cast party

Wow, Pretty tight-lipped about the hot spots up there, until Spin Pin spilled the beans. I fished out of Wilson last week and no one anywhere mentioned the bar. We did fine a few miles west of Wilson in the same depths, but it's still an area I haven't fished. Hope to next year.

Just have all the required gear in good condition, boat registration and drivers license. Having a previous inspection doesn't stop them from giving you another one. I was inspected off Lorain, OH in May and they still inspected me again. Then again, us Ohio guys can look pretty shady, especially on our third day of fishing. 

Yeah. Safety check. We passed.

We  fished just west of Wilson Thurs. morning and finished with 4 kings (largest 17) and one big laker we got in 70 ft. first thing in the morning. Got the kings in 150-220. Best rig was pro am fly off 8 inch two-face spin doctor, magnum dipsy, back 250. Also caught fish on riggers/spoons 90-100 down. Missed more fish than we landed. Wondering about those inward facing treble hooks on the Atomik flies. Usually don't lose fish once they're hooked up for a while on flies. We were one of two boats off Wilson and got boarded by the Coast Guard in 200 ft. of water while we were trolling. They kept us from fishing for almost a half hour. Thanks.

Wasn't planning on closed boat launch. Talked to them midweek and they said launch was open and dock will be available. We had flooding rains here (Lorain, west of Cleveland) Thurs. Maybe you had the same. Thanks for heads up. Will check out tomorrow.

Coming to Wilson Tuesday from Ohio for four-day trip. Any recent reports would be much appreciated. PM OK. Thanks.

Amen to enjoying everything you've got while you've got it. All my fishing buddies are laid up with one malady or another. One nearly died from AFIB, then an infection after neck fusion surgery. Another has prostate cancer and another has colon cancer and other assorted goodies. My wife gets seasick. I see solo fishing trips in my future, but I'm thankful for my health and the great fishing at home on Lake Erie and my summer trips to Ontario! Hang in there and get back out there when you can.

This is a late report, but been too busy since return to Ohio to get to it. Fished towards Wilson July 11-14. Total of 14 fish in 4 trips, but 9 were 15 to 26 pounds. Thanks to Bill Hilts Jr. and others for putting us on big fish from the start. Caught fish from 85 to 270 the first three days. Fished the evening bite Wed. and Friday, the morning bite Thurs. and Saturday. Oddly, we got all of our morning fish on spoons off the downriggers, 70-85 ft. down. Moonshine Mongolian Beef was best. Got all our evening fish on magnum dipsy with flashers and flies. Best was 235 out with 8* Spin Doctor (crush/crush with black dots) and KRW glow mirage. Saturday morning was offshore bite. Spent most of the morning trying to find them where we had been catching them before heading out. Finally popped a 22-pounder in 270 ft., then nothing until we got to 400. Got four bites and landed two fish in the last 45 minutes, including a gorgeous 10-lb. steelhead to finish the trip. Last four bites were on a Moonshine orange slice 70 down. Also, no fleas past 400, which was a treat. My cousin and his 16-year old son had never fished for salmon. Now hooked and already planning next summer. Both got 20-plus fish.

I'm coming to Olcott from Ohio for four days tomorrow through Saturday. If anyone wants to share information, we would appreciate it. Heard the fleas are bad. I have 30# Berkely Big Game on several reels. Will that be enough to cope? I have 120# braid for downrigger cable and I know from experience that won't cut it in fleas. Was thinking I could snap on what we call poor man's downriggers (like 8 oz. ball sinkers) instead. Any thoughts? Send PM if you want to swap cell numbers. Thanks.

Capt. Bob

wow

Can someone else corroborate Laurie's great reports? I come up from Ohio to fish 2 or 3 days every summer and some of them almost sound too good to be true. Of course my Lake Erie walleye reports from the last month would sound too good to be true if you weren't here experiencing it. Usually fish Pt. Breeze, but will be fishing Olcott beginning July 11. Hope it's as good as she says. Bringing some salmon novices with me and would love to ruin them for life.

15 hours ago, Charlie P said:

Very enjoyable trip started off a little rough, motor wouldn't start out 3 miles out on Braddock's Bay 6/10 came in on the kicker, so we got two new batteries , new winch that had the handle brake the first time I used it, had a window come loose in the hard top, new starter Friday morning, but then it was on!!! Found the fish at 2:30 Friday afternoon and we stayed on them until Sunday at 830 am.

Batteries $$$

winch $$$$

Tools $$$$

Starter $$$$

all the normal stuff $$$$

 

Tripling up with your son on Fathers day Morning priceless.

B.O.A.T. = Bring Out Another Thousand.

Hope they emptied the fish cleaning station on the east side of the river. That was the only headache of our recent 3-day visit from Ohio. Had to rig something up to clean fish on the boat. Fishing was great. Limited Sunday. Off lake by 11. Caught 4 fish at 180 ft. one at 210 ft. One 4-yr.-old. Spoons and flasher/fly produced equally Sunday. Spoons caught all the fish the first two days.

Made our annual trip to Pt. Breeze from Ohio this week. Fished Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and boated two keeper kings. Water fleas were horrible. We're walleye fishermen and don't have electric downriggers (two hand-cranks just for salmon trips). We have had no trouble catching kings in the past on dipsy divers, but pretty much impossible to keep them in the water long enough to catch anything before the lines are filled with fleas. There were almost no rec anglers where we were fishing, just charters. Probably won't be back to NY unless we hear the fleas aren't a problem. Heading to Ludington, Mich. next week. Gotta be better. Does anyone know why the fleas are so bad this year?

- Cast Party

What water depth were you fishing? Sounds like you were in close if you were catching browns. I'm an Ohio guy coming up next week for a few days for our once-a-year-trip. Were other boats catching fish? Thanks for any info.

- Cast Party

I'm already running a 12-14 rod spread!

 

I'm lucky to connect with more than 4 kings a day....The best day in the last month of charters every day, we had 9 kings. Most days we boat 1-4 though. 

 

It's a good thing we have been catching Steelhead and cohos.  Even they come and go every day as well....There has been nothing consistent all season except, if you fish for kings, you will find some. 

 

If you fish for browns, there won't be many kings caught.

 

Dragging bottom really slow with cowbells? If you are, you are NOT targeting king salmon! 

If you NY guys get a chance, while you're waiting for the kings to show up, try a trip to Lake Erie for some walleye. Don't know about Penn. and NY, but there's trophy fish from Kelly's Island to Conneaut in Ohio, and lots of fish within a mile or two of shore. Guys are catching them trolling with reef runners, spoons or night crawler harnesses, or drifting and bottom bouncing wtih weight-forward spinners. Granted, they're not much fun to catch compared to salmon, but man, they eat good. I'll be up to Oak Orchard for my annual salmon trip the last week of July. Hope they show up by then!

- Cast Party

First-time post here. Two walleye guys from Ohio fished Oak Orchard Tues. night and Wed. morning. Got 2 kings NW of harbor in 150-170 ft. Tuesday evening. Got 6-king limit Tuesday morning NE of harbor in 190-210, including a 23-pounder. Best spoons were Moonshine RV crabby face and RV watermelon. Didn't seem to matter if it was magnum or standard. Not bad for a couple of once-a-year salmon fishermen.

- Cast Party

Question: What speed (at the surface on GPS) do you run your spoons? I don't do much salmon fishing, mostly Lake Erie walleye. I'm coming up around Aug. 19. I usually have decent luck with spin doctor/fly combos and j-plugs, but have never done well with spoons. I think I might be trolling too slow, usually in the 2.2 to 2.6 mph range.

- Cast Party