Finders Keepers

IMO, I think the boat derby was a great idea, however I think the initial registration cost was too high for many anglers with the current state of our economy. I say run it the same, but lower the cost to enter (say $100) and lower the payout accordingly (run the numbers and see what can be supported). If you run it concurrently with the Summer LOC, the weigh stations shouldn't have an issue since they are available for the LOC weigh-in anyway, so there is no further burden on them (other than maybe filing some paperwork and reporting). The other issue I see over and over again, is a lack of advertizing - if the anglers don't know about it, they won't register for it. Advirtizing needs to be widespread and done in the winter (not just prior to the derby start date). Sponsorships are also a good way to get "stuff" to give away. I remember when I was young, Sodus Bay had a yearly ice fishing tourney that was huge - they not only had $$ as prizes, but stuff: gas augers, shanties, tackle, etc. Same with the old ESLO derbies, I remember every time you entered a fish you were given a small door prize, like a lure or small grab bag. If the weigh station supplied these, how many more people would bring their fish there to weigh it in? And more traffic in their shop means more tackle being bought there - If I needed a new lure or two, I would buy it there if I was going there anyway. Also, see if you can get Cannon, Big Jon, Atommik, Stinger, and so many other vendors to donate gear to give out - it's a tax write-off for them when given to non-profit organizations. How much more interest would be generated if you had a pair of Cannon electric riggers to give out? Not to mention, you could hit up Kodak (we use digital cameras and video recorders to take pics/videos don't we?). See if they would donate some high end digital cameras - these could even act as prizes on certain days and lower the $$ burden of paying out cash! I know wouldn't mind winning a sweet camera instead of cash! Point blank, free "stuff" attracts people. Just some ideas for thought based upon my experience fund raising for the youth groups I advise...

Nice job Woody! I'm glad you got into a few of them!!

Hey Mark, It's 20.5' long, weighs about 4,000 lbs loaded, and sports a 220 V8. It's fantastic on calm seas, but the light weight will likely give us troubles in rough seas. If we do the Pro-Am with that boat we will definitely be the first to the fishing grounds if it's calm!! I may find out how it handles in rough conditions this Thursday PM if I get out with Jim "1fish2fish". We'll see what the lake looks like and how sporty we feel. Tom - I'll probably be out there somewhere, give me a shout when you get out there!

So do the recs!!

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 6-20 Time on Water: 5-12 Weather/Temp: warm sunny turning cloudy Wind Speed/Direction: nw 10 becoming calm Waves: 1-2 becoming calm Surface Temp: 60 Location: West of Port Bay LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 11 Total Boated: 7 Species Breakdown: 5 kings, 1 atlantic, 1 laker Hot Lure: black w/ green dots spin doc/ultra green glow fly Trolling Speed: 2.7-3.4 Down Speed: ?? Boat Depth: 190-240 Lure Depth: 90-125 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Another great day on the water! Had a steady pick at 'em through the morning and had one double with a 4lb king and 14 lb Atlantic: Also picked up this 8 lb king: 5 minutes prior to picking up the port side wire got hammered! 10 seconds later it was gone. Seemed like another good fish swam away. Checked the hooks and they were super sharp. Oh well, one of these days we'll get that beast into the boat!! I was just happy to finally get back onto the water with my brother who has not fished in just shy of a decade due to a back injury from a car accident!! Way to go bro!! Fish today came on black/green dot spinny w/ ultra glow green fly (several hits), white/white glow echip w/ LBB fly, green/green echip w/ green fly, Nk28 spook, and Orange NBK Stinger (took several hits). Most of our fish came on the wires out 430', with several shots on the riggers at 102'. Didn't mark much on the screen, but the fish are there - you just have to be patient and get your spread dialed in. Also, here is a shot of our new ride for this year: Flies at a top speed of 50+ mph, but won't handle rough seas too well. We'll make it work! We're outfitting her with electric riggers this coming month and I'll have a new 500' copper rig next week to add to our arsenal! I won't be out again until Thursday, weather depending.

Way to go Jim! We were working the same waters all day and had a real decent day too, although we missed our pig! I'll post our report with a great pic of our 14 lb Atlantic a little later. Again, nice job getting on the board!

Nice job on the king, but I agree - with the large kings this year, it won't last long!!

We didn't have any streakers, and everything for us was GREEN and Glowing. Tried purple with no luck. If you get out good luck!

Yeah, we were east of you and did all of ours up higher too. We also marked suspended bait and fish 60 to 70 ft down.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 6-19-10 Time on Water: 5-1 Weather/Temp: sunny warm Wind Speed/Direction: SW 15 becoming light SW Waves: 1-3 subsiding to a ripple Surface Temp: 62 Location: West of Port Bay LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 5 Total Boated: 2 Species Breakdown: (2) 8 lb steelies Hot Lure: black/ green dots spin doc with ultra glow green fly Trolling Speed: 2.5 - 3.5 Down Speed: ?? Boat Depth: 210 - 230 Lure Depth: 45 - 75 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== What a great day on the big pond!! Started working the shorter waters 75-120 fow and dropped a small brown at the back of the boat, then worked deeper when the wind let up a bit. Boated the 2 8lb steelies, had another 6 lb steelhead do a crazy dance at the back of the boat wrapping the cheater line something crazy into the main line and then spit the hook, and one awesome screamer on the wire out 310 on a #2 setting pulling the green dot spinny but couldn't budge 'em past 450 ft from the boat and after slicing through the top of the water and a couple huge splashes, the hook pulled out. Would have liked to see that one in the net!! We'll be out to try to find him again tomorrow AM!! Seemed to be a thermocline setting up between 45 and 65 ft down (when we pulled lines top rigger ball was warm and the bottom one was cold - no probe....yet ).

