Rookie lookin for a little assistance

[Duckman33]

Hi guys, I'm a seasoned Erie fisherman, and getting tired of the same old walleye routine. Heading up to Olcott Friday to give this salmon/steelie program a whirl. Ill be runnin a 20' Lund Alaskan and have all the gear, just don't know where to start, how deep to fish, how deep to run, lures, etc.? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I will just be taking a stab at it, setting up for lake erie steelies and playing it from there. Can offer plenty of Lake Erie Western Basin knowledge., if anyboday wants it.....thanks in advance!!

[longbow]

I fish east near Sodus NY and all I can offer is that last week seems everyone was fishing around 200' of water and down 20-40' with down riggers etc.  So my wife and I went out on Sun. and that is exactly how we fished.  We are very new at this lake fishing also, but we caught a steelhead or two doing this.  So I would suggest finding the deep water over that way and try to start marking fish and then set up with what you find.  Just remember to fish above the marked fish depth.  My rule of thumb is if you are marking fish say at 50' troll at 40' or so, cause they look up.  thanks

 

PS  We were using blue and silver color combinations of Sutton spoons, and frankly that seems to be the only color combo I've ever caught fish on in the lake?

[dvdegeorge]

If you only catch fish on blue and silver you are doing something wrong

[perch predator]

Only if you don't fish blue and silver

Sent from my BNTV600 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[ray koziatek]

http://www.olcottfishing.com/

Ps .I never got a fish with a sutton ,ya might wanna speed up a tad for regular spoons.

[Sweet Caroline]

Set up in 50-75 FOW  and go north from there. Water depth changes fairly quick between 50 and 300ft, Keep an eye on surface temps and your graph. If temps start to drop more than a couple degrees stay on the warmer side of the break. If you are marking fish, try and keep your spread near the marks. Kings generally are caught >20ft below the surface all the way down to 100ft or more. Shouldn't have to put your rigs deeper than 100ft to find kings, although some folks like to fish super deep (100+) for larger kings this time of year down there. Coho/steelhead can be found in the top 20ft. I like to troll fairly fast keeping lure speed between 3-3.5mph. Use cores, dipseys, riggers. As a general rule, lead from downrigger ball to lure should decrease as you go deeper, i.e 20ft down 50-75ft, 60ft down 10-15ft. Any trolling spoon with some green/silver in it should work 90% of the time. You can try spoons with orange or pink in them if you are targeting coho/steelhead in the top 20ft. These are just general guidelines to follow which should get you some fish.

 

Hope this helps and let us know how you make out.

 

DR

Edited June 4, 2014 by A-Lure-A

[Duckman33]

Looking like a WNW @ 10 for Saturday, how will that add up in waves out of Olcott? I assume still very fishable??

[Sweet Caroline]

Shouldn't be too bad

[Shelby Lynn]

Fished in Olcott memorial weekend, went east out of the chute went 22 for 32 in two days with all kings but 2 steelhead. Mostly flasher/fly bite (yellow mountain dew SD with blue hammered fly) was the hottest. Fish 140 to 180 FOW 40' to 60' on the riggers and 170 back on the dipsy 2 setting. and 300 coppers all took fish. Best King 29# stayed between the tower and the plant back and forth. east troll was better.

[tlox]

WNW at 10 will be very fishable in your boat.  One other thing to keep track of, your speed.  If you don't have a probe, then the next best way to judge is by watching your downrigger cables.  For me, the ideal speed running spoons and flashers is when the cables are at a 30 degree blowback angle (I run 13 lb torpedos).  This translates to 2.2 - 2.3 at the ball on my depth raider.

 

I would recommend running at least one Spin Dr or Protroll combo in your spread (Slippery Sinker right there in Olcott has anything you will ever need).

[Duckman33]

Appreciate all the help fellas......Is the public launch in Olcott a good place to launch/park? No trouble breaking into vehicles or anything?....Any input on hotels in the Olcott area?...Closest bait shop, why not buy some more lures, right???

[Duckman33]

I have an HDS 7....I rely on it heavily for speed running in Erie, if I'm too fast, I deploy the socks!

