Final weekend October 10-11 With the surface temp at 59 degrees we trolled close to shore near pear head and landed one small bow on Friday night. Next day headed west a hooked up with a next brown that thought he was a bow the way he launched out of the water. Here is a question for you. Do you have that one lure in the box that everyone runs and lands fish but you? My devil lure is the fire tiger Michigan Stinger. I hate that lure. Everyone gets on the boat and if they are going pick out a lure that is the one. Run it for years and nothing, EVER. Since the brown was on a shanster, I saw my devil of a lure and said "last trip what the hell". After 3 colors of lead I did not even have it in the rod holder when I felt something. Praying it was the bottom I just put it the rod holder and hoped it would break off. It didn’t break off and it was not the bottom. So I start reeling in this fish with the both Reece and Jack laughing at me the hole way. Course I was setting the hook repeatedly like I was in the Bassmasters classic but no luck. In the boat it came. My smile must have been as big as the Grinch that stole Christmas as I held up a 2 pound Jack Perch. Devil lure strikes again. After that we poled all lines and headed north to the deep water. End up with a great day 11 for 13. Two browns, seven salmon, nice bow, and the devil lure perch. Not your normal Grand slam on Lake Ontario but I’ll take it. 2008 Season I have talked with Charter captains that have fished on Lake Ontario for over 20 + years and everyone says "The worst season I have ever seen". Not sure if that is true but it was not great. 2007 season was so good should have known it would fall off. I did do some hunting this season. After all the rain and the wind and the cold, I will have words with anyone how says, " I rather go hunting than fishing". I just sat there in my tree stand cold, wet, wishing I was on the boat on even my worst day of fishing. Even those zero days with no fish look pretty good to me today. Wish it was Spring. September 27, 2008 Did a trip with the Wildman and Roy. Did well and went 6 for 6 in 7 hours with kings bows and one brown. It was a real fun trip. Plenty of action and plenty of stories with the two of them on the boat. September 3, 2008 It was our last charter with 6 guys from Corning Inc. With fishing reports of record breaking Coho’s being caught in front of Oswego we decided to make the hour long run from Sodus to Oswego. Plenty of action in a six hour fishing trip. Ended up 4 for 7 all kings from 12 to 20+ pounds. I believe twice we were doubled up. The guys had a lot of fun and had a lot of food. Hope they go fishing with me again next season. August 23, 2008 The usual Derby group came up with Andrea who insists we still owe her a big king since the July 4 one that she fought forever, then broke off with less than a 50’ of line out. So she was up first. Right off the bat at 6:15 the corner rigger goes off and in the boat came a nice 23-25 pound king. After our third king that morning in the mid teens Andrea wanted to look at her fish. I am normally really good at sizing fish. Her fish was not real fat but it was touching both ends of our 150 Quart cooler. So up on the digital scale and it read 27 poun ds. On the boat with the waves the weight "moves" , and on the radio you will hear size and weight of fish, but when you put a scale on it most of the time they are vary different. Those guys at Hugh’s are real bad at that, LOL. At the dock I just grab the king and walk it to the weigh in to see the exact weight, 29.4 pounds. I under sized it not once but twice. She was on the board in like 14th but slid off by the end. 
Derby Time. August 15, 2008
Last years Monster the first day was on everyone mind so off we went to land a big King again and get our name on the board again this year. We were all trying not to think about how slow and tough the fishing has been. It was a good day 6 for 6 but our best king was only 22 pounds.
Fished most of the week August 18 thur 24 with charters almost every day. f
Got blow off two days. The guys from PA up again with no Derby fish. Ended up with a walk on charter with a family group down my way from Watkins Glen. I had a friend driving the boat for me this week and I was the one rigging everything. He has worked on several other charter boats but never been on mine so it just made since that he drive while I rig. A charter boat 90% of the time dose not need two guys working the boat and next year I will work it myself more than this year but their is that other 10% of the time. I had 7-8 rods out at least just hope for 2-3 fish in the morning and nothing.With the morning bite gone and every charter boat crying on the radio like I was, my #1 hot all season like I was, long wire rod smoked out. Having a difficult time even getting it out of the rod holder. I knew it was a big boy. I started bring in all the other rods while "Willey Fish" started kicking the motor in and out of gear so it would be easy to bring in the king. I had the wire rod set out 250' when he started with it, and he was well past 675’ when he quit all his runs. Course it was the boys fish so we did all the extras we can do so even a 70 pound kid can land a big king. In the net and in the boat the king came. 31.4 pound monster and since they drove up from Watkins that morning they were not in the Derby. I believe he would have won the kids division or placed 12th in the over all. NUTZ! 
