Captain Bill's Blog

Fishing Report - September 6, 2008

2008-09-07T10:57:24Z

Today we were joined by Walt, Dan, and Bruce for another day of King Salmon action on Lake Ontario. We ran quite a ways East and set up in 90 FOW and within a few minutes had our first rip, but after a brief battle, the fish and our fly parted ways. That fish took a White Double Crush Glow Spin Dr/Sigg's White Crinkle Fly fished 80' down on our downrigger. After another dropped fish in the waters we were working, we talked to a friend of ours at about 9am who was another 5 miles or so down the lake from us. He was lighting the fish up and given our relatively blank screen we pulled lines and ran down to his waypoints. Within a minute or two of setting up we hooked up and landed a nice King:

That fish took a Green Double Crush Glow Spin Dr./Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly down 82' on our Cannon's. A few more minutes later and we were hooked up again and from then on we just made loops in that one area and we had double digit hookups in there in a two hour period. For a while there it was almost fast and furious....let's call it entertaingly steady. I sure wish we had gotten there about three hours eariler! Today's best color was definitely either a white Spinny or E-Chip pulling a Sigg's White Crinkle or Sigg's Glow Ghost Fly, and the fish seemd to want those presentations trolled SLOWLY....1.6-2.0mph down speeds on our Depth Raider were our best speeds. It took me a few minutes after we got set up to figure that out but as I was almost springting by a couple of boats that were hooked up it hit me....slow down Bill! Once we did we got em to go pretty regularly. We also tooks a few shots on the above mentioned Green set-up and a Chartreuse E-Chip/Sigg's Mtn. Dew fly, but White was mostly what they wanted today. Best depths were 80-110 FOW for us and we were a long ways East of Fair Haven....OK, so we were a few miles east of Oswego too...like I said above, we ran quite a ways East.

Here are a couple of the other fish we boated today:

We lost more fish than we boated today, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Even still, we managed to take home a respectable cooler full of Kings & a Coho and we definitely had a great time!

Thanks for a great day out there guys. We had a riot with you today and we look forward to fishing with you guys again next season!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 24, 2008 PM Trip

2008-08-26T10:38:14Z

This afternoon Chris and his wife Donna brought their son Hunter and Chris's parents Lee and Joe out for a crack at a big Lake Ontario King. We headed back to the spots out West of port that we had hooked up in earlier in the day and set up our full spread of baits. Of course, the bait and hooks that we had out there just a few hours earlier weren't there when we got back out there, so we went into search mode again. Man I hope the fish show up soon! So we're in search mode and we're having a nice smooth boat ride and we finally find a nice hook on the screen and just a minute or so after it goes off the screen our 500' copper pulling a blue double crush glow spinny/Sigg's Maui fly starts screaming. This fish took a lot of line off that copper reel and Chris was on it like a pro. After a 15 minute battle Chris lands a fat 24 lb King. Looks like the family is having salmon for dinner!

We finally got a good hook set into a fish and this one wasn't coming unbuttoned. Check out how deep both the treble and the stinger hook were into this guy:

After we boated that fish we set back up and started working the area that we hooked up in, but as we were watching the radar screen we could see a nasty cell of weather coming up behind us and we knew that our time on the water was going to be cut short. We had another bite just before we had to pull lines on a green double crush glow spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly set down 90' on our rigger but lost it. After that fish the storm moved in quickly and we had to go before the lightning & rain got any closer. I wish we could've stayed out for the last couple of hours of daylight because I had a feeling that the fish were going to cooperate for us, but it wasn't meant to be.

Even though we only got out for a few hours, we really enjoyed having Chris and his family on board. We look forward to next year when they come back again to give this salmon fishing thing another shot!

It's been a very trying week for us. Few fish in the area has made for some very tough conditions, but we've given it our all every trip and managed to boat some fish each time out. Some days we were able to put a limit on the boat; some days it was all we could do just to avoid the skunk. When we've found fish we've been able to catch our fair share of them, but most days it's been a struggle to find even a few hooks. There are some fish here, but just not with the consistency that we'd all like.

The challenging conditions have thoroughly tested my patience this season, and I've written far more reports about tough fishing conditions than I ever hope to in a single season again. But I'm committed to sharing the straight scoop with you so that you know what's going on out on the lake. There's no BS or embellishment here....I tell it like it is regardless of the results. I wish we were having the kind of season that we've had the past several years, I really do. Limit catches are a lot more fun for us than the days when we have to grind it out for a fish or two. One thing about fishing though...you never know how it's gonna be unless you go. So we'll continue to go. And we'll continue to report how we do. I hope you'll stay tuned.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 24, 2008 AM Trip

2008-08-26T10:23:44Z

Tony, Rich, and Mark joined us again today for another shot at some Lake Ontario Kings. After the smack-down that Mother Nature put on us yesterday we were hoping for a little bit of redemption today. We left the dock even earlier today in the hopes that we could find all of those fish that we had marked yesterday morning in a receptive mood. We got out to our spot and we were set up and fishing at 5:30am. The fish that we had on the screen the morning before were back again and we knew that we had a shot at them until the sun came up. Once the sun came up yesterday they just disappeared and today was no different. We took our first shot of the morning on a green double crush glow spinny/Sigg's Green Mist fly that was down 115' in 38 degree water. After a brief battle we boated this nice King:

