Today Rick, Eric, Jay and I teamed up for the Mustad Challenge.  We had an up & down day, although it ended up being more up than down.  We boated a few nice fish and lost just as many nice fish.  One of the fish we managed to boat is the new Summer LOC Derby Salmon division leader at 25.12lbs.  The fish came on a Green Double Crush Glow Smartfish/Siggs Rigs Green Hypnotist fly fished off of our 600' copper rig out over 130 FOW.  The fish was also the largest fish of the tournament and won the big fish award as well as the Shane Zimmerman Memorial Big Fish Award.  Rick's arms were just killing him at the end of the battle with the fish...it took close to 300' of backing out on top of the copper & leader and it took Rick quite a while to land it.  Way to go Rick, it was a real thrill to boat that fish with some of my best fishing buddies on board!

Here's a few pictures:







One of the fish we lost was in the same size class as this fish.  We had just returned to the lake after being chased off for a couple of hours due to some severe thunderstorms.  We weren't set up for more than five minutes when our 220' wire diver pulling a White Spin Dr./Siggs Rigs Blue Dolphin fires.  Jay is on the rod and it's a screamer!  He played the fish for a few minutes and then it broke the leader and was gone.  As if to rub it in our faces, the fish kept jumping after it broke off, and we could see the white Spinny hanging from it's mouth.  The funny part of the story is when we're at the weigh in later in the day, some of our friends from another boat that was fishing near us at the time came up to us and said they saw a big King swimming on the surface with a white Spinny hanging from it's mouth!  They tried to net it, but once it saw their boat it got some of it's ambition back and split the scene!  Too funny.  I sure would've loved to have boated that King too.  Oh well, that's fishin!

 A big Thank You goes out to Lester Zimmerman and Tom Allen for organizing the Memorial Award for Shane.  We are honored to have won it.  You guys are both class acts and are exactly the kind of people that make this fishery such a pleasure to be a part of.

We had a great day fishing the Challenge.  If you've never tried any of these one-day tournaments, you really ought to check them out.  They're a lot of fun, you might just learn something new, and you'll make some fantastic friends while you're at it.

Well, I'm off for a week's vacation with my family.  We'll be back at the lake for the Oswego Pro-Am in a couple of weekends.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!! 

~Capt. Bill

Given our recent success in placing a couple of fish on the Summer LOC Derby Leaderboard, we've taken more calls than ever from people looking to fish the Summer & Fall LOC Derbies with us.  The Summer LOC runs through July 20th, 2008 and given my personal vacation schedule, the Mustad Challenge, and the Oswego and Sodus Pro-Am's, we're not available for any more Summer LOC dates.  But we still have some availability left for the the Fall LOC Derby, which runs from August 15th - Sept. 1st.  We'll be at the lake and fishing every day from August 16th-24th.  We have all of our morning trips booked for that week, but we still have afternoon trips open on the 17th, 19th, and 21st of August.  If an afternoon trip (typically 2pm-8pm) during the height of Salmon season interests you, give me a call.  Those dates won't last long.  I also have the last day of the Derby, Sept. 1st. open for a morning trip.  Additionally, there are still several non-LOC dates left open in Sept. 

If catching a King that looks like this one interests you, give us a call today to book your 2008 Fall LOC Derby charter!



Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by our buddies Rich and Eric, who are Lake Ontario regulars from the Binghamton area.  We left the dock at 4:30am in search of the early brown trout bite.  As luck would have it, we found the browns that have been missing all season long and also played with a few nice Kings.  We worked 30-45 FOW first thing in the morning and played with 6 or 7 big browns, the highlight of which was this brown that currently sits in 4th place in the Summer LOC Derby at 12.09lbs:




Every one of the browns took a Dreamweaver Super Slim Area 51 spoon fished off of our riggers behind a chrome Shark.  We ran riggers and short cores for the browns, and we couldn't buy a bite on the cores, but they sure did seem to like that Area 51 behind a Shark.  Best down speed was 2.4mph, and the best riggers were set at 15 and 16ft.

After the brown action dried up, we headed out to deeper water and started targeting Kings.  We hooked up with several nice kings, and wouldn't you know it,  the Kings also took that Area 51 spoon fished off of the riggers.  110'ft down over 120-135FOW seemed to be the best rigger for us, but we also hooked up off of our 95' and 50' riggers.  We tried like mad to get a flasher/fly to fire, but we couldn't make one go today.  The Area 51 was the only thing to get bit on our boat today.  One of the other charter boats was at the gas dock right after we came in and had several Kings that he took off of a flasher/fly combo.  He didn't have a single spoon fire.  Go figure!  2.5 - 2.7 mph down speed was our best speed for the silvers and we found 56 degree water down 110' out over 130FOW with a surface temp of 60 degrees.




The highlight of the King action was this 20.09 lb King that was sitting in 15th place after we weighed in at Screwy Louies:




The screen was a LOT better looking than last weekend.  Let's hope it stays that way and that things from here on out are at least as good as or better than today was.  If we can manage that. we're in for a great second half to the season.

Thanks go to Rich and Eric for great work on the rods today.  Especially that King when it saw the back of the boat!  You guys worked hard to land that fish.  Well done!!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

On Saturday evening, my wife and I were at the park with the kids when the phone rang.  It was a buddy of mine telling me that Jeff and Melody from Traxstech were at the marina and wanted to say hi.  So we scooped the kids up and put them into their car seats and headed over to Anchor Resort.

Turns out that they were headed to a tournament in VT and since they were in the neighborhood they thought they'd stop in and visit with as many retailers and pro-staffers along the way as they could.  I'm glad we were hanging around and got to spend some time with them.  They had brought a new prototype bird-tree with them that I've seen several photographs of over the past few months, but it's even better looking in person.  We set it up on the boat and it sure did look like it belonged there.  Here's a couple of pics of the trees.   You'll soon be seeing this on their website, www.traxstech.com.   The one I saw was a three holder tree, and it was a VERY nice piece of equipment! 





We spent a bunch of time on the boat just talking about boat set-up and we even came up with a couple of ideas for improving our set-up on the Billy V II.  They also had a new BBQ grill that will fit into their track system with them, and I can see us using that at Pro-Am's and so on to grill up burgers and dogs.

