Yankee's Derby Weekend at the Bar 5/2-5/4

[Yankee Troller]

5/4 - We hit the water bright and early dropping lines at the red can. We got set up and trolled around for about 30 minutes when the 3oo' copper rod takes off. Of course I am the only person who will reel in a fish on the copper rod, and that's why you see my face on the last two reports holding the biggest guy of the day. This salmon happened to be the 1st place Salmon after 3 days of derby fishing. Like our biggest fish the day before this guy hit the white Smart Fish with a Chicken Wing ATOMIK fly behind it. This guy weighed in at 22.08. We burned up a few hours weighing in the fish and missed the best bite of the day. We ended the day with 6 bites/6 fish. Nothing went more than once. Our hits came on the above mentioned flasher fly, coyote, copper NBK, TC dodger with a glow green fly, mulatto, and a copper yellow NBK. Here is our big guy with the Chicken Wing fly in his mouth, and me all bundled up (Don't ya just love my faces?):

5/3 - What a difference a day makes! We awoke to no wind and left over 2' rollers from the NE. We sat down in front of Wilson in 50' of water because the surface temp was there and so were some fish, but the clear water was ice cold once you got down past 30'. We quickly picked up and ran down to the red can where we set up and immediately got into them. For the most part it was a day of small fish, but it was a steady pick of Coho's and Kings except for a 2 hour lull in the afternoon. Best spoons were copper NBK's, Mulatto's, orange super glow, and green super glow 28's. The only big boy of the day was a nice 18lb King Salmon that took a white on white smart fish with an ATOMIK Chicken Wing fly behind it on the 400' copper. We fished deeper than most today with all our rigger bites coming from 70-140 down. Here is a pic of the fly and the Salmon. Chicken wings have always been a good bar spoon, so why not a fly?

5/2 - East winds really put a damper on the fishing near the Niagara bar today. We woke up to a 1-3' chop and by 10am it was 4-6's and we were off the water. We got into as many Coho's as you wanted, and a small Laker. Surface temps ranged from 42-44 degrees. Hot spoon of the day was a Dream Weaver SS in Orange Slurpee. A few Salmon were caught on the American side, but we weren't one of the lucky boats. As I type this up there is still a strong East wind blowing. If your headed this way tomorrow bring some west winds please.

[Fishstix]

Nice report Im usually a springtime spoon,plainer board type of guy. But if the brown bite stays like it is in our area . Ill have to change.

Good job YT..

[motoman]

nice report rick and good luck with ur salmon , hope it holds out too win !

[Erbyjoe]

Rick great report it looks a little rough on the Lake in the first picture. I don't mean to ask a dumb question but what is a smart fish?

[Legacy]

nice fish rick, hope it sticks for you.

[Pike Hunter]

Way to go! Thanks for sharing the report.

[Yankee Troller]

Thanks bud! You need to experience the spring king action at the bar. Tow that boat of yours up there!

[browntrout]

A smartfish is an adjustable attractor that is fish shaped. It allows you to adjust the fin to make it rotate at different intervals/speeds. Go to legendaryproduct.com.....they are made by John Emory the guy that started Big Jon downriggers. They are a nice weapon to add to your arsenal.

[Erbyjoe]

Thanks for the info

[ray koziatek]

a smart fish is the on that didnt hit the fly and is still alive............you knew i was gonna say that

[Silver Fox]

Good fish Rick. I wish I were up there w/ ya. Sandy sucks right now.