First Time Fishing Sodus Point/ Sodus Bay May 16th-18th

[pmjasper]

I plan on heading up to Sodus Point, NY May 16-May 18 for the first time ever in an attempt to troll for my first Lake Ontario catch. My father-in-law and I are bringing up our 16 foot aluminum boat, rigged with downriggers and will be bringing wire line rods and in-line planers as well. Since I have never fished the area before, can anyone share any tactics on catching spring chinooks or coho in that area? I have been told that browns are more prevalent at that time, but quite frankly anything to help make a successful trip our first time to the big lake would be greatly appreciated.

In addition, we were also thinking of toying around in the bay one morning or evening in an attempt to catch walleye. Again since we have never fished Lake Ontario before any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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[KING ME]

pmjasper,

welcome to LOU. IF you head about 45 minutes west from Sodus point you will come to Rochester. I.bay and the Genny river have a real good spring brown trout, rainbow trout, coho and chinook salmon fishery during the period you are coming up. Stickbaits in 3-4" size in black/silver, orange, green and chart. run 75'-100' back off planer boards work as do shallow set dipsey's and downriggers. Spoons 2 3/4-3 3/4" in frog, orange,red, black/silver work on dipseys and the boards.

You will see alot of fishing reports during May on hot baits and areas, so keep checking the board before you come up. Long line, reeljerks and a host of others will be posting on rochester area. Fishstixs, woody and a few others will have the sodus area covered with reports.

p.s. alot of us can be reached on channel 08 on the vhf.

[ray koziatek]

those are hot dates for hudson river striped bass ,,,,,,,,back to sodus, your more into brown spring waters than salmon . to save a lot of one finger pecking i would tell you to go to "total team chos" website there is a link to them through www.attheoak.com website Warning watch the weather a couple days before you go there if there was a strong west or northwest wind 10 to 15hrs before you plan to go ( even if its dead calm at your planed arrival time) there will be 6 to 8 ft swells . its almost suicide trying to go through that chute in a small open boat, unless your real good and agressive.. Good Luck Ray K.

[pmjasper]

We're not renegades and are looking to have a fun and safe trip. No point in traveling 5 hours to risk our lives and others by being stupid.

We figure if it is too rough to go out then we would stay in the bay and try for walleye, pike or bass. Actually we're interested in the walleye fishing even if the conditions are stable. Thanks for the responses.

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[Miss em]

Another port to look at that time of year is Oswego. Prime walleye fishing and with the large protected harbor, there is great brown trout fishing there regardless of the wind. The last few years there has been good numbers of kings about 1-2 miles offshore there in May. Lots of cohos last year too.

[pmjasper]

Thanks for the info. For our first time up, we booked our stay at the Sodus Point Lodge. Not to say that we couldn't travel but most likely we will stay put around the Sodus Point area. I figure the more time driving means less time fishing.

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[Erbyjoe]

Pmjasper welcome to the site.Great bunch of guys here.You will learn alot.

[pmjasper]

Thanks. I look forward to learning a lot from the guys here. I do a lot of trolling down here in NJ in places like Round Valley Reservoir for browns and lakers. After hearing of the great springtime fishery up in Lake Ontario, my father-in-law wanted me to grab his boat and get up there. We're making our first pilgrimage to the big lake in May and are hoping we will be successful. Can't wait.

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[Erbyjoe]

You will do fine I fished Lake Ontario out of 17 footer for years Just be smart know your limits.You will know what the weather will be when your standing on the shore looking out over the water,I also travel 5+ hrs to fish.A big fish is not worth trying to go out in big waves.Been there done that.I alway try to give a couple of extra days for blow offs.If that happens I will head down and fish one of the finger lakes for that day.It's only about an hour to an hour and a half it's better than watching the waves break over the walls.

[pmjasper]

We'll have to see what happens. I'm hoping that we'll get at least one day out on the big lake for trolling. If the weather is poor however, we will probably concentrate on Sodus Bay.

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[Fishstix]

Ray K Lets hear a little more about the hudson river stripers.

[Big Dave]

If Ontario is to bumpy you could drop down to Cayuga too.

[ray koziatek]

Stix,well where do i start ,back bout 10 yrs ago i ran into kid on catherine crk. he gave me a little scoop on striped bass,and i went to newburgh blind and at the mercy of local guy selling bait at the ramp. 2day fishing 1 striper next year 2 stripers for 2 days then i ran into a local on yr 3 well sorta followed around river and fished like he was .started avg. 20fish days then i fine tuned what i learned and next few years 40 to60 fish days 12lb avg 25lb my heaviest landed,last 3 years ant been able to hit it (the run) right and droped back to 20 fish days .we lookforward to that trip likes kids in a candy shop .bad thing 2 and 3rd wknd of may has been my best time for hitting the run which rules out spring derby on LO. I wouldnt miss the striped bass run if ya guarenteed me 1st place in the derby, maybe im streaching a little there ,but not much..bottom line dont go to your grave without giving striped bass a shot.and DON'T go after those bass without calling me first I an't no expert but shure can enlighten ya to what i've learned .Ray K.

[Fishstix]

How for down the Hudson or how far up do you go? I crossed it on rt 17 a month or so ago and I said I would have to fish it someday.Just majestic scenery. My boat trailers very nicely. Do you troll?

