MarkNY

fishing on the north end continues to be great. getting into quite a few salmon now too. got a couple that were 3-4#'s and most lake trout have been between 7-9#'s and we got one 10 pounder. fishing from 120-200FOW. dipsies with flasher/flies and today scorpion spoons on sliders were real good for both salmon and lakers 64' down on the rigger. mid-morning bite has been best. best, mark

thanks guys. ill think ill save the copper for kings on big boards or when im by myself and can run one rigger and a copper off the back. that has worked pretty good for me before. i need to try the small spro swivels/haywire twist/shrink wrap connections too. i noticed that the copper breaks down after a while at my albright knot causing to fail. ill set it a side for now and try it some other time. dipsies are hot right now! best, mark

fished north of long point today from 120-150FOW. today was about QUALITY not quantity!! went 6 for 8 on lake trout with a 2 rod spread. they were 6 of the largest lake trout ive ever caught. measured the first couple at 30-31" and weighed a couple at 8 1/2#'s. all fish were released. didnt reach my goal of a 10 pounder yet but im getting closer! the color and girth on these fish were awesome. all fish came on #1 braid dipsies, flashers and flies, 200-270 feet out. couldnt get bit on a spoon or flasher on the rigger. best setup was a silver plaid dipsie, silver e-chip and silver fly. fish were spitting up bait and i had two that came in with small lampreys. got a few in the morn. and then i went a couple hours with nothing. i was just thinking of leaving but decided to try another area and ended up getting a good afternoon bite before a t-storm chased me off. good day on the water. pics dont do these fish justice. they were fat! by the way, copper has officially been fired from my boat! best, mark

NICE Rob!!! thanks for the report. perfect timing as ill be there in the AM. off the next 12 so ill keep you updated. going after kings saturday. later, mark

hi matt, im not an expert but i have my sonar dialed in pretty good and rely on it constantly when trolling. ill post a screen image from mine marking bait. ive been running mine on 200KHZ and usually have it set around 70-80% sensitivity. that works pretty good for me when fishing deep. hope that helps. best, mark

pike hunter, i hear you. i had a minor incident saturday as well. we were trolling in the fog. i had already gone out deeper than i wanted to fish to get away from the fleet and was using my compass and electronics to hold a straight line on some trails i had on my screen where i had been hitting fish. no land reference, small boat into the wind/chop/swell. it wasnt easy. i was trolling 2.0-2.5 and a big baha charter came up behind me from port side quartering into me and going twice my speed. i held my line because i had boats on my starboard but this guy gets along side me maybe 150' and then turns directly at me close and throws his arms up. i yelled over "what did i do?" and he started yelling "give and take, ive been pressing my button left several times" i said " im holding a straight line" but that wasnt good enough. by this time his board is coming up behind my board and he says "you better hit the gas because were gonna get tangled". i said "ill hit my "button" right, you hit it left, i dont want to be anywhere near you." the button thing is now one my favorite jokes with my buddies now. all well, i guess its gonna happen every now and then. but, if you always do the right thing then there is no worries. the a-holes will never go away. best, mark

that fog was horrible. ive been in some serious fog many times on saltwater but ive never seen it that thick on freshwater. we ended up going a little deeper than we wanted to get away from the boats but it was still stressful fishing watching for boats. best, mark

rob, great report! glad you have the boat back in order. hopefully your HDS is on its way back. that GLP arch looks sweet and i love the grill! best, mark

nice report! thanks alot. sounds like a fun day. best, mark

hi gary, i hear you. i think its an early bite. there following that bait in at night. i was out there yesterday morn. hit 5 fish right off the bat and by mid morn the bait disappeared and so did the fish. it can only get better! best, mark

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):5/21/11 Time on Water:5:20am-1:30pm Weather/Temp:heavy fog/50's Wind Speed/Direction:flat to nnw 10mph Waves: 1-2' Surface Temp: 54-60 Location: LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 10 Total Boated:9 Species Breakdown:browns Hot Lure:jr thunderstick,husky jerk, michigan stingers. Trolling Speed: 2.0-2.8 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 10-25 Lure Depth: 3-12 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS had a good day today. it was definitely an early bite as we hooked 4 fish in the first 15 minutes. had to work harder and harder as time passed. the fog was pea soup and didnt burn off even when we left at close to 2pm. got fish on spoons with the riggers and on sticks with the boards. nothing huge but the one we lost was definitely big. had one fish that we netted that had a lamprey on it that popped off as we netted it. also had a couple others with fresh lamprey marks. fish were feisty and fat. lots of fun. best, mark ====================