[tlox]

Its not so much the SOG that you see on your GPS, its the speed your lures are running at.  With the Lake O currents, it changes.  Sometimes i need to be running almost 4mph on the GPS for the lures to be at the right speed, other times the GPS and probe are almost identical.  It all depends on the currents and directions you are headed.  Let the cables and lines tell you when you're at the right speed.

[Duckman33]

Good tip, thanks...at times the current in Erie can be very strong, but it usually is negligible. I will certainly pay attention on that...

[Sweet Caroline]

Good, safe launch. Slippery Sinker is a great tackle shop and walking distance from the launch.

[Shelby Lynn]

Don't be afraid of playing with your speeds, sometimes 1.8 to 2.0 is best and other times 2.5 to 2.8 is better, also zig-zag back and forth and see with side is catching the most fish on the turn. Agree with the downspeed before I bought a 4x I would have never run 4.0 on the GPS but like stated above sometimes that's what is needed to get the right speed at the lures. Currents in LO are crazy!

[Duckman33]

Thanks again all!....Is anyone going out Fri/Sat/Sun?...It seems the fisherman are pretty friendly up that way, I will have ship-shore on, not sure what channel is popular up that way for the fisherman?? Certainly wouldn't mind working together, not that I doubt myself, but it never hurts....

[skipper19]

Public launch is nice and safe..usually someone in the shack there and it will cost ya $8 to launch. Nice clean facilities, bathroom, showers, fish cleaning station, ATM, three lanes of launch and gas dock. Very friendly port! Good luck! You got solid advices abovementioned. ..try a 330 to 360 heading, you will get the most consistent speed on your lures running north south angles. 2.5 to 2.8 gps...fish the bait depths and a little deeper. You will get salmon after a bit of North troll from 140 out then keep in that FOW and out until a change in color happens or ya see a lot of debris floating (scum line) in a line. Then turn and troll south angles.

cent frum my notso smart fone

[cprost]

Lockport inn and suites has rooms in the 100$ range (my recommmendation/pizza place across the road delivers and has very good food)about 20 minutes from ramp. Wes at slippery sinker has rooms, as well as various hotels/bed and breakfasts in olcott. They are not 5 stars but they are beds. Wes seems to be honest and won't try to sell you the tackle store. The steelhead are consistently bigger than they are on lake Erie and there is a larger population of them so they are easier to catch. After you catch the first king you'll forget about the steelhead. Gas is the same price at the ramp as at the gas station. If you're a seniors citizen they give you a break on launching and the cleaning station is a 1$ a fish. More experienced fisherman have given you good ideas on catching fish. I've done it the last 2 years and its a nice change. 3-5' waves are much different on lake Ontario than Erie. I wouldn't purposely fish them but it is possible if you get out in them.

[overthelimit]

I'm an eastern basin walleye guy and have also begun to dabble in Lake Ontario (might have been a bad idea lol). Lots of great tips here and the guys from LOU have also been very helpful. I do not have a speed and temp probe. Two weeks ago tried trolling east west will little success. Picked up two nice coho while trolling north. After recommendations from a few guys here last Saturday stuck to a north south troll and took six kings. Two in the low teens and a beauty 22 pounder. They all came off sliders. Good luck!

[Totally Hooked]

PM sent

[Duckman33]

well thanks for all the help fellas hooking the boat up now should be on Lake Ontario at dawn. I'll keep you guys updated on how I do!!!

[Duckman33]

Well after arriving in olcott Friday morning (and being up for 30 hrs straight) we headed out of the marina about 8am. We went out to 160 and a little east. Within 10 minutes of our first trip we had one scream on us, drag was set a little to tight and he pulled the whole rig (dipsy/snubber/spoon). 10 minutes after that's we were on again, landed a 14lb king. Spent the rest of the morning sorting through small kings, silvers, and steelhead. Did manage one real nice steel about 15 lbs. All in all weent roughly 11 for 15 on Friday. Saturday got off to a slow start, with lots of small kings. Went through a 2 hr lull before getting a screamer about 1pm yesterday, boxed a 21 lbr., shortly after got a double on kings, both 13 lbs'ish. Went 10 for 15 on Saturday. Fished this morning from 530 to 8, one good hit and one 4 pound silver.....all in all, for a first trip, I think we did pretty well. Thanks to everybody who helped with info!!!!

[skipper19]

Glad it worked out for you after a long trip!

cent frum my notso smart fone