow a little bit later today.  But for now, I'm focused on our 2010 Tournament schedule.  Details will follow later, but for now I thought you might enjoy this little video I put together over the Christmas Holiday:

I'm not much for discussing politics and I certainly don't trust any of our politicians.  But I felt the need to bring this to your attention so that we can collectively voice our concerns to our "representatives" over this terrible plan that our government is trying to slip past us without anyone noticing.  In short, our elected officials want to put 2,200 wind turbines on Lake Ontario in 50-150 feet of water.  The electricity that these turbines generate will be sent to New York City.  Here's a snapshot of the plan:  Offshore Wind Turbines - BAD NEWS for Lake Ontario
There are a thousand reasons why this is a horrible idea, but the highlights are captured pretty well in this letter written by Tom "Longline" Bishop.  Tom posted this on the Lake Ontario United forum and has given us permission to copy/paste it.  So PLEASE send this to your elected officials.   I couldn't agree more Tom!  Thank you for writing this.

Dear Governor Patterson,

I’m writing to inform you that I and many Lake Ontario fishermen, boaters, property owners & environmentally conscious citizens are totally against locating offshore windfarms along the shores in Lake Ontario for which the NY Power Authority is currently seeking proposals. From aesthetic, ecological, recreational, and economic viewpoints this is not a good area to install turbines.

The Great Lakes were declared to be a national treasure (Presidential Exec. Order 13340 of May 18, 2004). They are a valuable freshwater resource that many governments, agencies, organizations and conservation groups have been trying to restore and protect, especially in this time of climate change that is seeing our freshwater ecology challenged and the world’s freshwater supply dwindle.

1. Aesthetically:
Windmills will be a clearly visible eyesore from all points on the south shore and higher buildings inland. There will be no hills or trees to hide them. Offshore windmills are larger than their land based cousins and will fill the 50 to 150 Ft of water band along the south and eastern shores. NYPA is seeking proposal for the construction of up to 500 Megawatts of electrical production. This will require 1,250 turbines rated for 1.6 MW each which operate at a typical 25% efficiency, worldwide. Rochester has plans to develop the harbor area for recreational purposes; Oswego and the Salmon River area have already become well known for their recreational activities especially the world class fishing and hatcheries there.

2. Ecologically:
The Rochester Embayment extends from Braddock’s Bay to Pultneyville from the shoreline out to over 200 ft of water. It has a thick sand and mud bottom due to thousands of years or erosion and is listed as a Class B Area of Concern by the U.S. EPA due to the sediments containing very high levels of heavy metals and phosphorous. Impairments listed by the USEPA include: restricted dredging; degradation of benthos; loss of fish and wildlife habitat; and beach closings, among others.

Foundations for offshore turbines are much larger than land based units as they also have to withstand water currents and wave action. Excavation for installation and decommissioning, (after only a 20 years life expectancy) offshore turbine towers and transmission lines will disrupt heavily polluted sediments that have settled to the bottom and are beginning to be covered by cleaner sediments from the last few years. The underwater currents and the natural gyre that travels from West to East in Lake Ontario will carry liberated pollutants and impair areas all along the southern shore and into the Thousand Islands.

Every aquatic life form in the Great Lakes is dependent upon the nearshore environment at some stage in their life, whether it’s zooplankton, prey or game fish. It is a very frail ecology, especially with the recent colonization of that zone by invasive species such as Zebra & Quagga mussels. Turbine foundations, interconnection and transmission lines will cause aquatic habitat fragmentation and disrupt nesting sites. Studies have shown that fish can sense and are affected by electromagnetic fields. The US Army Corps of Engineers is trying to stop another invasive species (Asian carp) from entering the Great Lakes at the Chicago Sanitary Canal with electricity.

Avian fatalities are also a major concern. Especially for migratory birds and water fowl that have established routes through the area to resting places such as at Braddock’s Bay, Irondequoit Bay, wetlands in the area, and even the Montezuma Wildlife Preserve.

3. Recreationally:
Boating collisions occur every year. The sought after proposal will add over 1000 more nautical obstacles for all types of watercraft.

Government agencies will create exclusion zones around the turbines and transmission lines for reasons of safety and national security. This will greatly reduce and partition the area where boaters and fishermen frequent.

4. Economically:
Effort by the Great Lakes states, US and Canadian governments and their agencies to restore fish populations and habitat has put money into the local economies. It has lead to the establishment of a documented $7 Billion/year Sportfishing industry on the Great Lakes. Windfarms will diminish this.

The Lowville windfarm is currently entering a legal battle with NYS as it was recently classified as a “shirt-changer.” Flat Rock/Maple Ridge did not create the additional jobs that its proponents claimed it would. Lewis County is only going to receive 25% of what of was projected for its 2010 budget from that windfarm project.

The view of the lake will be ruined and property taxes will be lost as values of the most valuable residential properties in the area will go down. People do not want to live with windmills in view, unless they are getting easement monies for turbines on their land. Individuals will not get easement money if the turbines are located offshore.

Electricity generated by wind is more expensive than other means due to construction, maintenance and transmission:

The Long Island PA (headed by Mr. Kessel) terminated the proposal for only 40 turbines in the Long Island Sound when they found out that re-bid construction costs would exceed initial estimates by $114M.

Access issues for servicing turbines will contribute to increased expenses of electricity. The waves on Lake Ontario are much steeper than on the Baltic where they acknowledge access issues with wave heights above 1 meter. (We have that frequently.) Additionally, although Lake Ontario doesn’t generally freeze over, the Welland Canal and the St Lawrence Seaway are closed over the winter and ports such as the Genesee River and Oswego do freeze over.

Site choices are based on average yearly wind speed and the day to day and even hourly winds are ignored. Lake Ontario sailors know how the winds suddenly changes in these areas. Brownouts & surges will become more frequent & severe as the area becomes more dependent on technology that is based upon our unpredictable weather. I.E. “Lake effect”. (Worldwide, without Lake effect, they only operate at 20-25% of name plate capacity.)

I urge you to say “NO” to windfarms on Lake Ontario. Although proponents claim “green” w.r.t. air, they casually brush off issues with water. Lake Ontario is too valuable a freshwater resource to risk.

Thank you,
Capt. Bill Ruth


You can find out who your local representatives are here:  http://whoismyrepresentative.com/

Time is of the essence here people!  Governor Patterson just approved this proposal as part of his Energy Policy in 2010.  We either speak up now and do so LOUDLY or we're going to have to face life with 2,200 wind turbines in the middle of the lake that we all love so dearly.  I urge all of you to write your representatives today.

Hopefully that's it for the political ranting on this blog.  I just couldn't sit idly by and let them push this through without a fight from the stakeholders in the fishery.

Until Next Time,
NO WIND TURBINES ON LAKE ONTARIO!!

~Capt. Bill

Wow, what a difference a week makes.  Last week it was 55 degrees and felt like winter would never get here.  This morning it was 24 degrees at my house and it hasn't gotten above freezing yet today.  That means ski season is finally here and I'm busy with hiring and training new and returning ski & snowboard instructors.  At our first Instructor Training Course of the season over at Greek Peak this past weekend we had 44 candidates try out and after it was all said and done, we accepted 21 of them for further training.  We have another group of people trying out for the school next weekend plus we have clinics going on for all the new and returning instructors.  These next few weekends are some of the busiest of the year for me.  But even still, fishing and boating are never far from my mind.  We have a few projects lined up for the off-season, including adding another Humminbird 1157C and all new Cannon Dual Axis Rod Holders to the boat.  We already have one 1157C on the boat and we loved it so much that we've decided to add a second one to use as a big-screen GPS/Plotter with XM Satellite weather.  The new rod-holders are going to be a great addition to the boat; we used the rigger mounted Cannon rod holders all of last season and found them to be the best rod holders we've ever used, so we've decided to add some of their track-mounted holders this year.  We're really looking forward to the new additions, and I'm sure that you'll like them too!