[ray koziatek]

basicly i stay in the Newburgh area have tried as far north as Kingston apx30 miles and bout 20 mi south but Newburgh area has been a constant for me .no to trolling , ive watched 100ds of boats troll by with nothing happn while we got 4 fish on at the same time.. secret weapon NIGHTWALKERS the view there is beautiful 10mi run south toWest Point,bannerman island right there(type search on bannermans island),riverboats, tugs, tankers,large cargo ships, all runnin by while you fish. just being there is a adventure catching the stripers is a bonus.we stay at a koa 10 miles inland in their cabins ,a little rough but a place to shower and lay your head.are you hooked yet? i also trailer there 22ft islander o yea as much as a 4ft tide occures daily so chart reading could be a good thing to know.

[pmjasper]

Funny you mentioned the Hudson River stripers because I put up a post on another site about fishing for them around Croton Bay. I've never fished there before but people are telling me it's worth a shot. I travel from NJ to CT everyday and cross the TappanZee Bridge. During the spring and summer I'm always looking for working birds. One of these days I'll trailer the boat and get out there. Maybe this year after fishing Lake Ontario.

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[ray koziatek]

pm never saw working birds suchas what ya might see in the bays . the bait in the river is a little diff . you need to look down (fishfinder) sometimes the bottom goes from 30ft to 20ft instantly which is not the bottom but a solid layer if striped bass.. when im in the hunt mode 5to10 mph. we usually dont stop till there is 10 tgo15 fish on the screen (on hyper speed) at the same time.dude take a couple sick days hit the water before daylight or just about that time , lots of logs in river that time of year be careful,lay in the back of your boat 2 rod inthe water and watch all those little cars and trucks pass overhead and relax till a striper hits! just dont relax to much those cargo ships kinda got the right of way :shock: :shock: dont wait till the weekend like 400 other boats will do its like trying to manuver through a marina with all the boats floating loose :?

[pmjasper]

Thanks Ray. I'm not sure if I'll make it out that way or not. Lot's of new experiences for me this year. I always fished NJ but this will be the first year I picked up my NY fishing license. I live relatively close to the NY border, so I'm thinking of hitting places like the Delaware River, rivers of the Catskills, maybe a walleye lake or two for an extended weekend and possibly the Hudson if time allows. As once said, so much to do and so little time.

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[emtystringer]

i know this isn't a good site to discuss striped bass. but what the heck ,i got to know .

Ray are you serious about the useing night walkers. do you fish them off of a three way rig near the bottom?

i have been meaning to try the hudson.

[pmjasper]

I know they use bloodworms and sandworms a lot but with the skyrocketting price of bloods and sands, nightcrawlers are an alternative. They do however tend to washout quicker.

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[ray koziatek]

yea we use night crawlers , ok now im gonna have to shoot every one who reads this ...including myself... we use bloods also (bloodworms) but they wash out real quick but there a great bait for the bass(sent) and also die easy if left outa cooler for long , one small blood one huge nite crawler(they last forever)on 1/0 circle hook 14 lb line 1to 5 splitshot#2 (depending on wind) 20" up from hook. fishfinder shows fish at 20ft put rod in holder lower weight to surface "o" line counter drop WEIGHT to 19ft should put bait in fishes face night walker moves, fishes latteral line kicks in, smell of blood kicks in when fish investagates movement if hes hungry ya got your first bass usually happens in 30 sec or less. thats du key to bait , now these are ocean fish outa there element to spawn, any boat sound, radio,loud talking,net rocking in holder,any thing will spook larger fish and all you will catch are little ones, thats why most people think all ya catch are small fish on bloods or walkers these guys are usually holleren over the radiostompin around the boat and fishing with tackle that will rip the lips off a killer whale.this is 50% key to my sucess the other 50% i will only show ya on the water hint bring your oun electric trolling moter and boat

[TOP SECRET]

Ray,

We'll have to hook up this year out there. I'm from Poughkeepsie and try to get out at least a few weekends each year for stripers. We've been fishing for them for the last 15 years, last 8 from a boat. Never had the great days you've had, but have always had fun. We usually fish just above or below the newburgh-beacon bridge. Unfortunatley, they run the same time as we head up to the niagara bar (first week in may). But we're hoping to fish the last two weekends in April this year. Will you be out?

We've been up to the Kingston/Saugerties area, without much luck... and have to be real careful not to smash up your prob as it gets shallow fast up there. Fished a lot from shore up at Troy during college, keep saying I'll try the damn one of these days.

Any clue where to get live herring in the newburgh area? I've never had luck catching them there. Have had to go to Troy or Kingston to catch them, but by the time I get back they're usually dead. So we mostly stick with the bloodworms.

Do you use the nightcrawlers straight? Also, I heard circle hooks are mandatory this year.

Stix,

You're more than welcome to tag along one day.

Nick

[ray koziatek]

no to the herring , ive never used them,give ceelys a call 1-845-534-3495i im shure they can help.we use nites strait when fishing is hot but mix em up with a blood when things slow down.. as to the circle hooks started using few years back they are unreal % of hookups jumped to near100% no more gut hooks or wounded fish ,they should be manditory for any bait fishing everywhere. 2 nd week of may i should be on the hudson ..may is the beginning of my busy season 1st wk turkey,2nd wkstriped bass ,3rd wkturky,4th wk seneca lake trout derby,on top of all that ill have to sneak in a couple days work.

[TOP SECRET]

I'll have to try nightcrawlers with bloodworm tip this year... with the price of bloodworms at nearly $10/dozen, it's worth a shot!

Nick

[pmjasper]

I love stripers but all that's on my mind lately are lakers, browns, and salmon. Really hope I can hook a salmon this inaugural trip up to the big lake. Caught two in my life, 1 a 30 pounder caught in the Salmon River. Strongest fighting fish I've ever had the pleasure of catching.

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