favorite spot?

[salmonboy41]

just woundering/taking a poll on what port people like the best for kings and what time of year.

[seasquirrel]

Oswego! Got to love the fact that you can find fish in very close proximity to the harbor all year. Monster browns, steelhead, walleye and salmon are plentiful without having to run way out to get to deep water. I like the fact that the coasties are right there if you need them too. Wrights Landing has the fish cleaning station and geat facilities. Park and town walking distance for kids on blow off days. Great food and drink in Oswego too. Cold beer on the Red Dock is a nice plus also.

[muskybob]

Cold beer on the Red Dock is a nice plus also.

All beer drinking on the red dock must cease immediately according to a directive by the present administration. No fun is allowed, taxes will be levied, & a penalty will be imposed by Sheriff Frank (Home Office). A 221 Islander will be slipped in the area to see that everything is copacetic. Please take all your beer (and Scotch) to him for proper disposal.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

[nbajack70]

Kodiak, Alaska ; )

[FREEMAN77]

wow even I could get some fish there

[salmonboy41]

oswego never fished there but plan to this coming late summer, fish mostly out of Wilson/ollcot and the niagara river, I know in the spring these always seem to be the best ports, but in the fall durning the LOC derby Oswego and that area always seem to have alot more winning salmon then this end does.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Salmon Boy, there are so many factors in what areas give up derby winning fish. The Oswego area is great, but during the fall derby there are an INCREDIBLE amount of boats fishing out of every harbor, bay, creek, and launch ramp. The reasons are there are alot of fish returning there, and the area caters to fishermen. The sheer amount of effort in an area is going to "turn stones over" and produce some big fish. In addition to that, the Oswego area provides good structure and quick access to deep water, just like our beloved Olcott/Wilson area. Both areas produce lots of derby winners, spring and fall.

As a Rochester native who dove head-first into the charter business, I chose the western basin. I did not do this until I fished the entire southshore first. I chose Oak Orchard first, and then my current home port, Olcott in 1999. I chose these areas because they had good spring Salmon fishing, which I love, and hold trout and Salmon consistently through-out the season.

One of the benefits of fishing all the Pro-Ams on the lake is seeing and fishing all the other areas. Oswego has grown on me, and would be my second choice. Great fishing port. The salmon fishing can be phenomenal, and the Brown trout fishing is consistent.

[Shade]

Capt. Vince,

I also fish out of Olcott. I use to fish Ontario back in the 70's - the mid 80's. We camped in Barker and launched out of Olcott. Then the kids got older and we stopped camping and living on the west side of Buffalo we went back to bass and walleye fishing in Erie. In 2007 my son decided he wanted to fish for Salmon again so we are back on Ontario. Following some of the tips and techiques on this web site we have began to catch fish. we have yet to really Srping fish but we are intending to get an early start this season. I know you are a Cahrter captain and I certainly would not ask to fish in your pocket but if you would point me in the general direction, outside of the bar (way to crowded for me) where to begin I would appreciate your input.

Thanks,

Howie

[seasquirrel]

MUSKY WROTE: All beer drinking on the red dock must cease immediately according to a directive by the present administration. No fun is allowed, taxes will be levied, & a penalty will be imposed by Sheriff Frank (Home Office). A 221 Islander will be slipped in the area to see that everything is copacetic. Please take all your beer (and Scotch) to him for proper disposal.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

LMAO! Bob, we corrupted Frank last year. No booze on the red dock. Then I am outta there.Wait till you see what I have in store for "Frank the sheriff"

[muskybob]

I'm so looking forward to the season Gray. Think I'll throw an extra case onboard. That dang Dennis drinks a lot.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Well Howie, I will give this a try with hopefully, a fair general picture. First off, it is impossible to target Spring Kings from Olcott consistently without going to the "bar" at least some of the time. The very common Spring-time east winds insure that. If it blows hard enough, long enough from the east, whatever is "set up" will be blown apart and "go cold". If we are fortunate to have several days of west wind, Kings and Cohos will be near Olcott. What is impossible to forecast now, is what depths they will hold in. I have gone out in late April and hooked King after king in less than 20' of water, but that is usually where you will find the Cohos. The Spring Kings will usually be in 40 to 200' of water, depending on how advanced the Spring is. What most of us consider Spring begins to transition in early June, with rapidly warming water and dispersing bait and fish.

[lakebound88]

trolled out of hamilton beach, sodus,oswego. experience has been the same all around, except hamilton beach, we would of had a good day if we stayed in close, went 10 miles out for nothing, fish were in shallow....

[lakebound88]

but oswego, really like it there. harbor is nice, the marina folks are nice..just one captain i thought was a real dick..i mean, he must be one of the best, but very rude.