We're glad we got to spend some time with Jeff and Melody.  We were able to give them lots of positive feedback on their products, and if you've fished with us before you know that we just love our Traxstech rod holders.  In my opinion they're the best out there.



Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today were were joined for a late-morning trip by Greg, Dave, Bill, and Charlie.  We ran out to 70 FOW and set up as we trolled North.  We passed through some bait & a hook or two between 120-150 FOW but we kept pushing further out in the hopes that the screen would look better for us.  That "better screen" never materialized out deeper, so just as I was about to turn us around and  head back to 150 FOW don't you know that the 600' copper rig pulling a mag-sized Copper NBK fires.  Fish On!  Bill stepped up to the plate and began cranking....and cranking...and cranking...that set-up sure is a handful!



Unfortunately the fish came un-buttoned before we could boat it. 

As soon as we got that rig back in the water I began making a turn to go back into 150 FOW...just as I began to turn the high diver set out 275' on a #3 pulling a DW Area 51 fires.  It's Charlie's turn on the rod, and he begins bringing it in...and it came un-buttoned too.  Dang it!  The screen is totally blank out over deeper water and I'm reaaalllllly wanting to turn the boat to go back in closer.  No sooner do we start back in (we're out over 300 FOW at this point) when I notice that the probe rigger looks like it's pulling funny.  I pop the rod and find that we've hooked a tiny little king.  OK, so at least we're not skunked.  Once we got that rod set back up we put the hammer down and do a fast troll back into 150FOW.  No sooner do we get there then we see hooks and bait all over the place.  I should've listened to my gut earlier.  I wanted to be in that water all morning, but I let us wander out deeper and get distracted with the few hookups we had.

We started working that water and within a few minutes we're hooked up and we landed a small King that came on another Northern King Copper NBK fished off of our riggers.



After that, we circled that water to no avail before we had to head in for the day.  Even though we didn't do much in that water, the screen sure did look promising.

Today was easily our slowest day of the year and is further proof that Lake Ontario can be a cruel place to fish at times, especially during the dreaded month of June.  At least we didn't wear the collar today and even though the catching was horrible, the fishing and the company was great!  The good news is that there was a nice screen out in that 120-150FOW range with plenty of bait and some marks in it.  It won't be long now and we'll finally be back out chasing big Lake Ontario Kings!

Thanks for a fun day guys.  I  hope we see you again later in the season after the Kings have arrived.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

We've recently begun running a new downrigger release that we like an awful lot.  The Chamberlain release has solved some of the most common problems with most releases with its innovative design.   False releases and small fish that are not detected are two of the biggest problems with most downrigger releases.  The Chamberlain release is designed to eliminate both of those problems with its patented two adjustment design.

The vertical adjustment (the rod side) is designed to allow the fisherman to load the rod against the release.  This is important because once the release trips, the slack in the line is instantly taken up by the rod, and your hookup percentages are greatly improved.  We like to crank the rod tip down and this release allows us to do so without impacting our ability to detect even the smallest of strikes.

The horizontal adjustment is what makes the Chamberlain so unique.  The adjustment is so sensitive that when set properly, it'll release when even the smallest of fish hits the lure.  No more dragging along little shakers for hours on end.  It takes some fiddling with to get it set just right, but once it's set you can forget about it and just go fishing.



The Chamberlain really is a better mouse trap.  You know us...if it doesn't help us put more fish in the boat, we won't run it.  You can check them out on our boat or stop by their website at www.downriggerrelease.com.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

This morning we were joined by Greg and Dave.  We headed out before sunrise and set up a bit inside our waypoints from last night.  We were treated to another fantastic Lake Ontario Sunrise:



I wanted to check the skinny water before committing to going out deep.  We found tons of bait and hooks from 50-70FOW and we worked that area hard for a bit and were rewarded with a couple of hook ups and we landed a small King.  After that dried up we headed back to out waypoints from the night before and began picking away at them. 





Nothing fast and furious, but we kept ourselves steadily entertained and managed a very nice mixed box of steelies, coho, and a King by the end of the morning.  A new Northern King Glow Kermit took a couple of beautiful steelhead fished off of the riggers down 75 & 90ft over anywhere from 120-200FOW at 2.4-2.6mph down speed.   All of our spoons were fished 30' behind our Shark downrigger weights.   We also had a Dalmatian Spinny/Siggs Rigs Blue Dolphin Pulse fly fire a couple of times on some Kings & a Steelhead, and we had this coho destroy a Dreamweaver Steelie Cane spoon that we had free sliding on a rigger set down 45ft:



Here's the guys back at the dock with two of the biggest steelhead of the year for us, 8 & 9 lbs.



Thanks to Greg and Dave for a relaxing, fun-filled  trip...we're looking forward to the next time you guys can get out with us!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Tonight I actually got to do some fun fishing of my own.  Jay & I went out with our friends Jim and Mark for a short trip tonight and had a ball. After we assassinated about 5000 nasty ankle-biting flies (I think Jay got 5 of them at once at one point!), we found a nice Steelie and a small King out over 180FOW. The Steelie took a Northern King Seasick Waddler fished off of a 600' copper rig at 2.4mph down speed, and the king took a Siggs Rigs Mystery Pulse Fly behind a Green Spin Dr off the wire out 210' on a 2.5 setting, same down speed as the Steelie. The Pulse flies have been getting bit every time out lately and we're liking them more and more as the season progresses.  Special thanks goes out to my buddies who were more than happy to let me reel in all 600' of copper on a 95 degree night when the steelhead hit!  Needless to say, I was completely soaked with sweat when we finally landed the fish.  I'll take the copper rods anytime, especially when they produce beautiful fish like that steelhead!

Not a ton of marks tonight until we found a bunch just before dark in about 120FOW. We found some bait and a lot of hooks in a really condensed area and we worked them hard for the last few minutes of our trip but to no avail. Maybe they'll be there again in the morning??

Here's the pic:



We'll be back out at it again on Saturday with another charter. 

