They say the third time is the charm. It certainly was on our third attempt at our first-ever Lake Ontario salmon trip. Our first attempt was greeted with 35 mph winds and 14 foot seas, so we sat in the lodge and stared at each other for three days. Our second attempt got us on the water where we had engine cooling problems and had to be towed back to the ramp. This time was great!
My son, grandson, brother-in-law and I left my place at 4 am last Wednesday bound for Point Breeze with our Sportcraft 252 and arrived at 11:30. After getting dockage, checking into the cottage and launching the boat, we got on the water around 2:30 pm. We set up a troll heading northeast from the 29 line with four downriggers pulling spoons, two wire diver rods with spin doctors and flies, and a couple of spoons off a planer board with inline sinkers of 1 oz and 2 oz. We managed one mid teens king on a Purple Thunder spoon and one eight pounder and a couple of small steelhead including one off the board on a Double Orange Crush spoon. Off to a great start for a bunch of novices - with a couple of fish in the freezer.
Thursday morning found us heading out of the harbor before 6 am. Again we set up at the 29 line and trolled northeast over our waypoints from the afternoon before. We picked up a small steelhead right away and then an eight pound steelhead hit on a slider. When we got to the 31 line we had a major runoff from our probe rigger pulling a Caramel Dolphin spoon. My 11 year old grandson was on the rod and landed the first fish of any kind over 20 pounds on our boat with his big king. We continued to work the water between 31 and 33 and continued to get hits but dropped the next five fish. Then we picked up a few more but lost every fish that hit a fly on a wire rod. We finished up around 2:30 pm and ran back in for lunch and some fish cleaning. We got back on the lake around 5 pm and fished until 7 and managed to pick up a couple of decent steelhead including one on a meat rig. More fish to clean.
Friday we made a huge loop running northeast out of the harbor to the 29 line and set up a meandering troll to the northwest out to the 36+ line and then back southeast towards the harbor. We managed 15 fish and 13 of them were steelhead with the two kings being really small. Several of the steelhead were in the 7 – 9 pound range. Again we ran back in and were at the dock by 3. I cleaned up 5 steelhead and we had some for an early supper. Then we ran back out and reset our spread for our evening trip. We managed to pick up two more steelhead, once again, including one on the meat rig.
Saturday was our last day to fish and was also tournament day with at least two tournaments and a derby being fished out of Oak Orchard Creek. The boat parade was going on for at least an hour before we joined in. We ran northwest to the 29 line but found 63° down to 100 feet. My son gave the order to pull the probe and ran out to 31 where we set out our spread. Early on we had a screamer on the port side wire out 200 pulling a Mountain Dew/Pearl Glow spin doctor and a Chartreuse Glow Hammer fly. It took nearly an hour, but we landed our second fish of the trip over 20 pounds. We had a steady pick of fish when we had another major runoff from our probe rigger still pulling the Caramel Dolphin. It turned out to be a 14 ½ pound steelhead that would have eased into fourth place in the Orleans County Derby – if only we had entered. We continued to work our waypoints and had one more major fish – another over 20 king on the starboard wire rod out 180 with a Chrome spin doctor with green tape on both sides pulling a Butt Sniffer fly. A lot of the fish we caught on Saturday were the result of crossing a temperature break we found. We had parked our probe rigger at 100 feet and found an area that changed from 45° to 53°. Many fish were caught in this transition including the two big salmon and the 14 ½ pound steelhead.
All in all it was a great trip with great fun with a great bunch of guys. In addition to the lures mentioned above, we caught a lot of fish on Purple Thunder, NBK, and Evil Eye spoons. We also had some success with Steelie Dan and Salmon Slapper spoons. This Lake Ontario fishing was a fantastic experience none of us will soon forget. The only bad thing about the trip is that I have around 50 pictures that I took and it appears that I have a bad sector on my camera card and the photos won't read on a computer or upload to a photo site even though I can view them on the camera.
My son, grandson, brother-in-law and I left my place at 4 am last Wednesday bound for Point Breeze with our Sportcraft 252 and arrived at 11:30. After getting dockage, checking into the cottage and launching the boat, we got on the water around 2:30 pm. We set up a troll heading northeast from the 29 line with four downriggers pulling spoons, two wire diver rods with spin doctors and flies, and a couple of spoons off a planer board with inline sinkers of 1 oz and 2 oz. We managed one mid teens king on a Purple Thunder spoon and one eight pounder and a couple of small steelhead including one off the board on a Double Orange Crush spoon. Off to a great start for a bunch of novices - with a couple of fish in the freezer.
Thursday morning found us heading out of the harbor before 6 am. Again we set up at the 29 line and trolled northeast over our waypoints from the afternoon before. We picked up a small steelhead right away and then an eight pound steelhead hit on a slider. When we got to the 31 line we had a major runoff from our probe rigger pulling a Caramel Dolphin spoon. My 11 year old grandson was on the rod and landed the first fish of any kind over 20 pounds on our boat with his big king. We continued to work the water between 31 and 33 and continued to get hits but dropped the next five fish. Then we picked up a few more but lost every fish that hit a fly on a wire rod. We finished up around 2:30 pm and ran back in for lunch and some fish cleaning. We got back on the lake around 5 pm and fished until 7 and managed to pick up a couple of decent steelhead including one on a meat rig. More fish to clean.
Friday we made a huge loop running northeast out of the harbor to the 29 line and set up a meandering troll to the northwest out to the 36+ line and then back southeast towards the harbor. We managed 15 fish and 13 of them were steelhead with the two kings being really small. Several of the steelhead were in the 7 – 9 pound range. Again we ran back in and were at the dock by 3. I cleaned up 5 steelhead and we had some for an early supper. Then we ran back out and reset our spread for our evening trip. We managed to pick up two more steelhead, once again, including one on the meat rig.
Saturday was our last day to fish and was also tournament day with at least two tournaments and a derby being fished out of Oak Orchard Creek. The boat parade was going on for at least an hour before we joined in. We ran northwest to the 29 line but found 63° down to 100 feet. My son gave the order to pull the probe and ran out to 31 where we set out our spread. Early on we had a screamer on the port side wire out 200 pulling a Mountain Dew/Pearl Glow spin doctor and a Chartreuse Glow Hammer fly. It took nearly an hour, but we landed our second fish of the trip over 20 pounds. We had a steady pick of fish when we had another major runoff from our probe rigger still pulling the Caramel Dolphin. It turned out to be a 14 ½ pound steelhead that would have eased into fourth place in the Orleans County Derby – if only we had entered. We continued to work our waypoints and had one more major fish – another over 20 king on the starboard wire rod out 180 with a Chrome spin doctor with green tape on both sides pulling a Butt Sniffer fly. A lot of the fish we caught on Saturday were the result of crossing a temperature break we found. We had parked our probe rigger at 100 feet and found an area that changed from 45° to 53°. Many fish were caught in this transition including the two big salmon and the 14 ½ pound steelhead.
All in all it was a great trip with great fun with a great bunch of guys. In addition to the lures mentioned above, we caught a lot of fish on Purple Thunder, NBK, and Evil Eye spoons. We also had some success with Steelie Dan and Salmon Slapper spoons. This Lake Ontario fishing was a fantastic experience none of us will soon forget. The only bad thing about the trip is that I have around 50 pictures that I took and it appears that I have a bad sector on my camera card and the photos won't read on a computer or upload to a photo site even though I can view them on the camera.