August 10, 2008
Had a charter the next day with a group from I believe down near the city. They were on a charter the day before and went 0 for 0 on a eight hour trip. I did promises them some fish, despite our boat name, so out we went. At 8:00 on my best wire set up we landed a 4 pound brown. The guys came unglued. Yelling and screaming and partying it up. Never have I seen a group of guys so happy about a brown trout. They were just about off their rush when the corner downrigger fired and a nice bow jumped around and in the net. Now the guys are calculating how much per pound of fish the trip cost as Reece and I started bring in lines when the deep rigger just took off. It dose not seen to matter what the time the season it is, where the thermocline is, if you run a rigger deep, and I mean deep, a big king will hit it sooner or later. After a ten minute fight the line kind of just started acting wrong and half the weight on the rod was gone. We netted a big Oak fish about 5 feet long. Some how during the fight the fish and or the line tangled in that branch and got off. NUTZ! August 9, 2008
Well it was finally time for the Guys from the home town to see what Sodus was all about. The fishing was off, seems like all season, but boy did they have fun on and off the boat. 10 guys, so half the group went out with my good friend Darien on his boat and the other half with me. Caught 3 fish that day. One was a small brown. Dusty landed a nice 10+ pound Bow that was out of the water for most of the first half of the fight. Chaffee landed a lake trout on the 600' cooper, boring. The other boat had two real good kings on meat which I do not run that much. I ran it a lot in the finger lakes but not a lot on the big O. August 2, 2008
Had the three guys from PA on the boat again this weekend. It still has been a slow season and can not wait for the kings to turn on. One day they are there and the next they are gone. We went 5 for 5 on the charter on Saturday with 3 rainbows, one skipper king, and the nice one above. The nice king came on a purple super slim froggy glow on the free slider down 105. After landing him we turned and marked a big pod of suspended bait but no takers other than the one. That king was almost hot to the touch after chasing that bait in the warm water. They have caught kings before on other charters but this is there biggest king so far. Sure had a lot of fun watching the camera man work on a fish this trip. Hope to see them all again.  22+ Pound King
Nearly a disaster!
That skipper king hit the corner rigger while we all were watching it and shot all the up to the surface and got into the 600 copper, yuck! 20 minutes of Reece and I untangling the mess, but we landed the fish and saved the copper rig. 
July 26, 2008
Another great weather weekend in Sodus Point. The fishing has been tough and weak since the Pro Am, with several reports of charter boats not turning a rod. I was hopeful since our charter turn out to be a Bachelor Party weekend. A two boat group with the Groom men on the Flatout boat. (From right to left in the picture) The father, soon to be father in law, and the future groom on our boat. The Flatout boat did better on the inside with the Brown Trout than we did and I believe ended up with 6 nice Browns and a small Rainbow. We did one brown right first thing at 6 AM then did do much till my turned north and put a little water under the boat. In a 135 feet of water the deep corner down rigger fired. Line just smoking out we thought we had a nice king. All excited because the guys wanted at less one nice king. Then about 2 minutes in the fight the fish launched out of the water about two feet. Not a typical King move. After several good runs away from the bout in the the net came the biggest rainbow the No Promises boat has ever landed. On the LOC scale it weighed 13.1 pounds. After a skipper king on the 400' copper both starboard rigger fired at the same time. Both rods smoking out line one going south and the other going west. Reece cleared what was left on the starboard side and netted the smaller king about 15 pounds. The bigger king still out there taking line. The future groom worked him in great till the king just turned to the port side and got into ever rod on that side. Quick Chinese fire drill and a 180 with the boat in the net was the 19.4 pound king. Over all went 5 for 6.
What a blast. The guys are mounting both the king and the rainbow. Too many people get caught up on how many fish, the size and weight of the fish, and do not focus on the experience. When somebody asks them about the their fish hanging on the wall they may not remember the exact weight and size of the fish, but I'm sure they will remember the bachelor party weekend experience. 
July 11-13, 2008
Fished the Oswego Pro-Am and had an up and down weekend. Planned on running the boat to Sodus Thursday afternoon but mother nature kicked up the waves to 8-10 feet during the day so just stayed and Sodus and fished our way to Oswego on Friday. Not a bad plan but was not able to go to the captains meeting for the one day tournament on Friday, big mistake! Did not do to bad on Friday 6 for 9 with 4 major kings and two browns. The biggest king 28 lbs, put us on the LOC leader board in third place. That was the up side. Down side is we would have won the one challenge by 4+ lbs. $1800.00 dollars first prize money gone.
