Yankee Troller

It's a 20x2. Nevermind the stickers on the boat. I'm not gonna get into that conversation online. You can ask me in person and I'll be truthful.

Fun Fact: I've never put anything that lived in water in my mouth, so I'm not a good source of info for this question.

Good luck when you get out. Fingers crossed the Kings start committing mass violence to our spreads.

That Salmon fishing we saw the last two years was another example of what naturals can do to the fishery. We saw those fish two seasons ago as 6-12lb fish (2yr old's), and last year as 3yr old's. 99% of our Salmon mature at 2 and 3 years old. Last year was it for that crop of fish we saw. Now, as far as the poor King fishing this season it's early to judge. We've had an enormous amount of East winds and cool temps that followed a cold Winter. Let it play itself out.

We had a Coho boom 5-6 years ago. The whole lake enjoyed it. Again, the DEC hasn't changed stocking numbers for decades on these. If anything, they fail to reach target numbers due to poor eye up in the hatchery. From the data we have the tribs on the North shore and the Salmon River are our best tribs to support natural reproduction. After a 9yr tagging study we settled on 50% of the Kings caught are naturals. If we stock 1,000,000 Kings another 1,000,000 are naturally reproduced. Of those 1,000,000 naturals 500,000 come from north shore tribs. Of the other 500,000 naturals 250,000 come from the Salmon River.

Everyone will take what they get. However, Atlantics are not targetable. Coho are easily targetable. Chinook are targetable. Heck, every trout species is targetable. If you can't target a species it's not bringing in anglers to chase them. It's very easy. ROI on Atlantic's is the worst out of every species swimming in Lake Ontario.

The DEC stocks X amount every year. The variable here is naturals. Clearly a bumper crop of natural Coho in the system. In a season with tough King fishing it is a welcomed fishery. I've been asking for this fishery for years, but all I ever hear is how expensive it is to raise Coho in the hatchery. The state and feds have no issues pissing away money on Atlantic programs that very few people ever benefit from though.

I ran 2 10" HELIX's, 2 cannon downriggers, a fish hawk, and fm radio off the cranking battery while the kicker was running. You should be fine. The right way to do it is to add a house battery (I couldn't do that becasue my main engine was a 2 stroke and there was an oil tank so no room for a 2nd battery). Blue Sea Systems sells an "Add a Battery" kit. Follow the directions and it's easy to install (make sure you use the appropriate sized wire). The relay will close and send a charge to the house battery (that will be running all your fishing equipment) when it senses a charge from the engines alternator. When it doesn't sense that charge it opens and your cranking battery doesn't get drawn down by those electronics. Any questions call me at Krenzer Marine, or drop a DM.

This event sneaks up on me every year, but we're just a few weeks away from Lake Ontario's most strategic Salmon and Trout tournament. Entries~~> You can enter at Ernst's Lake Breeze Marina all week leading up to the event. See Lois in the office. She will have entry forms and rules. You will also be able to enter at the captains meeting (cash only). If you feel so inclined you can download/print them here in advance to help everyone out -> Entry Form and Rules Brackets ~~> Roy Letcher will be running these again. There will be a bracket meeting Thursday June 5th under the pavilion at Ernst's Lake Breeze Marina. Please contact Roy if you have any other questions. There are usually $100 and $250 brackets for Pro teams. If there is enough amateur interest I'm sure Roy would run those as well. Thank you Roy. Calcutta ~~> Chris Vogt will be running the Pro Calcutta and Tim Skrip will be running the Am Calcutta. You can enter at the Captain's meeting on Friday June 6th (this follows the King of the Oak weigh in). $250 for Pro teams to enter and $100 for Am teams. Thanks' Chris and Tim. Weigh-In's~~> Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's weigh ins will be held at Ernst's Lake Breeze Marina under the pavilion. Please read the rules for the King of the Oak (KOTO) and the Orleans County Open (OCO) so you're not late to weigh in.

AFW 30lb can be found here at FishUSA. I use the two reel method for figuring out backing. Spool on the wire and then fill reel with backing. Take a second reel and zero the counter. Reel on the backing and note the counter number once it's on the reel. Continue to reel on the 1000' of wire. On your empty reel use the data you got from the first to determine where to stop with the braid.

I run 1000' of AFW 30lb wire and use backing to fill the spool.

I would say for Salmon fishing 27lb is the most common size. We use FishUSA Stealthcore and have had great luck with its durability. Walleye guys seem to prefer the 18lb.

The problem is we've been spoiled for many years with warmer Winters that progressed the season. We also had an enormous wild crop the last few years that aged out at 3 last season. I grew up fishing the bar in May. I remember years having to go over the boarder to get Salmon the first week'ish of May. We had East winds last weekend, which will blew the water West. We had East winds the weekend before, and we had East winds this week. Our friends on the other side of the boarder are having a field day with the Salmon the last few days. East winds blow water West, but bubbles can also break off and go North. If you can find one of those bubbles the top 40' can be dumb over deep water.