thanks alot guys! im gonna look into blacks releases. grandpa, north of long point on west shore has been best for me. best, mark

fished solo today on the north end with my measley 2 rod spread. but it didnt matter because the fishing was on fire! fished the top 3-4 miles of the lake. went approx. 16 or 17 for 28 or 30 all on lake trout. nothing big but they were feisty. found some good bait in 45FOW with lots of fish on them. trolled scorpian spoons and needlefish spoons on the riggers 12-15' down over 45FOW. every pass would produce at least one hit. had a few doubles. that bite lasted a couple hours until i lost track of the bait. moved over to the east side and found lots of life over there too. marked a ton of fish today, mainly from 15-40' down but lots of deep fish too. fish were spitting up 2 1/2"-3" mooneyes. got some hits on bigger spoons as well. lost a bunch of fish today so i did some experimenting but i could use some tips. i normally run with tight releases so i dont pop them sending them down but when i get a hit that doesnt release, i lose alot fish when i grab the rod and reel down. i usually reel down until it releases and thats when the fish pops off. i tried going looser on the releases today and the seemed to help a little, especially when the fish popped the release. any tips on how i can improve on that? i know the single hooks on the needlefish didnt help either but i wanted to release all fish. thanks alot, mark

wanted to try something different sunday. we launched on one of the smaller fingerlakes with plans to crappie fish in the morning then flatline for tiger musky. did good on crappie and also got some nice bass. rain picked up nice for the troll. trolled large stickbaits. saltwater bomber, large husky jerks, F rapalas off the boards in 9-14 FOW at 3.0-3.5mph. ended up going 1 for 3 on tigers, lost a big fish and landed a nice one. fun fish and aggressive. got soaking wet but the fishing was good and the wind wasnt blowing. best, mark

hey guys, about the deepest ive been going is 90-100'. even at 2.0-2.4 GPS speed the blowback is bad. im worried that when i speed up when fishing for kings that my current setup wont work. i have scotty strongarm 30 manual downriggers. i havent been able to find how much weight they will handle, i need to call scottys. what about 10# pancakes? best, mark

thanks for the report. i guess the fishing can only get better! best, mark

thanks guys. im gonna look for a 10# torpedo type weight. best, mark

wayne, thanks for the tips! im gonna fish it this week. best, mark

this is my first year with downriggers. i have scotty strongarm-30 riggers with the regular round 8lb weights. im not happy with the blowback even at fairly slow speeds. maybe im just not used to it. but , do the pancake and shark downrigger weights make a big difference? will using a heavier weight help? thanks, mark

nice rob. wish i had you in the boat today. plenty of action. let me know when you can fish next. best, mark

fished owasco the last two days. yesterday i started on the south end. did a little pike fishing then off to troll. marked a ton of bait in 70-90 FOW with some fish on them. worked hard and only managed to go 2 for 3. all lakers on riggers with spoons. took a break and with the perfect weather i couldnt resist going out for the afternoon shift. launched at the north end and after covering quite a bit of water found some fish from 60-80 FOW. went around 7 for 10 on lakers. mostly average size fish but i did get 2 or 3 nice fat fish. hooked most of them on copper with a michigan stingray spoon. couldnt get bit on flasher/flies. fish were feisty and did fight hard. talked to a guy at the ramp who got some lakers in 20 FOW on boards/sticks in the same area i was fishing so there all over. today i fished the north end again and dialed them in pretty good. got fish from 50-100 FOW. around 9 for 12, all lake trout, still no browns. found some bigger fish deep and finally got bit on a flasher/fly combo. dipsies with flashy spoons were the trick today. outfished the rigger with same spoon easily. didnt think that was too bad with a 2 rod spread. this nice weather has been relaxing. but i saw the first jet ski of the year today. best, mark

rob, happy b-day! nice fish! glad you got into them. next south wind, i gotta try that down there. looks fun. best, mark

thanks guys. rob, we'll get r done next time. it can only get better! sean, we did a south troll from long point to milliken and then from aurora south past the point. tried lots of stuff; copper, dipsies, riggers, flatlines on boards, spoons, flies, sticks and streamers. weird day. thanks for the advice on deans. your the second person to tell me to try that area this time of year so ill try it soon. best, mark

nice fish! glad to see your back on the water. best, mark

launched out of long point today. had another LOU member in the boat today and we ended up taking a nice 6 hr boat ride! didnt touch a single fish, first skunk of the year. tried all kinds of stuff and covered alot of water. weird but it was nice to be out. i learned two things today. how much i HATE copper wire line and also where i wont be fishing tommorow! all well, i guess if it was always easy it wouldnt be as fun or challenging. best, mark