Gill-T

Note to Steelheaders fishing tribs using black anondized egg hooks; we caught a steelhead with a hook stuck in it's lower jaw.......there was zero signs of rust on the hook. I know some of you guy like to use 4 or 6 lb fluoro but consider the fish may have to live with that hook for a long time if you snap one off. Fish was released in good shape. Looking good for the dog-days-of-summer upon us. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: Gill-T Hooker ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): Time on Water: 6:30-2 pm Weather/Temp:Beauti of day Wind Speed/Direction: SE/E Waves: none Surface Temp: 62 degrees in tight, 68 degrees out deep Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 25-ish? Total Boated: 20-ish? Species Breakdown:Kings and Steelhead Hot Lure: Dreamweaver SS Steelhead Candy, NP Nailer Blue Mahi Glow, R&R Spook pattern, Spin Doc and A-Tom-mik mirage/glow fly Trolling Speed: Down Speed: 2.25 Boat Depth: 40'-470' Lure Depth: 30'-110' ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS ==================== Nice to get back in the saddle again as I have not fished since mid-April. Greeted today with cold water from East blows the last two days. Cold temps inside had us trying for browns around all the bait first thing this morning. Had trouble keeping small Kings off the lines so headed out deep looking for bigger targets. Ran 4,5,6,7, colors, two wire divers with flasher/flies and three riggers. Had a nice steady day of Steelhead on the leadcore and Kings off the divers. No derby fish but three nice Kings of 19, 20, and 21 lbs. Had a lot of trouble releasing fish today with the lack of O2 (no waves) and warm off-shore surface temps (68 degrees). The bugs became bad as the sun rose. Took time after a 25 min. battle with one of the Kings to jump in the lake and enjoy a few pops/lunch with the lines pulled. Headed back into 150' range to see if the temps had warmed. The in-shore bait and Kings had pulled out deeper at mid-day as we got into some nice fish the last hour before pulling the plug. The larger Kings and two of the larger steelhead came from the wire Mag Divers out 225' and 315'. Nice day to be out! [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Try off the windmills in 20-30' FOW. Find where the bottom gets REAL lumpy on the graph. These lumps are dumped slag piles. Lots of gobies in the structure=lots o'bass. Put a little piece of worm down.....if you don't feel the little tap tap of gobies...pull anchor and try a different spot. Sturgeon point has nice structure and a nice launch also. If you are keeping fish.......I am always apprehensive about eating fish near the windmills so try down lake further Seneca shoal, points further south, Sturgeon Pt., or if you are coming from down south launch on the Cattaurgus Creek launch and fish the structure south of the breakwall out in front of the beach.

The fish don't really change feeding preference port to port so baits are pretty universal. Wes at the Slippery Sinker can hook you up with some good combos. [ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Short strikes = need to speed up with longer set-backs off riggers to get reaction bite and better hook set. Common with flat seas. When hooks appear try bumping the gas and running some crazy Ivans. Flies with the hooks past the end of the fly.

Happy B-day Tim. Take the day off and go fishing!

I will second A-tom-mik torpedo weights in 15 lbs.

I believe gobies have gotten into the lake so any brown tubes work. I like powerbait or gulp.

The release is not going to effect where your ball tracks. The position of the rod holder will effect the ball location slightly based on the angle the force of a loaded rod is applied. More likely you were dealing with down currents.

I use Cannon terminations on everything......even the probe. For the coated cable termination, just leave a long tag end of wire, strip the coating off, and wrap the bare wire around and thru the eye of the termination swivel to complete the signal to the probe. Have never lost a ball or signal to the probe with this set-up.

Run to all the points and toss jigs. One thing I do if I am trying to find Smallies is to get the snorkle gear out and run the shoreline to find what depth they are holding at. Smallies are very curious and will often swim right up to you.

I would think between the real-time buoy data and sending a scout boat out to determine safety would cover it. In the case of a south blow, most of the inshore areas are fishable even with heavy winds. Perhaps, in a case such as this weekend, you could establish a GPS line that you cannot cross into deeper water to level the field between the different sized vessels? We already have two lines we cannot cross into Canadian waters.....what is one more line?

You might be shocked with accidental Kings in there. With the full moon, Kings may have been making shallow runs inside to feed on all that bait.

With those temps, maybe a better bet is to go run the shoreline for browns. The Sodus plume right out in front has good structure and should have warmer temps.

Sounds like you passed over the verticle temp break. Good spot to set up and fish your king gear.

Thanks for these reports! I am layed up after disk surgery yesterday so I can live vicariously thru you. The moss is coming down the Niagara this time of year. You can usually avoid it by getting out past the drop (past 180'). Also, you can hit the bar from the fence to the red can. As you near the can heading east you will start the moss/weedy issues again. Past 350' is always good this time of year also.

Out of small boat, troll the breakwall to hamburg shoreline with stickbaits after dark. You can also anchor where smokes creek exists into the lake at the Lackawana windmills plant and cast stickbaits in the dark, but the fish smell like steel slag that come out of there Going the other way, you could drift during the day in front of the channel above the peace bridge. If you are not familiar with the water around the peace bridge be careful, lots of rocks to damage your outdrive if you are not careful.

Happy B-day Richard, keep that moustache properly waxed!

The food is always better when the girls are on board.

Congrats on the new ride Jason!

When the bugs are hatching and the water is like glass, get some high running spoons off the boards for steelhead and cohos.

Glad you are doing well Glenn. My back surgery is scheduled for thurs. morning Got a blown disk L5-S1. Glenn, how jacked up am I going to be?

This is just nuts IMO. http://www.glanglerforum.com/forum/show ... uot-5-quot

With two back to back weekends of tournament fishermen pounding Niagara County shores I was wondering what everyone's opinion on bait levels seen on the graph and stomach contents? With all the Cormorants around and all the KINGS doing their thing......I was wondering how the bait was holding up? What are your thoughts and comparisons with previous years?

I will second R&R spoons. Nice to support local talent. If you email Dave he will paint anything you want. On a side note, Northport Nailer spoons paint jobs hold up the best IMO and I see Cabelas has expanded their line of Northports. Blue Mahi Glow, Green Mahi Glow, Orange Ice, Purple Passion Glow are all good spoon patterns. I am not affiliated with the company, just like to pass on info on a great product. My DW's and NK's have always held their paint as well. We would not be discussing this frustrating thread if their Stingray and Magnum blanks weren't so adept for catching Kings and Lakers. Part of the paint issue with Michigan Stingers is the flex of the blanks causes the paint to pop. You would think they could come up with a flexible paint formula by now. This is not a new problem.