Storm Warning II

Tourney was held in Pennsylvania waters of Lake Erie on Saturday the 28th. 45 teams entered with a maximum of 9 walleyes allowed to be weighed in per team and each walleye had to be a minimum of 18" long. Tough fishing right now across most of the east central and eastern basin. Warm water blown in from a CONSTANT regime of westerlies has fish scattered across the water column from top to bottom. Fish can be found as shallow as 18 feet of water as deep as 75 feet of water and from 15 feet below the surface all the way to the bottom. Scattered fish meant that a little more than half of the boats entered brought their 9 'eyes to the scale. Team Storm Warning II managed to bring 9 to the weigh in and took a few extra home for the fryer. Unfortunately, our 9 fish were totally comprised of the banner 2003 year class and averaged a scant 3.5#. Hard to win an event like this without a "kicker" or two. Here is the final top 10. Standard 10 points per fish scoring along with 1 pt. per pound. Here are the big fish for the tourney: (Some of these teams look familiar, here are the top 10 with their "kickers"???) Here is team X-Kuz-Me II with a VERY impressive 54.55# box. They blew second place out by a good margin. Great time had by all despite some heavy wave conditions. We look forward to more good times and more quality fish in August when hopefully some of you guys on this site will come down and fish with us in the 3rd Annual EPSFA Walleye & Steelhead Pro Am August 2-3 at the Port of Erie, PA www.epsfa.com

While on the subject of gobies... All you laker and brown fisherman take heed Dream weaver Goby available in WD and Super Slim, don't know if they make it in a regular or not. It also has a COPPER cup Note the VQ in front of it? This spoon was designed by Pete Alex of Vision Quest Charters that recently won the Orleans Pro Am

Everybody sign Newt's petition "drill here, drill now, pay less". The only way we get these no good elected "officials" to do anything is for ALL of us to raise our voices and the time is NOW

If that's your duck hunting vid in Montana you really did an excellent job there.

Goin big fish crazy now... Labor Day can't get here soon enough... Well, yeah it can. I need to fill the freezer with some Lake Erie Gold. Once again Steve, AWESOME FISH! That is truly a June prize in anybody's book. Congrats on the monster there too ATOMMIK! Can we see some July 35#+ fish????? Maybe 40#+ in August???

Well, I now know of 3 x 30#+ Kings taken in June. There was Sean Jones big fish at the Orleans Pro-Am now 2 on the Canadian side... And Dave Sullivan of Hot Reels also has a good one... WOW. Can't wait to see what Capt. Ernie and the rest of you guys pull out of the Lake this fall at the east end...

Don't know why it won't insert the image. Anybody give me a hand???

This is a pic of my daughter and her uncle Jimmy. We got her her 1st limit of 'eyes on father's day as well as my father's first limit. I don't know who had more fun, grandpa or his granddaughter She is a real trooper and stayed out with us for 6 hours. Hopefully that means one less boat filler I have to find to head to the lake in the very near future.

The scary part is, that the kid that caught that fish (That is Capt. Todd holding the fish) already has 2 fish at the Taxidermist already this year from here in Erie. He netted a 20# laker in mid April, took it to the taxidermist and then 2 weeks later caught a 25# 3oz laker that is also now at the taxidermist. This one was added to the bill shortly after the Pro Am. Some guys have all the luck...

Not registered... Too bad... http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e329/ ... /30lbs.jpg

There is quite a population of 2 yr. olds around... I think your 26#+ was just outdone this weekend unfortunately though... A fishin' buddy of mine down here caught a 30.43# monster in the Orleans Pro-Am... THERE OUGHT TO BE SOME BIG PIGGIES CAUGHT THIS FALL...

Gotta love the big ones Richard! NICE FISH. See you in the spring.

Actually Jeb or should we say Justin, The only one that chummed was the heavier set one. Johnny chummed twice, but Darren was a trooper and stuck her out strong... I thought I saw you to our southeast on Monday am Diversion. I believe we also came in with you on Sunday late am to the Ytown docs. It was nice meeting you to, look forward to being there again. Lake Erie 'eyes and steel are NO comparison to the big Kings of Lake O. We'll be back on the bar again Labor Day weekend, if not sooner. Richard, as always, had a great time shootin' the fishin' breeze with you and I have to admit, you are a life saver with the loaner net you let us borrow. We all look forward to seeing you again same time next year. BTW...keep your eyes on your mailbox...

