Del Gue

20 hours ago, Amylee said:

We were out Friday and Saturday 5/13 and 14 had a great trip lots of browns probably 30 or so and 8 salmon mostly small one 19 lbs. caught mostly in 75- 100 fow anywhere down 25-37 feet down didn't seem to matter what colors Carbon 14 caught lots of fish along with yellow orange and gold and black and purple eagle eye. caught ln dipsy's and lead core.  Really didnt seem to matter just had great trip.  Be back soon!!!

What a difference a year makes. Fished there this time last year for 8 straight days and caught one brown and 7 salmon. Sounds like a different year this year! Headed there in a month. Very excited. 
thanks for the report!

Looking for some ideas. I have 2 of these planer board masts. One on each side of my boat. Anyone who uses these knows that if you try and make a sharp turn, one side will go slack. Not a big deal with wide-open water but if you’re trying to maneuver around boats or stay on an active pod of fish, it’s difficult. 
Does anyone know if they make a bungee or tension rod attachment for these? Something that will keep the line under constant tension?
Thanks

Set off last Friday the 14th on an 8 day fishing vacation. First day fished Mexico Bay from noon to 6:00pm with no luck.
Saturday, fished Oswego area for browns in the morning and kings in the day, 1 small King. 
Sunday, fished browns out of Oswego in the morning with a 13 pound Brown in 50’ of water in front of 9 mile point on a blank sonar screen. Moved to deeper water during the day for kings with no luck. 
Monday, fished for Browns again out of Oswego and 9 Mike Point, nothing. Moved to deeper water for Kings again and caught 1 lake trout. Trolled 29 miles. 
Tuesday we started at 190fow for Kings because the Browns were not cooperating. Saw bait and marks but no takers until 11am. Landed a 20 pound king in 200fow on a blank screen. That was the only fish for the day. 
Wednesday, straight out to 200fow for Kings and caught a few Lakers up high. No Kings. 
Thursday, straight out again for Kings and discovered the Fish Hawk probe went bad. Fished until noon and decided to run to Fat Nancy’s for a new probe as we were getting burned out from fishing 12-13 hour days with no fish, calm lake and a relentless sun that had been turning my face into a piece of toast for 7 days. 😅

Friday morning was our last morning as we were heading home at noon. Went straight out to 200fow to another flat lake. This time I couldn’t even get set up. It was like someone finally flipped the switch. Went 6 for 7 in the next 2.5 hours with one set of doubles, all Kings. Was running the same set of spoons I’d been running all week at the same depth (40-60 feet down). At 8:30am the sun finally broke through the clouds and started beating down on the lake again. That was it, the switch was turned back off. Didn’t catch another fish from 8:30 until we picked up at 11:30. 
We hit the water every morning at 4:45 and fished all day, everyday. First 7 days we caught 8 fish with 2 Kings and 1 Brown Trout. The rest were lake trout. The final morning we hooked 7 fish. So strange. We never really fished below 90 feet down and all the fish came from 60 feet and up. Fat Nancy, Blue Wiggler were the spoons of choice for the kings and Blue Gander Glow caught the Brown. We were definitely grinding and throwing everything I had at them. Thank you to a few of the Charter Captains who gave me suggestions and the multiple people we met at the ramp. Everyone had some great tips to share. 
Patience and persistence. Good luck!

 

In addition to your line I would also invest in some good swivels. Don’t spend the money and time setting up good line and leaders without a very good swivel. As you start using larger spoons, meat rigs, flasher-flies etc.., the line will pull very tight and the cheap swivels won’t spin. They will tighten up and your whole line, from the lure to the rod will twist. This is especially bad for leadcore or copper. 

I use a 42# swivel that is still small enough to go through the eyelets of the rod and into the reel. I would spend some time researching what kind will work best for you. 
Just my 2 cents.
Tight lines! 

