King of the hill - Olcott?

[Gill-T]

Interesting that Olcott and not Pulaski has had the winning fall fish in the LOC derby three years in a row.  Perhaps  this represents a shift in the lake of some sort?  Is it a bait and fitness thing?  Is it a pen-rearing effect?  Is it water temps and weather at the time of the LOC?  I can report that the fish I have been catching in Niagara County have been fat fat fat (three times for affect). Is it as simple as the port name “all-caught”?  For those of you that fish the Salmon River, please report out on how the run is going this year. 

[GAMBLER]

Its gotta be global warming.......

[Low Baller]

I don't spend enough time to give scientific data, but I can say that the average length to weight of stagers in Mexico have decreased in the last 12 yrs. Based again on a handful of personal catches and comparisons to others . The one male king we boated last weekend was 39" - 26.9 lbs with a 24 1/2" girth. Fattest king I've ever caught in that size bracket. 

Less fish more bait? I have no idea. He had all of his fins, natural spawn? Curious. 

[Decoy Hound]

I’ve never seen this much bait on the west end like I have this year. It’s not just bait balls but 20 to 30 feet thick bio-mass that goes on for a while!

[Gill-T]

👍 yep.

[regulator]

Fished 3 of 4 days this past weekend right out in front of the Salmon river. Friday in 30-40 FOW, 2/3 on Kings both upper teens. Saturday 50-60 FOW 1/4, King roughly 20 Lbs. Sunday 80-90 FOW 3/3 on Kings, 1 teener and 2 just over 20. Seen small scattered pods of bait buy no massive balls like that. Would you expect to see those west end fish make their way to the big river, or will they stay and spawn in the west end?

[scobar]

13 of the top 20 salmon out of the west end!

[whaler1]

Wish they would just settle in the middle
Braddocks would be nice!


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Wth]

I believe a lot has to do with who bought tickets. I know that stalker caught the top salmon at 32 but he also the week before cleaned a pair of 34's and a 35 but the clients were not in the derby. I believe there were winning fish caught out of every port but not entered in the derby. 

[GAMBLER]

15 minutes ago, Wth said:

I believe a lot has to do with who bought tickets. I know that stalker caught the top salmon at 32 but he also the week before cleaned a pair of 34's and a 35 but the clients were not in the derby. I believe there were winning fish caught out of every port but not entered in the derby. 

A lot has to do with the port.  Olcott, Wilson, Oak Orchard, Oswego and the Salmon River have huge numbers of boats fishing during the fall derby.  More entrants, the more chances you have of finding a big fish out of that port.  

[Yankee Troller]

Shhhhhhh.......isn't Olcott bad enough with the out of town traffic in August? Do you really want more? LOL I mean the OH guys are tolerable, but those East coast guys may not be. 

[Tall Tails]

All those big Canadian Kings!  You catch them before they leave.  I guess there wont be any "west end" whining about no stagers this year.  Heaven forbid they get 3 weeks of "tough" fishing.  LOL! 

[Yankee Troller]

1 minute ago, Tall Tails said:

All those big Canadian Kings!  You catch them before they leave.  I guess there wont be any "west end" whining about no stagers this year.  Heaven forbid they get 3 weeks of "tough" fishing.  LOL! 

 

Don't ya just love those guys Brian? If they had to fish Oswego for a year they'd have a change of opinion. The best part about those guys is all they have to do is go offshore and pick on the great Steelhead fishing and 2yr old Salmon.

[jmyers8]

At least you guys like us ohio guys lol. At least we like to blow our money for a fish we chase a few times a year

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[GAMBLER]

41 minutes ago, Yankee Troller said:

Shhhhhhh.......isn't Olcott bad enough with the out of town traffic in August? Do you really want more? LOL I mean the OH guys are tolerable, but those East coast guys may not be. 

I like sending the traffic other places.  Its nice when you are the only boat out on weekdays out of Sandy!

[Gator]

Until you break down lol...

[GAMBLER]

54 minutes ago, Gator said:

Until you break down lol...

Ouch.... I know my good buddies on Sandy will come and rescue me!

[seeyawader]

3 hours ago, Yankee Troller said:

 

Don't ya just love those guys Brian? If they had to fish Oswego for a year they'd have a change of opinion. The best part about those guys is all they have to do is go offshore and pick on the great Steelhead fishing and 2yr old Salmon.

There is not a great offshore 2 year old salmon fishing east,,,maybe some steelhead but nothing like out west,,,those salmon spend the whole year out west then when they are ready to spawn they swim to the east with lockjaw and black as night,, but we gotta big lake trout,,haha

[Yankee Troller]

2 minutes ago, seeyawader said:

There is not a great offshore 2 year old salmon fishing east,,,maybe some steelhead but nothing like out west,,,those salmon spend the whole year out west then when they are ready to spawn they swim to the east with lockjaw and black as night,, but we gotta big lake trout,,haha

 

You took it wrong. The guys complaining of terrible stager fishing in Aug/Sept are West end guys who have it great all season. All they have to do to catch fish is spend a little money in fuel later in the season.

[seeyawader]

Yes, and I’m thinking about spending some fuel and money and trailer out west earlier in the season,,lol,,, but every year is different fishing, maybe next year will be more consistent in east, although I did very well early July  in east,,,,

[buckhunter9]

The fishing has deteriorated over the years and if the powers to be (DEC) or whoever that is doesn’t address the issue whatever it is soon  (stocking etc) the fishing industry will go away and that will hurt the area tremendously. Campgrounds, tacklestores, businesses will suffer. The weights of the fish have decreased. The numbers of fish have decreased in the eastern part of the lake. There is no doubt that most of the fish that make the board come from the West. Have fished the lake for 30 years and things are not getting better. Hopefully there will be a change. Thanks. 

[seeyawader]

By the way thanks for your reports yankee!!

[GAMBLER]

Just now, buckhunter9 said:

The fishing has deteriorated over the years and if the powers to be (DEC) or whoever that is doesn’t address the issue whatever it is soon  (stocking etc) the fishing industry will go away and that will hurt the area tremendously. Campgrounds, tacklestores, businesses will suffer. The weights of the fish have decreased. The numbers of fish have decreased in the eastern part of the lake. There is no doubt that most of the fish that make the board come from the West. Have fished the lake for 30 years and things are not getting better. Hopefully there will be a change. Thanks. 

The fishing has had its ups and downs but I wouldn't ever say is has deteriorated.  The fishing the past 10 years has been some of the best I have seen in 37 years of fishing Lake Ontario.  Record catch rates the past couple seasons.  This summer wasn't the greatest but I have seen way worse.  

[buckhunter9]

Guess we are fishing in different parts of the lake. It has deteriorated. Look at the last few years of the derby. Big fish 32 lbs big fish 31 lbs. Catching 15 lbs  17 lbs common theme. Fished the same parts of the lakes for years no doubt it has deteriorated. Thanks

[Gill-T]

Since the fish appear fat, is the issue more spawning at age 2 and less spawning at age 4?