Lake Champlain United - Forums

Strange season in eastern Ontario. The kings have now moved in to the bay but temperature is and has been totally out of wack - 69f at 120', 56f back in at 90'. Fish are hanging out on the bottom like lakers, coming up out of the mud at sunset and sunrise and then back down. They're starting to darken up but the 24 pounder I got the other night still tasted pretty good. Flasher flies, spoons and J plugs are all working, right on the bottom but few boats are netting more than one fish per day. Kind of amazing how the screen absolutely explodes right before dark.

The word I have heard weekend boat traffic has been nothing short of incredible from Oswego to the Salmon river as far as you can see you can walk across the boats. After two bad years this time of year there is more people than ever plying the waters the last few weeks. 300 to as much as 700 boats yesterday (labor day weekend) depending if Saturday or Sunday. Some charter captains have stopped booking weekends due to the LA Freeway traffic this time of year. One person hooks up and 20 boats are bearing down on them. Boat rage?

1 fish a day has been the norm or average the past 3 years for most is the word on the street (The whisper numbers).

Strange has become the new norm the last 3 years to characterize the late August scene there.

My last August trip was in 2003.

Update:

Read Yankee Trollers thread on LOU titled: Yankee Troller at the Oak last few weekends = Slow

http://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishin ... ends-slow/

Went back up yesterday, fished last night caught one 5 lb brown and went one for three on Kings this morning, also had a smaller fish on a chicken wing stinger right on the bottom, probably another brown. As for traffic, about 50 or 60 boats in Mexico and maybe another group of about the same off the power plant. Seemed like everyone was pretty cordial, even at the boat launch. Once in a while some numbskull would insist on trolling north/south when the whole fleet was running east/west but otherwise there was plenty of room for wide turns with the wire dipseys. Bite was at first and last light, few hookups during mid day.

We are headed over on Saturday for the week. Hope to give them hell. I will give a update when I return.

Just got back last night from a 6 day trip to Pulaski. Put buddy's boat in the lighthouse marina at the mouth of the Salmon River, fishing Monday through Saturday. Boat traffic was light during the week and started picking up on Thursday, but never got too bad.

We ended up catching 22 fish .... 1 4lb brown, 1 9lb coho and 20 kings. 2 kings were small ones that were put back and the rest of the kings ranged from 10 to 29lbs. Caught several in the 18-20lb range, a few 24-25 and 1 29. The weather was great so we were able to fish all week. Luckily we were leaving Sunday because it really kicked up Saturday night and was blowing 30mph out of the west when we left. Impressive waves ... 8' or so, could have gone surfing! Not sure what that was going to do to fish. Most of the fish we caught were out of temp anyway, so not sure if the west wind was going to drive them up the river or not.

Here's a pic of the 29lber. It looked like a river fish it was so black!

Nice catch! After Labor Day during the week is a great time to be over there after the Loc derby is over and 90% of that late August weekend traffic is absent during that week. We are looking at that window for next year to go. Our friends did very well last week on the majors. Great weather too!

Did you try J-plugs?

Great report!

Ron, we had 1 J-plug (several different colors were tried) in the water at all times but it never got bit. Most of the fish we caught came off the bottom and the J-plug was always running higher in the column than the flasher setups. I'm guessing that's why it didn't get bit.

All of our fish were on green flashers / spin doctors with either a fly or meat. Fly vs meat catches were split pretty much 50/50.

Always wondered if the J-plugs ever connected out of temperature at that time of year. Glad you tried it! Good information!

wow thanks for the report crayfish. sounds like you had a great week. that king sure is black does that affect the taste of the kings? glad you had a great week.

Not that we could tell. The flesh was still nice and firm and they tasted fine. I guess the color changes when they spend too much time out of their normal ~55deg temperature. Once they are in the river, they've been black for weeks and the meat will start to get mushy.

Most of them looked more like this :

Run green/glow ladderback J plugs right along the bottom, temp doesn't really matter at this point, the chrome j plugs work better when the sun is high. Flasher fly combos are always good, even for staging fish but J plugs should always be in the spread for staging kings. A lot of guys like orange and red flashers this time of year. Those black kings still fight great but as for the meat, it begins to decline as soon as the color starts changing - by the time they're actually in the river? EEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!! Has anyone fished for staging Steelies outside of the Salmon and Grindstone Rivers? I've heard it can be hot in October.

Well Crayfish, I think you caught them all. We got there late 9/10. Couldn't fish Sunday because of the wind. Fished Monday, three hrs on Tuesday before being blown off. Blown off Wednesday, fished Thursday and Friday. Never had a release. Used flashers/w fly, meat. Tried spoons and J plugs. Been fishing the same week over there for 30+ yrs. Only the second time skunked! I'll be back next year. Love the place!

That's too bad, kman! I think that big blow on Sunday changed things drastically. Heard they've been catching quite a few in the river since we left.

Did you stay in Selkirk Shores State Park, Cabin #1, by any chance? Red Chevy pulling a Sea Nymph? There was a VT crew that came in Saturday night. They were in the cabin right next to us. I talked to one gentleman from Essex for a little while, but he said he didn't visit this site at all.

Yes we did. You must have talked with John. He told me he talked with some Vermonters that had a good week. I find this site and the Lake Ontario one informative. The river fishing did pick up during the week we were there. We had a great time and everything ran good. Just the fish didn't cooperate. That's the way it is sometimes.