Also, I was checking out the Krenzer Marine website today and I found that they have a great on-line store that you might want to check out:

                                                          

I didn't know that they had such a great selection of parts & accessories online!  As you know, the Krenzer guys fished with us a little bit this past summer, and I've found them to be fantastic to deal with.  They've hauled my boat a couple of times, done some service work for me, and now I see that they have this online store.  They're a great bunch of people to deal with and I'd definitely recommend them to you for any of your boating needs.  They've certainly treated me right and I wouldn't recommend them to you if they hadn't.

I guess that's about it for now.  Think snow!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I found this video tonight while I was cleaning out some of the files on my computer.  It's from 2008, but it still gets me pumped.  We were out on a charter and Sarah took her personal best King, which came in at just under 30lbs.  Nice!!  How many more months is it until we put the boats back in the water????

Today I was joined by my buddies Dave and Irwin for a day of steelhead fishing on the Salmon River.  Dave is the Mid-Atlantic sales rep for Nordica skis & boots, and Irwin runs the ski shop at Hunter Mt, and is also an Orvis guide in the Catskills during the summer.  We've made this trip an annual event, so I was really looking forward to spending some time on the water with these guys since we share so much in common.  We started out our day in the upper river, and I found a decent stretch of water without too many guys pounding on it, so we settled in there and spent the morning working that water.  I finally got the chance to use my new Daiwa Exceler 2500 spinning reel, and I was pretty impressed with how well it performed.  It has a super smooth drag and with 7 bearings, you can just guess smooth the retreive is.  I was float fishing using some techniques that my buddy Andy Bliss showed me last winter when Dad & I drifted the river with him.  While we didn't slay them, we did manage to play with several fish each, and I ended my day landing two steelhead and one brown.  Dave and Irwin each landed a few fish of their own, but I wasn't nearby to snap any pictures of them with their fish.  Sorry 'bout that guys...You need to catch those fish when I'm not a half mile down the river! 

Here's a couple of pics of my fish:





We had a great day together, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with good friends on the water.  The fish were just a bonus.

Today was also Veteran's Day, so I want to extend my thanks to our men & women in the Armed Forces.  I appreciate all that you do to ensure that this great Nation we live in remains free.

That's about it for now.  More fishing reports to come once deer season winds down.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

This afternoon I fished out of Port Orange, FL with Capt. Shane Ryan of Backwater Fishing Charters.  I had a few hours free after an appointment out Daytona way, so I called Shane and we set up an afternoon/evening trip.  We had a great time, and I hooked and landed two Black Tip Sharks that were around 200lbs apiece, boated several Jack Crevalle, hooked and lost a few Spinner Sharks and I even had a huge Tarpon on for a bit.  Its kind of hard to explain just how strong these fish are, but I can tell you that each Shark took me over an hour to get to the boat, and even the 8-10lb Jack Crevalle that we caught fought harder than any freshwater fish I've ever caught.  Needless to day, my arms are toast!  Unfortunately I forgot my camera on this trip to FL, so the only pictures I have are the few that Capt. Shane snapped with my Blackberry:









Today was definitely a different style of fishing than I'm used to, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was very obvious that Capt. Shane knew the best spots & techniques and I'm looking forward to fishing with him again soon.  If any of you are in the Daytona area and are looking for a great guide, I'd highly recommend him.  You can reach him at 386-566-9547.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

You gotta check this out.  THIS is what we live for - Lake Ontario Tournament Fishing!!   I'm so psyched to see my pals from Cold Steel highlighted in this video.  They deserve it after winning the 2009 Challenge Cup.  If all goes as planned, you'll see us fishing all of the Pro-Am's next year too!  If this doesn't get you pumped for fishing Lake Ontario, nothing will!



Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I'm glad that's over with.  I spent a few hours finishing up the last coat of bottom paint tonight.  It looks great, and I'm looking forward to moving on to other less dirty projects!  Here's the the before, during and after shots of the transom.  I think you'll agree that it looks fantastic now that we're finally finished with the project.

Before:



During:



After:







Sorry for the lousy quality if the pictures, but it was dark as I was finishing up and the only light I had was my shop light.  I guess that about wraps it up for this project.  Stay tuned for more "fun" off-season boating  &fishing stuff.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Jay and I got back at the boat work this morning and applied Interlux Fiberglass No Sand Primer, then we put on one coat of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 bottom paint before we called it a day.  The Interlux primer goes on really thin (and is silver), and the trick to this stuff is to only apply the paint when the primer is thumb print tacky, so it's a two man job.  I put the primer on first, then about 20 minutes later, Jay followed me around the boat with the bottom paint.  One of the tricks that we've been taught about the Interlux primer is to absolutely wear gloves when applying it because it'll stick to anything that it touches and won't come off.  The bottom paint cleans up pretty easily with acetone, but the primer is there to stay.  We still have to apply one more coat of bottom paint, but as you can see, the bottom is looking a whole lot better already.

Here I am applying the primer:





And here's Jay applying the bottom paint:




Like I said earlier, I still have one coat of bottom paint to apply.  I hope to get to that tomorrow afternoon if the weather allows, and then I'll post pictures of the finished product.  Tim Habecker at Krenzer Marine was a big help with the primer & paint recommendations, and the stuff went on just as he said it would and I'm delighted with how good it looks.  The hardest part of this project was definitely scraping and sanding the bottom, so today's paint job seemed relatively easy, and we came home a lot cleaner than we did yesterday!  I owe Jay a big thank you for all of his help this weekend too.  Without him I'd still be scraping paint.  Thanks bud!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today Jay and I tackled one of those projects that needs to be done occasionally, but that we dread doing - scraping off the old bottom paint and prepping the bottom for fresh paint.  We spent close to 6 hours scraping, sanding, cleaning, and prepping the bottom for the new bottom paint that it will receive tomorrow.  Today's job was without question one of the dirtiest jobs I've ever done.  I'm so glad it's over!

Here's the before picture (we had scraped some of the paint already)



Here's Jay hard at work:



And the after pictures:







Like I said, this was a DIRTY job.  And yes Mom, I was wearing a respirator so I didn't breath in too much of that nasty paint. Tomorrow we'll wipe the boat down with acetone one more time, prime it, then apply fresh bottom paint.  I'll post some more pictures of the paint work tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to this job being finished, but its the price we pay to play.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!         

~Capt. Bill

Jay and I met our Krenzer Marine tournament teammates Tim & Dan at the boat for one last troll on the lake before we pulled the boat for the season.  We headed over to the West side and set up and found lots of bait and tons of hooks on the screen.  We primarily worked the Taughannock area in anywhere from 80-350 FOW, but we did slide as far North as the Boy Scout camp at one point and then we even slid over to the East side for a bit later in the day.  It was a slow pick all day, but we still managed to boat a few Lakers although none of them were very big.  Our Wonderbread Spin Dr./Sigg's Wonderbread Superglow fly fished off of a diver out 210' on a #1 setting took fish for us today, as did a Green Spin Dr./Sigg's Green Apple and a White Spin Dr./Sigg's White Crinkle fly.  Divers took most of the fish today, but we did take on laker off of a rigger too.  While the fishing wasn't fast & furious, we still had a beautiful day on the water with some good company, so it was a really nice way to end our season.






After we got done fishing, Dan had to head home, but Tim stuck around all afternoon and helped us get the boat out of the water, load it on the trailer, winterize it, tow it up to the barn, and set it on blocks for the winter.  THANK YOU so much for your help today Tim!  I should mention that Tim owns Krenzer Marine up in Sodus Point and on top of being a great addition to the tournament team he's been a ton of help with the boat this year.  If ever you need anything boating related, I'd definitely suggest that you call or stop into Krenzer's and tell Tim that we sent you.  They're a bunch of really great folks up there and they'll go out of their way to make sure you're happy.

