Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Report, May, 2010

Lake Ontario salmon fishing on May, 7, 2010..., Lori got the best of this big boy!

Yes, if you’re wondering and haven’t been out fishing for them, there are some kings and cohos around outside Oswego Harbor.  So far, the numbers haven’t been big, but the size has.

Steve Farrell caught the first one, about 20 lbs.,  of the 2010 season aboard the Fish Doctor on the morning of May 4.    It came on a “Casper” flasher/fly fished on a clear Dipsy on a 7′ roller Dipsy rod.  Another king about the same size was also boated that morning along with browns and lakers.   The second king hit a black venom Mauler.

On May 6, Jethro Pease, Ben, Jason, and Jim  took two more kings along with browns, lakers, cohos and Atlantics.  Riggers, Dipsys, and copper all produced fish, but the two kings came on a thumper rod with a chrome glow dodger and purple/silver fly with a glow sardine insert. 

Then, on May 7, it was Colby Classic grand prize winner Steve LaDue’s friend, Lori, who put the biggest king of the season in the net.  Lori’s fish weighed 22.5 lbs. and hit an NK 28 Diehard at 65 feet on a rigger.  Steve, Lorie, Jay, and Joe also boated some cohos on spoons and flies out in the depths.  They were feeding on yearling alewives and smelt in the top 30 fow.

Not a lot of kings out there, but some nice ones…, enough to make things interesting if you’re entered in one of the derbies!

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing - May Kings

Since 2004, spring fishing for king salmon, just 5 minutes outside Oswego Harbor, has been fantastic most years.  Just in the month of May anglers aboard my charter boat have boated up to 201 kings and 156 cohos, in the best of Mays.  The kings in varying abundance are always around in May, but the crazy cohos are more hit and miss.  In 2004, my anglers did not boat a single coho in May, but boated 150+ in May the very next year…, go figure!    This, in an area much better known for spring brown trout fishing.  When I first located these May kings in 2004, just outside Oswego Harbor, not one other boat was fishing for them.  The spring type fishery for these sleek, early season chromers continues on thru June, until the kings disperse. 

Experience has taught me that high spring flow in the Oswego River is a major attraction for baitfish and spring kings and cohos.  Since 2001, another great year for spring kings, the pattern seems clear, high flows produce hot spring salmon fishing.  Soo…, huge dumps of lake effect snow in central New York and the Finger Lakes are a kind of a love-hate thing.  You hate to move it during the winter, but you love it when high runoff in the Oswego River sucks in May kings.

Some springs, the Oswego River flows at close to 25,000 cfs, almost twice the normal flow for this time of year.   Laden with nutrients from thousands of acres of rich farmland in the Finger Lakes watershed, the huge greenish colored plume of water off Oswego Harbor is like an oasis in the Sahara to fish in eastern Lake Ontario.  It’s a magnet for both baitfish and predators like browns, cohos, and rainbows, but especially aggressively feeding spring kings.  Some years, the spring king fishing extends out from the Oswego area east into Mexico Bay, but most years the bullseye for eastern Lake Ontario king anglers is the 2-4 mile zone, just east of Oswego Harbor.

When it comes to cashing in on this super spring king fishing on a typical sunny May day, you should remember the number one rule of May salmon fishing…,  the early bird definitely gets the worm.  Leaving the dock at Oswego Marina at 5:00 AM, it’s only a short 5-minute boat ride for me to the fishing grounds in give or take 90 to 100 feet of water.  Most mornings I try to have my rods in the water just before daybreak.  At that time, almost no fish or bait can be seen on my 10” color Sitex video fish finder deeper than 30 feet.  This is one of the main reasons the May king salmon fishery was overlooked by anglers.

Some calm mornings at first light, salmon can be seen porpoising right on the surface…, exciting.  All the early morning action is in the top 30 feet of water, and I mean action.  Triples and quads are not unusual.  One morning, my crew of three,   ranging from 79 to 85 years old, including one lady angler, hooked and landed six kings at once from 13 - 19 lbs.  Whew!

