New York Fishing Reports - Lake Ontario (South Shore) Latest Topics

Biting flys

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 23:52:30 +0000

Probably a dumb question, just thinking out loud,,,,, but has anybody tried a thermocell on their boat while fishing to keep the fly's away?

yep i get that there is wind but its really no different than sitting on a deck or in a tree stand when there is a breeze.

Placement, thinking under the canopy, near the helm, that's where everybody sits anyways.

your thoughts on the subject please!

Looking for a little help

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:49:57 +0000

Good morning everyone.
I recently had the outstanding oppurtunity to pick up a Bayliner trophy 2002wa with a 125 outboard on it. It has a kicker motor plate. Which I have placed my kicker on.
with that being said. What’s everyone running for linkage between the two motors?
the main motor has a disconnect like you would see on an air line.
also . Unless it’s off the back of the motors, I’d need something that has a bend in it.
Merc 125 2 stroke, merc 9.9 4 stroke

Cormorant control

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:43:43 +0000

Fished with a friend this morning out of Hughes Marina. The place has been inundated with cormorants. Hundreds of birds in the trees, which are now completely white from their droppings.
When we returned to the dock about 11:00 we noticed a couple dead cormorants in the area near the boat ramp. I noticed two men in shirts with USDA on them. They were picking up brass from 22 shells. They said that they had killed about 100 birds. I saw them take a few more as I watched.

Hope they keep this up.

Sandy yet again

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:02:28 +0000

This morning everything was hidden in some serious fog, so I chose to do some maintenance and cleaning until the fog would burn off. That took to about noon

I finished playing with transducers and the end result is that the 600 watt Airmar is a better choice than the 1kw. The cone on the 600 is wider, which at the depth we work at, is what I need.

Going out to check it , I found that the temperatures went way up. Over 130 feet the surface at 57 and 50 foot down 54.7. I did not look for a thermocline but it might be setting up. Bait was plentyful at 50 down over a hundred feet. In the 2 hours on the water I managed one steelhead and one king, neither of them very big. It was my first steelhead of the year

Mexico/oswego 6/6 6/7

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:29:31 +0000

Launched outa Mexico point launch both days got on water for 9am Saturday and fished west to in front of the twin stacks in Oswego. Nothing but skippers til we got out in front of oz, fished 30-60. Made a turn out deeper and soon as we hit 90fow caught a giant brown on a 50 foot rigger with a stingray spoon, brown was 13 pounds. Stayed on a 90 foot line and proceeded to take another giant on a 300 copper with stingray as well. Hung around in that water til the lake blew up but it was a steady pick of kings and browns in there the whole time. Sunday got a late start but fished 30-50 fow til we got past the plant. Really slow one brown on a 5 color in 40 fow. Headed out deeper on the way back and got one nice king in 120 fow. Soon as we were picking up saw the abs mother load of marks in 90 fow in Mexico bay but didn’t fish them bc we were pretty much reeled up.57 on top 52 down 50 foot or so.

More Sandy

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 01:38:20 +0000

Today was mostly about fine tuning my transducers. ( an Airmar tr258 and a Garmin 56UHD). It meant going back and forth to the public launch from around a hundred feet of water. The Tr258 has a narrow cone, but it is a bit wider than than the TR260, while the 56 seems to do better in shallower water.

Having to run the riggers in the water, without lures made no sense so put a seasick wobbler on one and a bloody nose on the other. For good measure 10 colors went out the back with a Superman. The superman caught a big laker, which I really did not expect. Up to now , the only fish that hit a superman were brown trout. but this week it did 2 lakers.

The wobbler and the bloody nose each did a salmon or two.

The Garmin autopilot is really what makes solo fishing easy. It's pricy, but it makes solo fishing , even in choppy water , very enjoyable.

Legacy Olcott 6/7

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 23:14:38 +0000

Another great day out of Olcott today. 140 to 180 and heavy on the meat. Had our twelve fish limit at 9:30. 157 pound box.

Olcott or the Oak for Sunday 6/7?

