Lake Ontario Fishing Forum Trout Salmon Sport Fishing Charter

Now that the boat is set up for spring, your rod and reels are relined, terminal gear is all in order, as per part 1 on spring browns: Let’s go shopping for the tackle to get these spring time treasures into the boat. There are two lure styles that stand out from April till mid may, stickbaits and spoons. Size does matter! When choosing spoons for spring brownies 2 ½” to 3 ½” predominant. Do not let these smaller sizes scare you; monster browns pound these small offerings. With stickbaits 3 ½” to 4 ½” are the ticket in both regular and jointed body styles.

First we will talk about spoons. The spoon market is flooded with different company’s, styles, colors, and sizes. For this article we will discuss what has worked day in and day out on Lake Ontario. Flutter spoons trolled at slow to moderate speed are very consistent at catching early season browns. For this article, flutter spoon will be defined as any ultra –thin, lite weight spoon. R&R Tackle Company “superlites”, Honeybee, and Eppinger’s #3f evil eyes are three examples and my top producers. Standard spoons such as Northern King c5 or 4d’s, and Silver Streak mini and regular size, hold their own as well. Their weight allows you to run them without added weights off planer boards, this came be deadly at times. Spoon colors. As mentioned before, there are thousands of patterns on the market which work. Here we will touch base just on the color combos that are most consistent day in and day out. Basically three color shades are needed. These are silver, gold, and fluorescents. Below I will list six color combos for each that are my go to choices. My typical silver spoon combos would include the following. Silver/orange stripe, black/silver, blue/silver, green/silver, watermelon, and silver/green glow. Gold colored spoons. Dreamweaver chicken wing, black/gold, gold watermelon, gold/green stripe, gold/green glow, and orange crush gold. For fluorescent color spoons; black/chart, orange, red, lemon/lime, frog, and chameleon all produce. Stickbaits probably account for more spring browns taken than any other lure type combined. These plastic or wooden minnow shaped plugs produce a side to side wobble action that drive spring browns crazy. As with spoon, there are multiple manufactures that market stickbaits. Most company’s offer two basic body styles; regular (straight) and joint, both of which work well. Rebel, Storm thunderstick’s, Rapala, Yo-zuri, and Challenger are the most commonly used. Color choices for stickbaits are as wide as it is with spoons. The color selection is the same for both straight and jointed models. I have cut down on the number of colors in my tackle box to just the top producers. Black/silver, black/gold, firetiger, perch, brown trout, orange, blue, chartreuse, metallic rainbow trout, Billy barrow, red, and green are my dirty dozen color choices. Stickbaits are available in a wide range of diving depths. The majority of your selection should consist of floating/shallow diving models. By this I am referring to those with a maximum diving depth of only a few feet. This will help eliminate snagging bottom when trolling in only a few feet of water with planer boards. A selection of models with diving depths in the 8 to 15 foot range will produce well for suspended or bottom hugging browns, so they too deserve a place in your tackle box. With the above selection of tackle, colors and sizes you will be well prepared to target the excellent early season brown trout fishery that is available on Lake Ontario. Very soon they will be in those shallow water haunts feeding heavily after the long winter. The browns will be there in numbers and ready …..are you ready for them?

Well with about 80 days left to go before the boat goes splash, let’s discuss spring Brown Trout locations. There are a number of factors that come into play when searching for spring Brown Trout. Water depth, temperature, clarity, and fishing pressure are a few things that determine where to fish.

First water depth for these spring time gems. The vast majority of spring time fishing is done in shallow water. Water depths from 4’ out to 50’ can all be productive during April and Early May. Periods of low or first light, low fishing pressure, and colored water means ultra shallow fishing. This calls for them planer boards discussed in part 1 and shallow set riggers. As the sun light increases during mid morning or with pressured fish, moving out a little deeper often is necessary. The Browns tend to move out and down under these conditions. Weighted planer board lines, slide divers and riggers are the ticket now.

Next we will discuss water temperature. Ideal Brown trout temperature range is when you have 52-54 degree water intersecting with the bottom lake structure. In the early to mid spring this situation will be all but impossible to find. So to locate browns in the spring, you need to search for the warmest water possible in a given area. A surface water temperature difference as little as a degree or two can, and usually will, attract fish. I have noticed that action seems to pick up once the lake has warmed up into the low 40’s. Once the water has warmed up to 46 degrees plus, prime spring fishing has begun.

Water temperature varies in an area for a number of reasons. Colored water, sand or rock bottoms, and tributary run offs tend to have warmer water than the surrounding areas. Also look for embayment, river mouths, and warm water discharges. I have seen a 5 to 6 degree difference in water temperature in a few hundred feet, while fishing in these areas.
Clarity of the water is another factor that determines your success. As mentioned in previous parts of this series, Browns are spooky by nature. Clear water is the hardest to fish. Browns will be less spooky in muddy to pea green colored water. Typically pea green or “fishy water” is the most fertile. Its shade of green is produced by the high amount of algae and plankton contain within the water. This in turn draws baitfish and BROWNS. Finding this pea green colored water can be difficult but once found it can be a treasure.
Often times you will encounter transition lines while trolling. These are areas where water changes color, such as muddy to pea green or muddy to clear. Trolling in an “s” pattern or weaving in and out the transition line can be very productive. Also look for “scum lines” and/or current rips on the water surface.

Other things to watch for would include the following. Birds, diving birds are a dead giveaway in locating baitfish. Fleeing baitfish jumping out of the water along the shoreline are hard to see but I have seen this a number of times. Browns will chase minnows; in turn the bait will jump or splash around on the surface. When you see either of these two situations I try to work the area. Try to circle to area rather than troll straight thru. This will pick up the outside fish first, while not spooking the school.

A few closing notes. Shallow trolling in the spring is very productive but poses a few issues. First, before heading into water less than 10’ deep –know the area. Many boulders, pipes and other debris wait on the bottom to rip open your hull or your prop off. Next, also while trolling along the shoreline remember that you and the other fisherman are limited in direction at which they can turn – can’t turn into shore. Third, most everyone will be running long set backs of the riggers and planer boards, as much as 175’. Last but not least planer boards pose two problems, other fishermen’s can be hard to see and while trolling with planer boards out 100’ off both sides of the boat, your turn radius is that of a train.

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