Salmon River Area 8/21-8/23

[bjo16]

I dunno what our deal is but we had a terrible weekend. We tried everything. spoons, flies, cut bait. had out 2 riggers, copper, and braided dipsey. I am littleraly about to give up here after we have had 0 good trips out of like 6 since we started doign this on our own. Didnt even boat one stinking fish all weekend long Friday was probably the best as we fished like 2 hours and had 2 on which both got off and were both on cut bait. Saturday blew with only like a couple hits in the morning trip and a couple in the evening. nothign hooked. Sunday wasnt much better. only a few hits with one hooked which seems to be a monster that i fought for about 10 min and couldnt move it then it got off. that also on cut bait on the copper. sunday night one hit right away on a fly then nothing else. we fished in 80-120 feet doing 1.8-2.2 at the ball and temps 43-50. i thought for sure wed be set this year. i spend a ton of money buying all this stuff. new humminbird 797csi earlier in the year and a few hundered on flies spindoctors and attractors and spoons and a cannon speed n temp. which we ended up losing the receiver when a friend put up the downrigger too much and snapped off the ball and there went everything. Any chance cannon would send a replacement???) i dont get it what was going wrong? all this stuff now and still no better. althought many many peole we talked to didnt farew to well either. all weekend. even the guys on the radio didnt seem to be doing a lot. maybe a few guys got a couple fish and one here or there with like 6 or something but wasnt impressed at all. is there better areas then others? like western end? i didnt realize the depths are way different in pulaski then oswego. takes forever to get out to 100ft off salmon river and oswego your there in no time. weve always done oswego first time on the salmon this year. i dunno unless its totally us it doesnt seem worth keep going back and not having good trips. champlain seems like a better deal as they have great bass fishin and the trout and salmon. my dad said back in the 80s it was fantastic. he used to go out with a charter jim wells out of port bay and they would always load up on fish and always get a nice v ariety lakers browns steelies kings, and the numbers were always there not just a couple. what happeened? it obvously has changed in 25 years as everything does and usually its never for the better. can anyone recommend another area where we can have a nice trip with a nice number of fish? i heard niagara area is very good. very tired of going away and coming back disappointed.

[TOP SECRET]

yikes where to start....

How much money you spend has no correlation to how the fishing is. period. Some weekends the fish just don't want to bite, the next weekend you slaughter them. Having a "few bites" each trip is better than some of us do at times, let alone someone who isn't at the lake each weekend.

Also, asking cannon to send a "replacement"... hopefully you mean you BUYING a replacement as it was your fault, not theirs. If so, you can buy them online, just do a google search for replacement cannon probe.

Lastly, be a bit more grateful that you have the health and wealth to go fishing on the big pond... many aren't so lucky.

Only advice I can give is work different depths next time. If you aren't hitting fish in 100fow, slide out to 200fow, then out to 300fow, etc and move back and forth between them. When you find fish/bait on your screen work them for a while and hope they turn on.

Nick

[Finders Keepers]

I would also recommend trying different speeds. This past Saturday they wanted our lures traveling at 1.8-2.0 on GPS, whereas on Monday they wanted it fast at 3.0-3.4 on GPS. Sometimes the currents can play tricks too, where you have to go very fast one direction and very slow the other. Like many things it takes a lot of practice and patience to master this game: depth, speed, lure type, lure size, lure color, leader length, etc. all are factors that need to be adjusted to find the right set that produces fish. Even then, sometimes they simply have lock-jaw and don't care what you thow at 'em!! Lately the key has been to first find the fish, then work them until you find what they like.

[spoonfed-1]

Don't get to mad at least as far as the fishing goes. The probes another matter. I have alot of time on the big pond and the fishing sucked for me as well last weekend. I was in the Bay. I also have a few friends that been fishing that area full time for decades and the fishing sucked for them as well. Be gratefull you didn't have a boat load of paying customers on board.

get um next time. Thats fishing.

Glen

[Paul Czarnecki]

How about trying a different port?? The fishing on the east end of Lake O has sucked all year while Oak Orchard and Olcott continue to produce banner days. You have to fish where the fish are if you are going to expect any kind of success.

[spoonfed-1]

Throw salt in the wound Paul. LOL.

In fact there were some fish around. Not alot by any means but enough to do some damage if I could have got them going. They where just plain not biting.

By the way fine looking first mate you got there.

Happy fishing.