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:19:31 +0000

Hoping to get out tomorrow after this blow. Just looking to move rods don’t need giants. What’s everyone’s guess on the better starting point ? Everything will be all mixed up from this wind . Thanks for the help !

Mexico bay

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 23:23:20 +0000

Has anyone been out and catching browns near shore in Mexico bay? I’m taking my father out for a couple hours. He’s 80 and is hoping to catch his first Lake Ontario Brow.

Olcott 6/3 Legacy

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 09:56:49 +0000

Great day out of Olcott yesterday. Heavy on flasher meat. 300’s and 350 we’re smoking. 100 to 140 feet. 64lb three fish box!

Sunset kings

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:05:40 +0000

Took a sunset trip out of the oak. First bite was 105 FOW 40 feet down on a dipsey with dodger and spoon. Others were on the downriger with chrome flasher and green spoon. Pretty night on lake ontario!

Bald Eagle 5/31

Sun, 31 May 2026 16:58:25 +0000

Lines in at 6 and out at 10:30 with Legacy. 100 to 140 foot of water. 250 coppers were on fire as were divers at 125 and 140. Over 20 kings and many mid to high teens. Meat took almost every fish. Amazing morning on the water. Saw the big cruise boat heading back to Oswego from Buffalo which was pretty cool as well.

sunday

Sat, 30 May 2026 23:16:48 +0000

thinking of going out in the morning,

any good reports from today?

Out of Sandy

Fri, 29 May 2026 21:49:20 +0000

Finally, after many delays my splash down. Everything is working as it should be.

Fished between 11am and 1.30 pm from 40 feet to 75 slightly east of the creek. The temperature at the surface and 65 foot down is the same (47.5) . There is no bait visible on the screen and the catch is only one laker on a stinger superman. So nothing to write home about, but it is good to see that everything works.

Who's going outta Sandy in the morning?

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:44:50 +0000

Good luck, see ya on the water!

Late may 1 man limit

Wed, 27 May 2026 01:00:24 +0000

Limited with 3 decent kings out of sandy. 145FOW, downriggers 30ft down with flashers and spoons. Done by 930am

SODUS: Beautiful day but not lots of fish

Tue, 26 May 2026 23:04:26 +0000

Launched at 5:45am out at 1pm. Best was a 10lb king down 90’ over 130fow. Lost 2 fish off the boards with 10 color lead core. Landed a dink off the boards. Lastly landed a 5lb laker off the riggers. Green spoons seemed best. Water temp down 90 was 44.5 deg. Saw only 5 other boats on the lake. Never got deeper than 150fow. Saw many marks on the screen and many took a good look at our baits but then turned away. Absolute beautiful day on the water.

Oswego

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:24:15 +0000

Fished oswego Saturday and Sunday solo. Fished east of Port and caught 7 browns on Saturday, and a few on Sunday, surprisingly calm on Sunday morning, lots of browns around, chocolate water. NBK best spoon. My stupid auto pilot went out on Saturday in the strong south winds, so was fun trying to reel a fish in, I was the penn yan going in circles with the fish on. Only ran one down rigger rod and one floating rapala on the other rod but had fun.lol

Crazy Yankee Sportfishing | May 24th | Wilson

Tue, 26 May 2026 12:51:17 +0000

Iron bay 5/26

Tue, 26 May 2026 13:45:20 +0000

Still out 3 hours and nothing screen was blank out to 140ft. Not much inside. Nice day except for rod action. Let ya know if anything else turns up. Running 50 for now.

Crazy Yankee Sportfishing | May 23rd | Wilson

Tue, 26 May 2026 12:50:45 +0000

Sandy 5/16 - crazy story!

Mon, 18 May 2026 14:09:27 +0000

Fished 70-110 all day and crushed the kings once again. 20-65 down were the most consistent depths. Meat, Hawks Tackle Electric Funeral spoon and a froggy glow stinger stingray were the top producers. Now for the crazy story. We had a diver out 150' with a brand new Smart Troll 2 probe, paddle, meat rig and a fake meat strip on it. We didn't notice the wire was around the tip of the roller rod. A big king hit and immediately cut the wire off losing the entire set up. We watched the depth change as the fish swam away. 3 hours later, the probe started reading again 50' down! We watched for a couple minutes and all the sudden the fish dove to 84' down as we went by!

