Raaven

You are correct. Added legislation with guaranteed fees for the law abiding people...But no guarantees of increased enforcement at all, just hopes and prayers the authorities go out there and do their job for a change.

Yes, it is! Ask any Charter Captain how many times they have been approached and asked for their credentials by Authorities? In 28 years in this industry and over 5000 charters operated, I personally have been asked ONCE. I would bet that is one more time than most my peers with more time and more trips than I..... Not only is it frustrating, It's DISGUSTING, how bad the lack of enforcement actually is out there....

Same here. We didn't have a huge king bite all summer, like other years. But every time we ran way offshore this summer we caught kings. Consistent. They were out there, and the bulk of the fishermen who said they "went offshore", were only half way to the fish and waypoints we were working. 7 miles out will get you 400 plus feet of water...but we were going 15 miles to start and trolling beyond that even. Profits are down, due to excessive fuel consumption, but clients rebooked. It's the same even RIGHT NOW. Fish in the pack of boats in the skinny water and get 5-9 bites on a good day, less every other...Run 16 miles NW and get 15-20 bites, catch the same 4-5 mature salmon as you do inside, plus the same amount of 2 year olds, plus all the steelhead you want.....You just have to burn the gas.

I understand your frustration... I still don't comprehend how making a new law, and new fees will solve these issues.. ONLY THE LAW ABIDING PEOPLE WILL FOLLOW THE LAWS AND PAY THE FEES, criminals don't follow laws..they are criminals. Without the law enforcement ENFORCING the laws, your problem will still exist! If the law enforcement was out there RIGHT NOW, enforcing the laws already in place, your problem would be solved as well? There are fines in place in New York state for guiding without a license. THEY ARE NOT BEING ENFORCED.

Larry, I applaud your devotion to our industry! I know you only mean well, with all your political endeavors. I do have a couple thoughts on all this though, that I hope you don't take as opposing any of your efforts. To begin with, I don't comprehend how increasing fees are going to help those of us in business? If a Non resident legit business has to pay increased fees and purchase more licenses to continue doing business...that's what they will do, pay the fees! They are not just going to "go away", stop doing business, increasing opportunity for those that are residents. The only one who is going to benefit with these new laws and fees is, the one collecting the fees. Remember, LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, are the only ones that adhere to the LAW. Wouldn't our group efforts be better directed at trying to make the law enforcement ,ACTUALLY ENFORCE THE LAWS already in place? If the USCG, just walked down the docks and asked for captains licenses, and made sure all crew members aboard these charters were properly registered in the maritime consortium, and arrest some of these "fly by night" operations, and ENFORCE THE LAWS ALREADY WRITTEN, and collected the hefty fines attached to these violations........the end result of what I believe you are looking for, would be a reality. Just try to get the Coast Guard to enforce their commercial laws.....

Don't feel bad....there are SO MANY details involved in successful trolling for lake Ontario salmon...I'm sure you are only a few thousand $'s in equipment and a few hundred hours of experience away from catching them consistently... If it makes you feel any better, those guys you hear on the radio catching them, if they were on your boat working with what you have..they would be lucky to catch one as well. About all the advice I can give you for today is, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. What you are doing is not working...change speed, direction, lures, depth, set back, etc etc etc.....change things until something works, and take note of what detail made the difference.

www.findlatitudeandlongitude.com/?loc=Lake+Ontario

Minutes.......Lat/Long minutes.

No... notice that is 43.3 NOT N 43 30' .076 That chart is using latitude in decimals of degrees, not in degrees, minutes, seconds. For instance.... The center of the lake/ Canada border on my GPS on the boat is N 43 37' 51 .97 read properly, latitude North 43 degrees, 37 minutes 51.97 seconds... I would refer to it as...THE THIRTY SEVEN LINE. On these NOAA charts....the same line is in plain degrees in decimals.. 43.631

Lemon Pledge Ingredients: Naphtha, petroleum, light alkylate 5%-10% Polydimethylsiloxanes (Silicon oil) 5%-10% Water 70%-85% Butane 1% -5% Isobutane 1% - 5% Propane 1% - 5% Source: Consumer Product Information Database Plexus ingredients: Alipathic petroleum distillates 23% Isobutane 12% Propane 3 % Source: Plexus Plastic Cleaner MSDS Page 1 of 3 Material Safety Data Sheet

Is it catching fish? I know my copper leaders are longer...