WOW! WOW! WOW! The best fishing that we have seen on the Niagara Bar went down this weekend. Managed to go 38 for 62 over the 2 1/2 days of fishing. Sat. am: Started out just off the "break" outside the red can and worked it east towards Wilson. Several quick snap offs on a bloody death Spin Doc and Purple Mirage Action Fly. OUCH!!! That's expensive... Blasted 1 & 2 yr. olds all morning and managed to boat 1 13# fish and a 15$ fish. Deep rigger with the tried and true Old Yeller Magnum Silver streak took its fair share along with a MAG DW Goldie Hawn on the outside diver back 225 boated quite a few as well. Took both big girls on a MT. Dew Spin Doc and Pixie Dust Action fly out 250 on the outside diver. Sat. pm worked the same waters after talking with Pete and Todd Pavlik about their days at Olcott and Wilson respectively and finding that their fishing was similar. Those same inside waters from 130 to 200 produced a ton of missed fish on Saturday afternoon with good rips but no payoff. Yuk. Did manage to boat 12 fish on our afternoon excursion with the biggest about 12#. Sun. am worked the inside hard again and tried moving more rigs around in the water column in an attempt to locate matures. Really continued the 1 and 2 yr. old slaughter until we tried some deeper water. Worked 220 out to 300 fow and played the water column a little with very little action until I dropped my deep rigger from 100 to 150. Ole Yeller wasn't down there in the icy depths for 5 miniutes when she fired and I was rudely met with an angry 20#er that raced to the surface, gave us a show with two jumps clearing the surface by 4 feet! It proceeded to rip off a run towards Toronto of about 120 feet and then played race the boat and run from the net until it was landed about 15 minutes after hookup. Hmmmm. Maybe we are onto something here.... Proceeded to drop the probe rigger to 100, the inside wire divers to 210 and 230 respectively and the outsides both at 265 on 3 1/2s and work that water north/south to see if we had found some big fish. The first pass north yielded a double with Ole Yeller bringing a 15# King to the net and an outside diver with the Mt. Dew Spin Doc and Pixie Dust fly yielded a 17#er. Yep, I think we have something going here. There was a temp break from 43.7 to 39.9 still in the green plume of the Niagara River over that mile and a quarter or so stretch that was holding the kings. Turned the old girl around out in the gin clear water clear of the plume and headed back south. Just before the end of the South pass we fired on a triple hook up including both outside divers, again the Mt. Dew and Pixie Dust on the starboard and the Dark Green w/ crushed ice / glow with a Pickled Sunshine Action fly in tow had good screamers working and the Ole Yeller popped yet again. After a complete fire drill clearing lines and trying to keep the boat under control (only 4 guys on board) we managed to net 2 of the 3, a 16#er and a high 17#er. Its 11am , we're whipped, all the lines are out of the water, lets's go get lunch and a nap. Sun pm. Went back out to our new "hot spot" and worked the north/south angle again and managed to pull another 3 matures, from 13 to 18# and losing 2 other good fish in the next 2 and 1/2 hours. The wind had picked up while we napped and made the temp gradient more extended and I believe the fish were more scattered now as well. Mon. am: Went out in rough conditions (2 to 3' choppers) and worked the same waters for 2 1/2 hours before it was time to pick up and head back home. Managed a 13# and a 18#er on the deep rigger w/ Ole Yeller again and then the "one" hit. I had changed up because we had gone from sunny to overcast conditions and the outside port diver had a pearl on white Spin Doc and Kevorkian Action Fly. It got SLAMMMED! I saw the initial hit and listened to the drag. Long story short, 30 min battle yielded no fish, it spit the hook, but it was HUGE, we saw it 3 times on the surface. Great trip!

We will be out along with 3 other "buddy" boats from NW PA Sat. thru Mon am. We will start down at the bar w/ Richard Sat. morning and by the sounds of it, move our way east.

Does wishing I was there count???? Doesn't look like we'll be up until Memorial Day weekend.

There are VERY, VERY, VERY few salmon in Lake Erie. To my knowledge, nobody stocks them anymore and what are in the lake are either migrants from Lake Huron or naturally reproduced fish from the Canadian side. There was a 15# King taken out of Northeast, PA just last week while guys were laker fishing. That's the only one I know of so far this year. Steelies are available right now but your best bet is probably offshore for them. Find a good temp break and work it... The inshore steelie program is pretty much done now. Near shore water temps have climbed into the high 40s and fish have left, following the emerald shiners. IF you want salmon and trout, GO TO LAKE O, it is just about money time in the western basin...

Welcome LastChance from another NWPA angler. May 2-4 may be a bit early yet for Olcott to be hot. May want to head further west like Wilson or Y-town or work on a brown program. If you get a chance, PM Tim Bromund from this site. He fishes out of Olcott quite a bit and may be able to give you some on the spot advice. From the reports on the Canadian side of the big river, it sounds like it may be another spoon bite spring, so load up on plenty spoons. May want to check in w/ Pete Alex @ Alex Roofing and get a good deal on some Dreamweaver products to haul up with you as well. Spoons, flashers, and flies. We'll be up there, probably Y-town, sometime later in May.

I belive it. MODIS images show very little ice left on Erie. As of this edit, Denis at Fishin' Niagara confirmed the boom is being removed today.

Most recent MODIS image on Coastwatch doesn't show much ice left AT ALL, except up around the river mouth. Even the big patch that has been hangin' out off Erie has broken up SIGNIFICANTLY in the last few days. Tomorrow's forecast of 70 degrees plus, rain and wind ought to do 'er in.

As of now we are planning on it... Team Storm Warning II will be there unless gas is $5.00 a gal. by then...

Its really hard to explain how violent it is when a big King slams a wire rod too!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: FUN, FUN, FUN!

I also like the longer outside rods because it is easier to run longer leads on flasher/fly set ups.

Boom out Friday??? Wish yesterday's wind was over the weekend to get that stuff out of here and let her warm up to feed the river with WARM water.

At the Oak is reporting a Buffalo TV station is reporting at least April 1st before boom removal. Camera doesn't lie, its still there... I had heard one of the big wind storms we had back in late Jan or early Feb had blown it into pieces and it was no longer intact???