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Thanks Billy! Also, am I out of line asking my observer not to smoke/drink on the boat? Nick

thanks Bob. Also, I won't be docked at the starting point, but it's ok to drive my cooler over by car right? Nick

Quick question... you get to your boat in the morning knowing there were east winds yesterday continuing today... how do you approach fishing? I've just never had much luck after/during East winds... always seems to shut the fishing down... Nick

Can someone tell me where the captain's meeting is and what time to be there? Don't see anything on lakeontarioproam.net Thanks! Nick

Worst nightmare? If mine sinks at the dock, I would be happy. Excuse to buy a new boat! Bet you wouldn't feel the same if you slept on your boat like I do Nick

other than fire, that's my worst nightmare!

oh ok I misread your report, I thought that was Saturday!!!! That makes sense now! Fishing was excellent Saturday, but we only fished 2hrs in the morning and 2hrs in the evening due to thunderstorms Nick

wow what lake were you fishing on? We were out of Sodus a bit Saturday and it wasn't nearly as calm as your pics make it look! Then again we were out a bit deeper, so maybe that south wind was calmer in shallow. Nick

tough fishing and rough water on sunday could make this a tough tournament! Good luck to all!

Don't think you need a license for ocean fishing, but you'd better check to make sure. Buy some blood worms or clams and float them below a float, you should catch some sea trout, chad, and maybe a few other things. If you fish at night you'll probably catch a few small sharks. Nick

You guys need to look on the brighter side... the arrival of the fleas usually kicks of the beginning of the good salmon bite!!! Nick

We still need an observer for Sodus if you're interested... Nick

Another slow weekend out of Sodus... Friday we got out around 5:30pm and started in shallow for browns... that lasted ohhhh about 15 mins before I put my king spread down... I just don't like brown fishing The water was setup very weird this past weekend. 30-50fow was warm on the surface but 42deg was down only 30-40 feet. I slid out to 150fow and 42deg fell down to 60-70 feet. In the 100-120fow range I was marking schools of bait with very large marks in them. I must have found a large school of bait/fish because when I moved more than 1/4 mile in any direction the screen still had bait, but no fish. I tried everything to get the fish to go, but no luck, never moved a rod. Saturday morning we headed back to the same spot. We put the center rigger down with a large green flasher and fly 18" behind and counted to 10 and had a steelie on. It was only about 23" but it was hooked deep and when it hit the deck... good god, I think I could put someone through a wood chipper and have less blood. It got EVERYWHERE. I kept the steelie out of spite It was slow again and I was no longer marking fish, just bait bait and more bait, bait everywhere in the 100-120 fow range. I trolled through it all morning and only managed a small king (3 lbs). Then I said what the hell and slid out. The down temp kept rising until I had 43 deg down 70 feet in 170fow. That's when I watched the 180' dipsey with a mt.dew flasher, mt.dew fly get smashed. It's been a while since I've seen a dipsey get hit that hard and scream out as much line and as fast as it did. I was a bit worried I was going to get spooled and instead of doing the smart thing (slowing the boat down), I did the stupid thing, tightened the drag... snap. I'm pretty sure that king had to be in twenties if not higher. We were catching kings in wilson about 20lbs and they didn't pull nearly as hard. First day of the derby and we already missed a board fish We trolled around for a while longer, but we had a hard cutoff of 11am and with another hour of rain and no bites, we happily headed in. Surface temp was up a bit Friday, just to be lowered again by the rain on Saturday. But at least the bait is starting to show up. I'm out in San Diego this week and weekend so no report next week. Well, maybe a tuna report, but no salmon. Good luck to everyone out there, and for God's sake someone get a salmon on the derby board. I missed my shot and I usually only get one a year ha! Nick

Xing, I can never understand the "a smaller boat" can turn easier thing. I had a 20' boat and now a 26' boat and I'll swear up and down that that statement is just wrong. I find it much easier to turn in my larger boat now than I did in my smaller boat. If it is rough, there is just no contest, bigger boat is easier hands down. Sorry for the off topic... there are always two sides to the story and this kinda proves that in most cases each side thinks they were right and it could have all been avoided if each side just did their best to change course without worrying about who was right or wrong. Nick

haha well that's true, if there is nowhere to turn, then you can't be expected to turn My first time on cayuga was in an old rowboat... it's amazing how fast storms can come up on that lake. It was a scary row back to shore and boy were my arms tired... not to mention pulling the boat the mile down the shore I had drifted! Nick

I have to disagree with some of the posts above... you were both at fault. 99% of the time I don't believe anyone cuts another person off on purpose. I think they each wait too long to turn hoping the other person will turn. A lot of situations would be avoided if each captain stopped worrying about who had the right of way and just did the best he could to turn to avoid the situation as early as possible. Now, do as I say, not as I do. I was out Friday last week and was the only boat out of Sodus for as far as I could see. I watched a sailboat leave port and beeline it to me in 200fow. I sat there in shock and didn't turn until it was almost too late, at which point he did a 180 degree turn so he could ride next to me. I had heard someone arguing with someone on the radio about how he was interfering with the channel they were using for a race earlier. I'm guessing he thought the other guy was me and came out to give me a hard time. Luckily he didn't have a gun But the only time I can understand one boat not turning, would be in rough weather when riding with the waves. Sometimes I think the bigger boats don't realize how difficult 2-3' waves can be for someone in a boat less than 20ft long. Nick

