Captain Tony Buffa

Fishing Report #10

05/01/07

To all my Trout Trollers, Stealhead Stalkers, Salmon Slammers, & Walleye Wishers a very redundant hello:

As Yogi Berra might say "If it gets any better it can't"...another day of incredible action on the water. Again we decided to take the long troll from Rice Creek to West Nine Mile Creek and back. During our 5 hour troll we caught somewhere between 40 and 50 Browns/Cohos. The eight rod drill yielded multiple triples and doubles for non stop catching. Conditions couldn't get any better. Temperature is now hovering around 49 degrees Fahrenheit, the stain extends from the shore out to 20 feet, bait fish are on schedule, and trout and salmon are concentrated along the shoreline. It just doesn't get any better!

Here is John Silvaggio, Bob Boehlert, and Bob Fancher turning a Lake Ontario triple play.

Most of the browns weigh between 3 and 5 pounds and the cohos are pushing towards 6. These come from last year's stocking effort which at this point is a testimonial to the barge stocking of browns. This is a fine tuned fishery with dedicated personnel in NYSDEC from top to bottom who have done a masterful job for close to 40 years managing, growing, and promoting one of the finest sport fisheries in the country.

The usual fare got the job done today. Downriggers fished at 5 feet with R&R quarter and half sticks in glo and bright patterns worked well as did Michigan Stingers and NKs. Smithwicks, XPS Bass Pro Lazer Eye floating minnow black/silver and blue/silver were the journeymen on the surface.

Here is Bob Boehlert, Utica, NY, Bob Kluska, Utica, NY, Bob Fancher, Baldwinsville, NY and John Silvaggio, Syracuse,NY with 11 out of the aggregate of fish handled today. This was an ideal day on the water...calm and much warmer than the weekend.

Sat. and Sun I will be chasing "EYES" on Oneida. My hunch is to fish shallow (5 to 20 feet). JIgs dressed with nightcrawlers, floating jig heads adrift with crawlers, even a crankbait tossed here and there and of course my favorite, (the blade bait) AKA a sonor. Last year I found the walleye response to Mustad's "Activate" (a pheromone additive) to be unbelievably productive. It's the trigger you won't have if you don't try it!!! Available at Bass Pro Shops, Auburn, NY. Any prominent structure along the shore adjacent to a tributary will play host to post spawn walleyes.

Have a successful and safe angling experience on the walleye opener.

Until next tide,

cap'n tony