All the browns you could want inside of 50 fow....steelies from 300 and out..nice nest of kings in 450-500 fow in front of olcott...

Ok, don't even try the pledge.... Yes, plexus works....But the price of it doesn't mean you will use it as often . We have ORIGINAL Isinglass on the Waterwolf....Been using lemon pledge on it once or twice a week for 22 years...No yellowing, still soft and subtle, rolls up and stores like a dream. Try getting those results with the Plexus... Talk to anybody who maintains a big sport fishermen on the ocean...sometimes they need to do their isinglass daily...what do they use? LEMON PLEDGE.

Lemon pledge and a soft cloth.

I always think that my fishing line..IS THE ONLY THING BETWEEN ME AND MY FISH. Therefore, I always use high quality line / leaders, and change it for new a couple times per season. Leaders are checked every time the rig is put in, and taken out of the water, and replaced if there is any apparent damage. This may sound expensive? But is it really? How much do those swivels and that spin doctor and that fly cost when you lose it all due to a failure? How often is it just a little skippy that breaks off? More likely it was a trophy Loc derby winner that got away, due to you not wanting to spend a few dollars for new line!

I'm already running a 12-14 rod spread! I'm lucky to connect with more than 4 kings a day....The best day in the last month of charters every day, we had 9 kings. Most days we boat 1-4 though. It's a good thing we have been catching Steelhead and cohos. Even they come and go every day as well....There has been nothing consistent all season except, if you fish for kings, you will find some. If you fish for browns, there won't be many kings caught. Dragging bottom really slow with cowbells? If you are, you are NOT targeting king salmon!

Almost 20 miles on a course of 280 degrees....from Little salmon river breakwall. 11 miles will barely get you 400 from there... You don't need to go that far...just get off the browns in shore, and three times as far as the lake trout areas...AND GO SALMON FISHING.

No, they won't. After using all of that gas in one trip, not very many return a second time! Like I said, we are spoiled.

They are in the 50% of the lake, THAT NO ONE FISHES MUCH. Up here on Lake Ontario we have become spoiled, in the fact that we can usually catch all we want within a few miles of shore. From 10 miles off shore and beyond, out of any port on either side, not many people spend too much time fishing. This leaves around 3500 square miles of lake, that only has a few hours of fishing time per week in it! Those of us that do fish out there, might not have the time or any reason to make reports to all the other fishermen WHO WON'T SPEND THE GAS TO GO THERE AND LOOK ON THEIR OWN! I am not happy about having to spend an additional $100- $150 per trip to run my charters out so far.....My bottomline is taking a hit for sure. But I sure am grateful that I don't run a business on the Atlantic, where the Captains would love to only have to run 20 miles every day! I am not catching limits of 25 lb. kings on every trip out there....in fact, I haven't boated an honest 20 lber all year , yet...18's and 19's, yes....12-15's, a plenty...no 20 pluses for the Waterwolf though... Good thing for the 10-12 steelhead and coho we get on every day out there, they are saving our sss looking for the motherlode of mature kings. The wind changing every day all season isn't helping us much, what we find today, is gone tomorrow.... every day out of the gate is a brand new search..... Lots of square miles out there without a boat in it.....you can't really call a friend, when all of them are staying together in no king zone, crying the blues about "where are the kings", as they beat up lake trout and browns in skinny water..... That's ok though, we have already booked two new customers who were upset that they booked a SALMON charter, and went lake trout fishing, they would rather get skunked fishing for what they want, than hear excuses from their Captain about why he isn't going where they are....