Trollers are in a search-and-find mode as we find ourselves in a bit of the summer doldrums that we somehow missed out on so far this season. Anglers are finding lots of warm water unless heading offshore to more stable depths. Gone for now is the fish and bait inviting cool inside water. Alas, though, the hot weather and flat seas are forecast to change around this mid week with chance of winds turning east and cooler temps and precipitation. The fishing may be a little tougher compared to how off-the-charts good it was earlier, but plenty of anglers are still coming in with nice catches of Kings, steelhead and browns. Signs are afoot already that the cooler water is moving back in. Big mature staging salmon shouldn't be far behind!
Doug, Sandy and Ed from Clearfield and Mercer, PA found some action from their nicely trimmed Arima. They trolled east and west of harbor in 225 - 250 fow running their spread at 90 - 100 ft down. The bigger fish came on the downriggers, a mag raspberry super glow carbon was the best lure.
Paige and Scott took advantage of the secure transient dockage at the Orleans County Marine Park and spent some long days on the water to make it productive. Their persistence paid off with Kings, steelhead and browns. First they worked 100 fow for browns with spoons on riggers. Then they pulled stakes and headed out to 550 - 600 fow and got into some nice steelhead and Kings on flasher flies and meat rigs down 80 - 110 ft.
Capt. Lou Borrelli from Get the Net Charters says "the fishing can be a grind on the inside 80 - 100 fow off Bald Eagle. There are mature salmon there but they seem to have lockjaw. Offshore has been the most consistent with a mix of steelhead and teenage salmon anywhere from the 29N to 32N line. This past weekend we found a good pocket of fish in 270 - 300 fow off the glass house."
The weather, wind and subsequent Lake Ontario conditions has been changeable lately, especially the inside water. Fishing pressure out of Point Breeze lately seems quite manageable - any given day finds a few rec boats out and then a nearly full parking lot for the weekends. Charters are busily running - many seeing the high point of their season. Do check their schedules though, you might find a cancellation or half day available. Look for likely increasing trolling traffic now that the big money Fall LOC Derby has started and as we head toward the Labor Day holiday. Bit of a cool down right now after more rains this past weekend and beginning of the week. North winds yesterday and NW winds today with a small craft advisory keeping prudent mariners in port. Near shore water temps could possibly cool down making for more hospitable conditions for staging fish. A few offshore fish are showing signs of darkening but Kings still seem to be feeding regularly. A few pier casters look to be awaiting that first jarring strike of the late summer/early fall period.
Because of the changeable conditions, most trollers have been headed offshore to the 600 fow range. But Capt. Matt A. of Finnatic Charters has hung in on the "ledge" to the east trying for a derby brown or King. He's boating a few good brown trout each outing waiting to crack the 10 lb mark. He took some browns working J-plugs for salmon.
Capt. Rick Hajecki of Crazy Yankee Sportfishing has been offshore around 8 miles at the 30 line working 65 - 90 ft down mostly on a spoon program. Check out his YouTube channel for more info.
Capt. Bob Stevens of Sunrise II Charters has seen some smaller mature fish and is thinking the latest wind could bring some of those first run fish around closer to the Oak. He'll be back after them with the hopefully good stretch of stable weather ahead of us through this weekend.
There's still plenty of good open Lake days ahead so come on out to the Orleans County waters and make your memories for some of the biggest fish of the season. Take the good weather when you can get it and look forward to the wade and cast and drift tributary season soon to be upon us too!
Well, the stable summer weather and mostly bluebird days have changed for now. There's been some swings in wind direction especially through last week that created some challenging trolling conditions off the Oak. The area got a good dose of east winds that was probably overdue. Maybe its better that happened now instead of later summer or early fall when we might expect more fish to be staged nearshore off the Oak. Then those east winds of last week were followed up by strong prevailing westerly winds that kept most of the fleet of charters and recs grounded for the past weekend. Boaters are getting back out there now though and the weather ahead through the week looks fishable and then chance of precipitation or storms again for the upcoming weekend.
According to Captain Mike Grager of Get Hooked Charters "last Friday the Lake almost flipped and most guys fished off shore for steelhead and younger salmon. Then a few guys tried it for a short while only on Saturday. We will get back out there the beginning of this week. The water temp at the buoy after the west winds came back was 71°F top to bottom."
Meanwhile ever intrepid Capt. John Oravec of Tightlines Charters was using "spring surface tactics in the cold water netting chinook, brown trout and steelhead from the piers to 30 fow. At the same time Capt. Jon Forder of Mister Charters found medium salmon 45 - 60 ft down over 400 fow off Johnson Creek. He was using a mix of cut bait, flasher flies and Dreamweaver mag spoons. Several other Oak Orchard captains and OH rec boats were scoring Kings and steelhead in 300 - 400 fow. Capt John O. has been landing some early ledge staging salmon in 85 - 105 fow from the Little Flats to Devils Nose. The best has been flasher/flies off wire dipseys."
The trolling fleet has spread out some lately with some boaters staying on the inside zone out to 200 fow while others are heading toward the "fence." Neither is a bad choice really as the trout and salmon are likewise spread out through the open Lake waters east and west of Point Breeze. Fishing pressure may have eased a bit now that we are in between the Summer and Fall LOC Derbies and before the upcoming Labor Day holiday. August is prime time though for big Kings and most charters and serious recs will be busy. Looks like a break in the heat and humidity is upon us for this mid and end of week. East and NE winds forecast for the mid week has the chance to mix up water temps so be prepared to search out new patterns if that takes place. Water temps have been changeable all season anyway so that's not new info for serious rec and charter anglers!
Capt. Chas Townsend of Searcher Charters has been mostly working the inside water at less then 200 fow. He has the patience and skill to hook up on 7 - 8 big matures in a day and his clients like those odds for big fish! "The water temps change daily but the fish have frequently been coming out of temp. At 60 ft, its 70°F. The fish are getting a little darker too but don't have red bellies from laying on the bottom yet." Fall is approaching though and staging and tributary action is not far off.
Capt. Mike Lavender of Intimidator Charters says "the past couple days were hit or miss. Kings seem to be liking the warm side of the water. Spoons early, glow anything patterns and as the day progresses flasher flies and meat have been productive. Seventy - 120 ft down with tricky currents so don't be afraid to vary speed. The carbon 14 meat rig from Minion Tackle has been rocking them."
August and end of summer means the best and biggest Kings of the open Lake season here in the Orleans County, Lake Ontario waters! We hope we see you tied into a rod bending, reel screaming King soon! Don't forget about fresh chrome steelhead or fat browns, cohos and lakers too!
