Mama said there'd be days like this...

"Well, the positive side is that our trout and salmon population won't be hurt in the least. "


That was the story out of Oak Orchard last weekend for Part II of IV for the Lake Ontario Pro-Am series.


Over the two days, we boated only 3 keepers (if you're counting at home, that's one less than the 4 we got when, at the last minute, John abondoned us and promoted me to captain his boat). That's ok, there were more than a few teams that posted one zero...and even some that posted double-eggs.


Our big fish of the derby was this 12-lb laker that hit 6-10' down over 450' or so of water, right as I was placing the rod in the holder immediately after letting it out (first line out) at 6:01 am on Sunday. (edited per captain's comment below)



After Brian brought that guy in, we nabbed one little king, and after 6:30 we didn't boat another fish all day. Missed a couple steelies on the surface, but for the most part, Sunday was dead.

Long drive, much money spent, much sleep lost, not too many fish...still, who can complain about a weekend on a boat in some ridiculous June weather?

To top it off, finally made it back to the creek last night. Ended up with 5 brownies 6-9", and a few chubs. The bigger (anything over 10") fish are becoming ridiculously selective, and the low-and-slow water isn't helping things any. Neither is the fact that knotless tapered leaders just do not drift as nicely as the furled leader that I have yet to replace.

Got a couple fish before the sun went over the hill...one on a little black foam beetle (sz 14), one on an ugly orange parachute (sz 12). The action didn't start to really heat up until after 8, and I got 3 more stockies on a sz 16 yellow sally by guessing when I had a hit or lifting for the next cast and getting lucky.

I did miss one real good rise...it may have been a refusal but it was quite splashy...looked like a good fish. Guess I should head back up to try and break the code today...maybe try some buggers and nymphs to help hide my drift problem. The hendricksons seem to be gone, but there was plenty of bug action, with big light-colored mayflies (cahill?), tiny yellow-green ones (?), more little yellow stones, black flies, mosquitos, gnats and other biting and non-biting midges (hooray), and a plethora of caddis in various sizes and colors. Oh, and of course some dragonflies buzzing around, doing some damage on the midges (much appreciated guys).

Oh yeah, grabbed a few sunnies at lunch today...weeds and algae have left me with about half-an-acre of fishable water near the office...still enough to fill out the noon-hour.

Comments

Flying Ties said…
Sounds like you really had a good time "despite" only three fish.

And it looks like you've been successful in recent weeks - I'm jealous of you getting an hour for lunch at work. I only get 30 minutes and that's barely enough time to go home and let the dogs out.

Speaking of work (I happen to work at the school I graduated from), I went to high school with the guy in that photo. We were friends, too. Completely caught me off guard to see his photo.
Anonymous said…
That fish was on 2 colors of lead which put it down 6 to 10 feet and we stopped at the 27.5N line which is about 450 FOW. Glad to hear you are hammering them in the streams. Baulsir looks very excited.
FoulHooked said…
FT-I'm surrounded by you people! Shoulda known. Man, I miss the Dog Shack though.

John-thanks for the correction. I wouldn't say I've been hammering them...5 trout in 3 hours by "that elitist shit" (as you term it) is good enough, but hardly a windfall.

Good news is last night I actually brought in the 14-incher that owns the lower pool (3rd time around?)...his name is Gil (he's missing the tip of his right gill plate). I'll get a picture next time. Yellow sally, size 14.

That's it, I've officially lost it...I've started naming them...
Flying Ties said…
Dog shack got expensive - 1.49 for three dogs. Was 99cents when I graduated from high school (and that wasn't all that long ago, really). It's a small world really.

Good to see Brian is enjoying himself. I don't think I've seen or talked to him since Graduation.

You haven't lost it naming fish. I am sure I will too... once I start catching them enough that I'm catching the same one again.

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