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Believe it or not, we're not ALWAYS out chasing trout & salmon on the big lake.  Sometimes we enjoy spending lazy days on the docks with the kids and out in the bay with family & friends.  We did exactly that on Sunday and had a ball watching William & Benjamin catch a bunch of perch and bluegills.  They caught so many that I spent most of my time just keeping a fresh worm on the hook for them!



That's one HAPPY 3 year old!!



William LOVES to catch fish!



Sometimes fishing wears everyone out so much that they all need a nap down below!



Jay with a nice bass that we took out trolling in the bay.  What a great way to spend a sunny Sunday morning!

I'll be in Florida for a few days next week, so there won't be any Lake Ontario reports for a bit, but if I get the chance to get out in Florida I'll be sure to post a report for you!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

My family and I were having breakfast at Curious Moon on Main Street in Fair Haven on Sunday and as we walked back to camp we noticed that the old Hardware store in town had re-opened as a general store & cafe' so we decided to stop in and take a look.  We met Carrie, who owns the place with her husband and she gave us a tour of the new lodging that they're offering upstairs.  Here are a few pics:







It's huge place (3 bedrooms), ultra-clean, and very welcoming.  Even my wife, who is always turned off by standard "Fisherman's Lodging" was very impressed and even commented that she'd recommend it to some of our friends when they come up to spend time on the lake with us.  And at $150/night, it'll work out great for groups of fishermen that want to stay in style!  The Crow's Nest is definitely a great addition in Fair Haven and  I have to say that they have a really beautiful place for rent and if you're considering coming up for a weekend of fishing you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Be sure to check out their website, www.fairhavencrowsnest.com.

Until "Nest" Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by Chris, Brian, Rocco, and Jeff.  In a word today's fishing was...SLOW.  I guess it's bound to happen now and again.  We worked hard and made the most of it today.

We had fantastic color and temp in tight but after 2 hours of trolling in that great looking water we hadn't moved a rod.  So I made the decision to head out in search of silver fish and within 15 minutes of turning us out we were rewarded with the biggest fish we've taken so far this year:



The King weighed in at 16 lbs and took a Northern King seasick waddler fished down 25' off of a rigger.  We had the spoon stretched back 50' and we were pulling 2.2mph out over 70FOW.  The fish really put up a great fight and we had quite the time bringing him to net.  Kudos to everyone on board for pitching in to help land the fish.



We worked our way out as far as 200 FOW and we found a small pocket of water out over 170 FOW that held some fish and we looped it for most of the rest of the day and that's where we managed to take this small King.  While we were out over 170FOW we had a new Siggs Rigs Glitter Glow Pulse fly/Green Spinny fire twice while fished behind a wire diver out 180'.





It didn't sound like anyone in Fair Haven set the world on fire on Saturday as we listened to the vhf, and we confirmed that back at the dock.

I sure wish the catching had been better, but with a bunch of great guys on board the fishing was a lot of fun and I was happy to at least put a nice King in the boat.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by Alex and Marcus.  Marcus now holds the title of tallest person ever to fish aboard the Billy V II....he's 6'11".  Watch your head on the way into the cabin Marcus!!

OK, on to the fishing.  We left the dock shortly after 5am and ran out to the lake and set up in 15 FOW just East of the chute.  The lake was fairly calm and there was a mild NW breeze as we got set up.  There was a nice color line and resultant temperature break and once we got set up we began working that break.  Within 10 minutes of getting set up a red/black squiggles KA-BOOM Shiner goes screaming off the planer board...FISH ON!!!  After a short fight, Marcus landed his first-ever Lake Ontario King...a very healthy 10 lb beauty:



No sooner did we get that fish in the boat and it began to blow.  And it got cold.  And it blew harder.  We went from flat water to 4-5 footers in just a few minutes.  Just before we decided to pull up and head in Alex boated a small brown on a black/silver KA-BOOM Shiner, and just before I pulled the last rod Marcus hooked up with a great steelhead that gave us a neat aerial show before it shook the hook at the back of the boat.  That steelie took a Northern King Sea-sick Waddler fished 7' down off a rigger.  The wind was continuing to freshen and it was getting downright sporty out there, so we headed into the bay to troll for a bit.  I'm sure glad we didn't call it a day!

We started seeing hooks on the 585 and I set up a program and had us fishing down 20-30 ft over 25-35 FOW.  Over the next couple of hours we hooked up a bunch of  times and landed quite a few beautiful browns.  Best down speed was 2.2-2.4 on our Depth Raider.  We were running our spoons 50' behind our Shark weights.  They were mostly interested in our Dreamweaver NBK and Beefeater spoons and a funky new Northern King spoon that I don't have a name for, but here's a pic:



We also took a brown on that same KA-BOOM that I mentioned earlier:



Working the Bay definitely made our trip...we found nice colored water and 54 degrees down 25ft.





Alex and Marcus kept some fish for dinner, put some back for another day, and had a few "long-distance" releases...all in all it was a fantastic day when Mother Nature was feeling mighty blustery.  We had a great day with Alex and Marcus and we're definitely looking forward to your King Salmon trip this August...thanks for a very fun day!

We'll be back out again this weekend, so look for more reports early next week!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by my good friend Dan and some of the guys that work for him.  Dan's been out with us before, but this was the first time for Al, Pat, and Tim.  As I'm sure you know, Mother nature hasn't exactly been kind to our spring fishery this year.  We've had a lot of South wind, which fractures our on-shore temperature structure and causes the water to become homogenized.  When that happens, the fish become spread out and the fishing becomes a hunting game.  This morning was no different than all of the other days we've been out...more South wind and more hunting.  The difference for us today was that we decided to skip the in-shore brown trout fishery all together and opted to head out to 80 FOW and set up in search of Kings & Steelhead.  We weren't set up for more than 5 minutes when our 100' Copper rod with a Lazer Glow Spook fired.  We had a jumper on!  Unfortunately after a few nice jumps he came un-buttoned.  Bummer.  As we were getting that copper back in the water, the center rigger fires and the reel starts screaming.  Jay picks up the rod and turns around with that look on his face that says to me that we have a nice fish on the line.  He hands the rod over to Al and the fight is on:



Fair Haven isn't necessarily noted for it's spring King fishery.  In the spring we're known more as the brown trout Capital of the Lake.  But this year we've taken nice Kings on almost every trip out, and it's been a lot of fun to have them in the mix!  The Kings will start showing up in numbers in late June and when that happens, it's game on!! Till then we'll look forward to more nice mixed bags of fish like we got today.