EDIT: name removed, please, no personal remarks

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Lakebound, sorry you ran into a Captain with an "attitude". Cut him some slack unless it happens several times. Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing. It is possible with cooperative weather for him to be out SIXTY days in a row, baking in the Sun and dealing w/ the fleas. Perhaps he just got a call about a two day cancellation, or discovered a mechanical issue that threatened the next outing. Maybe he was fishing Kings, and they just plain "fried" his brain.

Now, if you by chance followed directly behind him, or too close while trolling, he will be upset. He is probably working hard to get presentations "away" from his boat, so he wouldn't want to fish baits near yours. Keep fishing around the lake, most people are great.

[salmonboy41]

The bar is diffently the best place to be in the spring no dought in my mind about that at all. But what about in the fall Capt Vince Pierleoni would you say that more salmon stage out in front of the areas around owsego then here?

[seasquirrel]

Lakebound, I bet I could tell you EXACTLY who that captain out of OSWEGO is. Dont worry MOST everyone feels the same way as you do towards him if it is the same Charter Capt. Ignore him. Maybe you did just catch a decent guy on a bad day which is understandable. All the other Captains I have met have been great guys and very personable and helpful. The Captain I am thinking about (and wont mention names) is consistently rude, irrogant, not friendly and stinks like DIESEL FUMES!

[lakebound88]

Oh, yes, thats him!!!! His deckhands were really nice, but him...uhh.. Everyone else i talked to charters and fisherman, were all nice, and gave me some pointers as i was a first timer at oswego with my own boat..It was really kind of them. I will be back again this summer for sure!

[lakebound88]

i stayed away from him Captain Vince. Plus, he was the only boat brave enough to venture out into the lake that day, i believe there were close to 6 footers out there, i went about 100yds past the break wall, made a "u" turn instantly. I bet he can be a good guy, but first impressions, usually set a negative attitude for a long time. However, i like watching all the charters split in the mornings form the docks! i waited til everyone was about gone...Didnt want to look like a fool!

[seasquirrel]

Next time you are at Wrights, Red dock # 19 for a cold beer lakebound. Or any dock on the red dock for that matter.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Salmonboy, its a pick-'em situation. I would say that more fish return all at once to the greater Oswego area, but you are going to share them with more trollers. The staging fish there are often mired in warm water, piled down there by prevailing westerlies. They can be very challenging to catch. Out west here, we seem to get more of a trickle run, and enjoy the ability to almost always find cooler water. It has been my experience that there is more room to troll.

Shade-Howie, got the pm, if you are willing to fish Cohos, Browns, and dropback Steelies, you can almost always fish near Olcott in shallow water and save the long run down west. Fish less than twenty foot of water and watch temp guage for warm water.

[xdbcx]

This is a great topic of discussion seeing as I am about to move my boat further west this year. I fish out of I Bay and Rochester and have been fairly dissapointed with the past three seasons. 2006 was the best season for me, it was almost easy to catch big kings. It must be just me. I have traveled to the west end in the spring (niagara) and had great success, and traveled to the east end in the fall (oswego) with great success. Is it just that much easier in those months to catch em...?

[salmonboy41]

xdbcx Thanks for the info on fishing both ends. in my opption if your going to move to this end and stay here season long you want to concentrate on the Bar usally the most productive spot do to the stable water and all the influx of water from the river.

[xdbcx]

Will definitely venture to the bar early spring for the derby, it is kinda tradition now. I was thinking somewhere a little more east than the bar for a season long spot. I am tired of having to travel 10-12 miles straight out of port to get to 250 ft like out of Rochester. From what I have heard you can cover much more water in depth faster, meaning go from 100-250 in a matter of minutes. Where I am located now if you start in a hundred and work your way out it can take an up to an hour to get over 200. I know at the bar you can go from 65-250 by the time you setup. In those summer months when you set up in 100 and the fish travel to over to 250 it means picking up, motor out, and resetting everything. Kinda tough to do when you only have two people on board or when it is rough out. If you could troll out there without wasting a third of your day it would be nice. That is what I am hoping to accomplish moving further out west.

[jeb1340]

xdbcx, if you are looking for a slip on the west end it is hard to beat Wilson. Trolling in the spring is good. Trolling in the summer is good and trolling in the fall is good. You can make it out to 100 feet in no time and it sounds like it drops off a little quicker than out towards Rochester. If you decide to run to the red can its only 13-14 miles and there is a public dock in Youngstown that you can stay at overnight. If you want to fish the bar for a weekend, you have the option of running from Wilson to the bar and then staying in Youngstown for a few days and saving a little gas.

[blazingrill]

C-mon --- No Love for Mexico ????