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 Report, August 25

Paul Collis with a hefty king salmon that hit a fly trailing a ProChip 11

When you’re aboard the Fish Doctor salmon fishing in Lake Ontario, you’ll notice one thing…, 11″ ProTroll flashers and Fish Doctor Sushi Flies rule in late August and early September.

One of the reasons…, big flashers catch bigggg staged kings.    With a $20,000 LOC Derby grand prize up for grabs thru September 7,  biggg kings are where it’s at!

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Report, August 12, 2009.

Lake Ontario salmon fishing has had it’s ups and downs in the past week since August, 6, 2009.

If you had been onboard the Fish Doctor on August 6 with the Huttner party, you would have thought you were in salmon heaven.  With kings scattering in the 140t0 160 foot area west of Oswego where Capt. Ernie had been fishing the previous three days, it was time to do something different.  Shortly after departing the dock at 5:00 AM, the Fish

This Lake Ontario salmon made Ron work up a sweat when it hit a Prochip flasher and fly on 500 feet of copper

Doctor was on plane headed northwest of Oswego Harbor to deep water in search of bait, kings, and steelhead.  With the fish finder basically void of any fish marks after a 20 minute ride, the Huttner crew was on the verge of mutiny.  But as we approached 500 feet of water, the 10″color Sitex lit up with the marks of alewife schools, kings, and steelhead.  A few hours later, with a limit catch of kings and steelhead in the coolers, the Fish Doctor was headed back to Port. 

After three days of good fishing in deep water, the bait and kings scattered and it was back to hunting mode.  On August 11, the Norris party from Maine found themselves in king salmon heaven once again, with good numbers of kings in 130 feet of water.  Jessica, Ron, and Jeremy caught some dandies that day.  Anxious to return to the same area, the crew was surprised that the fish were gone, with a tally for the first couple hours of fishing of 0 for 2.  A catch of browns up to 9 lbs. and a 14 lb. laker saved the day.

The king salmon fishing the past week?  Definitely a riches or rags deal.  When will the mother lode show up???

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Report, July 22, 2009

Lake Ontario salmon fishing in July, 2009.

Salmon fishing charters on Lake Ontario do not get much better than they were yesterday,  on July 22, 2009.  It was a double charter day for Fish Doctor charters with Mike, Carl, and Carl’s two son’s, Caleb and Collin in the morning.   Then a “special” 6-hour charter with 80-year old, Marcia Carlson, former member of the NRA board of directors, and her fishing buddies, Gary and Gary, Jr.

The weather was gorgeous, flat calm and overcast in the morning and just as flat in early afternoon.  Later in the afternoon, a mild NE wind acting as a perfect air conditioner…., real comfy.

It didn’t take long to find the king salmon in 170 feet of water in the morning, then deeper in 350 feet of water later.    The calm weather has resulted in a rising thermocline, with cool water at and below about 100 feet.  The biggest king, a 25-pounder was a long haul on an NK28 “Spook” on 500′ of copper.  The only steelhead of the trip, a 10-pounder, came on a Purple Thunder Mauler.    “Way Low”(white/double glow) flashers and a white fly, NK28 “Spooks”, and green/glow green ProChip 8s.  Were the best items in the morning.

In the afternoon, before we could get our second rigger in the water, the action started with a lake trout, then switched to steady action with kings.  With no more room in the cooler which was stuffed with 23-27 lb. kings, our crew decided to call it quits early.  Before we reached the dock, Capt. Ernie had their catch fileted and packaged for them.

The hot items in the afternoon were “Late Riser” ProChip 8s with a Pretty Jane fly, NK28 Spooks,  Michigan Stinger Sting Rays in the Mongoose pattern, and mag MI Stingers in the Maui Wowee.

Preparing for a Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Charter

Terry, with a 25 lb. king he boated in 6-footers on July 18

It’s not always calm on Lake Ontario when you’re out on a salmon fishing charter, and that’s been particularly true the past few days in July.  On July 17, when Dan Walter and his crew headed out of Oswego Harbor, everyone had prepared for the trip by taking Dramamine, and despite an early morning chip of about  2 feet,  the entire crew enjoyed some great salmon fishing with no seas sickness.