Crazy Yankee Sportfishing | Wilson Harbor Invitational

Wed, 20 May 2026 12:52:26 +0000

Sandy 5/17-18

Tue, 19 May 2026 19:29:21 +0000

Finally got her in the water last week.

Sunday morning left the dock at 7am, returned at noon.

Went 10 for 14, all kings 80-120 fot, 35-50 down.

Monday night after work couple hours, 3 steelhead, same depth range.

Fairhaven 5/18 Streak continues

Tue, 19 May 2026 04:23:14 +0000

Launched out of Fairhaven 8 times so far this year beginning April 4th. And, so far, we have not been skunked one time! That's a first. So far, the streak continues. Leisurely breakfast on the way to fuel up for the day. Launched at 9:30 NNW out of the chute to 100 FOW. Ran all spoons. Just a 4 rod spread today, 2 rods on riggers stacked and one rod with slider cheater. One Dipsey rod out 150' down about 65'/110' on two setting w/ Two Face Std Dipsey, Blackeyed Peas flasher and Mag spoon took several hits today w/ 6.5 lbs Salmon hitting the deck and a dink natural Chinook going back in the drink. One rigger back 45' ran at 62'/116 with Mag Two-Face and Std Two-Face 7' slider took an 8 lbs Brown. Swung out to 200 and marked some fish out there and had two knock-offs. Moved back into 110-120 range where our best screens, including bait, were during midday and they'd bugged out. Trolled back in toward the piers to 65' and were seeing fish along the way. Temps 2:00 PM over 190' @ 56.5*F surface and 42.5 @ 100'.

Fairhaven 5/16

Sat, 16 May 2026 23:45:53 +0000

Hit the water at 9:15 AM and headed East to 65 FOW and set up Riggers w/ sliders, Dipsey Divers/Flashers/Spoons on a 2 setting out 150 and 85 followed by 2 rods of Deep Diving stickbaits back 65-100. Woked out to 125 and back. Concentrated on best screens 65-75 FOW. Temperatures ranged from 42*-46* with down temps not staying much more than 1.5* diff btwn surface and down temp. Had just one hit at midday and it was a screamer hitting the Blackeyed Peas Dipsey/Flasher and DW Mag Glow Blackeyed Peas silver cup spoon. My son, Jordan, reeled in his PB 20 lbs Salmon, so the lack of action was more than made up with Quality. It was a "Where would you rather be than Right here, Right now!" moment when the fish jumped clear out of the water broadside at 150 yards gave us a glimpse of what we were in for. Cleared all the rods and riggers. Guided it hand lining the fish to the net. As called for it started to get snotty looking around 3-4 and packed it in.

LOC fish story 5/9

Sun, 10 May 2026 12:21:46 +0000

Left I-Bay 0615 and ran east towards Webster Park to get ahead of the pack. Set up in 15ft looking for a derby brown. Got a few in that 12-30 ft range but NOTHING close to 10lb. Trolled to Ginna, turned around and moved out. Had a good pick of teenagers and one bow in 50-60 ft when just east of Hedges the 7 color fires and we land a king that the Boga Grip scale says just over 20lb. Now it’s 1:40, we’re about 8 miles from the dock and the ONLY Monroe Co. weigh sta closes at 3PM. Start clearing 5 lines, while bringing in the 5 color it gets hit. 250 ft run and 20 minutes later land a foul hooked 19lb. I’m whooped.

We made it to the Charlotte weigh sta at 2:50 and the scale says 19lb 13oz. F*#!%!. Looking forward to the summer derby and the Monroe Co. Classic.