Back to Al....after a few good runs, his King finally came to the net:

The King weighed in at 16lbs, and took a new Northern King Glow/Pink Frog fished off of our Cannon downrigger set down 14'.  Nice way to start the day!! After that, we continued to work our waypoints and we hooked up with several more fish over the next hour or so.  At the height of all the excitement we had a fish take a Siggs Rigs Glow Ghost Pulse Fly behind a White Double Crush Glow Spin Dr. that we had on a wire dipsy 90' out.  Another nice fish on....except this fish had his eyes on our leadcore rods.  Before we could even blink the fish went through two of our our leadcore lines and we had the mother of all tangles.  Needless to say we lost the fish.  Bummer again.  Looks like I'll be heading to the tackle shop for some more lead core line!  We set to work on cleaning up the mess and once we got it all put back together we went back over our marks to find that the fish had moved.  So into hunting mode we went.  After a long hunt we finally managed to boat two more steelhead to end our day.





The hot ticket of the day was that Northern King glow/pink frog, but we also got bit on a Lazer Glow Spook that I painted in my shop, a KA-BOOM red/black squiggles Shiner, a Northern King Orange Crush, a Siggs Rigs Glow Ghost Pulse Fly, and a Dreamweaver Steelie Cane.  Two and three color leadcores worked today as did our 100' Copper rig, a wire diver out 90' on a #2, and downriggers fished in the top 20'.  Best down speed on our Depth Raider was 2.2-2.4 mph, and we worked 80-140FOW the entire day.



Thanks for a great day guys.  I hope we see you again later this year or sometime next for some more fun out on Lake Ontario!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Today we had the pleasure of fishing with Chris, Eric, Dave, and Mike aboard the Billy V II.  It started out a little slow for us but ended up being a great day.  We had a 3" Perch attack one of our KA-BOOM Goby baits and swallow the entire back hook right after we got set up.  How that entire hook fit in his mouth is beyond me!  Then we went for a long, unproductive boat ride working the inside water East of the chute and didn't hit our first real fish until 8:30am or so....We boated this beautiful brown that took our Northern King Glow Frog off a rigger down 7' in 15 FOW.





We worked that inside (10-20FOW) water for a bit more with nothing else to show for our efforts before finally deciding to head out deeper.  We switched our program over to a steelhead & king program and once we hit 100FOW the fireworks started.  We spent the next few hours doubled and tripled up on Kings and Chrome in 100-120FOW.  It was crazy-fun in the back of the boat!  Here's a video of us doubled up on a couple of small steelhead:

I had hoped to take more pics & video but we were flat-out in the back of the boat for quite a while!  Our best set up was a 6 color core fished off of the boards pulling a Northern King NBK.  That got bit 4 or 5 times today.  We also took multiple fish on an NK Orange Crush off the 20' rigger, a KA-BOOM fl red/Black Squiggles off the boards, a DW NBK on a 4 color core off the boards, a DW Steelie Cane off the 40' rigger, and a DW Orange Slurpee fished off of the 30' rigger.  We released all of the steelhead that we caught today.  The big fish of the trip was a nice King that took an NBK off the 6 color core.

Best speed for us today was 2.4mph on our Depth Raider.   No derby fish for us today, but what a blast!  We did have a big fish break off our 10lb leader at the end of the day...no idea what it was, but it sure had some shoulders to it!  We only brought two fish back to the cleaning station as we released all of the steelhead that we caught so that they could live to be caught another day.  Here's a picture of the happy & tired crew with those two fish at the end of a great day on Lake Ontario:



Thanks for a fintastic day fellas! 

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Today was yet another day filled with cold, gin-clear water.   We could clearly see the bottom in as much as 25 FOW.  The South winds just won't go away, and when the South wind blows, it just wreaks havoc on the brown trout fishing in Fair Haven.  The South winds have certainly brought nice weather for yard work, but what we need for the fishing to improve is a NW wind for an extended period of time and more rain.  So I'm hoping for some crappy weather!

We had Dana, Tony, Billy, and Pete out with us today. We headed out of the chute and set up in front of the park in 12 FOW and we hit our first fish within 15 minutes of setting up.  The brown took a new Dreamweaver Super Slim Area 51 spoon fished 100' back off of a rigger that was set down 5'.

Check out the video of that fish coming to net:

Here's a pic of the fish:



And a pic of the Area 51 spoon:



We picked away at the fish in close and managed to boat a couple more browns and a really pretty Coho that took a DW Steelie Kane spoon fished off of a two color core:



After the Coho we decided to head off-shore to see what we could find, and we were rewarded with this gorgeous steelhead that put on quite the aerial show for us:



Man that's a pretty fish!!

We took the steelhead on a KA-BOOM Goby stick bait fished off of our planer boards while we were out over 120FOW.  While we were out trolling in deeper water we were treated to a school of steelhead who were jumping all over the place.  I bet we saw 10-15 different steelies come out of the water!  We worked that area for a bit but we couldn't get any of them to bite.  Even still, it was very cool to see that many fish jumping so far out of the water.  We all watched in amazement as the fish put on a show for us and I'm sure that's something that all of us will remember for years to come.

At the cleaning station we found the browns all loaded up with gobies with only a few alewifes mixed in.  The KA-BOOM Goby stick bait took most of the fish today, but last week's super-hot VQ Goby spoon was silent for the entire day.  Go figure.

Even though Mother Nature didn't exactly cooperate, we made the best of it and came back to port with a nice mixed bag of fish.  More importantly, we made some new friends and had a great time together out on the water.

