Well, Mother Nature threw northeast winds at us the last week or so, and successfully knocked out
my last three charters of the year.  One of the most stressful parts of running charters is trying to figure
out if the forecast is accurate, and deciding when to make the call to cancel.  On the one hand,
how many times have they been wrong, but at the same time, you want to try to make sure your clients
have a chance to change plans, cancel hotels, etc.....

Anyway, today was CALM, so my son and I took a shot offshore.   We fished about 2 hrs before his attention
span waned, and boxed 1 nice 28" walleye.  Lots of bait, but not a lot of fish moving on it.   165 on the slide
diver, mag ring with a copper turtle watermelon harness.  VHF sounded SLOW......

                                  

The boat is in for a few more weeks yet...weather permitting....so hopefully we'll have a chance to find a
few more 'eyes.....

So today was my birthday....    For as long as I can remember, it never is really that big of a deal.   I don't
like the attention or the fuss, and am at a stage in my life that it can just come and go quietly and that's
ok.  My only little thing....that I try to do every year...is to look at the clock at the time I was born.  I know,
a bit odd, but hey...if that's my birthday thing...so be it....

So work has been really hectic, and today was no exception, and on top of that I'm monitoring the wind
and wave forecast the last couple of days, as I have charters the next 3 days to finish out this season,
and of course the forecast is bad..... and I don't want to cancel the guys too soon...but they are coming in
early and it looks like it will be rolling at best......so I finally make that call, and second guess that the rest
of the day....

But then I'm thinking....we had a really nice man on the boat the other day who was going in for a potentially
serious medical procedure the next day, and although we didn't get a lot of fish, he seemed to have a good
time with his group and with us; and then I had a group call for information later that evening, and when I
returned the call the next day, found out they weren't going to be able to book a day because one of the guys
had a heart attack between their call to me, and mine to them...

and I'm thinking... you know what, I got up today and was breathing, and even though I had to cancel the charter
(for which I always feel bad for the people), the boat's going to be in for a few more weeks so there will be a few
more days yet...and my wife and son took me out to dinner for my birthday, and got me some Guiness and a
Tim Horton's card for tomorrow morning's coffee....and our good friend Sean McGraw did sing Happy Birthday
to me during his show on Sunday at the Merritt Winery Fall Festival.....

so I guess compared to how it could be....things are pretty good.....

Well, had a great group of guys on board to start the weekend, on a beautiful day and a nice lake.
Fishing started out to be pretty good, as we got a couple on the first run, and bigger then we've
seen most of the year.   Added a couple more, then a steelie and a couple of junkers...then it just
died.   By most accounts, everyone out experienced the same type of shut off.  Still fishing the
80-95 fow west of the harbor.   Deep continues to be the ticket.....225 and 245 on the slide divers
with mag rings; 65-70 riggers and the 10 color down the chute.   We got our fish on that "clean"
but we've heard reports of up to 4 oz of extra weight.

Sunday, I went with my son, and Gary (one of the regular crew) and his daughter.  Figured we'd go
for a while, but not push the kids hard.   Lost a nice steelhead right at the boat (DW blueberry muffin
on the 70 rig); dropped a fish on the 225 diver, then got a nice one on the 245 diver (DW chicken wing).

                              

Forecast for the next week still looks good, and we have a few dates left to get in, so hopefully September
will make up for July!

Our pal, Sean Patrick McGraw, has spent a good number of days this summer as the opening act
for Toby Keith and Trace Adkins on "America's Toughest Tour".   For all you Buffalo readers, they are
at Darien Lake this Friday, September 4th!

So, here's the plan....

Sean has a video on CMT entitled "Dollar Ain't Worth A Dime", which his "people" are feverishly working
to get on national radio.  We tried a phone tree thing earlier this year, but since WYRK 106.5 is a commercial
venture, they only would play Sean if he hit top 40.   Kind of a catch 22....he cant' get the airplay until he is top
40, but how will people know to request him?

In any event, in light of his concert appearance here this week, we have been given the green light to call into
WYRK 106.5 (Buffalo) to request that they play this song!  All calls add up, so be nice when you call....but make
that call! 

Thanks!

