Boat Size? Not Too Small?

[REZ]

Guys I could sure use your opinions. I have never fished Ontario before. I have a couple of charters scheduled for mid April. I live in CT and in July my bubby comes up from Fl and spends the month. All we do is fish, lakes, rivers, ponds, you name it we fish it. The longer we are gone the better the wife likes it. I'm thinking of bringing my boat up for a week or so in July. My big concern is the size of my boat. I have a 2001 Alumacraft Trophy 175 WT with a 2003 - 90hp Merc, two walker electric downriggers, fish finder, gps, etc. Is the boat large enough to fish the lake in July? I do realize that I don't have a 30 footer. Will I be able to safely fish the lake and still be in some good fishing waters if I don't venture out too far. Is there anything I need, ie. kicker motor, tackle suggestions, what ever. I would appreciate any advice.

PS love to fish for smallies too.

Thanks

REZ

[carpedium]

Thats about the same size boat I use, and there are more days I can fish than there are days that I can't. If you aren't used to being on the lake keep a close eye on the weather and don't chance it if things start getting too choppy. You won't be able to comfortably fish in anything larger than 2-2.5 footers anyway.

Otherwise, the best thing to do is glean as much info when you are on your charters, and then copy what worked and what you are comfortable with. I'm sure the captain will be more than happy to make recommendations based on the tackle you have.

[Shakemsam]

Only issue I see is that it depends how comfortable you are being away from the shoreline in the 17'.

depending on where their running, you could be half way to canada. Fishing in the summer months,

you will need a good fish finder that reads to at least 400' and having down temp in the summer can be

extremely important.

[711skwerlz]

I run a 16 and have a blast. Check my post from last July and August. Took a money Brown and kings to 28 lbs and a steelhead that made the board and got knocked off. Never went deeper than 250.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Gator]

July is absolutely prime time and you shouldn't have to venture too far offshore to find fish. If you're set up with an electric trolling motor, there's lots of options for days when you get blown off the lake. The Niagara river holds some great smallmouth, as do most of the Finger Lakes. There's also excellent trolling and jigging for salmonids in the Finger Lakes, particularly Keuka, Seneca and Cayuga.

As for trolling the big pond, you may want to invest in a couple of wire diver rigs to complement your downriggers. A great two person setup is downriggers stacked with two lines apiece and a pair of divers off the side. 9' 6" rods (Daiwa Heartland works as well as any), Daiwa 47 linecounter reels loaded with 1000' of 30 lb seven-strand wire (no backing). Tie a big swivel onto the end and run Mag Dispeys on a 2 setting anywhere from 100' to 300' back, depending on where you find the thermocline. Don't set the drag too tight or you'll be short a rig when a king strikes. Also, good rod holders...stainless, like Bert's ratchet or Big Jons...that can be used to position the rod horizontal to the water will help. The cheaper rod holders might not stand up to a wire dipsey hit.

Oh, and plan on two weeks, not one

[Hookedup]

Like they said should work great, you just need the right equipment. You can fish every day, if you get blown off Ontario drop down to the Finger Lakes and go get them. My last boat was an Alumacraft Trophy and I was on Ontario all of the time. Sean

[ericjeeper]

I would suggest a VHF radio.

[Mortigan]

+1 on the radio. The cell signal is iffy out there.

[K Gonefishin]

July is a great time to fish offshore on lake ontario, I guess I'm lucky most times in July when I come up from Ohio to fish in July we are usually greated with really nice hot summer weather and light winds, we boogie out 6-10 miles and start catching, no different than any other fishing trip, keep your eye on the forcast and radar and you'll be good, if something appears questionable or wind starts to pick up or forcast is calling for a blow get out of dodge but don't wait, the lake can get ugly in a hurry.

[TyeeTanic]

July is a good time and your boat is fine for Lake O, but use caution please. Weather can turn ugly and quicker than you think (it caught a few of us last year). Largest waves I've seen not too far from shore were 8 foot rollers. Was a bit scary. But I've had some absolutely awsome days in July, water like a mirror. My best day went 12 for 16 or something like that in mid-July. Also caught a nice 25 lb chinook around that time too.

[J.D.]

running out of a 17ft. Starcraft for the last 20 years.... pick your days for wind and waves and you'll be fine.

Here's a link to a guy who fishes Lake Michigan in a 16 foot aluminum ....... this should get the blood moving..

[LongLine]

I don't what you consider "too far". Check out Nautical topo maps. 150 FOW is much closer to shore off Oak Orchard than it is off Rochester. But regardless July has the years smallest monthly average wave height. Generally like a mill pond early, then winds start to change/pick up around 9:30-10:00am unless a storm is brewing. (but weather sites will generally tell you that)

Tom B.

(LongLine)

p.s. don't forget any of the safety gear and radio is a great thing to have.

[retsey]

I run a 18' Crestliner and my son has about the same boat.

We have caught many fish out of Olcott and Oak Orchard.

No real reason to go out in 400-500-600 FOW ALL the time.

I'm a believer in pounding the under 200 fow and you will get the fish.

They are there!.....Staying in and under 200 fow allows you to escape if conditions get rough or just tuck in closer to shore which is not a bad idea either <(*(((())))< . Sure ...we all wish we had a larger boat but look how easy it is to launch your boat and you will operate it for less money.