  Even though the surface water temperature in early May is 39-40 degrees, on  sunny days, kings start to move deep by 7:00 -9:00 AM and are often flat on bottom in 120 feet of water by late morning, another reason the May king salmon fishery was overlooked.

ProChip Flashers and dodgers trailed by flies are my standard fare for spring kings.  Northern Kings and Michigan Stingers are also excellent spring king medicine.  Although, a standard spread of downriggers, Dipsey Divers, and copper line fished from planer boards get lures down to kings, I’m sure that stickbaits off the boards would catch fish right at the crack of daylight, if you wanted to run them.  The only problem is, once it starts to get light, the kings drop deeper quickly.  My personal favorite in May is a white ProChip 8 trailed by a blue pearl/glow fly, whenever I’m dealing with low to moderate light levels.  The Diehard NK28,  black alewife Stinger, blue dolphin Silver Streak, and other standard spoons are some of my favorites.   Copper off the boards is a killer!

Four king salmon at once in early May just out of Oswego Harbor!

One thing for sure…, you don’t need long rigger setbacks to catch May kings in early morning.  My anglers have boated hundreds that were caught on riggers, 25-30 feet down and only 12’ back.  As light levels rise, though, longer setbacks often fish better.  The same is true for wire Dipseys which on my boat are fishing on 40’ of wire, #3 setting, just as it starts to crack daylight.  One of my hottest early morning rigs is a thumper rod with a 10 oz. ball on 80’ of wire with a dodger/fly.   I start the morning with two copper lines fishing from each megaboard, the outer one with 100’ of copper and a spoon, and the inner one with 200’ of copper and a ProChip/fly. 

Although it is the green water plume of the Oswego River and the bait it holds that sucks in May kings to the Oswego area, the kings aren’t always located in the plume, especially early in May, when kings first move into the Oswego area from the main lake and the surface water temp is around 39-41 degrees.  You’ll often find them at this time just outside the plume in the gin clear water.  If you don’t find them there, move in shallower.  One year, 2008, we caught over half our early May kings right in the plume, just outside the harbor in 50-75 fow.  Why?  Only the kings can tell you that. 

One thing that I can tell you…, speed is critical, and the frigid 40 degree water of early May is no time for speed trolling, another reason why anglers overlooked May kings.  Many of the early May kings caught aboard my boat have been taken at trolling speeds less than 2.0 mph.

Oh, yeah, and there is a secret for precisely pin pointing the exact location of early spring kings, but I’ll leave that for a later blog.

See you on the water. 

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Tips - Spring Cohos

Coho salmon are an early spring bonus in inshore waters of  Lake Ontario, and are often found around Oswego Harbor in the same water as brown trout.   Nothing compares to their wild and wooly antics when hooked close to the boat.  Absolutely fearless of boats, and very surface oriented, I’ve seen them hit lures many times that were in full view, less than 6’ behind a down rigger weight and not more than one foot below the surface.  The wilder and noisier the action of a lure and the gaudier the color, the more cohos like it.  As they say, cohos like any colored lure as long as it has fluorescent red or orange in it.  When you find a “wolf pack” of marauding spring cohos, prepare for action, because it’s not unusual for  every single rod you have in the water to double over with a fish on it.

Cohos are hyper fish.  Everything they do is fast including the rate at which they grow.  The cohos that make up Lake Ontario’s spring fishery are 2-year old fish that weigh 3-5 lbs.  By late August of the same year, when they stage before returning to the hatchery in the headwaters of the Big Salmon river in northern Oswego Co., they will weigh 6-12 lbs. and more.   After spawning, adult cohos will die like all Pacific salmon. 

Unlike Chinook salmon that migrate back to the lake from spawning streams as 3-5 month old spring fingerlings, young cohos remain in spawning streams in rearing areas for more than a year.  To mimic this behavior, the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation stocks 3”-4” chinook salmon at the spring fingerling stage and 5”-7” cohos at the yearling stage.