Thanks for a great day on the water guys, and best of luck with that new Penn Yan boat that you're getting rigged and ready!  We hope you decide to come back and fish with us again soon!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by Mike, John, Jay, and Steve.  Is it really only April 26th?  'Cuz it sure felt like June out there to me today.  Lots of clear water and no significant temp breaks again today, but the small breaks we did find held some fish for us and we worked them hard.   Our best stick bait was the KA-BOOM Goby in gray, but the new Dreamweaver VQ Goby spoon was the star of the day for us.  We did a brown right off the bat in 12 FOW (the brown was all scarred up with lamprey marks) just East of the chute on the KA-BOOM and then we trolled our way down the shoreline for quite a ways before deciding to head out to deeper water.  We put some of our spread down 15-25 feet when we got out to 75 FOW and within minutes we were hooked up.  We stayed out there for most of the rest of the morning and continued to pick away at them.   Every fish we took out there came on that VQ Goby with the exception of a nice steelie that came on that R&R spoon that worked for us last weekend.  Riggers down 15, 20, and 25 all took fish, as did our 2-color core and our flatlines off the boards.  Best part of the day was a double on a brown and another King...check out what spoon the King took!



A nice brown that took our KA-BOOM Goby



The King and the VQ Goby



It's nice to have some king slime on the floor this early in the season!!



What a way to wrap up a day!



Here's a pic of that R&R spoon that's been good for us the past few weeks.

We can definitely use some NW wind and a bunch of rain, and when we get it I expect the fishing to improve a lot.  But if you plan your work and work your plan, you can expect to box fish each time out until Mother Nature finally cooperates with us.

Until Next Time,

Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

This afternoon we were joined by Joe, Butch, and Wilson.  Conditions had been tough all morning long, and we figured we were in for more of the same in the afternoon.  There was a NE breeze that started to kick up the lake a bit as we came out the chute and we were hopeful that it might help things out a bit.  We got set up back on top of our waypoints from the morning and within a few minutes we were hooked up and we landed a beautiful rainbow that we put back to fight another day:



Just minutes after that fish, we boated an awesome Lake Ontario Smallmouth that went back in the lake too:



After those two quick hits we trolled....and trolled....and trolled....and told stories....and laughed....and told more stories....and laughed even harder.....oh, and we trolled some more....3 hours go by without a touch....we were having a riot just shooting the bull, but a fish sure would've been nice...

We were about an hour and a half from the end of our trip when talk of giving up on the in-shore fishing and heading out deeper to look for Kings started.  We talked about it and decided to stick with the inside program in the hopes that once the sun dropped a bit that the fishing would pick up.  I'm glad we stuck to our plan.

I trolled the boat back over our waypoints and WHAM!  Fish ON!  Butch brought in a beautiful little coho.  No sooner did that fish hit the deck than another rod fires....Fish on AGAIN!  I grabbed that rod and knew that we had a bigger fish on.  As soon as I pass that rod off to Joe another rod fires!!  Now we're doubled up!!!  Jay grabbed that rod and handed it to Wilson.  Now we have two nice sized fish on and the coho is still going nuts in the net on the floor.  It was complete mayhem in the back of the boat for a few minutes and we were loving every second of it!  We saw that Wilson had a nice brown on, but all we knew about Joe's fish was that it was big.  All the sudden Joe's fish makes a run at the back of the boat and we can see that we have our first decent sized King of the season on....YEAH BABY!!  I netted Wilson's brown while Jay was preparing to net the King.  All the sudden Jay is yelling "Bill, he's gonna go into the starboard rigger!!".  So I drop the brown on the deck and jump over to the other side of the boat to start moving rods out of the way.  Joe did a great job on the rod and managed to keep the King out of all of the other lines and the downrigger cable.  Finally, after a few tense moments, Joe's King came to net.  What a fantastic few minutes!!  High fives and LOTS of hooting and hollering ensued (a lot of it by me I have to admit...I was pretty wound up!).  We were all pretty stoked on those awesome three fish.  We cleaned up the mess and made one more pass through out waypoints and boated a bruiser 4lb smallmouth before calling it a night.



Wilson's 6 lb brown and Joe's 12 lb King



Check out the size of that Smallmouth!  It went back in the lake so we can catch it another day.



Shark Attack!!!  Nice job in the back of the boat today fellas.

The same baits as in the morning did the damage...the #47 KA-BOOM Shiner, a Black/Gold Rapala, and that copper R&R Spoon.  12-18 FOW was the best depth for us all day long, and 2.2 mph seemed to be the speed that they liked best.

This afternoon's trip showed the guys the lows (3 hours without a touch) and the highs (complete mayhem for 20 minutes) of Lake Ontario fishing.  Even with the long lull in the action, I'd say this afternoon's trip was a complete success.  I really look forward to Joe, Wilson, and Butch coming back to fish with us again this August.  Thanks for a great trip guys!


Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Today we were joined by Tom, Katherine, and Eric for a GORGEOUS morning on Lake Ontario.  The fishing was tougher than we would've liked due to the bright sunny skies and clear water but we worked hard and managed to put our fair share of fish in the boat.  The highlight of the day was either the sunrise or Eric's great brown trout.


Way to go Eric!!


What a beautiful morning on Lake Ontario.


Nice looking brown Tom!


Katherine doin' battle!

Today's top baits were once again stick baits, although we took a few fish on spoons too.  The KA-BOOM #47 Shiner was top dog, but a black/gold Rapala also took multiple hits.  Additionally, we messed around with bouncing some deep diving baits on the bottom in 10-15 FOW off of leadcore, planers, and riggers, and we were able to get the fish to hit those presentations too.  Lots of the browns we've been catching have had Gobies in their bellies, so we were trying to put Goby-colored baits down on the bottom to see if we could generate strikes, and it worked!  We're expecting some of the new KA-BOOM  shiners in their new GOBY pattern to arrive next week, so we'll be experimenting with some of those real soon and we'll be sure to let you know how we make out with them.  Top spoon for us was a copper R&R that was sort of painted up with Goby-like colors.

