John Kelley

Thank you sir Tim, I think I am blushing now!! That's all hearsay and conjecture, by the way!!LOL If you ever want to go chase pheasants around the prairie, pound some Missouri river walleyes or go find some Mule deer, look me up, brother!

I will also have to extend an invitation to come on out and hunt and fish with me on the prairie some time, Shawn!! I have really enjoyed these last two seasons, "rippin' their lips off with you" Don't forget to make up new names of lures, like flapjack you know what fly!!!LOL

I live on the other side of the state, north of Sioux Falls.

Thank you sir, and good luck in yours as well!!

Yes sir, I was only out here working for a couple of years on loan. My house and home are in Madison, SD, but I would surely like to stay if I could! I consider these people my second family for sure!! I really appreciate the kind words, PAP. Thanks!!

Ha, you will have to rely solely on ED for that now, mister Captain!!LOL

30'-60' deep right out front and west to the pump house.

Thanks Mortigan, too bad we didn't get to fish together!

Thanks guys, It will be very hard to say goodbye to this place, for me!!

I think next weekend will be my last weekend of fishing on Lake Ontario. My job is coming to a close at the end of November, and I want to get a little fishing in on Lake Erie, before I have to go home to South Dakota. I want to take this time to thank all of the people and friends I have met up here at the Oak the past 2 salmon seasons. You have really made living away from home for the last 2 years much easier on me. I have made some awesome friends on the shores of Lake Ontario, and was awed by the friendly, open nature of the folks and charter captains of Oak Orchard. I have caught thousands of salmon and steelhead, and now have personal bests for 6 different salmonid species: 30 pound 3 ounce King, 12 pound Coho, 14 pound 4 ounce Brown trout, 13 pound 3 ounce steelhead, 20 pound Lake trout, and a 10 pound Atlantic salmon, all courtesy of Lady Ontario! Not too bad for two seasons of trolling!! I want to thank Claude and Michele @ the Captains Cove, who bent over backwards to accommodate my crazy ass with a room every weekend, even when they had to juggle other guests to do it!! I want to thank Carl Bish for treating me like an equal out on the lake, and actually asking my advice on things, instead of like a stupid weekend Googan!! I also want to thank him for being a good friend and taking me hunting and inviting me to his daughter's graduation party!! I want to Thank Shawn Burr, for also becoming a super friend, and an awesome fishing partner, even though he is a bit of a "Fancy Pants"!!LOL I want to thank Tim Green for being my friend as well, and taking me to the Niagara Bar this Spring, and introducing me to some of his other fishing buddies!! We definitely had some hilarious times, some awesome and interesting fishing times, and saw some ugly **** together as well!! I also want to thank Andy(Orange Diablo) for being a great fishing friend, and for turning me onto Herring rigs. Caught some of my biggest kings on those Twinkie rigs this summer. Thanks Doug and Jan at the Lakeside Marina for keeping me fueled up and for always having the block ice I needed for my fish cooler. You will have to find someone new to be your biggest candy bar buyer next season!!LOL I want to thank Ed Ball for his military service, and for being a great friend and fishing buddy!! I wish I would have met you the summer before, Ed!! I want to thank all of the people that were kind enough to fish in my boat with me, and put up with my cranky ass!! I have loved every minute on Lake Ontario, even through all of the rough weather and storms! If I forgot anyone's name or forgot to thank them, I apologize. I also apologize to anyone if I pissed them off on the lake by turning in front of them or cut in too close behind them. I tried to be as conscientious as possible at all times, but sometimes I didn't pay attention the way I should have. I will miss everyone up there at the Oak, and the big lake herself. I will miss the frantic calls and texting back and forth among my friends, when we dialed the fish in, and wanted to get the information out to each other as fast as possible. I will miss the exchange of lures, colors depths, speeds, etc., and the exchange of pics at the end of a long day. I will miss trying to get out on the water by 5:00 a.m. to be set up and trolling before the barrage of charter boats would come flying out of the creek, and knock my little boat this way and that!LOL I will miss all of the salmon fishermen camaraderie, both on the lake, and back at the motel at night. Most of all, I will miss all of my new friends, and the big Chinook salmon we all love to pursuit!! If you see my little white Tracker Tundra open bow boat with the 200 Optimax next weekend, please wave and bid me farewell. Middle finger waves will also be accepted, I guess!! Goodbye my New York friends, this has been, without a doubt, the greatest fishing experience of my life, and I will never forget it or you!!! Thank you!!!!

I had a great time out there with you, ED!! We did get a little soggy, but not nearly as much as we would have in my boat!! My arms are still sore from reeling in all those fish!! I'll get you back if I can ever get you out in my boat, and make you crank in all of the fish!!Hahahahaha. LOL

They are even more rare than Blue walleyes in Lake Erie!!!

Yeah, their mouths are getting hard for sure!! Nice job getting a few in the boat!!

Great job, looks you had them dialed in!

And you can keep two lakers on top of that, and one Atlantic, if you get lucky enough to hook one, for a possible total of a 6 fish box for one man. The 3 fish in any combination rule applies to browns, cohos, kings and steelhead. Nice job on the catch, by the way!!

Yes sir, and I concur, we always catch plenty of fish together, young man!!

Nice job Mark, those Saturday morning waves were tough, but we braved them out to the 31 line as well! It was well worth the effort, for sure! Great write up!

And all I found out deep on Sunday were a bunch of steelhead, so I kept the good 30" one for the box, and headed back in to 100' column after a good tip from Captain Carl Bish, and was soon into the Kings. Nothing big, but I boxed a 16 and a 20 pounder, with 4 smaller ones that went back into the lake. All fish on spoons. 20 pounder was on a carbon 14 on the 400 copper in about 105' of water at 6:30 p.m. I think it would have gotten really good last night right around sunset, but I had to clean fish, pull the boat out of the water, drop a fish off at the taxidermist, and head back to Dansville. Here are my boxed fish from Sunday. Thanks

Yeah Gill, I sure slept good that night, for sure!! Here is Andy (Orange Diablo) with our Saturday Haul of Kings. We were somewhere in the upper teens on steelhead, as well, lost count. We also lost a major at the back of the boat about 20 feet from the "new net", on the 400 copper, when the fish threw the hook. Same program as Friday. No luck on the spinny's and flies, and not much action on meat rigs. 95% of our fish came on spoons today

Thanks fellas, was and still am pretty pumped! All Orange Diablo and I caught Saturday were a bunch of 24's and 25's, so what a let down!!LOL