2009 End of the year fishing report for lake Ontario

The weather last year started off with our usual spring weather but quickly took a turn for the worst. Last year on the eastern end of Lake Ontario the weather was rainy and windy. Our spring brown trout fishing was good, but the bigger three year old browns were much harder to catch in 2009 than in previous years. I think that because of the slow summer salmon fishing in 2008 we fished more for brown trout than we did for the hard to find chinook salmon. Consequently we caught so many two year old browns in 2008 that there was a lack of three year old browns in 2009.

The summer salmon fishing in 09 was better than the year before and we spent most of the summer fishing and catching salmon instead of brown trout. When august arrived it brought east winds with it and these contrary winds caused the cold water to well up on the eastern end of Lake Ontario which scattered all of our fish. The first two weeks of August we worked very hard to catch any salmon. But after a couple of weeks the water temperature and the fishing improved and the rest of the month the salmon fishing was okay.

From the first of September until the middle of the month is usually some of the best salmon fishing of the season, but in 2009 it didn't happen that way. Instead of getting better the salmon fishing got worse in the Oswego area. The best concentration of salmon were in the Mexico Bay area and most of the charter boats in oswego moved to the Salmon and Little Salmon River for the balance of the 2009 charter fishing season. Why the numbers of salmon were so low in the Oswego area is unknown but this is the second year in a row that the fall salmon fishing was off. If the same thing happens again in 2010 I have made arrangements for a dock on the Little Salmon River so I can make the move to Mexico Bay sooner than I did this year.

I am quite optimistic about the fishing next season, I am so inclined because of the abundance and the size of the bait fish (alwives). Last season when I was cleaning my anglers catch I would routinely check the stomach contents to see what the fish were feeding on. Most of the time I would find very large mature alwives, and on occasion I also found small rainbow smelt. Finding big alwives in the stomachs of the salmon leads me to believe that the bait fish population in lake Ontario is doing very well and when the bait fish are doing well usually the trout and salmon are also doing well. Last year was the first time in a few years that we caught king salmon that weighed over thirty pounds. These facts make me believe that the 2010 Lake Ontario fishing season should be a good one.

I try to take as many pictures as I can during the course of my charter trips, but because I work alone somedays I don't take as many pictures as I would like to. Click here to see the 2009 Lucky Dutchman Fishing Pictures

Full Moon

One other thing about this past weekend was that the moon was full and I don’t really like a full moon when I am fishing. It seems to me that I have more slow days a couple of days each side of the full moon than I do when the moon is not full. 

I usually fillet the fish for my anglers and when I am cleaning fish I quite often check their stomach contents to see what they are feeding on and how much they are feeding. When I am doing this if the stomachs are empty someone usually says boy they must be hungry and I think that is totally opposite from what is really going on. Empty stomachs means to me that the fish are not feeding and the only reason we caught them was because we got our lures right in the fishes face. What I like to see when I am cleaning fish are stomachs stuffed right full, that tells me the bite is on and the fish are actively searching for food.  Of all the fish I cleaned this weekend only one of them had anything in their stomachs and that was one almost totally digested bait fish. I feel extremely fortunate that we did as well as we did this past weekend with the full moon.

  To check out the latest pictures go to my photo gallery at http://gallery.me.com/lucky_dutchman

Transition fishing

Saturday and Sunday I fished with four anglers from Margaretville, NY  who took advantage of my two day summer special. I fish with a lot of guys and gals from the Catskill Mountains and one thing they all have in common is their love of fishing and Kenny, Joe, Bill, and Pudgy all share in this trait. Saturday morning we ran out from Oswego Harbor to 180 feet of water where we started setting up. By the time I got all ten rods out we were in 300 feet of water and a board line with a blue/sliver/ orange belly smithwick went off with a nice 9 pound lake trout. A nice way to start our morning off. We never had a big flurry but we picked away all day long. Some of the fish we caught were rainbows under the 21 inch size limit and we released them as quickly as we could. We also had a couple of king salmon and one of those was over twenty pounds and we also had a couple of bigger rainbows that we kept. The fishing Sunday was pretty much the same as Saturday only we didn’t manage to find a big king to brag about and we caught more rainbows Sunday than we did Saturday. We had two decent days of fishing we didn’t set the fishing world on fire, but we had a great time. Good company and a few fish a winning combination. 