We laughed all day long, told our favorite fishing stories, recalled the AWESOME day of Salmon fishing that we had together last August, and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.  We look forward to Katherine bringing her Salmon Mojo back with her when they come for their August trip!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Start with family.  Add some new friends.  Throw in some Lake Ontario fish.  Whaddya have?  A really fun day filled with memories, that's what!  Today it was Mark and Alex's turn to make their own memories with us aboard the Billy V.  Mark and his son Alex are Henderson Harbor regulars who decided to give the brown trout in Fair Haven a try today.  We had some really nasty thunderstorms roll through on Friday night and when we got out to the lake at first light the lake was pretty riled up and snotty.  We didn't find the temps we had hoped for right away and the fishing was tough while we were in search mode.  But once we found the warmer water and some nice marks we began to pick away at them fairly well.  We found our best water way West of Fair Haven, almost to Port Bay!  We took fish on  #47 Metallic Orange Specs KA-BOOM Shiners, Black/Silver Rapala's, Black/Gold Rapala's, and the Northern King Mulatto.  Best depths were 12-15 FOW, and 2.2-2.4 mph was our best speed.  While it wasn't as fast and furious as we would have liked, we worked hard and ended up the day with a nice catch and the lake laid down pretty nicely by late morning so we had a comfortable ride for most of the day.  The cold front that blew through on Friday night didn't help matters much, and I suspect that the fishing will only get better from here on out.  Today's fish were all smaller than we got into last weekend but they still made us smile.  After a rough start it ended up being a great day to be out on the water and we made a couple of new friends to boot.  What more can you ask for?  Man, I love this!!

Here are a couple of shots from today:









You two are what this business is all about for us:  Family, friends, and fish!  Thanks for a really enjoyable day guys!  I hope you come back and join us again sometime.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Today Rick, Jay and I spent the morning prepping the boat for the season...electronics installed, downriggers mounted, probes repaired, rods, reels and tackle put on the boat, etc. We finally got things ready to go shortly before noon and by 12:30 we had fish slime on the floor for the first time of the year!  Jay boated a nice fat brown that came on a firetiger KA-BOOM shiner fished off of a planer board. We found that once the wind began to die down that the color went out of the water and the fishing slowed considerably. Stickbaits were the ticket during our short trip today.  We spent a couple of hours running the boat thru her paces and for the most part we're ready to go.

Be careful if you're heading out of Fair Haven as there's a log buried on the west side of the channel just before you get the the chute that you definitely don't want to hit in the dark on your way out. It's sticking up about 6" out of the water.

A couple of pics from today:






Here I am at home again behind the wheel.  Check out the new electronics on the hard top....NIIICCCEEEE!!


And finally, here's the boat in it's slip for the season.  She looks incredible after the gel coat work we had done at the Watercraft Clinic.  I couldn't be happier!

Let the fun begin!

Until Next time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Remember when you were a kid riding in the back of your parents car on the way to Grandma's house?  The words "Dad, are we there yet?" came out of your mouth every 15 minutes even though the trip had just begun and you still had 6 hours to go!  Well that's how I've been feeling about fishing season...it's KILLING me how slowly the ice is melting on the bay.  I'm ready to go RIGHT NOW.  And I think that the boat is feeling the same way too....Just check out this picture of her from Sunday:



Special thanks to Floorboy from the Great Lakes Angler site for the creative caption.  I can't think of a more appropriate way to describe how I've been feeling these past few weeks, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Let's Go Already!!!


Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Matt Siggeman, President of Sigg's Rigs called a while ago and I could tell that he was really fired up about his latest creation.  Matt makes some of the most innovative hand-tied trolling flies on the market today and he's done it again with his new Super-Glow Pulse Flies. You should see these beauties...the pictures don't do them justice.  A combo of traditional mylar and Matt's new silicone "Pulse" material PLUS a long-lasting pearlized glow...WOW!!! 

 
Super Lime Glow                                                  Super Blue Glow

 
Ice Lime Glow                                                       Ice Blue Glow

   
Aqua Lime Glow                                                  Aqua Blue Glow


Matt says that the glow material in the flies will last for over two hours!  No more glow flies that only stay charged for a few minutes.  We'll DEFINITELY be running some of these this season.  Check them out at www.siggsrigs.com or stop by the boat this season to see them in person. 


Oh, and did I mention that you can now get both Siggs Rigs Trophy and Pulse flies with an e-chip?  It certainly is a great time to be a Great Lakes Angler!

We've been up in Fair Haven buffing & waxing the boat and she's almost ready to go into the water.  Boy, does she look good after all the gelcoat work and our buffing and waxing efforts!  Now if Mother Nature would just do something about all the ice that's still on the bay....Keep your fingers crossed for some WARM WEATHER!!



Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill


    

I'm SO wound up for fishing season to start that I almost can't stand it!  I'm not sleeping much at night because my brain is literally on fishing overload.  There's just so much to get done before we drop the boat in the water.  As most of you know, we're pretty committed to fishing for browns in the spring out of Fair Haven...it's such a blast to work the inside water with stickbaits for the first few weeks of the season.  One of our favorite baits for springtime browns is the Dave's KA-BOOM Shiner.  Dave has painted up some custom colors for his largest dealer, X-Tackle and I'm so stoked on these colors that I just had to share them with you.  You can only find these custom colors on X-Tackle's website, www.xtackle.com.  You'll be seeing some of these colors on our boat this season:


Blue Wonderbread


Pink Squirrel


Sun Dog

There are a TON more custom colors available; these are just a few of the colors that I've ordered.   These images are of the deep diving Shiners, but we prefer the shallow Shiners for springtime browns. 

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Just a quick update today:  The gel coat work is all done and it looks great, except for the foot of snow and ice on the boat....I'm none too happy about that.  But they couldn't transport the boat back to the barn in Fair Haven due to the weather and they needed the space inside so that they could work on other boats.  So outside she sits.  Also, the new Humminbird GPS is installed and ready to go...what a cool addition to the boat....it came pre-loaded with all of the Navionics Gold+ and HotMaps Premium charts that they offer, so it's ready to rock.  Humminbird has come a LONG way in the past few years and we'd be happy to show you their awesome new 955C NVB GPS/Plotter.