Major bummer! I was looking forward to it!

Nice fish and great relay of the epic battle!

We're looking to get out Sat/Sun AM out of Port Bay to try to get an early fish on the LOC board. Give us a shout and we'll let you know if we're doing much. I'll be doing my fish dance all week to summon the kings our way!

That's a nice atlantic! Mark much on the screen? I'm looking to get out on Thursday PM if the lake lies down. Will post if we get out...

Any size to the kings?

Like Dale mentioned, you're welcome to come out with us and gain some of our insights. Hang tight, the fishing will improve soon enough and when it does, we'll be putting in the hours looking for those 40+ lb'ers this year!! Last week when we were out, we saw quite a few marks on the bottom over 250-300 fow. Ordinarily I would guess those to be lakers, but Billy V targeted those marks last year (I think or the year before) and found them to be kings. So it could be that they are currently super deep (I don't have the gear to get down that deep - heavy duty riggers and 25 lb weights), and we need the lake to set-up before they will come up. Patience my friends, patience....

Wow! That's some tough fishing!! Well, it can only get better from here - when the kings show up it will be GAME ON!!!

Hey Dale, Yeah, the fishing's not so hot right now (unless they're deeper), but the new ride is pretty sweet!! It FLIES on calm seas and will get us to the fishing grounds FAST (top speed 50 mph)! And it rides super smooth! We'll have to see how it handles rough conditions... Lots of room in this boat as compared to our old rig, and right now it is set up the same with the board. Eventually we'll be adding my brother's 2 riggers and converting them over to electrics. It currently has a Hummingbird 161 dual FF/GPS which worked great today, but the screen's pretty small and it doesn't have the details like I could get with my units. So we may be adding my FF & GPS units to the arsenal. We'll also have to add a planerboard mast at some point. I'll get some pics next time we go out. The other nice thing is that it is all set to be trailered anywhere and it's light enough so my SUV can pull it. I hope you're feeling better soon! Give me a shout if you have a day off and want to get out - your boat or ours.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Finders Keepers ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): 5-29 Time on Water: 7-10 Weather/Temp: partly sunny 70's Wind Speed/Direction: light SW Waves: calm Surface Temp: 57 Location: West of Port Bay LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 1 Total Boated: 1 Species Breakdown: Steelhead Hot Lure: Watermelon R&R Trolling Speed: 3.0 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 250 Lure Depth: 52' Rigger free slider ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Got a late start today (still getting used to the new ride) and set-up around 7am over 180 fow. Continued to head out and picked up a small 4lb steelhead on a watermelon R&R on a free slider on the 52 ft rigger. That was it and we had to call it a day at 10am. Made it out to 360 fow with very little on the screen, other than an occational suspended fish around 40 ft (probably steelhead) and marks on the bottom. Tried a variety of spoons, flasher flies, metal dodgers, etc. A few other boats were out in our area, but we didn't see them hook up either. Hopefully the kings will show up in numbers soon! Probably won't get out again until next weekend... FYI - The south launch at Port Bay doesn't allow for anything over 16' without having some troubles with the low water conditions (your trailer will go off the end of the ramp). Use the north end launch. Also, when we got back to the launch one of the other trucks parked there had the windshield smashed. My dad had his windows smashed there a couple years ago, same spot. Fishermen beware. We think it's teenagers with nothing better to do.

Sounds good Jim! I'll give you a call after we get set-up... Did you mark anything out deeper - fish or bait?

Allrightythen... We didn't make it out today (took a little longer getting our new ride equiped), but we'll be out at dark 'o thirty tomorrow am. Give us a shout on the radio channel 68 and we'll let you know if we're doing anything... Looking forward to hearing a great report from today!!

Thanks! We'll see if we can find 'em and I'll give you the heads up on how we do. Where have you been fishing: deep, shallow, east/west of Port Bay, spoons, blades/flies, etc.

Anyone doing much out of Port Bay/Sodus/Fair Haven? Haven't seen many reports other than Fishin' Magician's twitter reports and I may be getting out tomorrow and Sat. Thanks in advance for any info!

Woody - Haven't had any time to work on the new boat yet, so it's going to be a bit before it's ready to fish. Tennis ends this Tuesday, so hopefully I can start working on it later this week. Coup - Good luck with the strike! I hope they feel the impact soon and turn their thinking around!!

Anyone know how to register for the LOC Boat Derby - do you have to call them? I see it listed on their site, but it isn't an option during registration. We inquired about it when they pitched the idea, but haven't heard any info since. Thanks!