Well, that wraps up the lake fishing reports for the year.  I'll continue to post here as we work on the boat this fall and whenever I have the chance to get out fishing some of the local tributaries.  It's been an interesting year to say the least, and I'm already looking forward to being back up on Lake Ontario again next spring.  I hope you enjoyed this season's rants & ramblings; I certainly have enjoyed writing them and posting them here.  Be sure to stay tuned all winter long for updates on our status and the very latest in fishing gear and so on.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

This morning Dad & I went up to Pulaski and met Tom Burke from Cold Steel Sportfishing for a morning of chasing Kings on the Salmon River.  Tom took us into one of his "secret" spots and we had a ball all morning long.  Dad hooked up on the very first cast of the morning and once we figured the drift out it was game on!  I lost count of how many fish we hooked today, but I'd have to guess that it was over 40 fish between the two of us.  We started fishing at about 6:40am and we called it a day at 11:30...I was tired and it was time for some lunch after all the Kings we had been chasing!  Chartreuse was the color of choice first thing in the morning, then it seemed to be a green bite for the rest of the day.  If any of you guys or gals are looking for a great guide to take you out on the local tributaries for salmon or steelhead fishing this fall, I'd definitely suggest that you give Tom a call.  He's been at it full time for 20 years and knows where to go to put you on fish.  He can  be reached at (315)391-8079.









Many thanks to Tom for showing Dad & I such a good time.  It was fun to spend the day with someone who's just as passionate about fishing as I am.  We'll be back up to the river again a few more times this fall, so stay tuned for some more reports!  Maybe we'll even get out with Tom again...

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I took my buddy Kevin out for a couple of hours tonight for his first try at trolling Cayuga Lake. We found fish & bait in 260-340FOW South of Taughannock. We boated a few small Lakers and small Atlantics. A DW Super Slim Tranny spoon fished off a rigger down 65' took several fish, and a Green Spinny/Sigg's Green Apple and a White Spnny/Sigg's Glow Ghost fished off of wires out 240 and 275 ft on a #2 setting took the rest of the fish. The wind was blowing pretty hard out of the NW all day, but by the time we got out there it had backed off quite a bit and it ended up being a pretty nice night.



One last trip on Cayuga on Saturday, then the boat comes out for the year.  Stay tuned for more reports!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

As most of you know, we ended up moving the boat closer to home this spring and had to miss a lot of the fishing up on Lake Ontario this year.  But I'm happy to report that we'll be back on Lake Ontario again next year!  I'm still working out final details as to where on the lake we'll be from June-Sept., but I know for certain that we'll be back in Wilson for the month of May. I'm really excited to be headed back to the Wilson Boatyard Marina this spring, and I hope that you'll join us for a day or two of the very best salmon fishing that Lake Ontario has to offer.  In my opinion, May is the prime month for salmon fishing all season long, and there's no better place to be than Wilson.

We've already begun booking dates for next May and all that we have left for availability are the following dates:  May 1, 2, 10-15, 23.  These dates won't last long, so be sure to let me know right away if you want one or two of them.

Those of you who fished Wilson with us this past May know that catches like those pictured here are pretty common.  In fact, we averaged over 12 fish per day in May of 2009, and we had several 20+ fish days.  If you recall, we also placed 4th out of an impressive 69 boat field in the Scotty King of the Lake tournament, so you know that we had the salmon program dialed in.  One look at the smiles on these faces should tell you all that you need to know...Wilson is the place to be in May!





Once I have the final details worked out for the remainder of the season I'll let you know, but for now I wanted to give you a head-start on planning next season's fantastic spring fishing.  Just give me a call at (607)592-9012 or email me at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com to make your reservation.

Thanks for your business, and I look forward to seeing you back on Lake Ontario in 2010!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I took the kids out after dinner for a quick 30 minute troll tonight and we found several Lakers that were ready to play.  Best depth for us was 350FOW on the West side South of Taughannock and we took fish on our Walker Deeper Divers out 250' & 275' on a #2 setting.  We had plenty bait & hooks on the Humminbird, and if it wasn't a school night and we could have stayed longer I'm pretty sure we could have loaded up on the lake trout.  Our green Spin Dr/Siggs Green Hypnotists and White Spin Dr/Siggs Glow Ghosts were just what they wanted tonight.  It was such a quick trip that I didn't even bother with the speed & temp probe so I can't tell you what our down speed was, but the boys and my wife and I had a great time and enjoyed the great weather and good fishing.









We'll be out a few more times before we pull the boat for the season, so be sure to check back here for details!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I'm always trying my hardest to keep up with the latest technology, and today my buddy Uncle Melvin talked me into trying for the first time.  So far he's my one and only follower, but I'm hoping that a few of you will find value in following me too.  I plan to use Twitter to keep you up to date while we're out on the water fishing, plus I'll send out tweets whenever the mood strikes me.  It might be fishing related, but it also might be something to do with family, friends, work, skiing, hunting...I'm not really sure what I'll tweet about.  But the main purpose is for up-to-the-second fishing reports.  I know a lot of you use the internet for daily fishing reports (I love Lake Ontario United and GLA for those reasons!), but just think about how cool it'll be to see how we're doing, while we're actually out fishing!  Imagine sitting on the couch on a Saturday morning and your phone vibrates.  You pick it up and see a tweet from me:  "Fishing in Wilson today.  12 for 15, all Kings, Green/Green on the divers out 210' on a #2"  Pretty cool if you ask me!

So if you're up to it, follow me on by clicking here:  http://twitter.com/Billy_V_   Or you can just check out the Twitter widget on our homepage here:  http://www.billyvsportfishing.com/.  I'll start Twittering right away, so you'll be able to follow us on our last fishing trips of the year on Cayuga, while we put the boat away for the winter, during ski season, and you'll find out about our plans for next year as they happen.  This should be an interesting experiment, I hope you check it out!

Until Next Time,
Tweet On!!

~Capt. Bill

I just got a call from a friend of mine in MI who tells me that Tom Healey of Rockford, MI caught what may end up being the new World Record brown trout on Sept. 9th.  He was fishing on the Manistee River with guide Tom Roller.  When the fish hit the DNR Certified scales it weighed an amazing 41.45 lbs, and that would qualify the fish as the new world record.  Here's picture of the once-in-a-lifetime catch:

              

Here's a link to the story from 9 & 10 News as well as a short video.  It's definitely worth checking out! http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=169361

Incredible to say the least.  Congratulations!!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Last night I asked my boys what they wanted to do on their last night of summer vacation and they said that they wanted to go trolling with Mom & Dad. Cool! So after dinner we went down to the lake and trolled for about an hour in front of Taughannock. We found lots of bait & hooks in 275-350 FOW and boated a few lakers and lost a couple more. We didn't have a bite on our riggers, but after pullinglines at 7:30pm I found that all of them had weeds on them, so thatexplains why.

Our Walker Deeper Divers out 250 & 275 on #2 settings took all of our fish. They were pulling a white double crush glow Spin Dr./Glow Ghost Sigg's Rigs fly and a green double crush glow Spin Dr./Sigg's RigsGreen Hypnotist fly. We didn't have a bite below 2.3mph on our Depth Raider, so they wanted it fairly fast last night. My wife even got in on the action:



William and Ben each landed a pretty healthy Laker and were all smiles at the end of the night. William's Laker was pretty fat and put up areal good fight (for a Laker ).    We put all of them back so that someone else can enjoy catching them too.





We're headed out of town for a few days so we won't be out fishing again for over a week, but we'll try to get out a couple more times before we pull the boat for the season.  Stay tuned for more family fishing reports!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Last night Jay, Bill, & I headed out for a short trip on Cayuga. We ran over to Taughannock and set up in 300 FOW and found lots of bait & hooks from 50-120' down. We only fished for a couple of hours, but we had action the entire time we were out, including two doubles. Best set-ups for us were a white double crush glow Spin Dr/Sigg's Rigs Glow Ghost on a Walker Deeper Diver out 210' on a #2, a green double crush glow Spin Dr./Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist on a diver out 240' on a #2, and a DW Super Slim Feelin' Erie spoon fished off our 80' Cannon Mag 20 DT/TS downrigger. Best down speed was 2.1-2.3mph. Here's a couple of pics:







I should mention that we've recently been using a new downrigger weight and so far we really like it a lot.  We've been using the Troll-Rite 16 lb weight the past few trips out and we've been very impressed.  They only cost a fraction of the more expensive downrigger weights and they seem to track straight and true with very little blow back.  When I heard about the 16 lb Troll-Rites from a friend and saw that they were going to cost me 2/3 of what the others did, I figured I'd give them a try.  So far, we're very pleased with them.  Word has it that they're coming out with a new 20lb model soon, so we'll probably give those a try too.  I'll be sure to let you know more about our impressions with these  weights next year after we've had some time to run them on Lake Ontario.

