rdebadts

Our shakedown. Boat has never splashed so late.... but this is just a strange year all around. Wearing a mask outside on a boat is a new experience as well, but thems the rules and we were glad to get out. Bright bayrats were the ticket. Enjoy!

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Didn't make the trip down there this year. God I miss it. Nice work


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

I'll start by saying this- I was late for fishing for the first time in my life. In my 35 years, it's never happened, until last weekend. As a result, we weren't fishing until ~7. It was calm and clear, and we lost valuable fishing time due to me... We started on browns in skinny water. We did a half dozen bites by 9 am, mostly with brightly colored bayrats in 12-15 fow between perch pt and chimney bluffs. The browns were bigger- we did one over 10 lbs in fact. Once the sun was up, the bite died for us.

I've been itching to try my new "death traps" from gambler rigs on lakers- so we went out to slimer land. We found the lakers in 120-130 and put a pretty good hurtin on them, including several doubles. I'll tell you, I'm impressed. They out-fished my cowbells and have MUCH less drag. They're easy to run, and work well. Two thumbs up! No pics of the lakers, but all released in the cold water.

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

I've had good luck with Streeter out of Ontario ny. He did my 23 lb laker, and I'm very pleased. His rates are very affordable.




Anglers choice fish mounts does phenomenal work, but is more expensive. You get what you pay for, to be sure.




The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Same as usual. Like 15-20 boats out total


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Did my shakedown trip 4/25. Pretty basic brown trout trolling setup; went mostly with sticks off the boards. The water was 43 degrees and super super muddy. I didn't realize till the sun was up just how dirty it was. After about an hour I figured out what they wanted. Really brightly colored bayrats finally did the trick, and we ended up with like a dozen bites in a few hours time. The bite all happened in a 1/2 mile stretch of water for us, and it was super light bite. Kept some, let the rest go. Boat ran well except for one stalling episode where all of my lines had to be brought in rapid fire and we had a bunch of tangles... lol. That's what a shakedown is for I guess!

I expected a little better action, to be honest- but I was so happy to be out it didn't really matter

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

he was released in a few pieces

How many miles out were you?

29-31 line I think. Like 8 miles

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

My last video from 2019. Fishing with my buddy Andrew out of the oak in August. We had a nice mix of kings and steel, waaaaaaaay out deep. Got absolutely doused by a pop up storm (didn't bother us much because the bite was excellent). Enjoy!

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

All good points.
 
Let me reiterate though that if you're ignoring social distancing because you are willing to take the risk of catching the virus, unfortunately you are also taking the risk of spreading the virus, albeit perhaps unbeknownst to you. If your job allows you to maintain appropriate distancing, that's one thing. If it doesn't and you choose to work anyway, IMHO that's morally repugnant. I hope everyone on here falls into that first category so we can avoid a situation like in South Dakota, where one guy likely infected so many and is responsible (God rest his soul) for every death at that processing plant. What a nightmare.
 
I agree that healthcare professionals likely have a skewed view of the severity of this outbreak, but let me remind you that the deaths we've experienced have been in the face of a near total shutdown. Without this, the numbers would have been staggeringly higher. And also - folks say this isn't much worse than the flu. Well...the flu is what killed so many millions in 1918. And the flu is one of the major recurring health crises of our time. Like any good enemy, it deserves our respect.
 
Finally, yes - we should get back to business. But it is inevitable when we do that there will be a resurgence. We need to be prepared to meet that challenge. Without antibody testing or ELISA, we just don't know how many folks have had the disease, and we'd be showing up at a gun fight with a knife. I suspect that you are correct and that there are many more folks who've had the disease than we appreciate. But we can't go with a gut feeling on this. It's too important. I'm as eager as anyone to get back. When my lab shut down, we didn't lose weeks of work, we lost months and in some cases, colleagues lost years of research. We need the tools to make sure that the second wave isn't worse than the first. 
 
I apologize if I come across as pedantic. In the best of all worlds, I'd be preaching to the choir. 
 