Oak Orchard 5/17

Sun, 17 May 2026 21:57:23 +0000

Perfect weather, left port 6ish pointed west and it was on, 100-120 fow went "who knows" for 51 lost track of short strikes. Boated 51. 2.5 down speed at 60ft, meat rigs at 80-100 down. Off the water 10:45

Some of the best fishing ive ever seen

Sandy 5/17

Sun, 17 May 2026 21:16:27 +0000

Went with my son, lines in at 8:30 and out at 10:30. 80-120 down 40 and 50, divers out 120 and 150 all pulling standard size spoons at 2.5 down.
4 for 5 on kings, dropped two and one small Atlantic. Biggest king was 18lbs.

went back for an hour and jigged in 80 to 100 and marks were scarce but wife wanted to get some sun. Told me there was no chance I would catch one with one rod just lifting up and down. lol proved her wrong, even if it was a laker.

Bald Eagle 5-16

Sun, 17 May 2026 02:21:14 +0000

Alarm 5:30 broke the pear before 6 and 7 fish before 7.

started at 50 fow and best was 75. Only made it to 100. East trolls or north was most fish.

2 riggers 50-70 an 2 divers at 150.

all spoons. Northern king 42nd and other mfg carbon.

one triple, landed 2

some large logs and a deadhead right in front

amazing lake O. Beautiful fish.

kept last two and taste amazing.

Sandy 5/16

Sat, 16 May 2026 19:27:04 +0000

Sons in from Old Forge and we got out from 7-10. 8 Kings and a bow 35 to 45 down on riggers and 50 ish on divers. Ran all spoons. Thank you Tenatureboy and Silver Fox for the heads up on where to find them. Plus or minus 100 foot of water was our best.

Sandy 5/15

Fri, 15 May 2026 23:03:19 +0000

Anyone out this afternoon? Heard clear water showed up.

A couple of good mornings

Sat, 09 May 2026 18:18:01 +0000

Early yesterday I harvested a turkey and this morning we caught a nice limit of browns. largest was 9.7.

Reel oil

Sun, 03 May 2026 15:43:27 +0000

Whats everyone using for a good quality synthetic reel oil , shimano calls for a very expensive bantom oil and I have a shimano stradic , but just looking for a real good oil that i can use on all of my reels.

Fair Haven 5/9

Sun, 10 May 2026 21:00:05 +0000

Started in 50 feet of water, 50 degrees, my brother had a nice king take the line right out of the release on a 12 ounce torpedo diver 30 feet out. Great start. Boated another king and an Atlantic and had a hour lull. Slipped out into 60 to 80 and found the fish again and finished with a nice box of 6 kings and the Atlantic. Released 1 brown. Mixed bite between the riggers 30 to 50 and torpedo divers on the boards out 30 to 60. Moonshine RV sea sick and rodfather were the spoons of choice. All the other boats were in close chasing browns. Marked big schools of bait on the bottom and all the fish were full of big mooneyes.

Sandy 5/9

Sat, 09 May 2026 23:28:30 +0000

Dropped lines just before 8 in 30fow and caught a nice brown right out of the gate then not a whole lot for a half hour until we got out a little deeper. Fished 70-90fow. Lots of marks on my graphs. We caught a lot of fish. About half kings and half lakers. Most kings were 6-8 pounds with a few bigger ones. Biggest was about 16#. Most fish came on #2 chinook divers on braid out 100 with a standard spoon. Biggest came on a rigger with a mag spoon. Usually fish a 6 rod spread but could really only keep 3 in the water. We had 4 or 5 doubles and a triple in a couple of hours. Pulled some deep diving stick baits around for awhile and they didnt get bit. How did everyone else do? Lots of boats showed up a bit later in the morning. Was a great first trip out for this guy.