Made my first trip to Oswego Sunday. We spent the night and hit the lake early Monday morning. Motored west a few miles and set up for Browns. 2 minutes after setting up all 6 lines, one goes off. My son pulls in a medium, chunky Brown on a Purple Clown. Fished the area for 2 hours with no further hits. Turned out to deeper water and set up for Kings. A few minutes after getting set, the downrigger goes off 40’ down in 100FOW. Pulled in a small king on a UV Perch spoon. Trolled the next 4 hours in front of Oswego in all depths with no hits. Finally, got a hit halfway between the mouth of the Oswego and the Nine Mile plant. Pulled in a nice 5 or so pound King on a black and white UV in 115fow down 75 feet. Fished to 5 o’clock with no other takers. The lake was beautiful to be on but the fish were not cooperating. Is was great to be back in Oswego though. Had a great dinner at a local restaurant and headed home this morning. I’m looking forward for things to come. It’s just warming up! 
 

I swung by Oz Angling the last time I was up in Oswego (If that is where you are fishing). They sell packages of Herring strips for around $10 a package. N&D makes them. 6 to a package. 

I drag mine 5.5 hours and drop it in every time if want to fish. Well worth it!

52 minutes ago, charb said:

Kinda makes you not want to fish Champlain don't it......I'm the guy that was talking to Larry yesterday on the phone. The biggest one the wife got was 27 1/4 ...congrats glad it turned on for ya...

 

Thanks for the tips yesterday. Once we changed the setup, rods started firing! Yeah, I still love Champlain but nothing can compare to that experience. 

 Got to do a quick three day trip to Oswego with my son, brother-in-law and my nephew this past weekend. We showed up around 11 AM on Saturday in fished until about 5 PM when the wind started to blow.  We went five for six and never really found a pattern as they were hitting both flyers and spoons of different colors. The thermocline was only 61 feet down and the fish all came from this area. Sunday morning we launched at 5 AM and immediately knew from the waves it would probably be a short day. By 7 AM  I tipped my hat to Lake Ontario as she had built waves larger than I was willing to fish in. So we took our medicine and motor back into the harbor having gone 0 for 1.  We got to explore the town and some bait shops and had a really great lunch at Lakeside restaurant called Rudy’s that an old college buddy of mine from the area recommended. You all have a very cool town!

 Monday we were on the water by 4:30 AM and hung out in the harbor until it was light enough to see debris in the water and then we motored out. The morning was tough as the lake was still stirred up from the wind the previous day but we made it to our spot and set up.  The thermocline we discovered was all the way down at 101 feet. It was definitely a strong current on the lower half of the water column as my instruments were indicating that I was going 4 knots across the top of the water and the speed at the ball was zero. After a few line tangles we realized we needed to go perpendicular to the current so our gear would work better. The rain started at 7 AM and we were drowned rats when it stopped at 1 PM. We had two in the boat at this point when the skies stopped raining and the wind died down. The afternoon bite was incredible. We went 5 for 6 in two hours with the  three smaller fish coming at 101 feet. Strangely the three larger fish came on the Dipsy diver down around 60 feet in 62° water. We discovered that glowing green anything spoons were the best. Nothing on flies and nothing on meat rigs. Moonshine green jeans glow and another spoon with similar colors that I pulled out that I mainly use on Lake Champlain for lake trout seem to take all the fish.  By 3 PM we had enough fish to fill our coolers including my personal best fish ever, a 37” 24lb king! We needed to start on our five hour trip back to Burlington Vermont, So reluctantly we did so. 

I’d like to say thank you to the many wonderful people who spoke with us at the ramp and out on the water. We really enjoyed the enthusiasm and tips from the people we spoke with. You indeed have a very special fishery there. 

 Until next time, tight lines. 

15 minutes ago, oldsoak said:

Any particular color/lure they're hitting?

 I am by far an experienced angler for kings as I have only been after them a handful of times but we fished out of Oswego for three days late last week and weekend. It was a sunny day with 3 to 4 footers and the black and white “killer“ series spoons seem to work best. I also had a  green and silver flasher with a green, blue and silver fly. It was 50-50 whether they would hit the fly or the spoons. I found that the strikes came at higher speeds. 2.8 to 3 mph.  We fished from 130 feet to 250 feet. Never really saw any large concentrations but they are out there. I tried to use something flashy in the spread to draw them in. Good luck. 

10 hours ago, henrybud said:

Did you try Oz Angling?  I'm sure they can get it for you too!  Awesome shop to deal with. 

 

I just checked them out online. Looks like they have exactly what I need! 

Thanks!

Looking for some good places to buy cut bait for meat rigs around Oswego. Any recommendations?