We only have a few more days left to fish this season, then it's time to get the boat out of the water and begin the process of getting ready for next season!  We'll be completely re-finishing the bottom of the boat, uprading our rods & reels to the new Daiwa Saltist Levelwind Linecounter series, and a host of other improvements.  Stay tuned here for updates and pictures over the course of the off-season.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today my good friend Jerry Felluca of Rebel Charters and I were joined by Matt, Jeremy, Tori, and Michael for a 6 hour trip out of Sandy Creek.  The lake was dead-flat when we left port so we decided to try our luck off-shore today.  We pointed the boat NW out of port and after a short run we set up in 340FOW.  We had a steady pick of fish today, but the best depths for us were 460-480 FOW, and we found our temp from 60-80 feet down.  Our best down speed was 2.0-2.1mph on our Depth Raider.  We ran a mixture of DW spoons & Spin Dr/Sigg's Rigs Flys on both downwriggers and wire divers.  Our best spoon pattern was the SuperSlim DW Gator fished at a variety of depths, and our best spinny combo was a white double crush glow Spin Dr/Sigg's Rigs Glow Ghost fished off our our 80' rigger.  We also had multiple bites on both a Wonderbread Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Wonderbread UV Glow fly and a Green Dot Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist fly combo. 

Today was mostly a steelhead bite for us, although we did manage a couple of kings, one of which was a 27lb bruiser that took a SS Gator spoon fished off of a 65' rigger out over 460 FOW:



Tori and Michael both got to tussle with several steelhead today too, with Tori taking Top Honors for the biggest steelhead of the day for us:





Jerry and I had a great time fishing with Matt and his crew today, and we both particularly enjoyed seeing the kids locked up with some Lake Ontario chrome.  I think we have two more kids hooked on this fishery; they both said that they want to come back again reaalllllly soon.  Good call bringing them with you Uncle Matt!



Many thanks to Jerry for inviting me to run today's trip on his boat.  It felt good to be back on a Cannon downrigger boat (Jerry has SIX of them!), and it was fun to pit my spinny/fly program against Jerry's spoon program.  I didn't keep track , but if I had to guess I'd say it was a draw...pretty much everything we put in the water got bit today!  Thanks again Jerry, I thoroughly enjoyed fishing with you.

If you haven't been up to Lake Ontario yet this year, NOW is the time.  The weather is at its best, and the fishing has been on fire!

Until Next Time,
FIsh On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today my good friend Capt. Rick Hajecki and I took a joint charter out of Oak Orchard.  We were met by Kenny, Larry, and Bob from Southern PA at 5:30 Saturday morning and we loaded the boat up and headed out to try our hand at some steelhead and king fishing.  Kenny is a taxidermist who runs Great Cove Wildlife Studio and was looking for a fish or two to mount.  We definitely accomplished that mission; the guys took home two beautiful steelhead for Kenny to mount.  You can check out Kenny's work at http://www.greatcovestudio.com.
 We primarily worked the 27-29N lines out in front of port and we had steady action all day long.  Several nice steelhead and kings came to the net, and we ended up boxing out a couple of hours early.  So much for the big West wind messing up the fishing!  Here's a few pictures from the day:





Today's best down speed was 2.4-2.5mph and all of our bites came on a North troll.  Our 50' rigger pulling a Northern King Copper NBK and our 300' copper pulling a green dot Smartfish/Hypnotist fly were easily our two best producers.  As always, our Daiwa rods & reels handled the big fish without a hitch, but I couldn't get used to those funky downriggers that Rick uses!  I can't wait to get back to my boat and my Cannon downriggers.  LOL!

I owe Rick a big 'Thank You'  for helping me out this weekend.  His boat is always one to be reckoned with come tournament time, and I really appreciate his offer to let us run our trip with him today.

We'll be out again next weekend, so stay tuned for more fishing reports.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

We've been asking for it for several years now, and we're finally going to get it:  A new high-end line counter levelwind reel from our favorite rod & reel manufacturer, Daiwa.  Last winter Daiwa introduced the new Saltist levelwind reels an they've been very well received, but we wanted to see them with a line counter for our wire diver and downrigger applications.  The new Saltist Levelwind Line Counter comes in regular and Super High Speed gear ratios and is available in several different sizes.  Here's full scoop:

Saltwateror heavy Great Lakes applications, Saltist offers the perfect match ofline capacity, durability and performance for fishing braid or mono.Plus the consistent line measurement accuracy required by today’scontrolled depth and jigging techniques. Saltist® Levelwind Line Counter Features: Direct-drive line counter measures in feet Rugged, aluminum frame and sideplate Daiwa CRBB Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearings New Carbon U.T. drag, smooth and fade resistant Dual-system Infinite Anti-Reverse Machined aluminum spool Levelwind system lays line evenly on spool Spool click STTLW50LCA

Daiwa’s Line Counter Measures line out in feet to make setting of trolling patterns a snap.And once you’ve hooked up, you can repeatedly drop right back into thestrike zone without guessing. CRBB CorrosionResistant Ball Bearings Shielded design keeps debris out—lasts up to 12 times longer than ordinary stainless ball bearings.

Model Number Action FW / SW Bearings Gear Ratio Line Per Handle Turn Wt. (oz.) Line Capacity (Lb. Test / Yards) Drag Max Levelwind Line Counter  STTLW40LCA  - / M  4 CRBB, 1 RB  4.9 : 1  36.2"  22.90  25/400, 30/270, 40/240 BRAID: 40/660, 50/490  22.0   STTLW50LCA  - / MH  4 CRBB, 1 RB  4.9 : 1  36.2"  23.80  30/350, 40/310, 50/220 BRAID: 40/840, 50/630  22.0  Levelwind Line Counter Super High Speed  STTLW20LCHA  - / L  4 CRBB, 1 RB  6.1 : 1  35.0"  18.50  12/420, 14/350, 20/210 BRAID: 40/260, 50/200  15.4   STTLW30LCHA  - / ML  4 CRBB, 1 RB  6.1 : 1  35.0"  19.40  14/490, 20/295, 25/230 BRAID: 40/380, 50/280  15.4   STTLW40LCHA  - / M  4 CRBB, 1 RB  6.4 : 1  47.2"  23.50  25/400, 30/270, 40/240 BRAID: 40/660, 50/490  20.0   STTLW50LCHA  - / MH  4 CRBB, 1 RB  6.4 : 1  47.2"  24.30  30/350, 40/310, 50/220 BRAID: 40/840, 50/630  20.0  NEW ITEM CRBB = Super Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearing, BB = Stainless Steel Ball Bearing, RB Roller Bearing

Daiwa didn't stop there though.  They've also added a new reel to the Sealine series of reels. The new Sealine SG-LCX series is an upgrade over the SG-LCA reels that we love so much.  It has an upgraded Carbon U.T. drag system and a new power handle in a corrosion-proof frame and will prove to be a great addition to the Daiwa line.  Here's the scoop on that line of reels:

Matchinga corrosion-proof composite frame with Daiwa´s CRBB anti-corrosionbearings adds versatility for fresh and saltwater use. And forunmatched control of large fish, the Carbon U.T. Drag provides a newlevel of smooth, fade-free performance. Sealine® LCX Line Counter Features: Direct-drive line counter measures in feet Corrosion-proof composite frame and sideplates Daiwa CRBB Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearings New Carbon U.T. drag, smooth and fade resistant Comfortable power handle Machined aluminum spool Spool click

Daiwa’s Line Counter Measures line out in feet to make setting of trolling patterns a snap.And once you’ve hooked up, you can repeatedly drop right back into thestrike zone without guessing. CRBB CorrosionResistant Ball Bearings Shielded design keeps debris out—lasts up to 12 times longer than ordinary stainless ball bearings.