After that fish the screen went blank on us again. We continued to work that area for a bit but had just the one fish to show for it. Around 9:00am we got a call from a friend of ours who was several miles West of us and he had boated three fish out deep in front of Port Bay. After two full days of frustration and blank screens East of port, we decided to pull lines and make the 20 minute run down there. Once we hit the 250 FOW mark we finally found one small bait pod with two hooks around it and I started circling it for all I was worth. The temp was a lot deeper out there so we had moved all of our rigs down below the break at 90'. We hooked up with a major on our second pass and played it for 15 minutes or so before it came unbuttoned. That fish took a chartreuse e-chip/Sigg's Mtn. Dew Pulse fly fished off of a wire diver out 300' on a #2 setting. On about our fifth pass through this one little spot we hooked up again on that same rig and the fish threw the hook again. Jeez, what do we have to do to keep a fish stuck?!?!? Sharp hooks? Check. Stinger hooks on the flies? Check. Drags set right? Check. Sometimes these fish just manage to find ways to throw even the sharpest of hooks.

We really didn't see much of anything at all on the screen again today. If you decide to come up and give it a try I'd suggest putting your "A" game lures down and leave them down while you cover lots of water. If you find a little something on the screen that has some bait and hooks in it, stay on that water and work it for a while. You're going to have to put in your time to get the fish to go. It's definitely not like it's been the past few years where we could count on full boxes of fish on most trips out, but there are still some fish around and there are some real big ones out there.

Even though the catching wasn't fantastic, we still managed to have a good time today, and we look forward to fishing with the guys again next season.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 23, 2008

2008-08-26T10:26:05Z

Today we were joined by Tony, Rich, and Mark as we fished the Fair Haven Challenge together. We headed out of the chute and ran East towards Oswego. I set the boat down in 80 FOW off of West Nine Mile Point and the screen was just loaded with fish. With high hopes of a finally having the banner day that we've all been so sorely missing on the East end of Lake Ontario this season we set up our go-to program. But by the time we got set up and made the return troll back to our waypoints, those fish that we had on the screen had all but disappeared. Where did they go?? As luck would have it, our first bite of the day came at 6:10 am and it was a huge fish. The fish took a simple white double crush glow spinny/Sigg's white crinkle fly fished 70' down on our Cannon downrigger. I had the rod in my hands and I can assure you that it was one of the biggest fish I've ever felt. It stayed down deep the entire time we had it on, made several LONG runs, and took us out over 400', and that's on a mono rod fished off of a downrigger. While we were hooked up with that fish we doubled up on one of our diver rods. That bite came on a green double crush glow spinny/Sigg's Monster pulse fly fished off of a diver out 210' on a #2 setting. Maybe today IS going to be the day! We lost that second fish after a brief battle but then turned our full attention to the big boy that we still had on. We played it for almost 40 minutes, got it right behind the boat, were just about to slide the net under it and then watched in utter despair as the fish we've been looking for all season long threw the hook and swam off into the murky depths. To say that we were disappointed is a monumental understatement. We were crushed, but we knew that we needed to get set back up right away and get after some more fish.

After that initial flurry of action we worked that area hard and managed another good hookup with another nice fish only to lose it to a broken leader. We kept at it, worked in temp, out of temp, shallow, deep, slow, fast, and finally managed to boat a respectable King that took our blue double crush glow spinny/Sigg's Maui fly that Jay had just put down 90' into the 38 degree ice water we had out over 150FOW:

We headed to the weigh-in for the Fair Haven Challenge with just the one fish in our cooler, but we still managed to place 22nd out of the 74 boat field. Had we been able to hang onto the bites that we had, we'd be telling a different story, but that's why they call it fishing and not catching. Mother Nature certainly has been un-cooperative this year and she won yet again today. All told, there were only three boats that came in with the 5 fish limit for the Challenge, and those boats fished out of either Oswego or Mexico. Talk about a tough, frustrating day on the lake.

That's about it for today's report. We'll be back out and after it again tomorrow. Let's hope things improve overnight.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 22, 2008

2008-08-22T16:29:08Z

Today we were joined by Jason, Roland, Ed, and Carl for their annual trip to the big pond. We had an E wind that shifted to S overnight an when we got out to our spot West of port we found that the temp had come way up in the water column and our fish had disappeared. We took a shot on our 80' rigger pulling a White Spinny/Sigg's White Crinkle fly but lost this fish after a quick head-shake. After that we went into search mode. Big time. We trolled and trolled and trolled and trolled and finally made our way out near West Nine Mile point. Once we got there we finally began to see a few marks and some bait and after what seemed to be an eternity we finally hooked up with a nice King that took that same White Spinny/ Sigg's White Crinkle fly down 80' on our rigger.

One word sums up today's fishing...TOUGH. We worked really hard today for the bites that we got and it sounded to me like most boats struggled in the morning with a boat here or there picking up two or three fish at best. Let's hope that things shape up better for tomorrow's Fair Haven Challenge.