More yellow perch

When the perch fishing is as good as it was last week you just can’t stay away. So last Thursday the fifth of June Jimmy Dence, Bill Nye and I went to Henderson harbor to see if the fish were still there and still biting and yes the fish were still there and still biting. Maybe not as good as last week but still plenty good enough. On this trip the fish were a little shallower than before but still in the same general area. Our best fishing was in fifteen feet of water in front of Association Island and fathead minnows were our best bait. The only thing better than catching perch is eating them. Breaded and fried there is no better tasting fish in freshwater

Last week end in May

Saturday May 30th Jon’s bait and tackle in Texas had a brown trout tournament so George Bemiss, John Angerosa and I decided to enter. We fished a couple of hours and we landed four fish three browns and a Landlocked salmon. My autopilot on the little motor had a breakdown and by nine o’clock the wind started to blow hard and it got considerably colder so we decided to pack it in. Sunday the 31st the wind was gusting up over 30 mph and the waves were between 5 to 8 feet high. This was the third Sunday this month that the wind blew hard hopefully the weather pattern will change sometime soon.   To see more pictures from the last couple of weeks week check my photo gallery at http://gallery.me.com/lucky_dutchman

Yellow Perch fishing

The last full week of the month I didn’t have any lake trips booked but I did have a perch trip booked for Friday the 29th. This trip was with James Harris, Jeff Casey, Ike Johnson, and Harrison Potts four fisherman from Philadelphia, PA . My friend Captain George Bemiss and I used our trailerable boats for this trip. We met the guys in Pulaski and they followed us up to Henderson harbor where we split up into the two boats. It took us a couple of hours and a couple of moves to find the fish but when we did the bite was on. We fished until 1 PM when the guys decided that they had enough fish to take home with them. When we have the time George and I like to fish for perch and it was a lot of fun to introduce great lakes perch fishing to these guys.

Family week end gat a way

After struggling during the week my confidence levels were not very high when the week end rolled around. Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning I fished with Jack and Lori Clark and their grandson Ryan and Saturday afternoon Jack and Lori invited my grandson Dylan to come along with us. Saturday afternoon we decided to fish offshore for salmon and rainbows. We fished from 140 feet of water out to about 240 feet of water and I spread the lures from 40 feet down to as far as 120 feet down. The water temperatures were 48 degrees on the surface and 42 degrees 90 feet down. With the temperatures like these the fish were scattered all the way from the surface to over a 100+ feet down, so I scattered the lures as much as possible. On saturday afternoon we managed to break off a good salmon on a dipsey diver with a dodger and fly rig. We landed a nice salmon off a downrigger with a dodger / fly, dropped a good fish on a 10 color lead core rod with a spoon, and landed a couple of rainbows on spoons running off downriggers. Saturday’s trip was a very successful trip and we all had a great time. Sunday morning we decided to try for brown trout, so we setup west of the harbor on Ford shoals. Sunday we landed 4 nice chunky brown trout and we lost at least that many fish. The last hour or so on Sunday’s trip things slowed down, so we decided to make a pass in the deeper water and try for salmon or rainbows. On that pass we missed a good fish off a rigger and we landed a nice rainbow/steelhead around 7 pounds on 5 colors of lead core with a spoon. After the disappointing week I had it was nice to finish the week with a couple of good days.

Oswego County Tourism

 Thursday the 21st of May I took three young ladies from the Oswego County Tourism office fishing they were Jessica Trump, Jessica’s sister Alycia Trump, and Mary Ellen Barbeau. Jessica writes a blog for the county and I wanted to show these ladies a good time and to also provide Jessica with some material for her blog. It seems like anytime I take someone out fishing and I want to show off I am doomed. We got a later than normal start and as luck would have it about the time, we were setting up, the brown trout were shutting down. All three of the girls managed to catch a fish but two of the fish were under 21 inch rainbows that we released and one small brown that was legal. I am hoping that I will be able to get the girls out again so I can redeem myself. Check out Jessica’s blog at http://outdooradventuresinoswego.blogspot.com/

Oneida Lake walleye fishing

Report for May 18 through 20th. On monday May 18th John Angerosa invited me to fish Oneida lake for walleyes with him. Monday morning the was a frost warning so we decided to leave the dock a little later than usual. I met John at Marion Manor at 6:30 and we launched his boat and started our first drift in 20+ feet of water in front of Oneida creek. We made 3 or 4 drifts and only fished till 9:30. We boated a dozen walleyes and kept six nice fat walleyes to eat and released the rest.  

Our first lake trip for this week was on Wednesday the 20th I fished with Mike Hudock and Henry Mostek  a couple of nice guys from Hellertown, PA. We started our day fishing for Brown trout and later in the day we switched over and fished the deeper water for salmon or rainbows. The best I could do for Mike and Henry  were a couple of brown trout. Try as hard as we could, we could not find any salmon or rainbows in the deeper water. 