Model Number Action FW / SW Bearings Gear Ratio Line Per Handle Turn Wt. (oz.) Line Capacity (Lb. Test / Yards) Drag Max Line Counter Reels With Counter Balanced Handle  SG27LCX  H / L  2 CRBB  4.2 : 1  23.6"  17.00  12/450, 14/360, 20/210  22.0   SG47LCX  XH / M  2 CRBB  4.2 : 1  23.6"  18.70  14/480, 20/280, 25/230  22.0  NEW ITEM CRBB = Super Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearing, BB = Stainless Steel Ball Bearing, RB Roller Bearing

To top it all off, the guys at Daiwa have updated the entire line of Heartland trolling rods:

Heartland offers a wide variety of trolling actions for today's most productive trolling techniques.

Cut-proof Aluminum Oxide guides Wire line trolling rodFeatures the tangle-free AFTCO® Roller Swivel Tip, plus lightweight roller guides.

Print Page Heartland®-HLD Trolling Rods Feature: Rugged E-Glass blank on most models. Graphite blank on Trout Leadcore, Kokanee and Walleye trolling rods Classic cork handle on most actions—resilient Duracork® grip on Downrigger, Diver and Wire Line rods Quality Fuji® reel seat Cut-proof Aluminum Oxide guides Hook keeper Model Number Power Action Length Feet Pieces Line Wt. (Lb.) Lure Wt. (Ounces) No. Guides Walleye Trolling  HLD-W710TMHFB   MH   F   7'10"   Tel.   10 - 20   1/4 - 1   10   HLD-W86TMHFB   MH   F   8'6"   Tel.   10 - 20   1/4 - 1   10  Salmon Hot Shotting & Trolling  HLD-SS761HFB   H   F   7'6"   1   10 - 25   1/2 - 6   9  Downrigger Trolling  HLD-DR802M   M   S   8'   2   12 - 20   —   9   HLD-DR862M   M   S   8'6"   2   12 - 20   —   9  Dipsy Diver Trolling  HLD-DD962H   H   S   9'6"   2   12 - 30   —   10   HLD-DD1062H   H   R   10'6"   2   12 - 30   —   11  Kokanee Trolling  HLD-KN862L   L   S   8'6"   2   4 - 8   —   10  Wire Line Trolling Rod (AFTCO® Roller Swivel Top)  HLD-WL862M   M   R   8'6"   2   15 - 30   —   9  Great Lakes Leadcore Line Trolling  HLD-LC662M   M   R   6'6"   2   18 - 27   —   7   HLD-LC702M   M   R   7'   2   18 - 27   —   8  Trout Leadcore Trolling  HLD-LC661ML   ML   S   6'6"   1   4-12lb. Mono 12-18lb. Lead Core   —   8   HLD-LC661M   M   S   6'6"   1   4-12lb. Mono 12-18lb. Lead Core   —   8   HLD-LC701ML   ML   S   7'   1   4-12lb. Mono 12-18lb. Lead Core   —   9   HLD-LC701M   M   S   7'   1   4-12lb. Mono 12-18lb. Lead Core   —   9  NEW ITEM

As you can see, the team at Daiwa has been very busy lately.  We're looking forward to getting our hands on some of this new gear and putting through it's paces.  I'm sure we're going to love these new rods & reels just as much, if not more than the Daiwa products that we're using today!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

About three weeks ago I got a call from Tim Habecker at Krenzer Marine in Sodus Point.  Tim was looking to put together a team for the Wayne County Pro-Am in Sodus Point and wanted to know if we were interested in pairing up with him.  We haven't been on Lake Ontario in about 6 weeks, so we were thrilled to have the chance to get back up there again and we took Tim up on his offer.

As most of you know, due to my hectic work schedule we've moved the boat to Cayuga Lake for the summer.  So the first order of business was to get the boat on a trailer and on it's way to Sodus.  Tim sent a truck down and we had the boat lifted and set on the trailer and we were on our way.





When we got to Sodus on Thursday night Tim had the boat all pressure washed and looking good in it's slip.  Now all we had to do was figure out where the fish were and what they wanted to eat!

On Friday we entered the Captain Jack's Big Fish Friday tournament, so off we went in search of a nice box of fish.  Our main goal was to eliminate unproductive water and to locate fish for the weekend but also to have some fun.  We fished our way east of port towards Fair Haven and we found plenty of big cooperative fish like this one:






At the end of the day we came in with a big box full of 20lb + Kings and when we weighed our box for the tournament, we found that we had the best box of the day (71lbs for 3 fish) and we walked away with the Big Fish Friday title.  How cool!  We knew we had a big class of fish nailed down and we were all set to head back there again on Saturday for the Pro-Am.

On Saturday morning we headed back down to our way points from the previous day and we set up in 140 FOW.  We weren't  set up for more than a few minutes when a rigger fires and we're locked up with out first fish of the day.  After a 350' run, the big king gave us back a badly mangled and beaten SS Die Hard spoon and he swam away.  I wish I'd taken a picture of it because this spoon was obliterated by this fish.  "Obliterated tackle" would become a theme for the rest of the day for us.  We hooked up with all the kings that we needed to be in the thick of the tournament, but we dumped all but two of them.  Actually, we didn't dump them....it was more like the fish destroyed our tackle and swam away from us.  I lost track, but we had fish break off at least 8 flasher/fly combos.  We had fish go through our copper and wad it up.  We had fish go through our divers and wad them up.  We broke a rod.  We had a fish destroy a reel on us.  I've never seen such a butt-whooping!  Those of you who've fished with us before know that we're very anal about lines, leaders, drag settings, sharp hooks, etc.  This was brand-new line these fish were breaking off...50lb test fly leaders and 30lb test diver leaders.  I could understand  losing a fish or two had we been fishing with old worn out equipment, but that simply wasn't the case.  We landed over 120 Kings in the month of May and I don't remember breaking a single fish off.  But on Saturday, the fish got their revenge on us in a big (and very expensive) way.  The only consolation was that one of the fish we landed was a 28.01lb King that ended up placing 3rd in the summer LOC Derby.  We were all in shock from the day's events so I forgot to take a picture of Tim with his big King.  Someone at the tournament weigh-in took a shot or two of him with it, so hopefully we can get a copy of that picture to share with you.  It was a great fish and the only highlight of a really rough day on the water.  At the end of the day on Saturday we sat in next to last place.  Talk about a humbling experience.  I still haven't fully digested what happened to us, but I'm sure that in a few days I'll have come to some sort of conclusion as to what went wrong and I'll try to learn from it so that it doesn't happen to us again.


On Sunday we decided to head back to the same waypoints and try to extract a little bit of revenge on those kings.  I wanted pay back!  We set up and within minutes we had 3 fish in the cooler and we'd dropped a couple more.  What a way to start the day!  What's that I always say about not leaving fish to find fish?  Well, I did exactly that on Sunday morning and it cost us.  Why I didn't spin the boat around and go back through those fish is beyond me.  Maybe it was because my friends two miles down the lake in Fair Haven were on a bunch of big fish and were stacking them up like cord wood.  Maybe I just had a brain cramp.  But I just kept pushing us east and we got out of the fish.  After we wasted an hour or so trying to get down to where our friends were in Fair Haven, their bite had vaporized.  So rather than turning around and wasting an hour trolling back to our fish we pulled lines and ran back and set up in the same area.  We worked that area for an hour or so and boated a couple of fish but we just didn't have much on the screen.  We had a brief team meeting and we decided to head even further back to the West to see if we could get into a few more fish.  We ran two miles back towards Sodus and set up out in 220FOW and found a few fish and managed to get a bite or two, but it wasn't what we were looking for either.  After working that area for a bit I pointed us back towards the area where we had found fish at the beginning of the day.  With about 30 minutes of time left we finally found them and we hooked up 4 more times and boated another 2 kings to bring our day 2 total to 7 fish. 


Over the course of the day we managed to get the bites that we needed, but I couldn't help but feel like I'd dropped the ball by not staying on those fish first thing in the morning.  After the weigh-in was all said and done we had moved up 6 or 7 places from Saturday's finish, but we were nowhere near where we had hoped to be.  Another humbling day....

Best lures for us were green double crush glow Spin Dr. & Pro-Chip flashers pulling Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist and Green Dolphin flies.  We also took some shots on a white Spin Dr./Siggs' Glow ghost set-up., and that SS Die Hard spoon took a couple of bites too We had multiple bits on 600' coppers, divers out 350-400' on #1 settings, and on riggers fished from 100-150' deep.  Basically it was a deep bite and they wanted green & white flasher/fly rigs.  We fished 140-160 FOW most of the time, but we ventured out as far as 225 FOW.  Down speed was 2.0-2.5 mph.