Spring is in the air and I can't wait!!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

I'd like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to come spend a rainy/icy/snowy/slushy Friday night to talk about fishing with me.  25 people braved a late winter storm on Friday night, March 7th to participate in the springtime brown trout seminar that I presented at the Johnson City Gander Mountain store.  We talked for two full hours about our methods for fishing for browns on Lake Ontario and if they hadn't begun to close up the store at 9pm we probably could've gone on for another hour or more.  I just LOVE talking about fishing with people who are as passionate about it as I am!  Here are a few shots from the seminar:







To everyone who participated, THANKS for making it a fun night for me.  I hope you enjoyed the seminar as much as I did and I look forward to the next time we can spend some time talkin' fishin'!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Have you have seen the MTV show "Pimp My Ride" where they take some $200 POS car and throw $30,000 worth of stuff into it and magically transform it into a one-off show car?  Cool show, right?  Well, we don't think that the Billy V II is a POS, and we're definitely not throwing $30,000 into it, but we ARE getting the boat pimped for the coming season!  The previous owner of the boat had some gel coat work done on it to repair some hairline stress cracks on the bow of the boat several years ago.  Unfortunately a couple of spots on that gel coat yellowed pretty badly this past summer and I just couldn't stand how ugly and mis-matched it was.  I'd guess that most of you never noticed it, but I sure did and I just couldn't have it looking like that for another season.  So we sent the boat to the Watercraft Clinic in Red Creek to have those spots taken care of.  As we were looking at the boat, it became clear that we needed to repair more than just those two spots to keep a uniform finish, so we're going to be getting a new gel coat on all the smooth surfaces from the bow pulpit all the way back to the hard top.  Fortunately for me the hull of the boat is in fantastic condition so no work is needed there.  I stopped in for a quick visit today and snapped a few pics that I thought you might like to see.  They'll spray gel coat tomorrow and we should have new looking topsides by the end of the week.  I'll try to snap some pics of the finished product for you as well.  I can't wait to see it when it's done....C'MON SPRING!!!








(That's my buddy Jim Jared's new hardtop that they're working on in the background of the picture.  You should see the transformation that his boat has gone through...WOW!!)



We should have the boat back in the barn in a week to ten days and then we'll finish up some of the projects that we have left to get done before she goes back in the water.  When it's all said and done we'll have replaced all of our electronics on the boat with the exception of the radar unit, added a stereo so we can have some tunes on the water, and gotten a new topcoat!  It's been a lot of work getting the boat to this point, but when we're all done we think that you'll really enjoy the new and much improved Billy V II.

Keep your fingers crossed for some warmer weather.  Fishing season is right around the corner and I just can't wait!

I hope to see some of you at the Binghamton Gander Mountain Seminar I'm doing on Brown Trout fishing this coming Friday, March 7th from 7-9pm.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

We have a sneak peak to share with you!

Our friends at Siggs Rigs have just announced a new line of trolling flies that I think are gonna be a huge success this year.  Company President Matt Siggeman spent much of last season working with all sorts of new materials to come up with his new Pulse fly.  The Pulse fly is a hybrid of tinsel and silicone skirting material. This combination helps to create a unique pulse that big kings find hard to ignore.  Matt is introducing 10 new colors that were outstanding in field testing, and a few of my favorite colors are shown below.  You'll DEFINITELY be seeing these flies on our boat this season!

         

The Mountain Dew Pulse                                           The Ghost Pulse

          

The Killer Pulse                                                            The Blue Dolphin Pulse

         

The Apple Glow Pulse                                                  The Glitter Glow Pulse


In addition to the Pulse Fly, Matt is also introducing another new product that he's calling the Clincher.  Man, has he been busy lately!!  The Clincher is a new line of flies produced specifically to be used as replacement hooks for your favorite spoons. These flies are constructed using tinsel hand tied to VMC Vanadium treble hooks. They will be available in 2 sizes. Size 1 for standard spoons and size 1/0 for magnum spoons. These flies have done very well in field tests and were responsible for the second largest Brown Trout taken in the 2007 summer LOC derby. 

I just wanted to give you guys a quick update.  While I was away skiing last weekend we managed to fill up the dates that I had left for the Spring LOC Derby.  I didn't think those dates would last too long, but WOW, they went really fast!  

Additionally, the only mid-week dates that I have left for the Fall LOC Derby are August 18 and 20.  If you want to fish the Fall LOC mid-week at the very height of Salmon season in Fair Haven, those are your dates.  I also have August 30 & 31 open for weekend LOC Derby fishing.  Don't wait to book...all we need to get you onto the calendar is a $100 deposit to confirm your trip.  I fully expect to fill my calendar with charters this season, and when the dates are gone, they're gone!  So if you're even half-way considering a trip, give me a call or send me an email today...don't miss out on the fun because you waited to call!!

We still have plenty of availability for the Summer LOC Derby which runs from May 23 - July 20.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

I know that some of you tried to reach me over the weekend to set up fishing plans for the spring and weren't able to reach me.  Sorry about that, but Shelley and I went to Stowe, VT for a long weekend of skiing and the phone was turned off!  Stowe has gotten over 21 feet of snow so far this season, and we were treated to 20" of fresh powder when we got there.  Needless to say, the skiing was AMAZING!!  Shelley and I spent quite a few runs cruising  on some of the long blue and black trails that Stowe offers and we were smiling the entire time...the snow was just incredible.





In between cruisers I was able to spend a fair amount of time on Stowe's famed Front Four of Starr, National, Liftline, and Goat.  Goat was in its typical gnarly, nasty, steep, bumpy, ugly condition, which required me to have some pretty fast feet to keep any sort of rhythm.  It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the Goat is only about 20 feet wide at its widest point, has a cool double fall-line and is sssttteeeeep!  There were all sorts of rocks, roots, stumps, frozen waterfalls, bumps, and other fun hazards on the trail...in short it was almost perfect.  Goat was my second or third run of the day and what a great adrenaline rush to start off the trip!



