Friends don't let friends...fish Lake Ontario

[Gator]

Anyone else having a tough time out there? I'm starting a new organization: LOU've got to be kidding me, where's the salmon?!? Actually thinking about converting to blow-boating. At least that way I don't have to burn fifty bucks in fuel every time I hit the water.

Yeah, I know...have some cheese to go with your...

Gator

[ray koziatek]

try hooks on your spoons

[Gill-T]

I hear you! I just completed another go'round of suck-ass at Olcott. Tons of bait in tight. There should be staging salmon. Seems everyone is having to resort to Steelhead out deep.

[bub]

either there r no fish or they r running real late it is slow everywhere

[skipper19]

You'll spend 50 bucks on the first bottle in order to join the martini society of flying three sheets to the wind and Ray's two gallon pants fer a little extra speed... but he won't mind while in the buffy mode..HOOKS ON SPOONS :shock: Lord ...what will he think of next...knives with a sharp edge maybe

[ray koziatek]

Gator after the last 5 years i can say ive (weve) become spoiled to good (great)fishing.The good thing in my outhouse opinion is all the bait everyone has mentioned this year ,indicates a lower preditor number also that might explaine some of the larger fish .So maybe we dont stink as bad as you think. Also the last few years the water levels in the big rivers were low which im shure hurt natural reproduction and the state has been cutting back on the stocking programs (according to post on this site).If you havent heard yet there has been some big runs up the salmon river this year starting aug 12th due to high resiviour levels .last year the flow was as low as 185cfm this year the low flow has been 750cfm with 60 deg october temps., so the stocking program has no excuses and nat. repro should be good too.We all have seen the positive results of penrearing steelies and new creek(nat spawning grounds)limit.So hold off on the sheet boat ,spare yourself the embarrsement of flying my shorts on your jib line,put some hooks on those spoons and hope that this year was the lull and not the norm. You ant alone on the NYS whine tour.

[SkeinMachine]

Scotty tournament this weekend,out of St.Catherines Ontario,day 1 weigh in,there were 32 coolers in line out of 56 teams,that's tough fishing.

Less than a handfull of teams brough in their full box(5 Kings).

Here's a short clip I shot yesterday of Team Hammer/A-TOM-MIK with their weigh in(ended up in 7th after day 1).

I haven't hooked a King(or seen anyone with one) the last 2 weekends off 3 different pierheads on the north shore :x

[Gator]

Hey Ray,

Is it your shorts that would make the difference? If so, man up!

No, seriously, there's a bunch of things this year that may have caused the perfect storm, and we have definately been spoiled lately (I'm 30 years into the game, so I remember the "boom" of the mid-80s and the bust that followed). Let's hope that this year is just a glitch on the radar and not the harbinger of something more sinister...after having listened to DEC preach disaster for years, I was kinda discounting it...but the situation seems to be the same over the whole lake, which begs the question-"where are they?"

We spent most of today outside 500 fow off Sandy. Not there. Three small fish/six hours. Can't keep a fisherman off the water, though.

Gator

[LongLine]

The King stocking program was hit big time last year. There weren't enough eggs harvested and then the eye-up problem hit. DEC has already said it's cutting the salmon stocking quotas for just about everywhere except the S.R. in hopes of protecting the "brood stock." [state of the Lake meetings - Mar '08]

We've had a fairly wet year, however the lake is still pretty high. Let's hope a tropical storm (not like Agnes though) makes it up here & gives us some decent rain & high outflow towards the begining of Oct so the spawning run (stocked & nat repo) is more sucessful than last year.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[Fishstix]

It has been a really tough year. Wind ,currents have really been off.Nothing has been consistant.Then you get a day like today.Bait and fish all over. Most everything you put down catches a fish.

Yesterday I know of a guy that caught a 10lb walleye in 700fow 50 down.

Yesterday we rotted in the water. 1 fish.They simply were not where they should have been .Then came back with a vengence today.

I guess Im not ready to give up on ole LO yet. Last year was the best year for me ever. This year has been the worst . Im thinking everything goes on cycles and Ill be at it again next year.Hopefully all the little detail stuff I learned this year trying to put a fish in the box will pay off next year and the fish will be back.

[janz]

After fishing 9 days during the last week of the LOC in Mexico Bay I did not see the fish jumping and swirling in the surface out front of the Salmon river like I have every year for 15 years. I have to think that they're just real late this year. They will come. Then i think about the population explosion of the steelhead (caught more last year than in 10 years combined) and the bigger kings being reported but numbers down and wonder if something bad happened. Hopefully they are just late and we'll see runs of kings into November. Didn't catch a single coho this fall and always see quite a few of them come over the side. Usually the coho showing up coincides with the start of the major king run. We should have plenty of water for the river this year so lets just keep our fingers crossed and hope the mother load shows up. Not to mention fishing out at the Niagara Bar for the spring LOC was a bust for us it was the poorest fishing this year since I've been going out there.

[Big Dave]

Janz we were over by the plant and saw fish jumping there . Saw your boat out there a couple of days last week. We wound up with only 2 coho out of the salmon that we caught. I think the weather down in the gulf has a lot to do with the salmon being later this year. The temps were all over the place with the changing winds. At least the south and east winds let us get out.

[lrg355]

I've been fishing the Mexico Bay area for 25 years and have seen the good/bad cycles come and go. We are in a mediocre cycle as you do not see many boats around you with fish on. I fished very hard from 8/23 thru 8/30 and caught a slightly less than normal amount of fish for my vacation. I did fish hard and long for every one. Next year will be better- keep the faith. As I fish alone many times, I stick to the basic stuff with downriggers. Can't handle dipsies, copper, lead core, when I am alone. Basics and persistance eventially pay off. I hit em well on Sunday eve in about 76 ft of water off the high rocks. All came on spin doctors with atomic flies of the riggers. Alone, I sometimes get doubles and get them both in, that is lots of fun.

Desperato: (23 ft Sportcraft-blue top and trim) out of Sandy Pond