By September standards and a recent dry period the salmon action is pretty good. We are in the midst of some daily lite – med NE or E winds which has turned the near shore Lake Ontario waters cool. Those winds are forecast thru most of this week with mostly sunny skies and continued no precipitation. If we are seeing a slight lull in migrations its probably because the first movement of Kings from the start of those NE/E winds has spread out thru the Oak and now most recently fish are moving upstream in smaller numbers with as many or more pushed back off shore from the colder near shore waters.
After a somewhat wet summer this so far early Fall period has turned a little dry so we can be thankful for the Erie Canal water feed like in the Oak and Sandy that is keeping those waterways at good fishable flows and allowing migrations. At Point Breeze the pier casters are doing good with the typical larger size glow spoons at night and plugs and spoons during daylight. Good number of hook-ups reported end of the past weekend and as recent as this morning. Theres’s been browns hooked too along with the salmon. Mostly rec trollers and anchored up or drifting casters are also in on the 10 – 20 fow action around the Rivermouth. Boaters and casters will look for winds to make nice water color but not too much that makes for crashing waves or rollers. So far I’ve seen med numbers of fish in the downriver staging spots like at the Bridges with a handful seen crashing around at dusk last night. Still plenty of river between there and upstream fast water that only a few people will lay eyes on so no doubt there are fish spread out there too. At the dam there’s been med to steady action with not a crush of people just yet. All the fish there have come thru the downstream fast water strethes at some point but we have not heard much yet from the drifters and swingers from that stretch of water like around the Archers Club. Nice weather, fishable flows, salmon present from the Rivermouth to the dam, a few browns mixed in, so far just med angling pressure and lots of good fishing yet ahead – what could be better for the start of the tributary fishing action?!
Where do you want to catch a King? Open Lake or tributary? In the lake, the staging fish are not quite into the combat fishing zone of 20 fow, they are still out a little deeper. Trollers are primarily working the 60 - 80+ fow for mature fish. On trusted report though, there were a few salmon crashing around the rivermouth for the beginning part of this week. Look for a few of those fish to sneak into and up the Oak Orchard River with as many or more heading back out to deeper lake water until there might be some wind and wave action for stained water cover to make them feel comfortable to shoot upstream. In the Oak Orchard River, there are a few Kings at the dam where dead drifts with skein are mostly producing. And, at the rivermouth the hook-ups are still coming after a lot of casts, but hopefully getting better each day when cool weather hangs in. Any warm up and dry weather will tend to stall the action.
For the tributary action kicking off, look for rivermouth and downriver action first followed by later-on upstream fast water action. Consistent cool weather and good water flows are usually the ticket for things to get going. We already have half of that equation working favorably for us with "extra" Erie Canal water feed being released into Oak Orchard and Sandy Creek. Click here for scheduled water releases from the Canal.
Shane S. (below) got a hard strike and good battle from his King from the east pier this past weekend. He was casting a perch or firetiger jointed rapala. Earlier, the whole crew of Becky S, Butch M. and Corrina M. were out on the Troutman2 and had a good haul! They had a great time staying at the "Sunshine House," visited several local produce stands and eateries. They say they will be back for sure!
Captain Lou Borrelli from Get the Net Charters was out in that 60 - 80 fow range this past weekend for the last trip of the season. "There were tons of bait and fish from Bald Eagle Marina to the glass house. The bite was hot early in the morning with mature Kings and a good class of brown trout. Glow spoons and glow heads on meat rigs was the ticket."
Everyday angling pressure is falling off some around the Orleans County waters. This is a result of some charters beginning to pull for the season and a bit of a lull between the open Lake anglers and soon to come tributary pursuits. If any consistent staging action like around the wall at the Oak Orchard Rivermouth comes on we may see a perk up in the trolling action. Some landlubbers on the piers are already casting for those first few Kings early or late in the day or at night and have so far found just a few hits. Anytime now especially with a bit of a cool down and chance for NW winds for this mid and end week the rivermouth action could heat up. Then we'll look to see if any concentrations of fish move in and stage like in the lower river holding spots. So much depends upon the weather and more consistent cooler weather or a spate of water.
In the Lake the 60 - 80 fow and for others the 80 - 100 fow continues to be productive for mature Kings in the 12 - 25 lb range. And some boaters are still opting for the offshore action and are finding some Kings and steelhead out there. According to Captain J. Oravec (CJO) straight off the port to 6 miles east off the Little Flats trolling flashers/flies and cut bait rigs off riggers and wire dipseys has been productive. Both the charters and rec anglers have been doing well. There's been some outstanding bonus fish like a 15 lb steelhead, browns up to 14 lbs and some Atlantics sprinkled in. CJO has had one of his best years for numbers of good Atlantics hooked. "There's been lots of fun times off the Oak! The spoon bite has been key! Keep an eye out for rainy weather Kings ready to move into the shallows and the pier head casting soon to start up."
Stay tuned for fall, winter, spring tributary action for Kings, cohos, browns, Atlantics and steelhead!
The John Cook "Old Timer" final leg of the KOTO (King of the Oak) took place this past weekend and congrats to Capt. Mike Grager for his 2023 top finish. Capt. Bob Stevens of Sunrise II took first place in the final round. Lots of other trollers were out and about too for the holiday weekend and their last chances for the Fall LOC Derby. Also wrapping up derby fever was the high dollar Big Boys Tourney.
Although derby time is behind us, there's still lots of good open Lake action likely through September. And thanks to a return to warm, if not hot and calm weather for this week you can bet the off-shore action will be hanging in with the nearer shore stuff sliding out a little. Maybe those ornery bottom hugging staging Kings will just hunker down with their bellies deeper in the mud! Mud sharks!
Look for the hot weather to hang in through the mid and end of week with a cool down and chance of storms end of week and weekend. Look for chance of NE winds and cooling near shore waters after that.
Here's a couple of reports from the past weekend... Limit catches or close to limit catches and mostly full coolers were the norm evidenced by the pics below.
Local anglers aboard the Shotgun boat were 10 for 12 on King salmon. Their pattern was spin doctors/flies or cut bait in 75 - 130 fow a couple miles east of port.
Capt. Lou Borelli aboard Get the Net worked 110 - 115 fow from the glass house to the flats. Lots of bait and active fish and any color as long as it was white was good. A white paddle with GRC glo ghost meat rig was their MVP. With a brighter sun spoons started working like the Warrior Lures black pearl. In the evening it was back to the same water if not a little deeper where they found big fish and also dropped a fair number of big matures.
