Dance the Tides

I was up there last week. There are good numbers of large perch around. The drop off near Shangri-La is good as is the east side of Cherry Island. Small minnows, small crabs and worms were working well. You pretty much have to use a drop-shot rig with 18" or more of a drop, otherwise you will catch mostly gobies. 14-22 ft was best.

Ray, It was great to meet you at the Oswego Pro Am. I just want to point out that fishing in your tin can with your game-boy fishfinder, you outfished most of the pro boats and all but 3 of the ams. Maybe less is better. I'm kinda hoping for a kayak division.

Thanks for the Shipping lanes report. The fleas were real bad in Mexico Bay too.

Good job Mark. Glad to help.

Irondequoit Bay? East of Rochester. Off 590.

Here is the structure map for the lake. Zoom in on the east end. Lots of structure there. http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/greatlakes/ontario.html

And now Yankee Troller is up there. We might never hear the end of this! Congrats! Paul

BLUEDOG, That rig is popular in the Adirondack Mountain lakes for rainbows and browns. Another one is a Lake Clear Wobbler with a nite crawler. I haven't heard anyone admit to using them on Lake Ontario.

Rochester Dinosaur. Its a long way to second place.

I didn't know that! I know what I am doing tomorrow.

Yes Longline, that is a good one I didn't have. Thanks a lot!

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/greatlakes/ontario.html Here is another site. Takes an hour of play time, but hey, you can't go fishing.

So true, Jason

You don't have to go all the way to Maine. Lake Champlain has a great smelt fishery. Now is the time. By the way, those Kennebec and Champlain smelt are great table fare.

Bonez, I can't answer all of your questions, but the two launches in the area are at Dexter on river at the Rte 180 bridge, and Sacketts Harbor near the mouth of the bay. There is a well stocked tackle shop next to the launch in Dexter and they have always been helpful. The LM bass and Northern fishing is okay in the river and around the mouth. Smallies are usually further out into the bay. My limited experience with (successful) walleye fishing in the Bay/River has been at night. Maybe someone with more local knowledge will pipe up.

Hello Laca' Thank you for serving our country and welcome back! I am only a part time angler in that part of the lake, and there are those on this board who fish it regularly. However, I have casually observed some of the bass tourneys out of the Henderson area.. The locals sometimes refer to it as the Golden Crescent. It is a great multi-species region. As far as bass populations go, smallies outnumber largemouth many times over, but those tourneys are nearly always won with LM. If I were you I'd take a hard look at Chaumont Bay. There is more weed growth and aquatic life there than anywhere else on that part of the lake. Lets see what other responses you get.

Akitaone, When someone says "wire" they are usually talking about the braided stainless as described above. A "wire dipsey rig" is typically a Diawa 47LC reel or equivalent with 1000 ft of stainless wire, no backing. "Copper" refers to copper trolling line which is typically not used with a dipsey. Copper line is heavy stuff which will take a lure down by itself. A copper rig needs backing, often Fireline, Power Pro or equal.

Necessary? Not really, but definitely helpful once you learn how to use it. This topic has been discussed at great length here. I suggest you use the search feature and go back through all of the posts on probes. The different probes all have fans, strong points and weaknesses. I’m sure you will learn what you need to know.

Rod, Thanks for the report. I was looking for you at the LSRC, but we never crossed paths. We fished 8/1 just east of Oswego and had a good day. See you soon. Paul

Red, The older clear Opti snubbers didn't hold up to UV light, but the "new" version is marketed as UV resistant. I just picked up a couple. Even the old ones worked great when they were new, and if you kept them out of the sun. They are 30 lbs or more out of the package.

Okay, so what is the tally? I had one, 17th place rainbow and the boat I fish on had another, 7th place walleye. Rebel is in there, Gambler, Ray K, Missdemeanor, Reel Jerks. Where did Chinook end up? I am sure there are others. The cake goes to Liquid Plummer. Grand Prize and 5th Place Salmon! Way to go Del and crew!

Unless there are two of them, Ray K. is on the board in the Salmon division. Anything can happen. Next thing you know, Musky Bob is going to be up there! Way to go Ray!

Thanks very much for the reply. I will follow up. Regards, Paul

Thanks for the report from the North shore! I have a questions for you too. I assume that you are fishing whole anchovies. If that is correct, do you have a local supplier or brand name that you use? I used to use whole anchovies very effectively, but the source dried up and I haven't been able to get them for a couple of years. Thanks, Paul

Rod, Beautiful fish! That river can produce some real jaw droppers. Sounds like a great day you had. Way to go for both of you! Paul