Glen

[yukiginger]

Hey, I feel for you, bjo, as my brother and I have not had a single "great" day after quite few trips on the big lake. Our best was in May with 4 browns in a few hours. Still, it's fishing, and I've got to tell you, participating on this board, and reading, and learning from the posts by these experienced anglers (some Charter Captains) can only help. I've learned a tremendous amount and feel that I am close to being able to dial in as well as I can given my equipment, the weather, and my knowledge - to increase the probability of success as best as can be expected. There's no doubt, however, that if you are looking to take home fish to eat it's a much better deal to go to the supermarket and pay lots per lb. It's fishing.

One thing I would recommend, which I've never done for Great Lakes fishing, is do a charter. Get a couple buds together to keep the cost down. I know that stings after sinking so much into your equipment, but I bet you learn a ton, that might really benefit you thereafter.

Keep at it, man, and don't be too discouraged. According to other posts here no one slammed them out where you were, even guys with paying customers (whose livelihood depends on it).

MarkG

[Has Been]

Everyone that has been on the lake has gone through what you are going through now. Some guys more than they are willing to admit. The fish will show up there any day now like they allways do.

My suggetion to you is to keep things simple . Run lures that you have confidence in & are speed forgiving. I have found , especialy this time of year . less can be more. Putting one lure in your set that does not run right will spook them away. When I ran Flashers with cut bait I used only 2 rodsby advisre of a capt out that way. He had a 30 ftr & ran just 3. Point being learn how to use a few things and stick with it. Most important thing in a survival situation is a Positve mental Attitude . Chin up Ole boy & get back out their !

[tcon]

I'm all about that old saying " A bad day of fishing is still a heck of a lot better than a good day at work!"

[perch predator]

Keep at it. When the payoff comes you will realize where that money went . Also don't trade screamin kings for lakers and bass. That would be wasting your money.

[kingslamon22]

Keep at it. When the payoff comes you will realize where that money went . Also don't trade screamin kings for lakers and bass. That would be wasting your money.

i second this. we did quite well this weekend on the KINGSLAMON but it took years of spending and timeonthewater to get here. mexico bay ROCKS in august.

[Richard Bullen]

Kingsalmon22 Tell Me More Tell Me more

[bjo16]

yeah i think perhaps a different area would be better? it seems like theres always good reports out in the western end even in years past. is this generally true? i heard the niagra area is the best in the lake. is this also true? is it better to go like early august or late july?

can someone also answer if fishing was overall much better back in the 80s? granted this was a charter my dad and brother went on but they said they never had a bad day and would always get a good amount. kings, browns, steelhead, lakers. this was also when there were no zebra mussels and you could also go up to the power plant in oswego.

my brotehr actually should have won the LOC derby way back then fishing the charter in like 1987 or 88. landed a 32lb king when he was 13 years old. still has the picture and its almost as big as him lol. unfortunately whoever the idiot was that decided 13 years old is classified as the adult division he was screwed and didnt win it. 34 or somethign won the adult. 12 years old was the cutoff for the kids and he would ahve been first place there by like 4lbs. oh boy was he pissed.

its very frustratiing though. we thought for sure wed nail them this year going at the rigth time and right place ans since we live over 5 hours away and like to do other trips we only go once a year for the salmon and like 3 days so its very disappointing to come back empty. last year we went in mid sept goign up to sackets harbor area and we thought wed be set there hitting the trench or black river mouth area. unfortunately the storm ike pushed all the fish in way early and ended the season early so we got nothing last year either. not one charter was still going either. ugh. was lucky enough to hook one on a jplug in the black river but my stupid braided line got stuck in the reel and snapped that. plus the whole weekend was windy as a mother so that didnt help and we couldnt get any pike or bass either.

i think were just gogin to give champlain a shot next memorial weekend and see how that is. play it by ear for the salmon.

[kingslamon22]

the east end of the lake is like a toilet bowl and finding fish is the biggest problem. plus warm water make for a HUGE challenge. as for the tackle setup, use leaders and lighter line beleive it or not... kings are finnicky in this warm water. we use long leaders, single hooks, light line, troll slow, lose a couple but we are getting locked up. mexico bay is as good as anywhere else on the lake. its just a very challenging fishery to learn, spend the time, pay your dues lake o will take care of the rest . you must trust me young padowan.,

[Squid]

Too bad you had a rough trip, but I would not give up yet. I would suggest trying the oak next year, the fishing tends to be very consitent down there. The Niagara area is good but is a better bet for a May trip. One suggest I would have for you is next time you go for a few days book an evening charter with a reputable captain. It will give you a great oppurtunity to learn where the fish are and what they are biting. You might also pick up some tactics if you pay attention. When I used to work charters we had several people who would do this when they came up for trips and it helped them tremendously. We became friends with several and would help them catch fish there entire trips.