 The Pro-Am is the big money and we had our spots and went to then and did well. Had a little over 90 points in the box despite losing a derby brown right at the boat. Start running back to port five minutes in the water pump impeller craps out and missed the weigh in time by 6 minutes. After a five hours of working on the boat she was all better and ready for Sunday. Box five fish and had 87 points. With what should have been a two day score of around 180 points. I think we would have been in twelve place just out of the money. I have not fished that water over there in three years so I was pleased with the weekend. Maybe could have done better, but I'll take it. July 4th weekend
The fishing has been poor most of the season. With the water temps going up the fishing had to improve sooner or later. On the July 4th weekend the fishing got going. With that Friday we went 10 for 12 with one nice 18 pound king and several 7-8 pound bows. Saturday was just as good. We went 9 for 13 with a 20 pound king and a 9+bow. Had one fight over 30 minutes on the copper but broke off with just 100' left. The way it fought the whole way, it must of been foul hooked. Sunday I mated for a charter captain down the dock and went 8 for 11 on a five hour charter.
Looks like the king season arrived!  June 21, 2008
Did have a charter a few weeks ago but my batteries in the camera were dead, sorry about no pictures. Batteries or not, did not make much difference. I'm going to call it "The Good the Bad and the Ugly". If the guys email me the one picture I will add it in. "The Good" was the weather. The lake was flat, the weather was dry. Perfect boating weather. "The bad" was the fishing, the worst spring fishing season in a long time. " The Ugly" was the lack of fuel in the tank on that Saturday. Gave the guys the a free trip to use when ever they wanted, and despite the poor fishing they wanted to go out Sunday. So Off we went with $1200.00 in fuel in the boat and one large prayer to the fish gods. Another great boating day, sunny, flat and calm. In the middle of the boat ride the copper 400' copper rod saved the day, 4-5 pound rainbow. I have not been so happy for one fish in a long time. The guys were a lot of fun all weekend, on and off the boat. I hope they can schedule a trip when the fishing is better. May 10, 2008
Had our first charter of the season on Saturday with three great guys from Philly. Guys were hoping for a bunch of brown trout but that just has not happened in Sodus this season. Not sure why but not real happy about it either. Did find some off color 49 degree water in front of Maxwell creek. I mentioned that this was the best area to get a brown trout just as one of the top lines went off. Went from a physic, to a goat as we landed and released this very "Green" Brown Trout.  Just like in the weeks before headed for deeper water to play with some silver fish. After one small Coho we landed 3 rainbow's in a row. The best two were both 9 pounds but very different body styles. The shorter, but heavier of the two, went air born several times and put up a good long fight. We did get a small brown trout on the 200' copper rig but ended up one King short of great multi species day. Over all a real good five hour charter and went 6 for 7. Hope they come up for the Summer/ Fall Salmon season so I can get that big king for them. Derby fished with a group of friends on Sunday and went 6 for 7. All rainbow's but none were big enough for the spring LOC. Hope the weather and the winds get better for the summer Derby in two weeks. May 8, 2008
Still tweaking on the new boat. I have been working on it for 4-5 weeks and still finding something I want to do to it each trip out. I have been fishing on it instead of working on it but what an improvement over the PennYan, wider is better. After the third week of south winds and No brown trout anywhere to be found. Fished in some deeper water and landed the first double header of the season. The bigger of the two kings and the small Rainbow. Had friends asking for fresh fish so we kept the three in the picture. Ended up the day with 5 for 7. Sure hope the wind stops blowing from the south. It makes for a smooth ride but love to come home with swore arms. 
 I hope you can see the small bird on the down rigger rod in the second picture. He showed up on the boat 4/27/08. He hopped from the rod, down on the big Jon, walked up the port side past us all just watching and sat on the bow eating bugs for a better part of an hour. Never had one act so "pet like" ever. Cool to see on a slow day.
The winds have finely have changed direction and hopes are running high for this weekend.
Capt. Sean Morris Start to the fishing season After a long winter, and 3 weeks of working on the new boat installing all the brand new equipment, it was finally time to see if our 31' Tiara pursuit was going to catch fish. On Friday morning 4/18 we went out and run our usually brown trout spring thing and we went zero for three with one brown breaking off right before the net with one of my favorite stick baits still in his month! Not a good start to the season for sure but the brown trout don't like flat water with bright sunlight with no colored water anywhere to hide in. But it felt great just to be on the water. Heard several stories of boats not even turning a rod so mark it up to fish one, No Promises zero. Spent the afternoon installing two new batteries and tweaking equipment. I guess that is why they call it a shake down cruise.
With all the bugs worked out it was time to catch fish. Tried the brown trout thing again early the next morning with nothing. We made a big move, and then one of the brand new gold Big Jon down rigger fired down 45'. After ten minute fight the net came out, and in the boat came a quality 8+ pound rainbow. The picture is my friend Kevin holding the first fish on the new boat. I could not ask for a better fish to be first on the boat, I love the rainbows. We went three for three with a second Bow and a Coho. Not a great start to the season but not bad under the weather/water conditions. Check out the lake in the back round, that is what you call flat! Looked at last years log book, only one zero all last year and that was in heavy weather. Good to know that I have that out of the way this year as well. |
