We were supposed to have a camera crew on our boat this morning, and what a morning it would have been for some TV footage! We talked with Billy V on our practice strategy, and it was going to happen like this. We were going to run about 5-8 miles West and set up and troll West, and Billy was going to start fishing right out front. I knew from my brother that East was a total dessert when he fished there Thursday. Well, 5:30a.m. came and there was no phone call or no camera crew, so I did what I do best at 5:30a.m. on a tourney day….I left the dock! Phone call came around 6a.m. from the producer saying they found my dock, but I wasn't there. Too bad, because we had a heck of a day!
We ran west until we came about a mile from Pultnyville. We set up in 50-60fow with a Brown Trout program, and it didn't take long! We ran a 3 downrigger, 2 wire, 2 core set-up with mostly Stingers and DW SS's. Our BT spoons of the day were a Stinger Blond Chicken Wing, and my favorite BT spoon, the Stinger Penguin. We did a few BT, but not anywhere close to a limit down west. Reports from Billy V were that his BT bite was on FIRE! We kept pushing west and we started to put a little more water under us. My brother put a 300 copper out of the back of the boat with a DW Mag Gator once we cleared the 80' mark. Once we hit the 95' mark that rod exploded with a screaming reel. After a few great runs a 20lb King Salmon hit the deck. OK, so we have Kings around do we? Well, the screen lit up at 100' with bait and fish, so down went the King program. DW Spin Doctors, Legendary SmartFish and A-TOM-MIK flies on every rod but one. It didn't take long after that and the new DW Spin doctor called the Albino Gator trailed by an A-TOM-MIK Sweat Pea was ripping line off our Daiwa Saltist/Heartland wire combo. I grabbed the rod, but I just held on for the ride until he spit the hook and continued on his way down to the Salmon River for his September ritual. Mean while the 10 color off the board takes a shot, and a 10lb King hits the deck of our boat.
We worked this area off the Ginna Nuclear Plant for the rest of the day and even called in Billy V for some action. We would pick through a lot of Lake Trout up to 16lbs that were mixed in with the Kings. They were taking our DW Spin Doctors, Legendary SmartFish and A-TOM-MIK flies very regularly. At one point we had a rigger pop and I was on the rod. It was a Green SmartFish/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist fly on the main line and a DW SS Shiznit on the slider. WE get the main line to the net and notice a fish was also on the slider. The paddle/fly had a 15" Lake Trout attached to it, and the slider took a 14lb Atlantic Salmon. This Atlantic would be one of the three fish we would weigh in at the Captain Jack's shootout. The other two fish were the 20lb Salmon and a 16lb Lake Trout, and that would be good enough for a 5th place check!
We knew we had a solid plan for the weekend tourney after discussing what we had and what Billy V had. That's the nice thing about having a GOOD friend to help cover some water in practice. We only get to practice one day before each tourney due to our work schedules. Lake O is too big to cover in one day!