One of the favorite rigs for spring cohos is a fluorescent red #00 dodger trailed 12” – 14” back by a small 1” – 2 ½” green mylar fly.  Companies like Howie’s Tackle(www.howiestackle.com) manufacture these smaller coho flies.  The smaller dodgers are effective trolled shallow on downriggers and Dipsy divers.  The icing on the cake for any spring coho spread is a set of #00 dodgers and coho flies behind inline planer boards like the Church TX-12 Mini Planer(www.churchtackle.com) off each side of the boat.  . 

To rig dodgers and flies for trolling behind inline planers, use 6’ of 20# test leader ahead of the dodger.  Between the leader and the main line snap in a 5/8 to 7/8 ounce bead chain keel sinker.  This weighted keel sinker helps keep the dodger from planing to the surface.  Set the dodger/fly back 25 to70 feet behind the inline planer board, and let the planer board out to the side of the boat the desired distance.  Multiple inline planers can be used off each side of the boat.  High action jointed plugs like the J-9 orange and gold Rapala are favorites, along with standard size Michigan Stingers in hot colors, especially in a combination of fluorescent red and silver or brass.

Riggers are normally set in the top 10 feet of water when surface temperatures are cold in late March, and April, then set deeper as temperatures warm and cohos move offshore.  Much like landlocked salmon, cohos are attracted to the boat, and downrigger setbacks of  6 to 20 feet are common.  My side riggers are set 3 to 5 feet down and 10 to 12 feet back with the dodger fly clearly visible from the boat as it wobbles back and forth.  Diving planers are set on 15 to 25 feet of line.  A trolling speed of 2.0 to 3.0 mph is about right depending on water temperature.  When a coho hits close to the boat, you usually see the fish in the air before you see the rod go!

Interestingly, the one salmonid species that likes dodgers and flies almost as much as a coho is the landlocked salmon. 

Capt. Ernie Lantiegne has operated a charter fishing business on Lake Ontario for trout and salmon for 27 years.  He also worked as a fishery biologist/manager for the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation for 22 years. 

Lake Ontario Brown Trout Fishing Tips from the Fish Doctor

Here’s a simple lure color selector  that will help you catch more spring browns, and it probably won’t cost you more than 10 cents, if you happen to have a spray can of fluorescent paint around.

Fishing Lake Ontario for spring brown trout can be a challenge at times, especially when it comes to lure color selection.   Variable water color and turbidity complicate the matter even more.  Your favorite spoon or stickbait may be deadly, but if you don’t have the right color in the water, you’ll probably end up going home with a nice clean cooler.

There are some basic recipes for lure color selection based on water clarity, which generally revolve around the rule of thumb…, natural colors like silver, black/silver, black/gray, Tenessee shad, and others in clear water, and lures with more color, with some chartreuse, green, or fluorescent orange in the color pattern, in more turbid the water.  The more turbidity and less visibility, the more color, until you reach near solid chartreuse or orange colors.

That’s fine, if you can figure out exactly what the turbidity is.  If you’re fishing the mouth of a large river like the Oswego, where I do much of my brown trout fishing, the water is commonly turbid or colored most of the time.  If it has been dry and river flow is low, the water in the plume of the river mouth is fairly clear.  If it has been rainy or there is a lot of snow melt, flow is high and the water color can be quite muddy.

Look over the side of the boat on a clear, sunny day with a slight ripple on the lake surface, and the color of the water on an average day might not seem too turbid.   An hour later on the same day, with no actual change in the water color, under overcast skies and a glassy surface, the water will probably look more turbid to you.  Sometimes, it’s just difficult to eyeball this and figure out exactly what the conditions are.

To make life easier(MLE) for myself, and make my lure color selection more effective when I’m fishing spring brown trout, I paint one of the five 6 lb. cannonballs I use on my riggers in the spring fluorescent red.  This give me a water turbidity indicator when I lower it down in the water and check my depth indicator on the rigger when the brightly colored ball disappears from sight.  I call it my COLOR-SEELECTOR.

