Capt Vince Pierleoni

Chas, Thanks for the "nudge". Some of the annual events are in the midst of reorganization, but I'm sure some of these sessions will be held. Of course whomever and wherever these are held will be posted here.

Chas, seems you have caught the tourny fever! If Sodus is done like other Observer tournaments on the Great Lakes, your observer representing your team will be placed on another teams vessel of similar size. Choose your observer carefully, as it is very important not only to look out for your interests, but the integrity of the event and the entire field of teams. Rather than begging an indifferent person, a relative or someone interested in learning about the fishery will serve you better. Some teams compensate their observers, or at least cover their expenses and let them prefish with the team. If it's a 2 day event, a great way to do it is have 2 different individuals take turn fishing and observing, thus they have a stake and are not likely to be disinterested. No matter how accomplished a troller you already are, tournament fishing will accelerate your learning curve immensely. Good luck.

WOW. Innovative. A few thoughts/concerns real quick, as I have to plow mountains of snow but we want you to succeed big time. In a couple of places you talk of the max Salmon catch being 9 pros, 6 ams. You also state that the maximum amount of fish creeled should be in accordance of DEC regs. You also state there are no restrictions to team members number(great idea so charterboats can participate). I feel, that unless it is hugely important to your local charterboat fleet, you should make max number of Salmon kept to be 9/6. If you allow any number above the allowed number to be weighed, trouble will occur. You wisely state that in the case of inclement weather boats can seek refuge, but must not dock. You should also add boats cannot "raft off". No boat to boat contact. You may want to rethink the 3pm quit time, as with a drop of dock and possible low water, I don't see even a small event getting it done by 330 safely. Great job! Team THRILLSEEKER will be fishing both events on your big weekend.

Sorry to hear of your loss. Parents and grandparents, and any mentor that introduces the outdoor pursuits to young people give a gift that lives on forever. There is a kids fishing derby here in Olcott every June. Most of us donate time, prizes, or cash to fund it. It is hugely popular, and when its time to come to the pavillion for the hots/hamburgers or prizes, some of the kids don't want to leave the docks. These events could be held in each port/town. The one here is held on "free fishing day", the day licenses aren't necessary. Watching the kids proudly displaying their "sunnys" (measured in inches) and their smiles is priceless. The prizes are mostly starter fishing gear.

Thanks to those working on this. Our team for this proposed event contains residents from Maine to Florida, there are smiles there this morning. In this crazy world we live in, there is much to be said for tradition and memories. Kudos for keeping it alive.

I've never been more conflicted as to who to root for. Both teams making bonehead comments, but Flacco's takes the cake. A slight edge in class of the the two brother coaches goes to John. If coach Jim is smart, he will use Moss in the red zone as they will over-cover TE davis and Crabtree. I guess if Alex Smith, who has conducted himself with class and a team first attitude were to go in for a nicked up Kapernick, I would pull for him.

Fish Hawk X-4

With 50 mph gales I'm relegated to house projects. Tom, should I check this again at 12:01 AM for an announcement/update?

We have been so pleased with the Okuma Solterra( AKA "Farm equipment"), that we will be expanding its use this season even where the extra capacity isn't needed.

We are chugging east for Sodus anyway so we are looking forward to what is rolled out. Many thanks to those working on it.

To the best of my knowledge it was a mutual decision by all parties involved. The Sodus area, a great site and time frame for an event, wanted to get back closer to the original format. See you there.

The Sodus Pt stakeholders have been working hard to put an event on this July that everyone can get behind and support. There has been a poll up on here for months. Sounds like it will be bigger and more challenging than ever!

Hey Bruce, made some inquiries and was told by County reps that Niagara and Orleans would happen on the same weekends as the last few years. 1st weekend in June, Niagara and 2nd weekend in June, Orleans. I feel your pain as to planning for these events. Sounds like there is alot of local support for the Sodus event, again the same weekend it has been, 3rd weekend in July.

I can't speak to that specific location as I'm not aware of the Walleye density there. I will say that the single biggest reason holding pen programs got started in the St Joe river in Michigan was because of widespread predation of stocked Chinooks by Walleye. The founders of the program told me you could hear them slurping them up all night long for days after stocking. I will never forget a day in the early 90's at Olcott harbor. The Chinook stocking had taken place mid morning at the boat ramp like it did back then. A few hours later approx 100 yards away across the harbor, some Captains and mates were partaking in a very common jig fishing contest( most afternoons in late May early June). Various panfish were caught, and a Pike or big "Sheepie" would take you for a 6lb test ride. One of the mates caught a bulging Rock bass. As he unhooked his prize, he noticed a fingerling Chinook in its mouth . After calling everyone over to see it, we could see it was gorged with these. The total tally upon examination of the Rockie was ELEVEN of our precious fingerling Chinooks, only a few hours after stocking. That harbor, as well as all the other Lake O stocking sites, has only become more populated with desireable and non desireable warm water species. The losses of direct stocked fingerlings is mind boggling. The pen projects are the single biggest reason for the up tick in Chinook Salmon fishing in Lake Ontario, and all volunteers should be proud.

I use size 30 Okumas for half cores, size 45 Okumas for 8 to 10s. We started converting all the larger cores over to the high speed Okuma Clarion 553 high speeds last year. This reel doesn't have a counter, but the high speed is sweet and drag superb. I prefer mono backing for my cores because it grips well and I've just never had many problems doing that. 25lb test.

I tried some of that blood run backing(mono composite) and it was durable and easy to use. But like Rob said, you will be better suited with the braids for backer for what you are trying to do. You can get away with a Okuma 55 Convector w/ 500 copper, but you better have small diameter super braid backing.

This has been debated for decades and will always be debated. The answer is both. A place for both in our fishery. If you look at Bass fishing, both are commonly used depending on bait style. If, and thats a big IF, you can get a single sunk in our trolling fishery, usually thats alot harder for them to "throw" or rip free. Its a day to day or even hour to hour thing whether a Salmonoid will swipe and miss a single hooked bait and come back again. If they did, they would be the clear choice. The trebles grab the slashers and the "short hits" better, but you will drop some. As for singles always being better for C n R and not damaging fish, I would say in the tribs with tiny hooks absolutely. In the lake, the larger singles can inflict damage alot deeper because of the large gap and short shank trebles would be a better choice.

I got it to open so anyone can, LOL. Looks like alot of work went into it. With that kind of coin flyin' around you will have to have observers for sure. With the lower entry fees, the absolute key will be boat numbers. If the locals support this event you should hit the numbers easily. As for calcutta, my experience has been as nice as it looks on paper, we will not get anywhere close to that number of boats for that buy in. Other than that, the Pro-Am/Shootout dual format looks like a blast. Good work!

Thanks for posting , Brian. These are not only open to the public, but all Lake Ontario anglers are encouraged to attend.

Rick, I said get everyone in safely, not pull off a miracle. Those docks are tight for a 24 fter, let alone the "big baby", LOL. These days, avoiding high spots(shallow), gobs of weeds, a narrow channel and a floating armada all during a storm surge tests even a seasoned captain, but yes I am confident he could pull up to one of the transient docks safely.

Good job, Yvan. Many thanks to all these great sponsors for supporting tournament fishing on Lake Ontario.

Hope it was a good one!

Happy Birthday, Skipper Wishing you many more miles.