Here's our sodus pro am. I don't know why, but I'm cursed in sodus on Saturday! We crushed them on Friday- we had 2 areas 100-120 and ~200) with active king bite AND a steelie location (450-550) all mapped out. Idk why, but Saturday they were gone and very negative for us. I panicked and ran around looking for fish, and only got 1 big king and one keeper brown to show for it. It was pretty brutal. Then Sunday, we had a decent king bite, but the weather was impressive with 4-6 waves all day. We lost a ton of fish due to conditions. Regardless, always a fun experience. Here is the video. Enjoy!

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Another video from last May . This was my first ever trip out of Wilson and fishing "the bar". Took us a while to find the active fish, and when we did it was on top of the bar in shallow. The screens in 120-200 were comically full alllllllll freakin day- but we rotted for several hours out there anyways. Enjoy!

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Abe,
I am one of the 16 Lake Ontario representatives mentioned in opening DEC meeting notice and one of the 12 Bi-National committee members. (also involved with Lakeshore Riparian's-High Water problems=life time lake shore resident also).   I spend ALOT of time year round on both sides of the Lake attending meetings/conference calls etc. . Contact most every day with  scientist/biologist/ professors/charter capt.-local fisherman lake wide/USGS-NYSDEC-OMNR-Sea Grant/NOAA-Windsor college-Brockport College-Oswego college-Corning-Syracuse science ETC. To get this information.
I am just sharing info, Glad you enjoy.
 
PS  I have some good stats on Lake Ontario/Bay of Quinte walleyes too if anyone every starts a post on that subject here..
 
Jerry
RUNNIN REBEL

Jerry, where did you get that information? It's really good stuff


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

I think Atlantics are the pinnacle of the salmon/trout world. If someone told me that they would drop Chinooks tomorrow and focus exclusively on trout and Atlantics, I would be beyond thrilled. I am sure if the gear was downsized, they would be a great lake fight. I am aware that my opinion on this matter would not be shared by a single charter captain or industry member, so at least I am self aware. Would just be cool to see our rivers filled with fish that don't die when they come in and were native once upon a time.....

If we could make it so that it was like it was in the early 1800s, I doubt anyone would complain. Reports were of average size 8-12 lbs with fish up to 40 lbs. The lake as it exists now is a very poor habitat (in many ways) for Atlantic salmon, and even intensive stocking efforts have failed. Maybe someday, but I doubt any time soon. I've researched this a bunch.

Essentially, as long as the lake has predominantly alewife as a forage base, and until the rivers are intensively restored, it's not gonna happen.

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

I think Atlantics are the pinnacle of the salmon/trout world. If someone told me that they would drop Chinooks tomorrow and focus exclusively on trout and Atlantics, I would be beyond thrilled. I am sure if the gear was downsized, they would be a great lake fight. I am aware that my opinion on this matter would not be shared by a single charter captain or industry member, so at least I am self aware. Would just be cool to see our rivers filled with fish that don't die when they come in and were native once upon a time.....

My biggest is about 12. I see pics of mid to upper teens fish every year. They are pretty rare here so it's tough to say though. We catch 1-2 per year, usually.



The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

We usually shoot for April 1. We've launched as early as March 28 and as late as April 18. Once we approach the end of March, I look for the full moon, and see if we have any freezing temps in the extended forecast. Once you pass the full moon in April, you are usually good


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Should be some in there until May. Might catch pike trolling as well


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Exactly gill. I moved my boat from Wilson to Olcott early because I was crushing them down East.


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Gill, the pack was way west of me. I was allll alone the entire pro am


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Here's a video from day 2 of the niagara pro am last year. I was a little disappointed to learn that our first TEN hits were not recorded due to issues with one of my sd cards ( we had 2 doubles and 2 triples by 630 am). Great fishing near the bar- though we were actually 10+ miles East this day. Enjoy!!

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Always like your vids, you make your crew come out of their skin with “fish on”. You crushed them that day....


Sent from my iPad using Lake Ontario United

This was shot with a GoPro hero 5. I had a hero 8 to end the season, and that's even better.


The Fishin’ Physician Assistant

Fishing for kings and lakers out of Wilson last May. I got lazy with videos, but now getting going again. Hope this helps to break the winter blues. Just over a month left!!

The Fishin’ Physician Assistant