Mid September trip - where?

[dane]

We are planning a trip to Lake Ontario to fish for salmon and/or brown trout in the 15-18 September time frame.  Will be driving up from Maryland.

 

Would much appreciate any advice on where, from Oswego area to Pulaski, would be the optimum place(s) on the lake to go for Kings at that time of year and a good place to put our boat in (22').   Any information on good choices for rigs would  be helpful, e.g., j-plugs, flasher-fly, spoons, etc.  both for Kings and browns.

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

[garrymny]

Too me, that's too late in the year......if they are staging in front of the creeks getting ready for the run up to spawn, and die, they are very difficult to get to strike anything. That's been my 4 year's experience fishing for them. You'll see hundreds on your fishfinder stacked up, but no bites Maybe someone else will tell you different, I'm certainly not an expert. But that is my observation. My best fishing seems to be July and into mid August.

Sent from my moto z3 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Crayfish]

I go over every year the first week of September to fish with a buddy of mine out of the Salmon River.  We usually do pretty well, catching ~25-40 salmon in 5 or 6 days of fishing.  It depends on the year, but I would target a little earlier in the month than you are planning (or back into August) if at all possible.  It all depends on the weather, though.  If August / September are really dry, it seems like the fish hang out in the lake longer waiting for some rain to draw them into the rivers.  But 1 good blow could send them all up at once.  You just never know. 

[FishingFool34]

On 6/22/2021 at 11:34 AM, dane said:

We are planning a trip to Lake Ontario to fish for salmon and/or brown trout in the 15-18 September time frame.  Will be driving up from Maryland.

 

Would much appreciate any advice on where, from Oswego area to Pulaski, would be the optimum place(s) on the lake to go for Kings at that time of year and a good place to put our boat in (22').   Any information on good choices for rigs would  be helpful, e.g., j-plugs, flasher-fly, spoons, etc.  both for Kings and browns.

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Gonna be combat fishing that time of year in Mexico area, if you're fine with that head to mouth of SR and jump in the pack. Otherwise you could head about an hour north to the Henderson Harbor area and fish the trench. Less traffic and fish that are still biting.

[dane]

Many thanks!  I have been able to move the trip up to fish the lake 3-5 Sep based on what you all have said.  Sounds like the mouth of the Salmon River is the area to fish that time of year!

What are most fish generally taken on that time of year and what depth do you usually fish?  Flasher - fly, j-plugs, spoons?  Wire line, dipsy's, flat line? Any information is helpful and much appreciated!  

 

Again, many thanks for the information!

 

 

[Crayfish]

That's the week I'm usually there.  There could be fish at the mouth, but we usually do better out in 60-100' of water.  Flasher / fly and flasher / meat get the most hits for us.  Wire dipsey's and riggers get most of the hits.  We sometimes pick up a couple with spoons on copper, as well.  

 

It is fun catching a screamer on a J-plug in 10' of water right in front of the river, though!  

[wrinklestar]

The trench off henderson should be good at this time as well.

[bobfish]

At Salmon River or Little Salmon River,  #4 J Plugs or Flashers with Meat. If in Oswego and you have a small boat go to the Turnaround (by the power plant)  and just troll the tight channel to the left of Wright's with jointed flatfish.  That time of year the Salmon can be thick. It can make for great action with green Salmon. 

[dane]

Thanks all for the great information - much appreciate!   Looks like for this trip we will be out of Oswego and launching out of Wrights Landing.  I understand the power plan is east of there - correct?

 

 Is there a good bait and tackle shop in Oswego where we can get up-to-date reports and any tackle we might need?

 

Again - very much appreciate the information. It's about a 10 hr drive towing our boat from MD, so I expect your information is going to help make this a great trip for some old friends!

[bobfish]

Yeah Understand. I come up from Va. Have a cabin and boat at Oak Orchard now. Oswego and Pulaski were favorite haunts in the past.

The power plant is actually west of Wrights. Only about a 1/2 mile or so. It just offers a nice protected place that is very productive when the run is on. It's kind of exciting when the salmon are porposing. Another favorite route is to troll along break water, head towards the river, turn right at the river and go under the main bridge and then reverse the course all the way back up to the Turnaround. Larry's Tackle is right in the town by the river. I would always get the local reports from the anglers at Wright's or go to the charters at Oswego Marina. (Incidentally one of those charters used to advertise the world record Silver Salmon at 33 lb 7 oz. caught off Oswego.) Also offshore around 100 ft up to the Nine Mile plant is another good opportunity. Good chance for browns there also.   I just saw you are at St Inigoes MD. I've been fishing the Chesapeake for 50 years. Keep my boat at Buzz's. Before that Drury's.  Going to do some cobia and spanish mackerel fishing  later in July.  Good luck to you Dane.

[dane]

That's very near our home, Bobfish!  We live on St Inigoes Creek just off the St Mary's river by Webster Field.  I'm retired Navy - ended my career at Pax and we stayed in the area.  

Many thanks for information about Oswego area!

[bobfish]

Retired AF here. Had the Coast Guard out of St Inigoes Creek rescue me one night out in the bay when I spun a hub. Had friends at Pax and especially when they moved NAVAIR out of the Pentagon. Have a great trip!

[dane]

Small world!  We live just around the corner from the Coast Guard station on the creek.  Pre-COVID, often used their ramp to put my boat in in the spring and take it out in the fall.  I was the Commander of Pax from 2003-2005 - lots of friends at NAVAIR.

 

Regarding salmon fishing, never used meat rigs.  I assume colors to use are similar to spoons and match the flasher as with flies-- is that correct? 

Good luck on the cobia!

[bobfish]

Yes a small world it is. I usually try to have one meat rig on through out the year. For meat, Familiar Bite or the Dream Weaver variety work well. Just  a rule of thumb it seems that the  bigger salmon like the meat better.  Try to have the flasher match the twinkie/teaser and the meat head. ATOMIK makes great rigs. If I'm just using meat I usually troll at 2 MPH. Check out the rig. Drop it in the water and have it do a slow revolve. Not a spin. (Sort of what you want a surgical eel to look like in the Chesapeake.)  About 1 to 1 1/2 rolls per second. There's a bunch of YouTube videos available.  Feel free to PM me any time you want.