Fishing Report: It's Lake Ontario Pro-Am Series Time!

We're just a few days away from our first Pro-Am of the year and I couldn't be more excited. Our Billy V/Krenzer Marine tournament team will be in Wilson fishing the Niagara County Pro-Am from June 4-6, then we'll be in Point Breeze fishing the Orleans County Pro-Am from June 11-13. After that, we have a few weeks off before we head to the East end of the lake for the Oswego County and Wayne County Pro-Am's in July. We're really going to get after it this year and we have aspirations of winning an event and perhaps even coming home with the Challenge Cup when the series is done for the year. It'll take a consistent effort on our part every weekend in order to bring home a championship but our team has worked hard and put in the hours this spring so I have high hopes for us this season.

While we love competing against the best trout and salmon fishermen on the lake and just spending time fishing together as a team in these events, there's more to it than that for us. We love getting our entire crew together for a few weekends every year and we enjoy the camaraderie that we share with our fellow competitors. A big part of the fun is seeing all of the guys back at the dock and sharing stories from the day and just shooting the breeze together. There's a lot of excitement and pride involved in these events, and for me there's no better feeling than coming up on stage for the weigh-in knowing that we have a real good box of fish. Some of my most memorable days on the lake are those when we crushed the fish during a tournament and knew that we had a great box that was going to put us in contention. Conversely, some of my most painful memories are those days when everything went wrong and we just didn't stack up against the rest of the field. There's nothing more frustrating to me than seeing a bunch of other boats with big boxes of fish when our day didn't yield comparable results - that kind of thing eats at me all winter long! But then again, that's what motivates us - we want to win and we're willing to do what it takes in order to do so. Last place just isn't an option for us, so we try to learn as much as we possibly can during these tournaments. Whether it means learning a new technique or untangling the mysteries of a specific piece of water, the Pro-Am's offer its participants plenty of opportunities to improve as fishermen. For my money, one of the best parts of the Pro-Am's is that even though we're trying to beat every boat in the field, most of the guys are still our good friends and at the end of the day we all want to help each other improve. I can't even begin to tell you how much I've learned over the years from our competitors. If you've never fished one of these tournaments before I'd highly recommend it - they truly are a world-class event and the memories and friendships that you'll take away from them will last you a lifetime.

I guess that's about it for now. I need to get back to prepping gear for the weekend. I'll post results after the weekend - win, lose or draw!

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill
Billy V/Krenzer Marine Tournament Team