Crazy Yankee Sportfishing | May 9th | Wilson

Sun, 10 May 2026 10:14:59 +0000

Fairhaven 5/7 Report

Fri, 08 May 2026 05:21:46 +0000

The early near shore easy pickings, a fish every 15 minutes, is over. The Brownies and Salmon are transitioning deeper, meaning you have to put your time in locating the fish. Brother and I fished 8AM - 3PM. Shot out 8 miles East. Started in 25-40 FOW with temps 42ish. Had a 6 rod spread of 4 & 5 color lead core shallow diver sticks on planner boards outside, deep diving Bandits 80' back flat lines next, downriggers pulling spoons 35-45 behind the ball down 8-15. Nothing worked inside as we moved deeper. First fish a 5 lbs Brown off a purple deep diver Bandit over 45 FOW. Headed deeper and temps cooled into 40ish. First Salmon 12.5 lbs of the season hit the deck off Mag Green Hulk spoon down 40/100. Worked out to 160'. Mostly blank screens, some Laker marks deep. Worked back SW into 60-80' and found pocket of water temps @ 44ish and doubled up immediately. STD 107mm Two Face Dipsey Diver/Blackeyed Peas flasher/spoon out 75' on 2 setting, about 40' down at 2.1 - 2.5 mph brought in a 6 lbs Salmon. Black STD Dipsey, Rodfather Spin Doctor and Blackspoon w/ chrome cup took 14.5 lbs Salmon out 67' maybe 35' down. At docks bumped into DEC, inspected fish. They'd been busy Thursday and nailed two boats, each over limit and each w/o licenses. Those boys looking at some massive fines.

20260507_144029.mp4

Ibay 5/7

Thu, 07 May 2026 22:15:58 +0000

Got out for the first time this year finally, went out of Ibay started at 6:30 out in front in 25 fow. when I was putting the first line out a king grabbed it before I got it clipped to downrigger. Got that one in probably 7 lber for the first of the year. After that it was actually kinda slow for a bit, got all the rods set picked a few more up. Then about 8:30 had some fast action more kings and a brown. 9:30 it shut right off an didn't get another bite, pulled lines at 10:30 finished with 7 kings, 1 brown, 1 Laker nothing bigger then 9 lbs. spoons and one on a flasher/fake meat rig. 30-40 fow was best action for us, never tried shallow for browns. enough of king action to stay a little deeper. Decent weather rest of week, maybe get out again!

Solo-Bloodbath 5/3

Wed, 06 May 2026 07:37:32 +0000

Left club dock on I-Bay just before 8 a m . Knew the water was going to be muddy from river planned on running east looking for good color. Well found good water right out front in30/40 fow . Set up just west of Oklahoma beach . Took maybe 5 minutes for first fish and it was nonstop till I quit. All spoons , riggers and chinook divers with braided line .All spoons took fish change the colors that were working just for the hell of it. These are the ones I used. Two face ,NBK Mixed vegetable , Caddy-shack , purple clown seasick Wadler . Fished down just past shipbuilder and then back and forth trying to stay outside the mud. Word got out about the bite and it got a little crowded but everyone played nice. Landed 30 plus fish had doubles and one triple . Mostly Kings biggest was in upper teens and 3 smaller browns. Left just before noon only had to pull one rod the other two had just caught fish .

Sodus Updates?

Tue, 05 May 2026 18:04:01 +0000

Fishing Sodus with my old man looking to see if anyone’s fished out of there recently. Still picking browns in 25-35fow? Kings around deeper? Thanks!

Sandy 5/4 rough windy kings

Mon, 04 May 2026 23:55:18 +0000

2-3’ rollers from the west with a strong gusty SW wind was sporty and fishable in close! Ran west to in front of Hamlin beaches and cut out to 30-40 fow trolling east. Some nice marks but no takers. 1 knock off in 35fow off the pump house no one home. Angled in to 25 then 20 then 15 fow east of the creek.

King #1 off the rigger 75’ back. Pulled lines to fight it. Boated it ran back west a 1/2 mile or so turned back east set up same again king #2 a little further east. Repeat #3. Back west then east again Boated a double on a small 6# king and a 4# brown. During which I Messed up my cannon rigger clutch and dragged my fish hawk probe and ball on the bottom. Hand lined it back into the boat to save my probe while my buddy held both rods with fish on them. Time to rebuild my rigger clutches if I can. Hands cut by the wire will heal also my pride is more in question! Run west repeat with only 2 rods in the water. Lose a jumping screamer and then within minutes of resetting get a 10# king that fought like a 20#!!

kept 4 kings from 10-12+ lbs for filets

All fish same spoon and all rigger hits 8-10 down over 15 fow east of Sandy in 48- 49 degree water

crazy rough windy fun 2026 shake down cruise! Only screwed up my downrigger clutch and stepped on a rod bending an eyelet. Not too bad! Didn’t lose anything!!

