Iron Duke

My dad put the tackle box full of O&M's up for quite a few years... Every year he was extremely excited that someone would win that box of his spoons more excited for that then the derby itself I believe lol... I think with all of us brainstorming and working together this tournament will definitely stick around and probably be stronger than ever to be honest with you it definitely needs some new blood some new ideas and yes we need to use technology to our advantage and keep things updated possibly even get some small flat screen TVs at each weigh station and we can just somehow update them directly from the internet instead of moving cards on the big board yes I understand the big board is cool to see your name on and everything and possibly we could still do that too but we definitely need to look into and take advantage of the technology we have in today's world it's also nice to jump on your cell phone while you're out on the water and you have that questionable fish on whether it would make the board or not if we could check real quick while we are on the water and we see that the fish would not make the board some of us probably would release that fish to Live Another Day..Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

What I've been told is that the marina and I'm not sure which one actually charges them to bring it down for the weekend for viewing purposes on sight and they charge like $500.00 to $700.00 to do that... One would like to think with all the free advertising the marina is getting with there sign sitting on it all weekend they would be willing to do it for free or pennies of that cost...Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Thanks Jason for going out of your way to get info for all of us.. Much appreciated! Advertising is a huge thing to keep people informed other than signs up at sign up places for the Derby I don't think I have ever seen any advertising other than that? So can see why the entry's have gone down. ... Sean couldn't agree with you more on the the way the drawing goes... Those smaller fish should be going back instead of brought In for chance at a prize.. If your entered in the tournament you should automatically get a chance at a door prize without bringing in the fish... Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Couldn't agree with you more and if we could figure out how to get it to Sampson State Park ( A former military training base ) and a place that could use this support right now and for future years to come that would be even better... There has to be a big fishing company out there that would be willing to sponsor a big part of this too... I think as a group we could all come together as a great team, tag teaming all the different aspects and come up with some just as good or I think even better tournament than we have now... Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Finger Lake Trolling Association has helped for many moons.. We run the weigh station all day Saturday and setup and take down weigh station in Watkins with our members and We have two guys in the club that attend every national lake trout derby meeting and keep us Informed of what is going on... We also sell a extremely high number of boat raffle tickets for the national lake trout derby every year... So I'd say we've been stepping it up for years.. We do everything we can to help support it and keep it going... Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

That's the whole problem I have with this.. Geneva is suppose to be the Lake Trout Capital Of The World and they want the Sports Orama to pay them to use their facilities ?? Come on that's a Joke!! They should want to support this derby it's part of the city's history... If Geneva wants to get rid of it and Watkins doesn't want to pick it up I think we as a group should present this derby to New York State and ask them to run it once a year as a way of trying to possibly save Sampson State Park .. They have Staff already working their , they have plenty of room for camping and a launch and a marina, plus plenty of room for a ceremony after.. If we could somehow figure out how to get more people to come there for the weekend and stay for tournament it's a win win... Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Awesome Job Joe and crew.. You guys deserved to win with that first class box of fish you brought to the scale usually one silver is tough to find there but you guys had 2 and the Lakers to boast... Great job on the win and Congratulations to you and Butch and Bill on the well deserved win... Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Head down towards the bluff lots of fish down that way yesterday . Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Awesome job Bob and crew!! You had 3 healthy Keuka Lakers.. Anytime you can come in with 3 fish and beat guys with 4 fish that's a great day!! You guys are off to a great start, keep up the great work... Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Had a little free time Saturday morning so decided to get the Iron Duke rigged up with all her gear last night and Josh and I headed to Seneca at the crack of dawn... We arrived at Sampson with the flags showing steady south east wind and looking like it might be a bit bumpy but wasn't to bad at all.. We did some bouncing around looking in different spots getting ready for derby weekend.. Our divers and riggers started out hot with a Steady pick of Lakers on the Iron Duke A10 Fly and the Iron Duke Green Pearl Killa Fly then slowed down a bit until we had a good rip on a 200 Copper pulling a FLT Spoon and we got a beautiful little bow to the boat.. Think we ended up calling it a morning around 10:30 going 9 for 9 and a great shakedown for my boat and everything working the way it's suppose to.. Looking forward to the derby . We are Staying at Sampson this year for derby and can't wait to see you all there Mike Sent from my SM-N910V using Lake Ontario United mobile app