John

After the winds and waterspouts of this past weekend, I figured it wouldn't be much of a shock
if it took a few days for the fishing to crank back up, if at all.   But I heard good reports from another
local captain for Monday, and with a calm lake, and the start of school looming on the 2nd, I decided
to take the afternoon off from work to take my son walleye fishing.

By the time we got out and set up in 75 fow, it was already 2 pm; but we took 2 walleye pretty quick
on the 10 color/chatterstick combo.   After a couple of junkers and a lull, we got a tip from Capt. Dana
 on Mojo to try 225 back on 2 on the slides, and promptly hooked up with a 3rd eye, and then lost another
on the 10 color set.

Ended up with 3 in the box for just over 2 hours of fishing, before my son decided it was time to introduce
the walleye to some hot peanut oil!  Mmmm!

Weather looks good for the balance of the week, so hopefully the fish will stay put for a few days!

                                 

Well, headed up to Oak Orchard on Lake Ontario for our annual trip.  Fishing was fair on the inside waters,
and it seemed as though we did as well as the next guy in there.   Offshore, we heard some great reports
the last couple of days, but we opted to stay inside to try to land that derby winner!  Maybe next time!

We had a bunch of steelies in the 4-10lb range anywhere from 80 fow to just over 300 fow, and a handful
of kings, with 2 in the 17-20lb range. 

The second full day up there was so-so weather, and we had a couple of neat experiences.  The first was
to be west of a smaller dangling waterspout.  Kind of neat to see how it developed...of course wishing the
whole time it didn't!  Then a little bit later I told my crew to look behind us...(that day there was a fairly good
chop)...but there was a small area that was actually calm looking, surrounded by water that was a bit more
churned up then the rest of the water around us.   Boy, did we all scan the sky fast to make sure a 'spout
wasn't coming down on us!!!

We also had a great fish fry with some of our Oak counterparts and friends, featuring deep fried walleye, Igor's
great tomato/cucumber salad, and chocolate pudding pie.....doesn't get much better than that!

A special thanks to our friends at the Black North Inn:  Steve, Tracy, Karen, Kailee, Chef and the rest of the
great BNI staff.   The best burgers anywhere, cajun chicken chowder (thanks for honoring my request) and plenty
of cold beverages!  Check them out via our links page and make sure you stop in if ever in the Point Breeze
neighborhood!  We had a great time again!  Thanks!!  We are already looking forward to next time!

Here are a couple of the bigger fish we had.....

      

Today we had the winners of the Brooks Memorial Hospital raffle, Andy, Chris, Zach and Lydia.
Another nice calm day on the lake.

Started out pretty good, boxing 4 as we made our way back to our numbers from yesterday,.  Fish
seemed to have moved some, and the flat lake and heat was clearly pushing them down.  Got
a call from Capt. Dan (Sea Cin), and made a couple of adjustments and starting picking them
up again.   Boxed 12 'eyes and a perch, and kicked 1 eye (too small).  Loads of sheepies too,
not surprising in the shallower water.

Basic 5 rod set again.  10 color. green chatterstick was good early then died.  Big slides with
rings, 190-195 back on 3, DW Chicken Wing was good.  Rigs 60-66 fow, DW WD;s on those,
Buffalo Bill, Copper watermelon and mixed veggies.

Lydia and Zach were great on the rods...thanks for the help Andy and Chris.

Ok....let's catch up a bit....
Took off Thursday afternoon (8/13) to spend a bit of time with my son.  Even though it was the heat of the
day, we decided to take one shot thru my numbers from last Saturday....  dropped 1 eye on the 10 color
(very tough rod for a kid), and an bunch of junkers.   Lots of fish tight to the bottom...figured they'd move
up in the morning.   Ran out to Lake Trout country, had one go on a DW glow frog...Jack couldn't move it
and we lost it.  4 more whacks, then we got one around 6 lbs.  Beauty was that Jack got it on a DW super
slim blank that he taped up special...now he's calling it the "Jack Lure".  He also got this big silver bass....
210 back in 140 fow!
    
                                          


Friday, had a charter, so we ran back to just short of the numbers we ran last time out.  As I suspected,
the fish moved off the bottom and were active!  We boxed 16, nothing huge, but good eaters, a bunch
of junkers and 2 smallmouth, the largest of which was probably pushing 6lbs!  Green Chatterstick
of the 10 color, Buffalo Bill and copper watermelon off the rigs, and the MOJO and an orange stick
off the big slides.  Kept it simply with a 5 rod set.  N-S troll, 85 on the outside, 55 on the inside.  But
get this...biggest fish..pushing 7 lbs....49 feet down in 52 fow!

