Yankee Troller

I've been on the "We've lost a year class" bus for about a month now. After fishing the Oak, the North shore, the bar, and my brother fishing the East end they are no where to be found! We've burned A LOT of gas this Summer looking for them and have fished 30' out to the middle of the lake on both sides.

Ran 7 trips in 4 days and didn't change the gear out for those days. The bite was that good! Mostly JUMBO Chrome with a few Kings mixed in, and 1 mature a day. We fished 27-30N and 16-19W the entire time, and our riggers were 30-60' down, wires out 70-120, 10 color cores, 200 coppers, and 300 coppers. The Dremaweaver Magnum Get'R Dun was hot on the 10 color, and the regular size was flying on an 80 diver. Familiar Bite meat was good on our 300 copper, but that was the only paddle in the water. The blue spoons were all on our Cannon riggers. Hot spoons are at the bottom!

Rochester guys are fishing 30-40' of water for Browns. No mature kings in there. Sent from my XT1080 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Wouldn't free up a dime! That's Fed $ to restore a fish that was natural to the Lake.

The trib guys are all over "other" forums. I don't think many come here. This is a Lake fishing site for the most part. I know at the Oak we have people that come from PA to help with the pens. I personally help more at the Genny, than the Oak, since I live 5 minutes from there. However, at both ports ALL I see are Lake guys. Here's my take - The Lake guys and the Stream guys have different opinions. The Stream guys help improve stream habitat in hopes of a natural fishery some day. The Lake guys are the ones helping with the fish in the pens to keep the stocking program going. DEC study finds almost 2:1 that Pen fish do better than direct stocked. I wish we had no natural reproduction, and we increased Salmon stocking. That's the only way to control predictor/prey ratios. Natural fish are the unknown and can't be counted on!

I'm gonna try and get them all before they get to the snaggers! I'd rather they choose to end their life. Hahahahahaha Sent from my XT1080 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

The steelhead limit on the American side in the Lake is 3/person and they must be over 21". Steel fishing in the rivers is only better because they lowered the limit in the Rivers where the nonsense occurs! Also, the great King fishing the last few years in the Lake took pressure off the Steelbows. Not the case this year! They've been our bread and butter out West!

We're seeing a lot of above average Steel at the Oak. They are saving our charters! Big chrome high in the water column are aggressive!

I was weary of Vince's prediction at the beginning of the season, but now with most of it behind us I am totally on his side! Prime Time August and we managed 1 Mature fish each day this weekend running the last 4 days 2 trips a day. 40 hours of fishing for 3 fish over 20lbs! We marked a ton of bait with no fish on it. Instead of increasing Chinook numbers the state/Feds decided to add an extra 300,000 LT to the system. A fish that lives up to and over 20yrs old. You cant control something that lives for that long. Salmon die in less than 4yrs. Much easier/faster to recover/adjust to changes in the ecosystem. Oh, and I'll say it again, people don't come here to catch LT! More Kings!! More Kings!!! Like Vince we have fished all over this Lake this Season. The lack of Kings is frightening!

Sounds like an active night!

This is another thing that makes you wonder. Look at how BLUE this lake is. Last Summer it was green like Lake Erie. Lots of cold water out there still, and this lake wont recover the core temps this Summer IMHO from the harsh Winter. That being said I think Michigan is a colder Lake than ours, and they seem to see good King fishing in that colder water.

I don't know where you guys are fishing with all this wind, but it has been a pretty calm year on the big pond. Yes, there have been many days with light East winds, but nothing like last season!. There was only a 2 week window on the North shore where it was good. When we were over there last weekend for the last Tightline event the winning team took 8 bites all day! I'm no expert, but I don't see them coming this year in numbers. The next few seasons look to be real promising though! There is plenty of food out there and some good numbers of 1 and 2 year olds.

I'm sickened by the fishing this season. If we didn't have "those other fish" to target we'd be hurting! I first thought everything was just behind, but I'm now to the point that I think we lost a year class due to the low water a few years back at the Salmon River, or the harsh winter we just experienced. We (CYS) fish the PRIME areas of the Lake when they are PRIME. We had 1 good week of fishing up on the Niagara Bar, and since then it's been spotty at best. However, the fish we are catching give us a great outlook for the next few seasons! Lots of 1 and 2 year olds, and lets not forget to mention the extra 155,000 Chinooks the DEC put in this Spring. Let's also look at the big picture. Honestly, I strongly dislike fishing for anything else but Salmon. The last few years we've been SPOILED beyond belief with the Salmon fishing we've had. However, this has given the "other species" a break, and we are seeing some REALLY nice Steelhead out there this year as well as some giant Lake Trout.

I'm glad to see you guys are catching some fish out there!

It's great to see how hooked you are on fishing Lake O! Getting your ol' lady out there makes it even better! Keep up the great reports, and the good fishing.

Nice job!

LEDs are the way to go! We did the same thing splicing into a light switch.

Nice!