[jimski2]

The price of gasoline is a good decision maker for you on a smaller boat, you will be fishing more.

[REZ]

Guys thank you very much for your insight. All of your information is very helpful, and a special thanks to the people that responded to my pm. If anyone else has a response to my topic please reply, your opinions are very helpful.

Thanks

REZ

[Blue Heron]

Rez

I routinely fish off of Sandy Creek in my 16' Lund during July and Aug. As long as you watch the forecast you will be fine and generally I find I can fish more days that I cant.

Your Alumacraft should be fine

Good Luck

[Sean Youngblood]

As everyone has said you should be fine with your rig.I would consider putting a kicker motor on your boat.Save on gas,less fumes,good piece of mind if something happens to your main motor.It was the best investment and improvement I have ever made to my boat.I would never fish the big lake without it.

[BAZOOKAJOE]

I fish from a tinny and check the weather underground "marine forecast" before i go to bed and before i leave in the morning. I stay home if the waves are forecasted for anything bigger than 3 ft or stay in the bay and fish for bass. I usually stay in the 200-300 fow range max. Occasionally i will venture farther out if it's really calm. I always keep an eye on the sky and get ready to book if the sky darkens or if i see lightning/hear lightning. I don't care if it's a faint boom from miles away...i'm gone! Make sure your bilge works, you have life jackets and you have a VHF radio.

Edited July 9, 2014 by BAZOOKAJOE

[Knotlost]

Bazooka was right on.

You need to know your max wave heights your boat can take, and that depends on the free board of your boat. The length of your boat will not tell you how much free board you have to take waves. I have seen 18 foot boats that could be swamped with a 3 footer at the stern.

Say you can do OK in 4 footer, not happy or fun, but your not going to die, remember that when we have 4 footers there is an occasional 6 footer mixed in, that would be dangerous, so lower what you can handle say to 3 footers, then your going to have an occasional 5 footer and although it wouldn't be fun you can still get off the lake if your boat can take it. I always count on an occasional wave thats 2' bigger then most of them, but in a storm that jumps to 3 to 4 bigger depending on the type of storm. There is a cool app for the Iphone thats out now that give reading of the wave action it will be nice to try it this year.

The conditions do come into play on where your putting it, for example in Oswell out by the light house the river meets the lake, with the right currents (in a north storm its normally the case) the river and lake make for some extremely big waves/rollers. If you go around the "mouth" and come in between the east breaker walls sometimes it can smaller seas.

I would set the limed of 2 to 2.5 footers, with no forecast of anything over 3 as a starting point, if the forecast is calls for anything bigger call the day at the dock and don't mess with it. If the forecast is 1 to 2 footer for several days and you completely trust your motor, then have fun.

[REZ]

Thanks for any and all info. Being new too the lake I appreciate first hand knowledge. Please keep the responses coming.

Thank You

REZ

[J.D.]

Lots of fish to be had with a small boat

17ft. Starcraft deep vee

90 hp. Merc outboard

Furuno 620 with Airmar P66 duel frequency transducer

Humminbird GPS plotter

Raymarine / Icom VHF's

Raymarine auto pilot

Depth Raider down speed & temp.

Scotty electric riggers with auto stop feature.

Minn Kota 55 lb. bow mount electric with power drive and auto pilot.

Trax-Tech track system with multiple rod holders

Full cold weather canvas plus bimini summer top.

and it fits in the garage nicely..........

[BAZOOKAJOE]

[jdm130]

I have an 18' boat that I used over the fall last year. I was a little hessitant to be honest because the weather wasnt suposed to be to good, and it wasnt LOL. We went about 10 miles out and the wind was howling pretty good. The first day we hit 2.5-3 footers and it was rough but bareable. The toughest part was staying straight while troling. The next day a storm picked very very quickly. By the time I pulled our gear we were in 4 footers, it was rough. I have a 115 outboard and my boat is pretty quick. I was able to get right on top of the waves and we flew right in. Under 20MPH we got soaked and beat up, I decided to try hammering down to keep the bow up. We did and it worked great. Some advice for you.

Make 100% sure that you have a good working bildge pump.

Have a radio

flares, horns, flag, and of course the obvious, life vests, etc.

When we were there and that storm came up I started pulling my gear, a few waves came over the bow, while I was in the back of the boat I started taking in water from the outboard engine well thru a ripped cable boot. That quickly we started taking on water and my pump was running but not bailing water. In a panic I high tailed it in to port. When we got on plane we werent taking anymore water in thak god! Once on the trailer and drained the water I was able to remove my fuel tanks and batteries to find a plastic bag had blown into the well that my bilge sits in. The back had completely wraped around the cage preventing any water at all from going into the pump. Just be careful, in those few minutes everything went real bad real fast and thats all it takes to end it all. Everyone thinking it cant happen to them. But it only takes seconds to go down. Always be prepaired. Anyone can make a fatal mistake so prepare before hand for the worst cause you wont know how youll act in a situation like this. It was an eye opener for me.

[REZ]

Thank you Very insightful Please keep the info coming No such thing as not enough info, in my opinion

Thanks

REZ

[Big Dave]

Its not that you should get a radio, Its that you NEED a vhf radio. Cell phones don't work as good as you would think out on the lake . You might need help. That you can get with a radio.