So here's the story.......

I have a very enthusiastic group for today.....so I get on the NOAA forecast yesterday morning for Saturday,
and it says 10-20 mph, going to 15-25 mph, chance t'storms and showers.....so I call the guy and tell him
that it doesn't look good, but let me check the 4 pm update......SO I do that, and it is slightly better, but still
not great, so I tell my wife that I think I need to move these guys....and she says....why don't you wait until
the morning....so then I call the guys, and they say, we want to come, its not that bad a drive, if we can't go
we'll go out to breakfast.......LET'S WAIT UNTIL MORNING.......

OK...call Gerb (my mate today)....tell him we are in...........

SO I check the 4 AM update today, winds are knocked down to 10-15 mph, no rain on doppler, guys are
early all is GREAT....so I tell them....the fishing hasn't been very good of late for walleye at all, but the lake
trout fishing has, so lets slide out west, try for 'eyes for a while and see if the lake rolls as expected....if not,
we may move out to try the lakers.....group is cool with that...just wants to catch a fish....

So we set up and mark some good stuff 8 miles from the harbor, and pop a walleye really quick, not big, but
a good start, ......I tell the guys, Man, last week in the Con Club derby we would have killed for a couple of  fish
on Saturday....and we get a sheepshead, then another, then another, then another, then another.....I tell my
Gerb who is driving for us, we need to get the heck out of here...so he turns us out, but all of the sudden,
bam....3 more 'eyes in the box....now I'm NOT moving....

Long story short, we box 18 walleye today, plus a bonus brown trout, and easily lose 8-10 other 'eyes, and
land a couple of smallmouth in the 5lb range!!  On a calm lake!!  Unbelieveable!!     10 color with a big green
chatterstick, DW WD's in copper watermelon and buffalo bill of the 50-60 riggs; a couple on a big watermelon
harness on the slide at 160; a couple on the chicken wing DW SS; 145 no ring and the MOJO DW SS on a big
slide, mag ring, 125.  AWESOME!!

    
                                                     
 

Well, fished the 2009 Conservation Club Tournament this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Its a
100 boat field, 3 man teams, and you can weigh up to 3 walleye per day.

First day, there are only 2 of us on board, so we opt to take a long looping run out to the border.  Blank
screen, so we basically just point her at Dunkirk Harbor, and start to troll back (some 12 miles).  Nothing
good on the graph, but around 10:30 we pop 3 quick ones.  2 are good size, but one is just a "candy bar"
so we need one more.  10 color leadcore, and a 75 rigger with a Dreamweaver WD spoon.  Hours go
by with nothing, then the rigger goes again...big fish..we figure 9lbs....beautiful!  Box 2 m ore is short
order...so we are off the weigh station....    Turns out we have one of the better boxes of the day, and end
up in 3rd place, only 2lbs out of first!!  Despite our success, reports are generally poor, and some 25
boats of the 100 boat field don't even weigh in....

Then comes Saturday...full of high expectations...and it turns out to be one of our worst days on the lake
EVER!  One Lake trout and a handful of junkers....and we are not alone as report after report on the radio
is bad.  We probably put 50 miles on the boat today, moving to find fish.  We slid to 15th, but were only 7lbs
out of 2nd going into day 3....

Sunday is a short day...have to be in line at the station by 1, and one of our crew has to work 'till 7:30....so
he shows up and we decide to take a 12 mile run west in 2 footers (and building).   End up popping 2
small ones in the last 45 minutes...make the long run back to Dunkirk in 4-5 foot waves.  Due to the
waves, weather and fishing, 69 teams did not weigh in today.

We ended up in 17th place over (our 3rd top 20 finish in 5 years!) and also boxed the 15th heaviest
fish for the tournament, and got the largest fish on a Dreamweaver spoon on Friday!  Twenty teams
did not weigh in a fish for the tournament, which makes our effort a bit more satisfying.

The picture below (left) is our best fish from Friday and below (right) is our 3rd place Friday box.