We owe Tim and Krenzer Marine a HUGE thank you for inviting us to fish with them.  We had a great weekend with Tim, Dan, Brian, and Rich and we look forward to fishing more tournaments with them in the future.  Thanks a lot for everything guys.  Let's just hope that our luck is a bit better next time! 

We'll be back up on Lake Ontario a few more times before the end of the season, so I'll be sure to report here.  I might even throw a Cayuga Lake report or two up here if anyone is interested.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

The fishing continued to be fantastic over the weekend in Wilson.  On Saturday we had a steady pick all day and ended up with a great box of fish.  The big Kings were up higher today than they've been lately and our riggers 40-60' down over 120-180 FOW pulling DW SuperSlim Die Hard, Glow Frog, and Da' Shiznit spoons were the best producers for us.  Best down speed was 2.1-2.3mph.  Later in the day we got our Deeper Divers to go pretty consistently too.  They were loaded with both Spin Dr and Pro-Chip paddles pulling a variety of Sigg's Rigs flys....Glow Ghost, UV Wonderbread, and Stainless Steel were the best colors for us today.





On Sunday I took my wife & kids out for a couple of hours and everyone got to play with a few fish.  William caught the biggest King of his life on a DW SuperSlim Green Eye Glow Ghost fished 130' down:




Benjamin caught the first King of his life on a Superslim Purple Clown fished off of a rigger down 50':



And Shelley caught her first wire line King on a Deeper Diver that was pulling a White Double Crush Glow Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Glow Ghost fly that we had parked deep at 350' on a .5 setting:


We didn't fish on Monday but it sounded like things slowed down a bit.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by Jeff Davison and Dave Duffin from Johnson Outdoors.  Dave is the National Sales Manager for Cannon Downriggers, and Jeff is the Sr. Brand Manager for Humminbird electronics.  They brought along some of their distributors (Matt, Chris, and Pete) so that we could show them our Cannon & Humminbird equipment in action on the water.  We got a bit of a late start, and didn't find the green, warm water we wanted when we first went out, but after a few small fish and some searching, we finally found the water that we were looking for.  Jeff spent a few minutes showing me how to fine tune the 1157C and I sure am impressed with the unit.  We were easily able to see the kinds of detail that I was able to see on my Furuno 585...INCREDIBLE!  Check out this screen shot from our 1157C from today:



After we finally found the fish we started a slow pick and took a few nice fish out of that area before we had to pick up and head in so that the guys could catch their planes out of town.  While we didn't wrench on the fish like we had the few days prior, we did manage a nice box of fish and we put Dave on the biggest fish of our week at just slightly over 24 lbs.  The fish took a Wonderbread Spinny/Sigg's UV Wonderbread fly combo fished off of our Cannon rigger down 140' over 150 FOW.



Right after Dave hooked up with this pig, Jeff was up and he landed a nice king that took a DW SuperSlim Die Hard fished off out our 50' rigger:

 

If you happen to run into Jeff at a tournament or fishing show, be sure to ask him how he got his nickname "Net Man"  No, it's NOT because he's on the cover of the June GLA magazine netting a King!  LOL!

We had a great time with these guys and we're so glad to be working with them.  Our 1157C is a fabulous fish finder, our Mag 20 DT/TS riggers are smokin' fast, and Jay tells me all the time that the new Cannon adjustable rod holders that we added are the best addition to the boat in several years.

Today's program was a carbon-copy of our King of the Lake program...Walker Deeper Divers out 350-425' on a .5, high divers out 300-325 on a 2.5, riggers stuffed down 110-150 ft deer pulling Spinnys/Siggs flys & some NK & DW spoons.  In short, we've been fishing an East-end deep program all week and it's been working beautifully for us.

We have a few more trips later this week, so stay tuned for more reports!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

What a week of fishing in Wilson!  We arrived Thursday the 7th and settled into our house with the rest of our tournament team.  On Friday May 8th Dad, Jay, Gump and I headed out to pre-fish the Scotty King of the Lake tournament and man did we find fish!  We only fished for 6 hours or so but we pulled 25 big Kings out of the lake and we were psyched to get back out there for Day 1 of the tournament.  I'll tell you more about what we were running later, but here's a picture that pretty much sums up the day on Friday...the guys hooked up with another big King!



We weighed a King in for Big Fish Friday and ended up with the 6th biggest fish of the day at just over 20 lbs.  We had a deep water program figured out and we ended up fishing that for the rest of the week.



Here's a few shots of the Shotgun Start on Saturday morning:





On Saturday (first day of the tournament) we went back out to our waypoints from the day before and set up and settled into a steady pick of decent sized fish.  Matt Siggeman from Sigg's Rigs joined us for the tournament and he got to see first-hand just how well his flies work on Lake Ontario Kings. We didn't have them going as fast and furious as we did on Friday, but we still managed to round out a very nice box of fish (we took 8 in the last 45 minutes we were fishing) and we headed to the scales feeling like we probably had a top 10 box. 



Here's a couple of shots of the guys working the back of the boat.  Notice the Sissy belt that we bought for Jay.  I guess these big Kings are just too much for him!  LOL!!  I'm gonna paint the thing pink before he puts that back on again!







The Scotty is different from the Pro-Am's in that you only weigh in your 5 biggest fish.  We had a couple of high-teens Kings mixed in with some 14-15 lb Kings so we felt like we were at least in it for Day 2.  As we watched each boat weigh in, we began to see that we had a pretty good box and when the weigh in was all over with we were sitting in first place with an 80 lb box of fish!  WOW!  What a great feeling to be leading 66 other boats.  The forecast was for Gale Force winds overnight and we were hoping that the forecast would hold true and give us the win.  Talk about a sleepless Saturday night.  I was up almost all night long listening to that wind just hoping that it was blowing hard enough that the tournament committee would cancel Sunday and we could sneak out of there with the big check!

When we woke up Sunday morning it was blowing but not as hard as we had all hoped; it looked to me like we were going to have to fish again and try to hold onto our lead.  After the tournament committee went out to look at the lake they decided that it was time to fish, so out we went in some nasty wind & waves. 





We gave it our best shot in some pretty tough conditions and managed another respectable box of fish, but we just didn't have the 20lb fish mixed in there like we did on Saturday.  Time to hope the other boats didn't find them either!





We were the last boat to weigh in on Sunday.  They weigh in reverse order from Saturday's results so the tension was building all throughout Sunday's weigh-in!  We knew we had a good box of fish, but we also knew that there were a few other boats with even bigger boxes than we had on Saturday, so by the time we got to the stage we pretty much knew the lead was slipping away from us.



When it was all said and done our 68 lb box landed us in 4th place.  Congratulations to Joe Toomey and his Irish Thunder team for taking the win.  I should also mention that my friends on Cold Steel came in with a huge 92 lb box on Sunday that put them in 2nd place overall.  Way to go guys!  Here's the final results.



Our program was primarily a Spin Dr./Sigg's Rigs fly set-up.  Wire divers out 375' and 425' on a .5 setting pulling White Spinnys/Sigg's Glow Ghost flies and Wonderbread Spinnys/Sigg's UV Wonderbread flies were the best set-ups we had in the water.  Higher divers set on a 2.5 out 300' and 325' pulling Dalmatian Spinnys/Siggs Blue Dolphin flies and White Spinnys/Siggs Green Hypnotist flies also did their fair share of the work.  We had a deep rigger parked at 150' all weekend pulling another Wonderbread combo, and our higher rigger set at 110' was pulling a variety of NK & DW spoons.  500 and 600 coppers also got bit multiple times pulling Green Double Crush Glow Spinnys/Sigg's Green Hypnotist Flies.  Best down speed for us all weekend was 2.1-2.2 mph and we caught most of our bigger fish away from the pack.