Rod, I honestly think you see more complaining about the Pro Am because people know they will listen. Think of it less as complaining and more as constructive criticism. Perhaps it doesn't come across this way, but I believe we're all just hoping to provide ideas to improve the Pro Am. So far the things I can think of to make it better are: - Provide payouts at the captains meeting and ensure these aren't lowered through the event. - Ensure the website states these are 100%+ payback run by a non profit organization - Ensure all prizes stated as part of the payout at the captains meeting are readily available upon end of tournament I don't think these ideas would be difficult to implement and would probably go a long ways. I also continue to hear the "short staffed" mentality, but I never see a post on any of the web forums requesting help. If volunteers are needed, post on the forums as I'm sure people would be willing to help. Nick

When I graduated college and went from working at Home Depot to an engineering firm Everyone's point is well taken. I do believe it will be more of a burden on some people, but I remember when gas was over $5 a gallon at marinas.... that was a much larger impact on the wallet than a $35 increase in fishing licenses... and yet the bay and lake always seemed to be pretty busy still. I guess I just believe that anyone who owns a boat has the spare $35 per year, simply because being a boat owner is NOT cheap. Now those friends that come up a couple weekends out of a year... yes I totally understand that they may not want to pay the extra $35. I don't have much pity on people who want to fish on my boat though that say they don't want to pay the extra $35... I tell them by not taking a charter they're saving $400 a DAY. And I usually don't ask for gas $$$. Now with all that being said, I can't agree more with Carl's point. If this money is being spent on things other than improving fisheries, it's a ludicrous tax. Perhaps we should all show up at the courthouse in albany one day with our gut buckets and simultaneously dump down the large stone staircase? Ya know, boston tea party style. Nick

Paul, Sorry if you misunderstood me, but I am in no way complaining about the payback structure. The only thing I am complaining about is the "changing" of the payback after the tournament started... for whatever the reason might be. Oh and the failure to deliver prizes in a timely manner If you could PM me more info on what "volunteering" means. If there is stuff I can do from here in PA without impacting the little weekend fishing time I get, I might be interested. Nick

If I lived closer that might be an option. Not sure how much help I could be down here in Philadelphia though Volunteers or not, they're taking people's money and people will expect professionalism. No need to embarrass the person... the simple "we made a mistake and there isn't that much $ available" would be fine. The only thing I heard from a PRO-AM person at the event though was "there wasn't enough $ available, and we had to pay the PROs first". I think the difference due to the mistake should have been split between pros/ams... maybe it was... but what I was told was it came out of the amature purse. Nick

Geesh, if anyone has the results send them to me and I'll post them. Otherwise, I can just make them up... I believe Yankee came in first or second right?

wow that's a lot to buy. Have them buy their own I do understand some people with large families (aka 5 kids) may have a bigger issue with this. Nick

Not following you here. Not sure what a "local official" is? Are you trying to say that someone printed out the payouts for the previous pro ams and handed them out at the captains meeting? As far as I'm concerned, the payouts should be available the day after the last day of registration. If further sponsors come forward, the new payouts should be handed out at the captains meeting (but they should never go lower than what the payouts were the day after registration closed). After the captain's meeting, they should NEVER change. It would be like me telling you to go mow my lawn and I'd give you $50 next week. Next week comes and I got laid off so I didn't get paid that week, so I tell you sorry, I'm only going to pay you $25. I'm sure there is some misunderstanding on the Wayne pro am, but look at it from the angler's perspective... they don't care who's fault it is, just that they feel they got cheated. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I'm sure some of those anglers won't be back this year. Oh and while I'm at it, I never got the outdoor magazine subscription I won and put my mailing address down for either Nick

Well I believe the LOC is a bit different as that is a private run derby (aka they need to make a profit... probably not big, but a profit none the less). The reallocation of $$ in Wayne last year just kinda bugged me as one of the teams were good friends of mine. The other thing that bugged me was that they didn't have the rod/reel combos we won until a couple of months after the tournament and poor Rod (Lucky Enuff) had to drive up to the lake because they wouldn't ship them.... that's a five hour drive for him. The only advice I can give you is to not join the derbies, pro ams, $10 bet with your buddy, in hopes of winning big $$$. Join them for the competition, pride, and glory of picking on your friends. Nick

C'mon, raising the out of state fee from $35 to $70 is going to make people stop fishing? I dont' think so. Most people spend more than that $35 extra in beer each day on the water Seriously though, fishing isn't exactly cheap with gas, dockage, etc. I don't think the annual will hurt too much. I wish they'd lower the 1 day nonresident to $5 as well though to help increase the amount of people who come to NY to "try" fishing Lake Ontario. Nick