Thanks for a fun day guys and thanks for hanging in there on such a touch day.

More reports to come, so stay tuned!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 21, 2008 PM Trip

2008-08-22T16:10:45Z

We went out for an afternoon troll today with Chris and Eric. After we wrapped up our AM trip we decided to give the waters East of the chute a try. We headed down towards West Nine Mile Point and set up in 150 FOW. We had a major take a big rip on our 500' copper and break off 498 feet of it, then we had another major break off the leader on our 600' copper. We lost yet another 500' copper shot after we re-spooled and we finally got a good hook set into Eric's first-ever king:

This afternoon's hot items were any Green Double Crush Glow Spinny/ Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly that we put in the water, especially if it was on copper! Unfortunately we couldn't hold onto any of our bites tonight so we had to settle for just the one fish, but we did get to see an amazing sunset on our way into the chute:

Thanks for a fun evening guys, and congrats to you Eric on your first-ever King. Next year we'll see if we can get one of those big ones that got away into the net!

until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 21, 2008 AM Trip

2008-08-22T15:47:09Z

This morning we were joined by Mike, Jason, Joe, and John for a try at some Lake Ontario Kings. We headed West out of the chute towards our waypoints from the last time out and set up in 120 FOW. We weren't out more than 30 minutes and our 375' dipsy pulling a chartreuse Pro-Chip/Sigg's Mtn. Dew Pulse fly fired and we boated a small King. We worked that 120-150 FOW area for most of the day and we hooked up several times and boated a few fish, the highlight of which was a smokin' hot 25 Lb King that took a Green Spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly fished off of a dipsy out 400' on a #2 setting:

Most of the hooks and bait that we found in those waters the day before were gone, so we were working over a lot less productive waters today and try as we might we just couldn't locate the biomass that we were looking for.

All in all a good day spent with a bunch of great guys and we're already looking forward to fishing with them again next year!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 20, 2008

2008-08-22T16:33:18Z

Today we were joined by Alex and Marcus for their second trip of the year on Lake Ontario. You might remember that Alex and Marcus joined us for a day filled with brown trout back in May, but today they were after the mighty King Salmon and Lake Ontario delivered them a limit catch that I'm sure they'll remember for a long, long time. Here's the view I had from the Captain's chair for most of the day although I did get into the action at the back of the boat for at little bit:

We worked and area West of the chute from 100-230FOW that held both bait and active fish and we found that our Dreamweaver 42nd spoon fished off of our 140' rigger and a Chartreuse Pro-Chip/Sigg's Rigs Mountain Dew Pulse fly fished off of a diver set out 375' on a #2 did most of the damage. Our best down speed was 2.2-2.4mph on our Depth Raider and direction of troll didn't seem to matter.

We didn't find the huge LOC Derby-winning King we were after, but we did manage to find our limit of nice 18-20 Lb. Kings and we even took a bonus steelhead to round out our box. We had a fantastic day and we were glad to finally be fishing on calm seas. Thank you Mother Nature!!

We have a double tomorrow but I'll do my best to get a report from each trip up and posted before I hit the pillow tomorrow night.

Thanks for a fabulous day Alex and Marcus. You truly had a day for Kings and we were glad to share it with you!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 18, 2008

2008-08-19T12:49:21Z

This afternoon we were joined by John and Sarah for an afternoon trip that I had donated to the United Way. We left the dock at 2:00pm and ran about 4 miles West of port and set up out in 200FOW. Within 5 minutes of setting the last rod, our 120' rigger pulling a Green Spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly fired and Sarah was on the rod. She did an awesome job playing the fish and after a 20 minute battle she had the biggest King of the year for us in the boat. Check out the video:

What a great way to start the trip! The fish tipped the scales back at Anchor at just under 28 Lbs. After that we got set back up and went back through our waypoints and as soon as we got back to the spot where we hooked Sarah's King we hooked up again and John did a great job landing his first King of the trip. After that fish Sarah was back on deck and after we made another loop through our waypoints we hooked up again and Sarah landed another big King! After that, John got his hands on a long & skinny Steelie that took a Chartreuse E-Chip/ Sigg's Mtn Dew Pulse fly fished off of our diver set out 350' on a #2 setting:

We ended up hooking up several more times over the remainder of the trip and the highlight was our first-ever Walleye! We've caught them out of Henderson Harbor and on Oneida Lake before, but this was our first out of Fair Haven and it came out over 220 FOW. The Walleye fought like a wet dish rag when it hit our Watermelon NK 28 set as a free-slider on our 80' rigger, but we were all super pumped to see a 6.5 lb 'Eye on the deck of the boat:

We only got to spend about 3 hours out there trolling tonight because we had some sea-sickness on board, but we were really happy with the box of fish that we brought back to the dock:

Thanks for a great trip gang. Next time take your Dramamine Sarah!!

Looks like a blow off day on Tuesday, but if we can get out I'll be sure to report. There were lots and lots of hooks on the Furuno and I can't wait to get back out there again!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 17th, 2008 - Where's Wilson?!?!?!?!?!?

2008-08-19T11:06:59Z

Wilson, Wilson, Wilson...San Diego instead of fishing for Kings?? Oh man. I'm not sure you'll ever live this one down!!

Today Joe and Butch (Wilson was MIA) joined us in really rough seas for a shot at a Lake Ontario freight train or two. First up was Butch when our Green Spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly fished 110' down over 130 FOW fired hard. Butch got the fish to the back of the boat but just as Jay was about to grab the net the fish spit the hook. Bummer Butch. Wish we could've boated that big King for you, but that's fishing. Sometimes the fish win.

Not 5 minutes after Butch's fish came un-buttoned our low diver pulling a Green e-Chip/Sigg's Green apple fly fires hard and it's Joe's turn at bat. Not to be outdone by his fellow King who just spit the hook at us, this big boy decides to break our leader and take our flasher/fly with us. Ugh, that's frustrating!

So now it would have been Wilson's turn....if only he was here. We worked and worked for our next bite and when we finally hooked up, the fight was on! That same 110' rigger pulling that same Green Spinny/ Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly fired hard and Joe stepped in to pinch hit for Wilson. Joe did a great job subbing for his West-Coast bound buddy and brought a really nice King right to the back of the boat. Just as I was about to net the fish it saw the boat and headed for our Starboard side diver. After some quick shuffling we got the fish out of that mess and back to the middle of the boat but the fish wasn't done and it headed for the Port side diver! So some more mayhem ensues and we get the fish back to the middle of the boat...again. But this king wasn't going to have any of us, so it heads for that Starboard side diver...AGAIN! Joe and I somehow managed to avert disaster once again and we FINALLY got the fish to the middle of the boat and I dipped the net under a beautiful 25 Lb King.

Oh Wilson, what could have been! Wish you were here buddy!!!

We had a few more bites over the course of the day and had we been able to make 'em stick we would've had a pretty decent box full of matures. But today most of the fish won the fight as they spit hooks, broke leaders, ran through divers and generally wreaked havoc on us today. Even with the 5-7' seas (and no Wilson) we still managed to have a great day. Jay and I look forward to fishing with you guys again next spring! Hope you had a great day down on Cayuga on Sunday!!

More reports to follow this week...lots of nice hooks on the screen today...it looks like things are really shaping u s for us in Fair Haven!

Until Next Time,
Fish On Wilson!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 16, 2008

2008-08-16T17:58:45Z

Today we were joined by Chris, Alan, Eric, and Rick for a day of chasing the big Kings that are finally beginning to show up in the Fair Haven area. We left the dock at 6am and ran out to 75 FOW to take a peek at the Furuno only to find nothing on the screen. We powered back up and ran out to 120 FOW and set up even though we didn't have much on the screen. We began working our way out to deeper water and we finally found good temp down 100'. After an hour or so of trolling we hit our first fish of the day, a small brown that took our Dalmatian Spinny/Sigg's Blue Dolphin fly down 100 on the rigger. After bouncing around for a while longer and not seeing much we got a call from our friends on the Cold Steel boat down east of Oswego. They were having a good morning King fishing and we decided to troll that way to see if we could get in on that action. After a long troll towards Oswego, we finally hooked up with a nice King in 120 FOW that took that same Dalmatian Spinny/Sigg's Blue Dolphin fly down 100'. As we fought that fish we doubled up on another King that took a Green Holo Spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly fished off of a diver out 300' on a #2.5. We landed both Kings and snapped a few pics:

After we landed the Kings the wind began to build and we looped around and made a few more passes through our waypoints but we couldn't turn another fish. We got bumped around pretty good in 3-4 ft seas and after we worked our way back towards the barn we managed to boat a really pretty steelhead that took a Northern King NK28 Watermelon spoon that we had free-sliding on our 60' rigger. Once we boated that fish we pulled up and slowly worked our way back in. So much for NOAA's forecast of waves less than 2ft....they were all of 3-4ft with an occasional 5 footer thrown in there!

Check out the Traxstech Rod Holders in action in the gnarly waters we were fishing today:

We had a great day despite the bumpy water and I'm encouraged by the number of big Kings that we saw back at the dock this morning. There were a couple of them weighed that were nearly 30 lbs!

Thanks for a great day guys. We look forward to fishing with you again next year!!

Stay tuned as we're out every day for the next 9 days and I'll try to post a report each and every day.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 9, 2008

2008-08-11T07:58:06Z

Today we were joined by Ted, Harry, Dave, and Brian for another trip out on beautiful Lake Ontario.

We went out on Saturday morning and found a few marks and some bait NW of port in front of the silos in 325-500FOW. We worked really hard for what little we managed to scrape outta there. The majors that we're all looking for just aren't there in any sort of numbers yet, but the word on the street is that there were a few 30+ Lb Kings taken off of Oswego on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, so hopefully they're starting to show up!

There were some small hooks up around 90-110' and we threw everything at them including the proverbial kitchen sink. The only set-up that we could really get to go was a simple white spinny/white crinkle Sigg's fly fished off of our 110' rigger. That set-up took 80% of our hits for the day. The other set-up that got bit was a chartreuse pro-chip/Sigg's Mountain Dew Pulse fly that we had down 135' on another rigger. We didn't have a single spoon bite all day long, and we didn't have a touch on any of our 4 wire divers. We moved 'em up out of temp, down into the middle of the temp, and down in the ice water and we couldn't trigger a bite. We sped up, slowed down, messed with colors, lead lengths, direction of troll, you name it. It just wasn't gonna be our day no matter what we did. We managed a few bites and had a still managed to have a great day despite the slow fishing. Here's the shots of what action we did manage to find:

The good news is that I talked to Andy Bliss from Cold Steel several times over the course of the morning on Saturday and they continue to light up the browns east of Oswego in 100-115FOW. His best spoons were the same ones he's been using all week: Stinger Frogs, Tuxedo's and the Mongoose. Andy said that they had consistent bait and hooks in there and they've been getting some fat browns up to 12 lbs or so. I ventured in to 100-120FOW east of Fair Haven and we definitely don't have the same screen that they do East of Oswego for the browns. In just over an hour's time in there I saw exactly one bait pod and one fish. Needless to say we couldn't get it to go in there either.

I didn't fish on Sunday but I did talk to a few guys that went out of FH and it sounded like more of the same...lots of two and three fish boxes, with a few intermittent majors reported. Shade Tree dropped three or four majors this morning so he's at least feeling like maybe they're starting to show up here and there. I sure hope he's right...we'll be fishing every day from the 16th-25th and I could use a good dose of BIG Kings to get me out of the fish funk I'm in.

Thanks to Ted, Harry, Dave, and Brian for making today's trip enjoyable even though the fish didn't cooperate as well as we would have liked. I hope to see you guys again back up here on the Big "O".

We'll be out every day from the 16th-25th of August LOC Derby fishing. I'll do my best to post reports daily here, so keep checking back for the very latest on the fishing scene out of Fair Haven. BTW, we still have the morning of Monday, August 18th open for a charter.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

PRIME Salmon date available

2008-08-06T17:30:31Z

Another cancellation means another opportunity for you to get in on the fun! We'll be at the lake and fishing the Fall LOC Derby every day from August 16th-25th. All of our mornings are booked that week except for Monday, August 18th. If you'd like to Derby fish during what has historically been our hottest time of the year for King Salmon, give me a call right away at (607)592-9012 or email me at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com and we'll get you all set for a great day out on beautiful Lake Ontario! Hurry, this date won't last long!!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

A last minute opening

2008-08-04T19:01:03Z

Due to a cancellation, we now have this coming Saturday, August 9th open and available for a morning charter. If you've been considering a trip with us this season, this may be your date. Give me a call at (607)592-9012 or shoot me an email at capt.bill@billyvsportfishing.com if you're interested in fishing with us this coming Saturday!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Fishing Report - August 2, 2008

2008-08-04T08:43:10Z

Today we were joined by Matt, Eric, and Nick for a day out on Lake Ontario. The excitement level was high the night before as the guys came down to the boat to say hello and to swap fishing stories. After a good night's rest, we met at the boat at 5:00am on Saturday. Just as we were about to push away from the dock....ZAP...we lost power to most everything on the boat. Not exactly what we had planned. Jay and I scrambled around as best we could in the pre-dawn darkness and we couldn't find the source of the problem. Not much of a surprise there; it's dark enough down in the bilge and under the dash during the height of the day let alone an hour before the sun rises. The good news was that we had both engines running and charging our batteries and we also had our Sonar & GPS so we were pretty sure we just had a blown fuse somewhere. The bad news was that we were going to have to fish without our Depth Raider speed & temp probe, which we rely on very heavily to help find the temps we're looking for and to maintain the correct down speed for our presentation. We also didn't have any of our instrumentation on the dash.

Feeling blind without all of our instrumentation, we headed out and set up in 90 FOW just a touch East of the chute. We had tons of bait in 90-100 FOW and even a few hooks in the mix, so we set up a brown trout program and got down to fishing. We worked that water for an hour or so without so much as a touch. One of our friends slid in next to us and ran his temp probe down and said that he had 70 degree water on the bottom in 85 FOW. OK, time for plan B, that's just too warm. We turned the boat out towards deeper and hopefully colder waters and just as we hit 200 FOW our low diver fires and we're hooked up. After a brief battle we boated a small 2 lb. King and the guys decided to send him back into the lake so he could grow up and make someone else's day in a couple more years. That diver was out 210' on a .5 setting and was pulling a Green Double Crush Glow Spin Dr./ Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist fly.

After that fish we kept working our way out towards deeper water and we found a few suspended bait pods and a few small hooks in between 220-240 FOW, so we decided to work that area for a bit. We kept trying different speeds in an effort to make up for the loss of our probe, but nothing seemed to work. We just couldn't get the rods to fire. Looking back on it I wish I had rigged up a thumper rod and ran it down the chute to give us at least some indication of down speed but I was determined that we could figure it out with a little help from our friends on other boats with probes and by watching the angle on our rigger cables. Hindsight is 20/20. Man did I feel blind out there.

We worked our way out to 300+ and just as the thunderstorms rolled in we had our 600' copper pulling a Chrome Frog Spin Dr./Sigg's Rigs Super Lime Glow Pulse fly fire. As we were hooked up we could see two or three water spouts starting to form in the surrounding clouds. I was at the wheel and had us headed into the wind so I didn't snap any pics, but it sure was an ominous looking sky and it was a lot bumper than the below pic makes it look. We worked as quickly as we could to boat the fish as there were some pretty nasty thunderstorm cells in the area.

As soon as the fish hit the deck the heaviest of the cells moved in and we just skirted it to the North. What is it with us being hooked up on 600' of copper when there's lightning in the sky? That's the second time that's happened this year and I hope it's the last!

We stayed out for a while longer in an effort to put one or two more fish in the box, but to no avail. We gave it our best shot under difficult circumstances, but the few fish we marked didn't seem to want to cooperate today.

After we got back to the dock we starting trying to troubleshoot our power outage. Chris Drogi from Anchor Resort stopped by to help us out and he ultimately found that a simple 30 amp fuse that was located away from all the other fuse blocks down behind one of the engines had blown. I'm not sure why that fuse is located where it is, but it sure did handcuff us today. I'm headed to the auto parts store right now to pick up a few extras to have on hand. Thanks for all your help today Chris. I really do appreciate it.

All in all, we really did have a lot of fun out with our crew today even though the catching was less than we all hoped for. We're looking forward to fishing with you guys again next year. Thanks for a fun day guys!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Who wants to go Salmon fishing??

2008-08-06T17:29:41Z

The months of August & September are PRIME TIME for big King Salmon in Fair Haven. Who wants to go chase big Kings like those pictured below with us this summer?

If you would like to fish in August, we have time for afternoon/evening charters on Aug 2, 16, 17, 19, 21, and 23. We're already booked on those mornings, but we can definitely get you out there from 2pm till dark. September is still fairly open, so call for availability. If you'd like to battle big Kings like these pictured above, NOW is the time to call or email to set your date. Don't let another summer slip by without getting in on the fun! I hope to hear from you soon.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Summer LOC Derby

2008-07-22T10:04:35Z

The awards ceremony for the 2008 Summer LOC Derby was held in conjunction with the Wayne County Pro-Am last weekend in Sodus Point. For me, the highlight of the ceremony was seeing 12 year old Ryan Bobzin tell the story about his 28.08 lb King salmon that ended up winning the youth division and placed third in the Salmon division. You should've seen this kid's eyes light up when Bill Hilts asked him if he was gonna come back to Lake Ontario fishing again! His eyes got as big as pie plates and his entire face lit up as he nodded his head and said and emphatic "Yes!". Awesome job on the big fish Ryan! The Grand Prize winner was a 31.14 lb King that was taken by Carrie Choate of Gasport. I saw the King at the ceremony and it was a real pig. Congratulations Carrie. Job well done!

We had a pretty good derby ourselves and ended up placing two fish on the final 2008 Summer LOC Derby leader board. Rich Peaslee from Lowman, NY took the 20th place brown on board our boat on June 21st right out in front of Fair Haven in about 30 FOW. The big brown took a Dreamweaver Super Slim Area 51 spoon fished off of our Cannon downriggers. When we weighed the fish in, it sat in 4th place and we all anxiously watched the fish move down the leader board during the final week of the derby. Rich did a great job of battling the big brown and we were all very happy to see the fish hold on to that final spot on the leader board. Congratulations on a great fish Rich! I'm happy I was out there with you when you caught it. Here's a pic of Rich and his 20th place brown:

The following weekend we were out fishing in the Mustad Challenge and our good friend Rick Hajecki from Rochester, NY landed a big 25.12 lb King on our boat that ended up placing 17th in the final 2008 Summer LOC Derby standings. The fish also won big fish honors at the Mustad Challenge as well as the Shane Zimmerman Memorial Big Fish Award. Rick had his fish take a Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist fly that was trailing a Green Double Crush Glow Smart Fish on a 600' copper rod out in 130 FOW just East of Fair Haven. We had a severe lightning storm bearing down on us as Rick fought this beauty, so while Rick was hooked up the rest of us were frantically tearing down rods and getting the boat ready to run into the bay to take shelter from the storm. The second the fish hit the deck we powered up and we made it to the dock just a minute or two before the storm hit. Needless to say, we were all pretty excited with Rick's catch. Congratulations on a beautiful fish Rick! Here's Rick and his 17th place King:

Way to go fellas. You guys certainly made June a month to remember for us. I'm happy for both of you and I look forward to the next time we can get out on the water together in search of BIG fish!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Wayne County Pro-Am Report

2008-07-30T09:31:28Z

Our Pro-Am team for the Wayne County event consisted of Rich, Ed, Dad, Jay and I. No charters this weekend, just a bunch of friends fishing a tournament. On Friday we left the dock at Anchor at 5:30am and went out in front of Fair Haven to thoroughly fish that area. We had a nice fish on for a few minutes first thing on a Northern King Die Hard fished off of a rigger down 100' but dumped it. We had a ton of bait out in 130-150FOW but there were very few hooks around. We worked our regular waypoints for a couple more hours but didn't see much other than bait on the screen and we couldn't get anything else to go. We decided to pick up and head to our day 2 waypoints from last weekend's Oswego Pro-Am out deeper and a bit west of port. When we got there we found a few of the Pro-Am boats in the area as well as a few of the Fair Haven regulars. We got set up and found some nice hooks down 80' or so. We took a couple of nice steelies and a couple of small Kings before we decided to motor over to Sodus to get checked into our slip there for the weekend.

On Saturday we knew that some of the contenders for the cup were gonna head to Oswego to fish for browns. We hadn't seen much from Fair Haven to about Port Bay on Friday, but some friends of our had done fairly well just East of Sodus so we decided to give that a shot rather than run an hour for browns. We went out to about 170 FOW and got set up out in front of Chimney bluffs. We had all kinds of bait and hooks in anywhere from 140-180 FOW but we just couldn't get them to go. After we worked that area for a close to three hours I finally decided to move one of our Cannon downriggers up shallower than we had been fishing all morning. It wasn't up there more than 3 minutes when we took the steelhead that ended up being the biggest on the Pro side of the tournament:

That fish came on a NK Glow Frog spoon and weighed 10.21 lbs. We put that rig back in the water and moved another rig up higher. The rig that we had just moved up fires and we boated a King that came in at slightly over 23lbs at the weigh-in. Ed did a great job handling the big fish and we were all really pumped when it hit the deck of the boat! That fish came on a Green Double Crush Glow Spinny/Sigg's Green Hypnotist fly out 240' on a 2.5 setting. From there on out we hooked up another 7 or 8 times, all on rigs that we had moved up way out of temp anywhere from 50-80 ft. down. We lost a screamer on the wire dipsy, and broke a nice one off right at the back of the boat on our 400' copper that was pulling a Chrome Frog Spinny/Sigg's Super Lime Glow Pulse fly. Our riggers pulling clean spoons were by far the hottest set-up of the day for us and most of the fish that we boated came off of them pulling NK Glow Frogs. We ended the day in 16th place with 5 fish in the cooler and I felt like if I had just moved one or two riggers up out of temp sooner that we could've been in a lot better position. We knew we were going back to this same spot on Sunday and we felt like we had a good shot at making some noise in the standings if we could boat a few of the big boys that were out there.

On Sunday we went back to our waypoints from the day before only to find that the fish weren't there. We went into search mode and found some of them in just a bit closer but still on the same troll that we had been on the day before. As we made a turn in 125FOW our 600' copper pulling a Chrome spinny/Apple Glow Pulse fly fires and we landed our first Laker of the year. We got back on our troll and headed out to the deeper end of it and just before the rains came we landed a great King that came in at 24.91 lbs on the tournament scale after it bit our Chrome Frog Spinny/Sigg's Super Lime Glow Pulse fly that was out 225' on a 2.5. There were quite a few tense moments during the battle with the big King, and the whole crew was on edge while "Sharkman" Ed battled yet another big boy. It was pretty funny to hear just how quiet it got while Ed was hooked up. No one wanted to say anything at all that might jinx us!

After we landed the fish it rained. Hard. For quite a while. And the screen went totally blank. We stuck to our spot and as soon as the storm passed the screen lit back up again. We took shots on both our 500 and our 600' coppers but didn't land either of them. We took three small Kings on our wire divers out 180 on a .5 and 225 out on a 2.5, but lost another big boy on those settings too. With just a few minutes to go before we had to pull lines and head in our 70' rigger pulling a Die Hard fired hard and after a brief battle we dumped yet another big fish. Ugh! We definitely could have used one or two of those majors. But that's fishin'. We made it to the weigh-in with another 5 fish box, moved up a few spots and ended the tournament in 13th place out of 37 boats, just a few points out of the money:

Here's a pic of our team and our box on Day 2.

Even though we didn't cash a check, we still had a great time and taking the biggest steelie on the Pro side helped ease the pain of just missing the top 10.

We owe a big THANK YOU to Matt Siggeman of Sigg's Rigs for putting the very latest fly patterns in our hands. His Pulse and Trophy flys were a big part of our program this weekend and we really love them. We truly appreciate all the help you've given us over the years Matt! We also owe John Ruffino of Daiwa a thank you for the hats & visors, but more importantly for the awesome rods & reels that we run on the boat. John Distaffen at Northern King has been a good friend of ours from the very beginning and his spoons are the cornerstone of our set-up and they took the majority of our catch on Day 1. Thank you John for all you've done for us. Keep the awesome spoon patterns coming! Shane Ruboyaines from Dreamweaver is another friend that we need to mention and thank for his awesome Spin Dr's and amazing DW and SS spoons. You make great stuff Shane and we're proud to be affiliated with you. To Kim Austin and all of our friends at Cannon & Humminbird, thank you for making the fastest downrigger on the market. Without those, we couldn't pull rods & set-up nearly as quickly as we can. For us, Cannon is the only choice in downriggers. We're also very happy with our new Humminbird GPS. The unit has worked flawlessly and we get compliments about it all the time. We'd literally be lost on the water without it. I don't mention them here often enough because all they do is perform flawlessly every time we go out, but our Traxstech rod holders are the best holders and track systems out there. Jeff and Melody, thank you for making a product that we never, ever have to worry about! We also owe thanks to Melissa at Berkley, Ed at Shark Cannonballs and Curt at Depth Raider for making what we believe are the very best fishing line, downrigger weights, and speed and temperature probes on the market. We run all of the products I've mentioned above for one reason and one reason only: Because they work.

I guess that's it for now. We'll be back at it with a busy charter schedule for the remainder of the season. There are still a few dates left open, so don't hesitate to call or email for our availability.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill

Oswego Pro-AM

2008-07-14T10:55:38Z

This past weekend we fished in the Oswego Pro-AM. On Friday we pre-fished the event and then we had charters on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's group was supposed to be made up of Charlie from New Hampshire and his best friend Bill from Binghamton, but Charlie ended up hurting his back and couldn't make it. I was really disappointed that Charlie couldn't fish with us and I know that his back had to be hurt pretty bad for him to miss out on the tournament. We asked our friends Rich and Eric if they could serve as a last minute replacement for Charlie and thankfully they agreed to help us out. On Sunday we were joined by Gary from North Carolina and his son and two nephews. They had something like 9 families staying in Fair Haven for their week's vacation, and I think Gary said that this was their 15th year of coming up to spend time at the State Park enjoying the lake and surrounding area.

On Friday (prefish day) we left Fair Haven and started working our way East towards Oswego. We found a very nice school of Kings out in 300FOW and plucked a few fish out of it in just over an hour. We wanted to keep eliminating unproductive water so we left those fish and worked our way out deep only to find an empty screen. Even with the empty screen we managed to box a nice King that came on a Northern King copper NBK fished off of our 600' copper set up. We came into the Fat Nancy's Shootout with a total weight of around 35 lbs for our biggest three fish.

On Saturday we headed out to the same spot where we had 'em nailed down the day before only to find that they were gone. We worked that water for a couple of hours with only a 15" skippy to show for our efforts. I called a quick team meeting and we talked about either going West towards Fair Haven to fish our home waters for Kings or running in and fishing in closer for browns. The Kings hadn't been particularly cooperative in the past few days, so we opted to go for browns. We ran into 100FOW and before we even got completely set up we whacked a beautiful 7 lb brown on a Dreamweaver SS Area 51 fished of of our riggers. Way to go Bill, congrats on your first-ever brown trout. Sorry I didn't get a pic of the fish...I got pretty wrapped up in the tournament trying to put fish in the box and completely forgot.

Not long after that fish hit the deck we hooked up again on a NK Die Hard fished off of a wire diver only to lose it at the back of the boat. Then the clouds parted and the bright sun came out......oh great, just what we need. We kept pushing towards Oswego where most of the browns were being caught and over the course of the rest of the day we hooked and lost another several more browns and boated one more on a NK glow frog. We came into the weigh-in with two browns in our box and sat somewhere near the bottom of the field. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with my decision to fish browns, and I was even more upset with my decision when I found out that the leaders boxed out on Kings in my home waters of Fair Haven.

On Sunday, we made the right choice and headed back to Fair Haven and fished our every day waypoints. We weren't set up for more than 5 minutes when we hooked up and landed a double.

The first fish came on a Dalmatian Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Blue Dolphin on a wire diver out 300' on a .5 setting. The second took a Sea Sick Waddler down 100' on our riggers. We got set up after the mayhem and immediately had a major rip a ton of line on a Green Double Crush Glow Spinny/Sigg's Rigs Green Hypnotist fished off of our high diver out 350' on a 2.5 setting. We handed the rod to 14 year-old Cooper and the battle was on. Cooper did a great job handling the King, but in the end, the King managed to find a way throw the hook. After that we circled back around and worked what has historically been a productive area for us for the remainder of the day. We had a steady pick for the rest of the day and ended up going 10 for 12 on the day with 7 keepers. We took fish on every rod we had in the water....divers, riggers, and coppers. We came back to the weigh-in a lot happier than we were the day before. We leap-frogged several teams with one of the better boxes of the day and ended up in 15th place. More importantly than where we placed though is the fact that we came back to the dock with three teen-aged boys who are now completely and utterly hooked on Salmon fishing!

Thanks for a great time this weekend guys. Charlie, I hope your back is getting better and that you'll be out playing golf again soon.

Wish us better luck next weekend as we fish the Sodus Pro-AM.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill

July Salmon Fishing

2008-07-08T18:00:57Z

Due to a cancellation, we now have Saturday, July 26th open for either a 6 or an 8 hour charter. If you'd like to chase big, dime-bright July Kings like those pictured below, this is your chance. Don't hesitate, this date won't last long! Give me a call at (607) 592-9012 today.

We're off to fish in the Oswego Pro-Am for the next few days. I'll file a report when we return from O-Town!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!

~Capt. Bill