On July 18, it was a different story when Terry and his buddies from the Newport Social Order of Owls(really!) fished aboard the Fish Doctor.    With seas up to 6 feet and bigger, none of the group took Dramamine, and one of the group was sea sick most of the trip, spoiling his first outing for Lake Ontario salmon, despite a catch of nice kings.   Ditto for the following day with early morning seas in the 3′ - 5′ category, one seasick sailor, and an abbreviated trip, with salmon and steelhead hitting as we pulled our lines.

The moral of this story…, prepare for you Lake Ontario salmon fishing trip.  Products like Dramamine and Bonine avoid the problem.

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Report - July 17

Lake Ontario fishing charters are enjoying some of the best salmon fishing of the charter fishing season right now out of Oswego Harbor.  Just ask Dan Walters and his wife Laurie, who fished aboard the Fish Doctor on July 17 with sons Tyler and Zack, and they’ll tell you they caught some beautiful chrome silver kings up to 20+ lbs, plus a nice laker.  The kings they caught were really putting on the feed bag, crammed right full of adult alewives, with a pot belly to prove it.

It took some patience and persistence, but once we found them in 200 to 4oo feet of water, the action was hot and heavy.  Green ProChips with baited glow green Sushi Flies were the hot item, along with an Oak Orchard favorite, the 42nd spoon.

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing was hot and heavy aboard the Fish Doctor off Oswego on July 17, 2009

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing - Deepwater Kings

Salmon fishing on Lake Ontario with Fish Doctor Charters on 7/7/09, nice one Mike!

If you’re thinking about salmon fishing in Lake Ontario, especially the Oswego area,  you’ll be interested in this July 6 Fish Doctor Report.  Recent northwest winds over the past weekend, July 4 and 5,  pushed the cold water into the depths and the king salmon with it.   On the morning of July 6, shortly after leaving the dock at 5:00 AM I dropped a Penn rigger with a Fish Hawk X-4 probe on it into the murky depths.  Matt Spiles relayed back the critical info from the helm…, 58 degrees at 140 feet.

Within 15 minutes, the chrome/silver prism dodger and aqua fly we had set on the #1 rigger fired 15′ back, 140 feet down.  The same dodger/fly would fire 5 more times before the trip was over.  We caught kings on the riggers as deep as 160 feet.  A 600 foot section of copper fished from a megaboard was also effective.  We saw schools of alewives on the fish finder 115 - 125 feet down in up to 307 fow.

Sooo…,  at least for now, if you’re fishing in the Oswego area, think about starting no shallower than 170 fow.  If you’re fishing Mexico Bay, further to the east, I’m guessing the cold water was pushed down even deeper.

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing Revs up in July

A double on salmon and brown trout

There’s no question about it, July is our favorite month to fish Lake Ontario.  Why?  Well, because it’s the easiest month of the year to locate kings, steelhead, browns, and lakers, all concentrated in an below the thermocline, usually deeper than 70 feet.  Remove the top 70 feet of 10,000 square mile L.Ontario, and cold water loving trout and salmon definitely are more concentrated.

Add to this the fact that trout and salmon in midsummer are feeding actively…, gorging on alewives and smelt.  Later, by midAugust, both browns and adult king salmon start thinking about spawning, and it’s not unusual to see fish with rock hard stomachs that haven’t fed in some time.

Add to this beautiful midsummer weather and you’ve got a winner!

July, 2009, is no exception.  In late June, alewives that had just finished spawning were moving back offshore and concentrated in 60 to 90 feet of water.  With a thermocline starting  to form about 75 feet down, king salmon were starting to bunch up just outside the alewife schools in 90 to 180 feet of water.  On June 29 and 30, Rudy Heirling, Beau Roskow, and their fishing buddies George and Bruce, got a taste of the fishing to come in July, boating some nice lakers, and kings.  On July 2nd, kings up to 18 lbs. a steelhead, a coho, and some browns, all made up a nice multispecies catch, typical of the month of July.