I have my favorite color patterns, just like you do, and have developed my spring brown trout color selection formula around a combination of what I see with my COLOR-SEELECTOR, overhead light conditions, and what the fish tell me after I put lures in the water.  If my COLOR-SEELECTOR READS(fl. ball disappears) 6-8 feet, and it’s moderately overcast,  I’m going to fish my favorite silver/blue Flutterdevle.  If it reads 3-5 feet, I’m going to fish a silver/blue/green Two-Tone Flutterdevle. 

It works for me, and for 10 cents, how can you go wrong?  The bonus…, if there are any cohos around, they love to snuggle right up close to that red ball and hammer a brightly colored spoon or plug 3 or 4 feet behind it!

A fluorescent red 6 lb. cannon ball, the perfect Color-Seelector for spring Ontario brown trout

Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Fishing Tips from the Fish Doctor

MLE(Make Life Easy) Tips from Fish Doctor Charters

There is nothing a charter fishing captain who fishes two trips a day, day after day in all kinds of weather and conditions likes any more than something that MAKES LIFE EASIER(MLE)!  Over the years, I personally have discovered some of these MLE items, and thought some MLE tips might help you as well.

As I look toward the beginning of the 2010 charter fishing season that will begin in early April in and around Oswego Harbor fishing for browns and cohos, one of the first things that makes life easier for me when I’m trolling shallow, say less than 30’ deep,  is 6 lb. downrigger weights.

It may not sound like much, but the difference between using 6 lb. and 10-12 lb. downrigger weights when you’re fishing up to two trips day after day is huge.  It’s huge as far as saving energy, and it’s even huger when it comes to reducing wear and tear on your body and equipment.

Here’s the deal.  Most anglers use the same 10 or 12 lb. rigger weights all season, whether they’re fishing shallow or deep.  However, there is actually no need for the heavier rigger weight when you’re fishing shallow, especially at early spring brown trout depths or offshore spring steelhead depths shallower than 10-15 feet.  The lighter rigger weights work fine with minimal blowback.

If you’re using downriggers mounted either astern or abeam with booms long enough to require a retro-ease, which is used to pull the weight close enough for rigging, there is a huge difference between pulling a light rigger weight and a heavier weight to the boat.  If you’re using a heavy weight, you have to grab on to the retro-ease line firmly with your full hand, pull it to the boat, and lock it in place with the chock.  It takes some “umphh”!  When you get it locked in place, if the water is rough, you all know what happens.  The weight starts to rock and roll, putting a lot of stress on your retro-ease line, downrigger boom, rigger cable, terminal snap, etc., etc.  Put too much stress on the cable connection to the weight too many times, and you hear the dreaded splash as the cable breaks and the weight heads for bottom.  Been there, done that, eh?

Now, with the lighter 6 lb. MLE weights,  you grasp the retro-ease line with a couple of fingers, easily pull the light weight to the boat and lock it in the chock.  When it’s rough, the little weight bobs around a bit, but doesn’t put much stress on your gear.

There is a HUGE difference handling 6 vs. 12 lb. rigger weights.

2009 Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing - Lessons Learned, 10/10/09

An 11" ProChip and Familiar Bite whole bait were this king salmon's undoing

You’re never too old to learn, and even though I’ve fished Lake Ontario for trout and salmon since 1977, and operated a charter fishing business on this great fishing lake since 1982, my learning curve peaked in ‘09.  Part of the reason…, I force myself to not get in a rut, and to stay as far out as I can on the edge of the developement of new Great Lakes trolling techniques and the refinement of old ones.

One thing I learned in ‘09…, 11″ flashers like Pro-Troll’s ProChips and HotChips trailed by flies and Familiar Bite whole bait are deadly for  king and coho salmon.  Luhr Jensen’s magnum dipsy divers are an essential part of my 11″ flasher program.  These magnum divers will take big flashers way downnnnn to depths.  For example, on the #3 setting a mag dipsy on 225′ of wire will fish down 90′, depending on trolling speed, current/trolling direction, etc.

The same flasher on a standard size LJ Dipsy will fish down maybe 60 t0 70 feet.

One of the bonuses for those fishing mag dipsys along with copper…, the sharp downward angle of your wire on the Dipsy rod is far less likely to tangle with copper coming in and out…, HUGE!