We had a great time together and I'm glad that the fish cooperated for us all weekend long.  More reports from the rest of our week in Wilson to come.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today we fished out of Wilson and boated a nice mixed bag of Lakers, Kings, and Cohos.  We started out a bit West of port in 50 FOW and boated a few nice Lakers that came on a DW SS Die Hard fished off of our riggers parked at 30 & 40 feet:



After several hours of  messing around in the skinny water we finally decided at about 10:30am to slide out to some deeper water and we were rewarded with several nice spring Kings.  The Kings wanted our spoons run off of the riggers anywhere from 25-50' down over 80-110 FOW.  The Northern King Sea Sick Waddler, DW SS Green Dolphin, and DW SS Green Goby were our best King spoons today, and we had a great King take a Green Double Crush Glow Spinny/Sigg's Rigs 42nd Pulse fly combo on a wire Deeper Diver set at 120' on a #2 setting:







I wish I could tell you what our best down speed was today but we didn't have the probe up and working.  Best SOG on the GPS was 2.5-2.8 for us today.  We'll have our probe back in the water tomorrow.

The fishing is just starting to heat up out of Wilson and we still have a few dates available.   Don't miss out on your chance to get in on this incredible fishery!  Call us today at (607)592-9012 to book your Lake Ontario charter today!

We'll be back out tomorrow and I'll do my best to get a report up before I catch an early morning flight to WI on Monday.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill











 

More Laker action for us today. Jay, Dad and I got a late start and headed West towards the river at about 7am. We ran out to about 50 FOW just a tad East of 4 Mile and set up with a big SW wind at our backs. We had lots of marks on the screen in 80-90 FOW (probably Lakers) but we just couldn't get them going with any sort of consistency.  In the two hours we were out there we got bit on our SS Die Hard on a rigger parked at 70' and we took a really good shot on our diver pulling a green Spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly out 90' on a #2 setting. That diver shot was a real good fish and it peeled a bunch of line off before throwing the hook. I'd bet that was our first West-end King bite! Here's Jay with one of the biggest Lakers he's ever caught:





I'll be the first to admit that today was more about exploring the area than it was about actually fishing, so when the wind picked up even more we all decided that it was time to head back to the dock. There were a couple of other boats a bit East of us in the same water depths we were in and on the way in we saw a couple more working the skinny inside water, but I have no idea how any of them did.  I really wanted to get out there and give it an honest effort today, but Mother Nature had other ideas and we had plenty to do back at the dock so we decided to call it an early day and head back in and get to work on the boat. 

With this warm weather we've had recently the Kings will be arriving in Wilson any day now.  The next month is going to be fantastic fishing and we still have some availability for fishing in Wilson.  May 11, 13, 24, and 31 are still open and I'll even pair up anglers to make a full crew.  I'll need four guys at $125 each to cover the cost of the trip, so if that's something that interests you, let me know!

If you haven't done so already, you can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in the Subscribe box at the top left of the page and hitting the Subscribe button.  That way all of our reports will land in your email inbox automatically every time we make an entry.  There's going to be lots to report over the next month, so stay tuned here for the latest on what we're up to!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

On Friday, April 24th Jay and I ran the boat West to Wilson.  What a relief to finally be there!  It took us about 5 hours to get there but the boat ran great and we didn't encounter much floating debris at all.  The new autopilot worked great and was a big help with keeping us on course.  Jay and I met my Dad down there and got the boat settled into it's new home for the next 5 weeks:







After a quick bite to eat at the marina, we went out for a quick evening troll.  We set up in 40 FOW straight out front and trolled out to 225FOW then pulled lines and headed back in. We picked up a Laker on a SS Green Goby spoon down 80' over 120FOW and that was it for any action. So we've already caught as many Lakers as we caught all of last season!  We started to mark some fish 100-150' down out over 200-225FOW but it was getting dark so we decided to pull lines and come in. Inside 200FOW the screen was pretty blank.




We're not much for Lake Trout fishing, but it was good to see a rod fire and to get some fish slime on the deck!  I'm sure we'll be catching our share of them in the coming weeks since the Bar is probably to best place on the Lake to find them.  Lake Trout or not, it sure feels good to have the boat moved and ready for the season to start.  We'll be out for something like 15 days in May, so keep an eye out for our reports.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I fished with my buddies Gump and Eric on their boat today.  We headed East out of the chute in Fair Haven and found the lake to be in near-perfect condition for brown trout.  There was a 1-2 foot chop, it was overcast, the water was that brownish green that we like so much , and the water temps were about 47 degrees...awesome!  We ran a combo of riggers and flat lines off of the big boards and we took a ton of browns, a coho and a steelie today.  There were a couple of red-hot lures for us today.   The first was a new Goby pattern from Rapala that Gump picked up at a local big-box sporting goods store.  That lure was on fire for the first half of the trip....we just couldn't keep it in the water.  I didn't think to take a picture of it, but Gump tells me its called the Rapala Goby.  I'm going to have to see if I can find a few of them.  We fished it in a size 7 and it was sizzlin!  The second star of the day was a new spoon from Dreamweaver that I put on a rigger mid-way through the morning.  It  took 6 or 7 fish today and was by far the hottest lure for the second half of the trip.  Here's a picture of that spoon.  It's called the Super Slim VQ Green Goby and I think it's destined to be an awesome pattern for us:



We never left 9-10 FOW, and the fish seemed to want a faster troll today....2.4-2.8 on Gump's new Fish Hawk.  I lost track of how many fish we boated today, but it was a lot and I was really happy to see the brown trout fishery rebound from last year.  The browns are definitely feeding on the Gobies, and the few that we kept all had 2-3" Gobies in their bellies.  Here's a shot of me with the biggest fish of the day:



Here's a short video of some of the day's action:


What an awesome way to kick off the 2009 season!  Thanks for making room for me today guys.  I had a great time and I can't wait till my boat is ready to go and we can get out on the Niagara Bar together!

If you're looking for some springtime browns, Fair Haven would be a great bet...get on up here and join in the fun!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

We'll be moving the boat West just as soon as we get  the new auto pilot installed and then it's o-fish-ally time for spring Kings!  If you haven't booked your date with us down in Wilson, what are you waiting for?  A few Kings have been showing up all over the lake in the past few days and the mother-lode of Kings will be descending on the famed Niagara Bar in just a couple of weeks.  We'll be there right in the middle of it all and we'd love to have you join us for a day or two.  Almost unbelievably, we still have a couple of May dates left open for what is sure to be an incredible month of fishing.  Trust me, you don't want to miss out on this!  Don't delay, call today!  You can reach me at (607)592-9012 or email me at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com.  If fish like these don't get your heart pumping and make you wish that you were out there with us, then I don't know what to tell you.....maybe you ought to take up knitting ??

 



I hope to get out this weekend after a few more Fair Haven browns, and if I do I'll be sure to post a report here.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Just a quick report for tonight.  I'm dead tired and need to get some sleep!  I spent a large portion of the day getting things wrapped up on the boat and at about 5:30PM my buddy Andy Bliss came over and we took the boat out for the 2009 shakedown.  Everything went well...the boat ran great, the new electronics worked perfectly, and we got some fish slime on the deck of the boat.  So it was a pretty successful night!

Here's a shot of the new electronics in action:



Just wait till you see the new Navionics Platinum cartography on the 1157C.  It's incredible.  I didn't think to get a picture of it, so you'll just have to stop by the boat to have a look. 

And here's the first fish of the 2009 season.  It took a new DW Super Slim Die hard fished off of our new Cannon Mag 20 downriggers:



There's a big mud line out to about 15 FOW and once the Lake settles down a little bit, the fishing for browns should be incredible.  Guys have been hammering the fish when the conditions are right, so come on up and have at 'em!

Gotta run...sleepy time!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

We dropped the boat in the water this past  Friday and after replacing the starboard side impeller, she's just about ready to go!  I have a few more project to finish up, but she's essentially rigged & ready.  I spent most of the day on Saturday, April 4th getting her cleaned up and ready to roll.  I had hoped to take her out for a shakedown run but Mother Nature had other ideas.  Sustained winds of 30-40 mph meant 10-12 ft. waves out on the Big Lake so I kept her tied up to the dock and got as much done there as I could.  She's running great and after quite a bit of cleaning to get the winter's worth of dust & dirt off of her she looks great!