My favorite run of the trip was unquestionably Starr.  Unlike Goat, Starr holds its snow pretty well, and it had HUGE, soft,  Volkswagen-sized bumps on it for all of its 2000' vertical feet.   My legs were on lactic acid overload and I was drenched with sweat after skiing that run.  When I met Shelley at the chair lift after my first run on Starr I was grinning ear-to-ear...I think that particular run was one of the best bump runs I've ever had in my life.  I just wish she had been there to see me ski it.  I felt like I was skiing really well and I was in this almost hypnotic rhythm...I only stopped during the run so that I could catch my breath and let me legs recover after 40 or so huge bumps in a row.  Definitely a run that I'll remember for a long, long time!



If you ever need skis or boots, be sure to check out Nordica.  They're the only skis and boots that I ski on and in my opinion its the best stuff on the market.  I also use Hestra Gloves and Marker bindings and goggles.  Again, I think it's the best stuff out there and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to you.

We skied hard for two days straight and enjoyed every single second of it.  I'm tired and glad to be home though. Now its time to get down to the serious business of getting ready for fishing season...and of course there's still LOTS of skiing to be done over at Greek Peak until we drop the boat in the water!

Until Next Time,
Ski on!

~Capt. Bill

We have just a few dates (August 18, 20, 30, 31) left for the 2008 Fall LOC Derby.  These dates are reserved for derby fishing parties only.  I don't expect that these dates will last long, so if you're interested in fishing the LOC, get in touch today and we'll set up a date for you.  We'll also be fishing the Summer LOC Derby and we still have a fair number of dates available for that Derby.  Daily tickets for the Derbies are only $15 and registration for the LOC can be done online here:  LOC Derby

Here are all of the 2008 LOC Derby dates:

Spring: May. 2 - May. 11, 2008
Summer:  May. 23 - Jul. 20, 2008
Fall:  Aug. 15 - Sep. 1, 2008

Prize structure for the Derbies is as follows:

Spring 2008 LOC
Five divisions, Salmon, Rainbow/Steelhead, Brown, and Lake Trout
Grand Prize - $12,500 – Largest fish entered
Each of the four Divisions
First $1000
Second $400
Third $300
Fourth $200
Fifth place $100
Sixth – 10th $75
11th – 15th $50
16th – 20th $25
$100 Daily award for the largest fish in each Division

Summer 2008 LOC
Five divisions, Salmon, Rainbow/Steelhead, Brown, and Lake Trout
Grand Prize - $7,500 – Largest fish entered
Each of the four Divisions
First $1000
Second $400
Third $300
Fourth $200
Fifth place $100
Sixth – 10th $75
11th – 15th $50
16th – 20th $25

Fall 2008 LOC
Four divisions, Salmon, Rainbow/Steelhead, Brown, and Lake Trout
Grand Prize - $20,000 – Largest fish entered
Each of the four Divisions
First $2500
Second $1000
Third $550
Fourth $450
Fifth place $300
Sixth – 10th $200
11th – 15th $100
16th – 20th $50
$100 Daily award for the largest fish in each Division

Give us a call give us a call at (607)592-9012 or drop us an email at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com today to reserve your LOC Derby date!

Until Next Time,

Fish On!

~Capt. Bill 

                                                          

On Friday night, March 7th, I'll be presenting a seminar entitled "Springtime Brown Trout: Tactics & Techniques" at the Johnson City Gander Mountain store.  Here's a link to the seminar flyer:  Gander Seminar

The seminar will begin at 7:00pm and admission is free.  At the seminar we'll be discussing the how's, when's, where's and why's of successful springtime brown trout fishing.  We'll go into detail about the lures, lines, knots, different deployment devices, terminal tackle, methods, and madness of our brown trout program.





If you have the time, please stop down and check out the seminar; it's sure to be a good time, and what better way to spend a late-winter Friday night than getting pumped to be out on the lake?

Until Next Time,

Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

We've been running Traxstech rod holders since we bought the new boat and those of you who have fished with us know that we absolutely love them.  They're incredibly well made and they've easily handled the abuse that we dish out to them when fishing with Dipsy Divers.  They're just one of those things that work so well that we often take them for granted....I can't speak highly enough about their quality and durability.  Additionally, the folks that run the company are really great people.  Every time we've had to order something or had a question about the product, they've stepped right up and provided excellent customer service, and unfortunately that's becoming more and more rare these days.

About two weeks ago Jay and I went to the Triple S show and I picked up a complimentary copy of Lake Ontario Outdoors magazine (BTW...LOO is a really cool mag that you ought to check out if you haven't already!).  As I was thumbing through it a few days later, I stumbled across this ad from Traxstech:



Surprise, surprise!  Our friend Melody from Traxstech had asked last summer if she could use some of our pictures on their website and I told her to feel free to use them however she wanted.  Well, it turns out that we're in their new print ad in addition to being on their website....pretty cool!  Thanks for the exposure Melody.  We're delighted to be affiliated with you and are proud to recommend what we feel are the highest quality rod holders, tracks, and downrigger mounts on the market today....Traxstech!

Until next time,

Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

                                                                    

Have you noticed the cost of a gallon of gasoline lately?  Of course you have.  It hurts every time you fill up.  Regular unleaded is selling for $3.39/gal down at the Mobil on the corner, and it's all due to the oil companies' GREED.  Prices are even worse for fuel on the water.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see $4.00/gal at the marinas this summer.

Now imagine that your car holds 180 gallons of fuel.  $700+ to fill 'er up...OUCH!!!!  Well, that's how much fuel the Billy V II holds.  And even though gas prices are skyrocketing we're going to do our best to hold our prices steady for the 2008 season.  It's our way of saying "thank you" for being our customer.  Let's hope that fuel prices come back down again (yeah, right!) and we'll look forward to fishing with you in 2008!

Until next time, Fish on!

~Capt. Bill

Today Jay and I spent the day in Niagara Falls at the Triple S dealer show.  We were invited to attend by our friends at Daiwa and spent most of the day visiting with some of our friends in the fishing industry.  What a great way to spend a mid-winter day!  We got a sneak peak at most of the tackle that you'll see in the shops this spring, including the offerings from our friends at Daiwa, Northern King, Dreamweaver, and Cannon.



Here I am with John Ruffino from Daiwa.  Daiwa has some cool new stuff for 2008 including