TEAM SCREAMER WINS 3-In-a-Row at the Big "O"

Team Screamer/ Dave Antenori

Lake Ontario is not only the home of the elusive King Salmon, but also the home of the Screamer Fishing Team. Our 2005 fishing season will be one to remember. In previous years, to win Lake Ontario's Challenge Cup, you had to score the most points by fishing two Pro-Am Tournaments (10 points fish/ l point pound). In 2005 you had to be top point scorer by fishing 3 Pro-Am Tournaments. It all started June 4, 2005 at the Niagara Pro-Am. After fishing the western end of the lake just a month before in the Spring LOC Derby catching more king salmon that we can handle, our team was very excited going into this one. Tournament Day 1, the Screamer Team fell flat on our face. Fishing on the popular Niagara Bar, we managed to land only 3 salmon total for the day. Sitting in 23rd place after day 1 weigh-in we knew putting fish in the net was out #1 priority for day two.

Our first bite and fish in the net on day 2 was a 23.49 lbs. Salmon which really boosted the confidence level high for our team. Nine more bites would follow and eight more kings in the net would give us our salmon limit. This nice mess of fish not only ran our Screamer Team up the ladder to 3rd place, but also received the bonus Big Fish Prize and prize for biggest climb in the standings…..Talk about pulling salmon out of a Hat! On July 8th we traveled to the Oswego Pro Am, our home stomping grounds of the Eastern Basin. On Day 1 the Screamer runs 12 miles west in front of our home port of Fair Haven, NY hoping to get on fish. The bites came that day, but getting fish to come to the net was another story. Landing only four fish again put frustrated Screamer low in the standings after Day one weigh-in. Since we've been in the situation before, we knew we had to catch good size fish and lots of them on day 2. Running 12 miles west, back to our day one spot was our team decision. You know the saying "Never leave fish to find fish" except when we returned to our spot the fish were gone. Two bites in only 2 hours prompted our team to make a risky decision. Running 12 miles back east in front of the famous Oswego River with only a few hours until the final weigh in, we managed to put six more salmon in the cooler. Again like the Niagara Pro Am, our team made another dramatic jump in the standings climbing to a 4th place win with 269.93 points. This put us in a 1st Place standing for the prestigious Lake Ontario Challenge Cup Trophy with a combined total of 478.01 points…and one more tournament to go. The final Pro Am Tournament takes us to Sodus Bay. It all came together for us on day one. Getting on fish and putting them in the net is just what we did. Fish after fish is what the fish gods gave us that day leaving us with 9 salmon limit in just a few hours. At the weigh-in we soon realized the fish gods visited other fishing teams that day. A familiar position to be sitting in, but 3rd Place is usually where we are at the final day, not day one. A repeat of what we caught the first day and the envied Lake Cup would be ours to take home to keep for a year. We returned to our "best fish catching waypoint," reminding ourselves once again "never leave fish to find fish." With no wind the night before, we knew the water column would not change much. The last Pro Am day for the season turned out to be the most frustrating of all. Thirty-one bites later and our 9th salmon came to the net with 20 minutes to spare. Our team credits this very active bite to using salmon flies by A-TOM-MIK. This great catch of salmon not only allowed us take the Lake Cup back to Pennsylvania but also gave us the first place Amateur Division for the Wayne County Lake Ontario Pro-Am Tournament. Out Lake Ontario Challenge Cup points totaled 873.72 from all three Pro-Ams. What a great finish for our team, but it was not over yet. A month later we participated in the Second Annual Fair Haven Challenge Tournament consisting of "five fish limit, one day's catch." Our team knew five mature kings was a must in this tournament considering the great salmon season it had been on Lake Ontario. Not traveling far from our home port of Fair Haven, we targeted kings lying on the bottom in "ice water" hoping they would be bigger and our plan worked. Five mature kings later and the 1st place Fair Haven Tournament trophy was ours…the second time in 2 years.

I congratulate the Screamer Fishing Team consisting of my long time friend and fishing partner, Joe Nogick, my father, Frank Antenori, and friends, Tim Vendel, Larry Williams, Pat Genell, Lyndsay Savory and all the great fishermen of Lake Ontario for a fine 2005 Season.