Genny 03 May

Sun, 03 May 2026 23:23:16 +0000

Fished just West of the river in 18-30 FOW from 1030-1230..the screens and fish were not as hot as the past few days but there was still action.

I went 4/10...It felt like I couldn't land a fish at one point. Best spoons below...Largest spoon is a stingray (mongoose?) Martel!!!! took 4 of the 10 hits and brought our biggest fish to the boat....Scale battery was out and Im not in the derby...Wasnt 20# but it was >15....

All kings...Beautiful, fresh fish...Im very happy with the fishing this spring in Rochester!!

IMG_1732.pdf

IMG_1726.pdf

Crazy Yankee Sportfishing | May 3rd | Wilson Harbor

Sun, 03 May 2026 21:44:32 +0000

Irondequoit 5/2

Sat, 02 May 2026 21:47:35 +0000

Wild wind conditions. 2-4ft rollers at 7am, only got worse. First time I felt how small my vessel actually is out there. No windshield and tiller. Started in 12-20 fow with the usual spread and nothing for 2 hours. Went deeper to target kings and got into them. By then the waves were 4-6ft. Switched out my shallows for diving sticks, and the size 0 dipsys for size 1. 40 fow marking lots of fish, took 8 of them about 7-11 lb and the best of the day was probably 15-17. I lost 2 rods today as my down east holders snapped right at the base 5 minutes apart on what I could only assume was bigger kings. So if anyone catches a king with a spoon in his mouth dragging a dipsy, wilderness 9'6 with 47lc reel.... Let me know 😭 Ah man I lost 2 of them. Who loses 2 rods 5 minutes apart!?

Crazy Yankee Sportfishing | May 2nd | Wilson

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:17:08 +0000

Spring King of the Lake Re-Cap Video + Some Concerns We're Seeing.......

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:21:01 +0000

Genny 01 MAY

Fri, 01 May 2026 20:43:33 +0000

Great fishing out there!

Solo mission today. Lines in the water at 11:30 about 0.25 miles West of the river between 20-40 FOW. There were three of four other boats in the area...I set up in 25' and pointed West...Within one minute of getting set a king hit a DW Martel spoon on a 100' steel and started ripping line. Got it to the boat and it weighed in at 12#2oz on the Bubba digital scale. I was excited!

I spent the next two hours running back and forth in front of Greece in 25 FOW picking kings...Great screens...All three rods had fish on them at one time...chaos!

Riggers at 14 and 22 down...Back 40-60 feet. 100' weighted steel back probably 300' total. All spoon program - picture below. Switched over to a little more glow around 12:30 with the lower light conditions and rain showers and it seemed to help.

Best fish was just over 15#....tons of 8-12# fish. Of the 13 kings I got to the boat today only two were in the 5-6# range. I landed one ~3# brown as well. I had one screamer that took line for 30 seconds before there was nothing...It gave the biggest tug of the day for sure...

***Disclaimer - I am not a derby/tournament participant***

Fair Haven report

Sat, 02 May 2026 00:03:16 +0000

Just got back from a week at Fair Haven Did quite well Wed n Thurs 4/22&4/23 Mostly browns which were nice size Not last years stocking. Some nice size salmon mixed in Black n silver stick baits worked. Also copper back chicken wing probably top lure Sodus lure also caught fish Weather kept us off lake 3 days Overall good trip Thanks to Hank for tuning the boat. Best it's ran in awhile

Sandy 4/27

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:49:58 +0000

Another incredible morning. Solo trip (plus the dog) line in at 7:30 and out at 10:30. Over a dozen browns with a few over 10. Worked mostly 30-35 feet of water and had surface temp up to 51 degrees. Water color was perfect.
Highlight of the morning was a stud of an Atlantic crushing a Two Face Glow parked at 25 feet down. Pretty sure it’s my new PB. Launched out of the water a half dozen times and swam away strongly after a quick pic.