Lots of wind

Lake Ontario May Fishing Report

Monday May 17, 2009

Sunday May 17, 2009 and the wind is blowing hard again and there is a small craft advisory with waves 3 to 5 feet. Just like most of the country, the weather on Lake Ontario has been unsettled. Nice for one or two days and then cool and windy for the next few days. This unsettled weather has made the fishing a little difficult . When the winds are from the North or West they push the warm surface waters against the shore, but when the winds are from the South or East just the opposite happens and the warm water gets pushed away from the shore. When the warm water gets pushed away then the cold and clear water wells up along the shore line and replaces it. This up welling scatters the fish and slows the bite considerably. It seems like the wind wants to blow hard no matter which direction it is blowing and we seem to get another cold front every few days.

Enough Belly aching, sooner or later things will settle down, they always do and even though the weather has been less than perfect we still have been catching a few fish. We have been catching mostly brown trout but we are also catching a few salmon in the deeper water. When it is not windy the browns are in the shallow water along the shore line both East and West of Oswego Harbor and the Salmon are in the deeper water from eighty feet of water out to two hundred feet of water. Because we don’t have a thermocline yet, there is nothing to concentrate the fish in the water column. Early in the morning the salmon can be caught anywhere from thirty to fifty feet down and as the day brightens the sun seems to drive the salmon deeper and they are being caught anywhere from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet down. We have had a few good days of salmon fishing so far and those fish were anywhere from seven to twenty pounds. I expect that this spring’s salmon fishing will be good, but only time will tell for sure. To see pictures of the last couple of trips go to http://gallery.me.com/lucky_dutchman

Small boat fishing on lake Ontario

Last week Bob Lockwood and his son Nick from Thomson, CT brought their own boat and stayed at our place Feeder Creek Lodge from the seventh of May through the ninth. It was their first time fishing here so I tried to explain to Bob what to use and where to go so he and his boy could catch a few browns. Bob is a good angler and all he needed was for me to point him in the right direction. I am not sure of the number of fish that they caught but I did see a couple of nice chunky browns that they were taking home with them. I am enclosing a copy of the email I received from them along with a couple of pictures that they sent.

"Hello Bill and Barb, 

Once again I just wanted to say thank you for your hospitality and the information to get us on the fish.  The information you provided on your web site and in person gave me the confidence to get out there and give it a good go without feeling clueless. 

Barb - we also appreciated the lodging. Very clean and comfortable and had all the necessities of living at home. 

Nick and I had a great time, caught great fish and built fantastic memories!  We'll be back for sure! 

I attached some pics from our trip. Love the smile on Nicks face. 

See ya soon!

Bob Lockwood"

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April fishing report for Lake Ontario

Our 2009 Lake Ontario fishing season is off to a good start. My first trip was on the 17th of April with Mark Murphy and his crew. On their annual spring trip Mark and his guys always arrive at Feeder Creek Lodge a couple of days before their lake trip so that they can fish the Salmon river for steelhead. This year Mark brought his little boy, his brother Fran , and two other guys. The two days before we fished the wind blew from the East which blew most of the warm water away from the shore line and caused the fish to scatter. We managed to land a few small brown trout, released a couple of small fish and  lost a couple. It wasn’t a great day fishing but considering the conditions we did all right. I forgot to bring my camera so I didn’t get any pictures of m

Marks trip to post.

My next trip was Sunday the 18th of April with Mike Torcivia, Fred and his little boy Fred Jr., and a couple of first timers. We fished in the same area East of Oswego where we had fished the day before, only on sunday the wind was steady from the west so the water had a little more color to it plus it was a couple of degrees warmer. Sunday’s trip wasn’t gangbusters like their last years trip, but we did do better than we did on Saturday. We picked away all day long with the fish being a little bigger than the day before. We had a fun trip. The weather was a little warmer with a little less wind and that alone made the trip much more enjoyable.

On our next trip Jim Ardagna took advantage of my Buy one get one half off special. He brought his nephew Leo and Leo’s friend Paige to fish a couple of days with me. Jim and Leo have fished with me in the past but Paige was a first timer and was a lot of fun to fish with. We started our trip on Monday morning April 27th. As we were leaving the harbor in Oswego, I spotted some fish rolling and chasing bait in the mouth of the harbor, so we decided to see if we could get these fish to bite. Long story short, we fished within a mile or two of the harbor for the next two days. On the first day of fishing Jim caught the first king salmon of the year a nice 10lb 10oz fish and on both days we caught a nice rainbow/steelhead along with a bunch of browns. All in all we had two good fun filled days of fishing.

I did remember to bring my camera on the second day of fishing and when I forgot to bring mine Paige had her camera so I got the pictures that she took. I am including some those pictures in this post and I have posted more pictures on a site that I have from Apple. To see more pictures of April fishing click on the Title.