If Mother Nature gives us a break with the weather, we hope to move her West into her new slip at Lake Breeze Marina in Oak Orchard soon.  Give us a call today at (607) 592-9012 to reserve your date on the Lake with us.  It's O-fish-ally time!


Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today Dad and I spent a good portion of the day working on the boat.  Thanks for you help today Dad.  As always it was fun spending the day with you.  We installed some new speakers for the hard-top:



Put some boat decals on for our sponsors Humminbird and Cannon:



And installed the new Humminbird 1157C that we've told you about (that's a HUGE 10.4" screen with 8,000 watts peak-to-peak power!):



The transducer and hi-speed fairing block will be going on the boat in the next few days and we also expect our new Raymarine Autopilot to be installed prior to April 1st. 

As you can see, we've been busy upgrading the boat again this year.  We're committed to keeping the very latest technology and equipment on the boat for your fishing enjoyment.  Now its your turn to give us a call and book your charter for the 2009 season.  We're looking forward to fishing with you this year!  You can reach us via email at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com or phone at (607) 592-9012.  Don't delay, call today!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I needed to get in an update clinic to maintain my PSIA certification, and after having a couple of other options canceled due to low registration numbers, I finally settled on a weekeknd clinic at our neighboring ski area, Labrador.  I have to admit that I wasn't very excited about skiing for two days at Lab after it had poured rain and was nearly 60 degrees on Friday and then dropped to a frigid 10 degrees on Friday night; that's typically a recipe for icy conditions.  Yuck!  But thanks to some great grooming by the folks at Lab we actually had pretty darn good conditions all weekend. 

I managed to get into a group that was primarily made up of Greek Peak instructors and former instructors, although we did have a few guys from other areas in our group too.  We skied with Ellen Garrett, who is a PSIA Examiner from Lab, and she skied us hard,  helped us with our skiing and kept us laughing the entire weekend.  She did a great job and I took a few things out of the clinic that I'm going to work on in my personal skiing and a few other things that I'll use as I teach others.  Thanks for a great clinic Ellen.  I really enjoyed myself and I look forward to the next time that we can ski together.  And to the guys in my group, I had a great time skiing with you!  It was a lot of fun to make some new friends from other ski areas, and I also enjoyed getting to know my Greek Peak buddies even better. 

Here's a shot of Ellen and the crew from Greek Peak:



Here are some more shots from the weekend:










There are sevaral more weeks of ski season left and as you can see, there's still a ton of snow left on the hill.  Get yourself over to Greek Peak for another day or two of skiing before we wrap the season up!  We'll be fishing soon enough, but until then come ski!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

30 people attended our seminar on Friday night February 27th, 2009 at the Johnson City Gander Mountain store.  We covered a lot of ground about the Walker Deeper Diver and deep water Salmon fishing and had a lot of fun in the process.  I'd like to personally thank those in attendance for taking time out of your busy lives to spend two hours with us on a Friday night.  We certainly enjoyed talking with you and I hope you enjoyed the seminar as much as we did.  A special "Thank You" needs to go out to Matt Siggeman at Sigg's Rigs and Shane Ruboyianes at Dreamweaver Lures for the seminar goodies.  Thanks so much for all that you guys do to help promote this great fishery....it is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Just a reminder that our next seminar is scheduled for Sunday March 8th at 3:30pm at the Auburn Bass Pro Shops store.  We'll again be covering the Walker Deeper Diver and deep water salmon trolling tactics.  Here are a few shots from Friday nights' seminar:







We still have May 11th and 13th open for Salmon charters out of Wilson.  If you're looking for a mid-week date to fish, those would be two great options.  We also have a fair number of afternoon dates free in May, so if the early morning wake-up call isn't your thing you should think about joining us for an afternoon trip after we've already run a morning trip and found the fish.  Additionally we still have plenty of availability in June, July, and August for fishing out of Oak Orchard.  Give me a call at (607) 592-9012 or email me at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com if you'd like to set up a date to fish.

Just a reminder that our Gander Mountain seminar is this coming Friday, February 27th from 7-9pm at the Johnson City store.  The topic of this clinic will be deep water Salmon trolling featuring the new Walker Deeper Diver.  We'll also have free product from Dreamweaver and Sigg's Rigs for every attendee. The seminar is free and open to the public.

I'll also be speaking at the Bass Pro Shops Spring Fishing Classic on Sunday, March 8th at 2pm in front of the big fish tank. This will be a 20-30 minute seminar on the Walker Deeper Diver.  This is also a free seminar and is part of a series of seminars that will be going on at the store throughout the Classic.  I hope to see you at one of the seminars! 

We're still taking reservations for fishing charters for this spring and summer, so don't hesitate to give us a call at (607)592-9012 or email us at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com to make your reservation and get in on the fun!







There's no reason that you can't be in one of these photos this summer!  Give us a call today and get in on the FUN!!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Matt Siggeman from Sigg's Rigs has had another busy winter.  He's come up with some new fly colors that I think are going to be some of our best producers this year:

    Stainless Steel                                                                    Wonderbread Glow

  Brushed Stainless Steel                                                 42 Second

He's also partnered with Pro-Troll and will be offering nearly 30 different Custom Pro-Chip Flashers.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

        Green Wiggler               PK Special                      Nuclear Green              Blue Bikini Dot              Bull Frog

You can check out the full selection of custom Pro-Troll Flashers here:  Sigg's Custom Flashers

Matt will be fishing on our team at the Scotty tournament in Wilson this May.  Be sure to drop by the boat and say Hi to him!

We still have a few dates left to fish in Wilson this May, and we're beginning to take more reservations every day for the remainder of the season out of the Oak.  If you're considering a day of fishing with us, give us a call today to ensure the best availability.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I just received this notice from Dave Chilson at the Derby and thought that you might be interested in it:

Empire State Lake Ontario Promotion

Newsletter Derby News Release Date: 1/22/2009

585-544-2563 www.loc.org		Only 98 days until the Spring LOC! Lake Ontario Spring Action Kicks Off With LOC Derby.     The grand daddy of all spring fishing derbies will help to kick off the Lake Ontario fishing season this May 1st through the 10th when the Lake Ontario Counties Spring Trout and Salmon Derby explodes with some ferocious angling action in this popular great lake. The derby, run by Empire State Lake Ontario Promotions, will be offering over $30,000 in cash prizes, including a $10,000 check for the largest fish caught overall in the 10-day event.     "After several excellent years of spring fishing along the lake, we're excited by what the prospects are for 2009," says Dave Chilson, president of ESLO Promotions. There are four divisions' salmon, lake trout, brown trout and rainbow/steelhead trout. In addition, a $100 cash prize is awarded to the big fish each day in each specie category for the first nine days of the derby. Of course, all the fish must be caught from Lake Ontario.     Weigh in stations run along the coast from the Niaga... continued The full article can be viewed web link below. http://www.loc.org/newsevents/viewderbynews.asp?ID=143&dbtl=1 Registration options You can register online at loc.org. We are getting new registration cards and the first mailing will be in March, so don't be concerned if your card doesn't arrive until then. If you want a mail in application go to the web site, click on register now on the left hand side of the main page. On the page that appears on the right hand side there is a button to download an application in the pdf format.

Of course my crew and I will be registered for the Derby and we still have some availability for these dates, so if this is something that interests you give us a call right away to reserve your spot!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

  

If you're looking for something to do on a mid-winter's Friday night, how about coming to the Johnson City Gander Mountain store and joining us for seminar on Deep Water Trolling for Kings featuring Walker Deeper Divers?  The seminar is set for Friday night, February 27th from 7-9pm, and we expect to have give-aways from several of our sponsors for those of you who are in attendance.  We'll talk about Walker's new Deeper Diver and how we've worked them into our program and how they have helped us reach deep water Kings on a consistent basis.  We'll also talk about a few other deep water tactics including downriggers and copper line.  We've had good attendance at our seminars in the past and I hope that you've found them to be informative and entertaining.  I look forward to seeing you there on the 27th!





For more information/directions, etc., you can call the Johnson City Gander Mountain store at (607) 798-8400, or email me at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com.

I hope to see you there on Feb, 27th!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill