May 26th - Charter

We enjoyed a day spent with the Pocock family. We had them get to the dock at 5am so we could try the inside waters looking for a big guy feeding on the bait. We set down in 50’ of water, but it wasn’t looking great. We gave it 30 minutes, and pulled them to head West. We set up at 6 mile in 150’ of water and headed NW. We put out a simple spread to cover the water column.

On our Big John Otter Boats we ran 6 flat lines. Four of them had Red Squiggles Thin Fish, and a the other two pulled Honey Bees with a single split shot about 6’ in front of it. Those rods would take a beating all morning long. We could watch Steelies feeding on the surface, and on occasion when we ran our lures past them we’d hook up. Talk about being visual! These surface Steelhead were very feisty, and very acrobatic. On our light gear it really made it a challenge to get them to the net.

We also ran some spoons in various colors on our riggers and wires. Another deadly presentation was the 75’ and 100’ wires on a 3 setting. The best spoons on these were gold watermelon and green hornet Dreamweaver SS’s. Steelies were hitting divers like kings! Everyone boxed their limit of Steelies and Coho. We had two small Chinook Salmon hit the net as well as a Lake Trout. We could tell these guys were very impressed with the day they had! We look forward to fishing with them again soon!

May 19th - Charter

I was told that we needed to get two Salmon on this trip to make it successful! Easy enough! The guys wanted their wives to battle the famous Lake O Shark! So, when they stopped by the boat on Friday evening I told them to be back and ready to go by 5am. We wanted to see if we could score an early bite on some big guys!

5am rolled around, and we were pushing off from the dock. We strolled out to 50’ of water and the screen was lit up! We were able to get our three Cannon DT10s in and while my back was turned getting the diver rod ready the Sea Sick Waddler on the corner rigger fired, and we were tied into a good one. That fish hit the deck, and we set out both divers and a 10 color. Five minutes later, and the 10 color is zipping! Teenager #2 in the box that took a Moonshine Carbon 14.

After that fish the screen really started to fade away. We swung in one more time, but the moss had invaded our area. We pointed the boat North and made our way out to 350’ before we would turn and head back into 175’. WE picked fish the whole way out. Mostly smaller Kings and Cohos. Our program consisted of our three Cannon DT10’s, two Walker Deeper Divers pulling flasher/fly combos, two coppers pulling flasher/fly combos, and three flat-lines pulling red body baits.

MVP’s today were the flat-lines, and the lines fished off our Cannons. Sliders did real well too. No one spoon out did another, and we were running the same stuff we have been running the past few weeks. The area from 175’-250’ seemed to hold the best picture right out front of Wilson. Fish were in the top 90’ streaking through our gear constantly. By 10am we were done with our four man limit, and headed back in to the dock to clean some fish.

May 17-18th - Charter

The guys from our very first charter were with us again now for the 6th year in a row! These guys are awesome! They come from all over the NE once a year to meet up, fish, and tell some stories. We really enjoy time spent with these guys! 

Thursday - We left the dock at 7am, and proceeded to head out to 100’ of water NE of Wilson. We worked the water from the Red Barn to the Microwave in 100-150’ of water for the entire day. Our program consisted of our three Cannon DT10’s with spoons and either a free or fixed cheater, three wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers trailed by either flasher/fly combos or spoons, two coppers with flasher/fly combos, and 4 surface lines pulling red body baits.

Little did we know that the surface lines were going to be so hot! The Brads Thin Fish and the Challenger Lady Bug just clobbered the Steelies. The first few were throw backs, but the last 6 bites were all nice size Steelies, and boy were they acrobatic! The bite wasn’t as good as it had been the last few weeks, but we had our bites. The fish seemed to be good at getting unbuttoned on this day.

Friday - We saw a monster box come in from the power plant on Thursday, so we headed there on Friday to see if they were still willing to play. When we dropped in it didn’t take long, and we had our first King in the boat. After that it slowed a little until we get further East. The fishing picked up again, but it would shut down late morning when the NE winds began to blow.

Our program was the same as Thursdays, but the surface stuff wasn’t nearly as productive. Our Cannon DT10’s really were the ticket on this day. Later in the day we ran meat down deep, and it pulled a few shots on Kings, but most of the day it was various spoons that did the damage. Again, we got our bites despite a difficult transitional type day.

May 14th - Charter

Paul and Jack came back for some more! We left the dock at 5:30 all jacked up about a great morning bite. We set lines NE of Wilson, and trolled down to the red barn. We had a quick morning bite, but it really turned into a grind bite. We worked the 100-125’ are where we saw our best screen. Our program didn’t change from the previous few trips. Our three Cannon DT10s saw action as did four wires, and a couple of 300 coppers fished off our Big John Otter Boats. 

The bite was much slower than anticipated. Our MVP for the morning was a meat rig fished on one of our low divers. We toughed it out in there until about 11am when we decided to point it North. Once we did that we got into them. Our Cannons were now the ticket pulling Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers down 45-100’. 

May 13th - Mothers Day Evening Charter

Paul and Jack met us at 3:30 for an afternoon trip. We heard the morning bite was pretty good, so we were anxious to get back out there after a relaxing morning. We set up right out front and pointed the boat East. We set down our Cannon DT’s, four wires, and two 300 coppers. Spoons on the Cannon DTs and high wires. Flasher Fly combos on everything else. We worked down to the red barn with a slow slow pick. With about an hour to go the bite really turned on. A Northern King Metallic Frog, and a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler were MVP’s for the night fished off our Cannons. We got our limit for Paul and Jack, so we pulled lines and headed in to get some dinner.

Many things took a shot, but not many went more than once. 

To say we were excited was an understatement! To begin with we had the ol’ man out fishing the event with us. That was enough to make the day great! We were one of the first boats out of the chute to wait for the shotgun start. It seemed like it took forever. When 6am hit we put the hammer down. We had her right to the wall for the short three mile run. 

We dropped lines in around 80’ of water in front of the Red Barn. We set up our three Cannon DT0’s almost instantly, and put out two wires, and a 300 copper. The bite was slower than the day before, but we were getting our bites. Lots of fish in the 8-13lb range. We struggled to get six nice keeper fish. Lots of lures went in, and lots of lures came out. Our bigger fish seemed to come sporadically. We tried meat down deep, and we pulled the same class fish. At one point we sent the 20lb shark down to 240’ over 250’, and it fired with a teenage fish. There were no real MVPs for the day.

Around noon we swung into 65-70’ of water and picked up weeds on everything. The decision was made to pick them up and make a move. We shot back to Wilson, and fished the 175’-200’ area, and just kept taking the same class fish. The fish here seemed to be higher, and our Cannons really took most of the shots.

When we hit weigh in we saw many similar boxes. As one by one came through the weigh in line we would sink further and further down the roster. We would end up in the top half, but not by very much. We all had a great time at the event, and if your not fishing this event your definitely missing out! I would like to give a huge thumbs up to Kevin and the Wilson Boat Yard for their efforts, and to my girlfriend Melanie who fished on an all girls team and beat us!

May 11th - Continuing practice while running a charter

We had Paul and hid girlfriend meet us at 5:30am, and we were one of the first boats out the chute. We slid out to 50’ of water and worked NE. It didn’t take long and we were into fish. Our spread consisted of three lines fished off our Cannon DT10’s in varying depths, three wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers trialed by both flasher/Fly combos and spoons, and two 300 coppers fished off our Big John Otter Boats.

The fishing was so good by 10am they had caught more than they wanted, but we fished until noon looking for a big LOC Derby fish and/or a big fish for the Friday event my brother put on in the marina. This day was no different than last weekend when a 30+ fish day was easily accomplished by noon. We also found the further East we went the better the bite got. Our screen was insane from the red barn to the microwave.

On our riggers we pulled Northern King Sea Sick Waddler mags, Northern King Lazer Spook mags, and a Moonshine Green Shorts (the spoon my brother picked up at Captains Cove). On our 300 coppers we had a Dreamweaver Blue Angle Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK UV Dolphin, and a Dreamweaver Mulatto Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK shredded white mirage. Those two combos were smoking hot on this morning. The divers had multiple lures go down on them, but one combo that was hot was a green Smart Fish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle.

Our big fish for the day was about 20lbs, but we had a ton of teenage fish that came to play. We knew where we were starting in the morning for the Wilson Harbor Invitational, and had a good feeling that we could put together a good box.

We woke up to a stiff NW wind blowing 10-20mph, so we took this opportunity to go into town and eat at the little corner diner. Many fisherman were in there fueling up on breakfast awaiting a window of opportunity to go out and see if the insane bite was still happening. 

When we finished breakfast it was time to do a little work on the boat. We broke one of our Coastal Night Lights spreader lights a few weeks back, so we installed two brand new ones. Boy do these spreader lights illuminate the back deck! If you ever want to see how nice they are stop by the boat at night while we are there.

We were also able to network our Humminbird 1198’s though their new Ethernet system. What a simple task that was, and now either unit can use the transducer, the radar, or the GPS. It sorta takes over for the Interlink system Humminbird has had for years, but it is much simpler. 

About noon we decided enough was enough, and we strolled out the pier heads to find a 2-4’ chop out of the NW. We motored down to the red can figuring we would ride the waves back. It was a grind, and we didn’t get on anything that looked promising. We slid into 60’ on top of the bar and out to 200’ with pretty much a blank screen. We worked our way back to Wilson and ended the trip around 4pm with the biggest Chinook Salmon being about 10lbs. Everything was small!

In conclusion, we eliminated waters instead of finding a gem West of Wilson. Anyone who fished Wilson, or to the East, seemed to have taken a few nice bites. 

May 6th Chartering from Wilson and fishing the LOC Derby

We awoke to calm winds, and not too much later the smell of more Tim Hortons! We pulled out of the dock again about 5:30 and headed for the same water we fished yesterday. The boat traffic was unreal! More boats than I have seen in many years, and they were all fishing the stretch from the power plant to the bar. 

We didn’t change up our program much from Saturday. However, we did add two more wires to the mix. We ran a paddle fly combo on the low diver, and a spoon on the high diver. We quickly realized the bite was not as fast and furious as it was the day before, but we also knew the full moon may have allowed these beasts to feed through the night. With that being said we understood an afternoon bite may materialize. We would poke a few fish on the inside, but the combat trolling was terrible. We did drop a hog in there, but you can’t land them all!

As the morning pressed on we would slide out a touch into the 130’ range and we continued to pick a fish or two every 15-20 minutes. We also realized the size was down from the day before. We went about our day catching and releasing the small ones (when I say small I mean anything under 15lbs). About 11am the bite really turned on, and it lasted until 3pm when we pulled rods. We slid out to the 150-200’ range, and the 600 copper was a constant producer with a green Smartfish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle. That combo was also going well on one of our low divers out 300’. Our deep riggers were also pulling fish consistently down 120-200’ with Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers, and a Moonshine spoon I don’t know the name of. One of my brothers impulse buys, but boy was it hot! I’m pretty sure he called up Captains Cove and put the rest of those aside.

Right until we pulled rods fish were snapping. We ended the day with what we thought was another leaderboard fish that took the green Smartfish pulling an A-TOM-MIK green crinkle combo on our wire. That fish took us for a ride! Best fight of the year so far. On the scales the fished missed out by half a pound. 

The fishing continues to be unbelievable all along the south shore, and you can tell the word is out! From Olcott to the West small businesses had to have made out well this weekend! Get out there and get in on the action! 

May 5th Chartering from Wilson and fishing the LOC Derby

Our group from PA met us at the dock at 5:30 with Tim Hortons in hand. Heck of a way to start off the morning! We left the dock with John and his friends promptly after hearing that the bite had not slowed at all since last weekend. In fact it got better, which is hard to believe! We fished in 1-3’s, then 3-5’s, and I think it went to 2-4’s by the end of our trip. To be honest we didn’t even realize it was that bumpy out because the fishing was INSANE!

We stopped in 50’ of water, but would work 70-90’ for the entire day. Boat traffic was mediocre at first, but when Lady O kicked up we had much of the Lake to ourselves. The screen was loaded with Chinooks, and we started the day with a triple! We had a spoon program down all day, and we didn’t have to change much up. MVP’s for the day were Stinger Hawg Wild’s fished off our 10 color cores that were drug behind our Big John Otter boats. On our Cannon DT10’s pulled a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler, a Lazer Spook, and a Mulatto from 30’ down to the bottom. We also had those same spoons on our wires behind Walker Deeper Divers. 

The NE wind pushed the fish down West a little bit as the day went on, but we figured that out quick and followed them. As I stated above we started the day with a triple, and we also ended the day with one. The amount of doubles and a few more triples in between were more than I wanted to keep track of. Our group wanted to take advantage of the LOC derby, and that they did! We put a Chinook on the leaderboard weighing just over 25lbs, which was good enough for 6th at that time. We missed out on making it with another one that was 23lbs and change.

The fishing so far this season has been incredible! It will probably go down as one of the best Spring seasons ever! The Chinook (King) Salmon fishing is amazing up and down the south shore of Lake Ontario. At Crazy Yankee Sportfishing we don’t want you to miss out on this, and we want you to be able to show your friends the great experience you encountered out there with us.

We purchased a GoPro video camera, and the footage it takes is just amazing! It is on our boat for your use, and free of cost to you! All you need is to provide is a 32GB SD card series/class 4 or higher (preferably class 10). Below is an example of what you need. This card will get you approximately 4 hours of video.

Example of what you need.

Up to $150 dollars cash back when you purchase a Cannon Downrigger. Offer ends July 1st. If you are in the market for new riggers now is as good a time as any!

Practice - Not Much! We weren’t able to fish Thursday because of our day jobs. We knew weather was coming, so we ran over to Port Dalhousie Thursday evening. We went to bed with hard NW winds, and woke up to the same. By 11am we could see the wind had died down a little bit, and we made the decision to get out for a few hours of fishing. We rode the WN winds down to the bar where we eventually found some fish. The NW winds had the green river water pressed along the shoreline, so our bite was on top of the bar. We didn’t catch anything big, but we had a starting point that we would try to dial in as the weekend passed by.

Saturday (Day 1) - We left in much of the same NW winds experienced on Friday. We made the 30 minute trek to the Niagara Bar in a washing machine of boat wakes, and the 3-5’ waves from the NW winds. Our program for the morning was 2 wires pulling Walker Deeper Divers, our three Cannon DT10’s, five color cores off the Big John Otter Boats, and a 10 color which we would run down the chute in varying lengths. We had a 100% spoon program with our Northern King Sea Sick Waddlers, Northern King Lazer Spooks, and Northern King Mulatto’s being our MVP’s for the day. We had a great morning.

When you found a few kings you had to work that area. If you got out of them you caught Lakers. We worked from 45’-150’ on the bar, and eventually changed our program when our wires got red hot. We pulled the five colors and went double wires on each side. That bite went for a few hours and it was crazy good! We easily did over 40 fish, and we knew we had one 15lb fish we needed to cull, but it just never happened. A lot of great fish for next year out there! 

We did the weigh in thing and saw many similar boxes. At the end of day one we were 21st and 8lbs out of the top ten.

Sunday (Day 2) - We woke up to calm waters FINALLY! The run to the bar was great! We had YT3 cranking at 26-27mph. I think we even passed a Lund!?!?!? We were pumped to get lines in the water!

We started in the same water on top of the bar, with the same program as Saturday morning. The picture wasn’t as good, although we did grab a few fish. We slide out because we could see the river water had pushed out (after being laid along the shoreline from the NW winds). When we got off the ledge we started marking more fish, and it was game on. We pulled the 5 color cores and replaced them with 300 coppers, and the ten color was replaced with a 600 copper, which we varied the length of in 100’ increments.

Coppers were HOT! A Stinger Hawg Wild on one, and a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler on the other. Our Cannons took quite a few fish too. The Northern King Sea Sick Waddler was definitely the MVP of the day. On our 600 copper a Dreamweaver Spin Doctor in Blue Angel pulling an A-TOM-MIK UV Blue Dolphin was going consistently. In an attempt to pick up some bigger fish we dragged bottom with a White Dreamweaver Spin Doctor pulling an A-TOM-MIK Sweet Pea. It pulled many fish from 100’ to 200’ down, but they just weren’t the fish we were looking for.

We knew we had a better box on day two, but we still had one Salmon that was 15lbs, and we just couldn’t cull it. When everything was said and done we climbed up the standings, but not enough for a check. We finished 15th out of 52 boats.

Moral of the story………the fishing is GREAT on Lake Ontario right now. From Jordan to Oswego MANY kings are being caught. Get out there and enjoy this great resource!

April 16th - Brown Trout fishing from the Oak

Jerry and his buddies joined us again this year for some April Brown Trout action. Last year they were the first charter of the season and brought 30mp SW winds with them. We had to cancel last Monday because of heavy winds, and moved them to today. What did they bring with them again? Strong SW winds whipping 25mph+. I don’t know what to think about these guys! Good thing they brought lots of food, and good luck on some hefty Brown Trout.

We took a short ride down to Lakeside Beach and set rods. We put out 6 rods on our planer boards, spoons on our three Cannon Downriggers down 5’, and two flat lined spoons off the corners. We had a slow pick until we got to Green Harbor. The 51 degree water off Johnson Creek was gone, and we had 48 degree water most of the day. Those flat lined spoons were Stinger Stingrays in Alewife, and Black Widow. Both of which took some nice shots. There were some nice fish off Green Harbor. We put two Brown Trout in the boat over 10lbs, and lost three others as big or bigger at the back of the boat when they went spin crazy, or bulldogged. The board lines that were hot were all naturals, so we switched all of them over to that. 

Around 11am the wind was unbearable. It would blow our planer releases right up our tow line, and make fishing the inside board impossible. We decided to move out and fish for Kings during the last few hours. It was blowing hard and there were 2-3’ waves a quarter mile offshore. Out over 60-100’ there were 3-5’ waves out of the Southwest. Once we hit 60’ we started to pop some very nice sized Lake Trout on an Northern King Sea Sick Waddler, and a Dreamweaver Chicken Wing SS. An hour into the change we hit a spunky Spring King Salmon on our 60’ rigger pulling a Northern King Sea Sick Waddler. That fish was all over the place!

We ended the day with a very nice mixed bag which included a few Cohos that hit sticks off the planer board while we were seeking the mighty King Salmon. Until the next trip enjoy some fish porn!

April 15th - Fishing from the Oak

When we got off the water yesterday we heard there were some Kings to be had out in deeper water. Well, that was the game plan for today! We left the dock around 7am, and headed out to 40’ of water where we put out what I’m going to call a water covering spread.

We had 6 lines off the boards with shallow sticks in bright colors for Cohos, and deep diving sticks for Kings. We ran our three Cannon Digitroll 10’s with sliders for Kings and Cohos, and two wire divers pulling Walker Deeper Divers with Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK combos. Shortly after getting the spread in we had action, but it wasn’t the action we were looking for. We wanted Salmon, but all we could dig up were Lake Trout. It was a lot of fun, and we boated some hogs.

Around 11am we had enough of the Lake Trout bite, and with no Kings to show for we headed in to beat up on some Brown Trout. As soon as we settled in around Green Harbor rods started to fly. The structure around there is ridiculous! We found warm water between there and Johnson Creek, and we had a steady pick of Brown Trout. Same program as the last few with natural and colored sticks on the boards, a Stinger Sea Sick Waddler and a Dreamweaver Chicken Wing SS on our Cannons. AS we were picking up we got a pleasant surprise when a 10lb Atlantic hit the floor of our boat. Gorgeous fish!