Thanks

Launched today at Mexico Pt around 3pm and went out on Mr Toads wild ride for about 4 miles. Busting 2-3 and sometimes 4 footers.  Set up in 80 fow and trolled out to 130 fow without marking any bait. Just before we turned around the 60’ downrigger goes off and my son reeled in a nice Steelhead. Caught on a  Fat Nancy Magnum. 

Waves started to get bigger so we turned and trolled back into 80 fow and packed it in. Fished three hours, one fish. Hope somebody knows where they are 😉

40 to 60 down in 100 FOW for kings was the last I heard. If you’re going for Browns then I would look for the edge of the dirty water. Good luck.

    We launched out of Wright’s landing last Thursday looking for browns. We fished west of the plant in shallow water and then out deep for kings. The only luck we had was off of Burt point in about 20 to 30 feet of water. Chartreuse black and green spoons  seemed to work the best. 

25 minutes ago, Todd in NY said:

What was the water surface temperature? That makes for a long day of fishing.

Over by Snake Creek the surface temp was 50. Nine Mile Pt it was 48.

It was a long day but still beats working 😉

We didn’t hit the water until 1:00 pm. Launched out of Mexico Point Launch. Water was high but someone built a wooden extension out to the dock so no issues. Fished east along the shore for Browns from 8’ to 25’ of water. Ran 5 spoons and one stick on planer boards and long lines, some weighted some not. Fished the shore until about South Creek Pond with no takers. Turned and went deep to 50’ to see if we could mark anything. Still nothing so we went back to the shore and fished back to Mexico Pt. Nothing, so we pulled up and motored to Nine Mile Pt. Set up again and trolled the shore with the same setup until Catfish Creek. Nothing again so we turned and went out to 60’. Still no marks so we called it a day at 7:00pm. Bright sunshine and flat water probably didn’t help much. Going to try again in the morning, maybe west of Oswego. 

Happy Fishing!

11 hours ago, rookie fisherman said:

What area of the lake are you looking to fish? 20 plus years ago I use to fish Champlain on a semi-regular basis out of Willsboro. 

From what I understand the Atlantic population is doing better? Those are fun to catch on light tackle. We get them occasionally on Ontario.

 

 I’m planning on fishing out of the Oswego area. Yes, I fish a lot for salmon and lake trout on Lake Champlain. I started about nine years ago. In the spring I start off down by the crown point bridge and as the water warms up, I slowly work my way north. I live near the islands so the summertime I will fish for them  around Valcour island. The salmon population has done very well. The last few years have been tough and I hope it’s not a trend. 

9 minutes ago, rookie fisherman said:

Drebs right on with stickballs for early spring browns. We typically run sticks on the boards and spoons on the riggers. We also will run spoons on #2 chinook divers just off the corners of the boat.

If spoons are producing well we will switch out some of the sticks and run spoons off the board as well. Once the brown leave the shallows it mostly becomes a spoon bite.  

 Thanks, I have a full spread of stick baits as we fish with those in the early spring as well on Lake Champlain.  Thanks again for the tips.  I’m very excited about traveling to Ontario this year and trying to figure this out. I was going to use Airbnb to find places to stay but do you have any other recommendations? 

4 hours ago, rookie fisherman said:

For us standard size spoons for spring browns. For Kings mostly Stingray & Mag size.

However either species will hit any of those sizes. Figuring out the "color of the day" more important than the size typically.

When cleaning fish many times we see both small and large baits in their stomachs.

 

Thanks! I’m building a dual purpose spread for cloudy and clear water for Browns. Ones that work well in both. You guys are very forthcoming with what works 🙏. 

Thanks guys! I do plan on using Moonshine and other brands. I just wanted to know what sizes are producers. I have a cart full of lures at Fat Nancy’s online shop, just waiting to make sure the sizes are right. 

 Hello everyone, trying to get some gear together this winter to start fishing Lake Ontario this spring and summer. I’ve read a lot of tips in here (thank you very much by the way) and have 90% of my gear together. I do have a question about spoon size. I plan on trolling for Brown Trout in the spring and King Salmon in the summer and early fall.  As well as meat rigs and flies, I will be trolling with spoons for 

kings. Trying to minimize my budget, what size Michigan Stingers would you recommend for Brown Trout and for King Salmon?  Can you use the same size for both or would you recommend different sizes? 

Thank you!

Pm Sent.