Thanks to previous persistent medium N and NE breezes there was some cool but maybe not quite ice cold water out front of Point Breeze. Those conditions hung around about through the beginning part of this week with a slow moving low pressure system sitting and spinning. Between that resultant fog and then thunderstorms from the spinning low, boaters and anglers are reminded to operate safely on the Lake Ontario waters. Always operate with reasonable speed for the conditions and keep a sharp lookout for other vessels. The forecast for the mid week period is for the low to move off easterly and for NW winds picking up.
Smaller rec anglers and charters alike managed pretty good catches lately through the cold water and foggy conditions. Some found fish right in the fog while others chose to run past and get out of it. Either way wasn't wrong and there were reports of fish caught as shallow as 30 fow all the way out and past 180+ fow. For a local and WV tag team rec boat the early bite was fast with 6 Kings landed before 7:15AM! Most of their action was in 80 - 125 fow on mag and standard spoons. Riggers worked from 25 to 50 feet down and 5 and 10 color leadcores got bites too. A nice mix of of mature and 2 year old salmon were landed amid the fun chaos of multiple rods firing at once!
Captain Oravec from Tightlines charters has been running his ledge pattern east of Point Breeze to about the glass house in 80 - 150 fow with rigs 40 - 70 ft down. He says "it's been a terrific mixed bag catch of medium Kings (best one 24 lbs), browns and steelhead. Good looking Atlantic salmon are in the mix too! After a windy Wednesday forecast look for stable water and fish locations for this week. Fish On!"
On the backside of the Oak Orchard Open tourney most boaters were reporting good action on the waters off Point Breeze. That good action for medium sized Kings was through the past weekend and beginning part of this week. Water conditions were mostly stable with warmish water temps recorded nearly top to bottom out to 120 fow or deeper. Along with the warmer water temps there was nice color to the water and good bait reported. Some of the alewives were reported jumbo sized. Captain B. Ashmore aboard the Finnatic worked that water and at first the early morning bite was tough but then the Kings turned on for him later in the AM. Check out his nice cooler haul in the pic below.
Captain Lou Borrelli of Get the Net Sportfishing had a Father's Day trip that made for happy sons and Dad. Out of Bald Eagle Marina they fished 100 - 130 fow. At first the biters weren't committed but soon after the bites turned into solid hook-ups. Spoons were the ticket and any color was good as long as it was black and silver. Riggers at 90 ft down and 550 coppers and 280 - 300 divers all produced. The trip ended on a double with a Warrior Captain Happy glo spoon on the rigger and meat on the 300 diver. The smiles in the pic below say it all.
The good action out there so far is showing a good crop of 2 year old fish. Soon we'll be looking for some of those big boy mature Kings to be showing up too. Good chance that those stable water conditions won't be holding through this mid and end week period thanks to E winds. Those winds in the medium range are forecasted about until the weekend. When you get back out there it may be that the fish and bait are broken up or moved deeper thanks to colder water moving in shore. But so goes the sport of fishing and the ever changing challenge of reading the conditions on the water and finding the fish - so good luck!
A busy past weekend at Point Breeze and the Oak Orchard for all the anglers, boats, teams and everyone helping out for the Oak Orchard Open and the King of the Oak! The Oak Orchard Open was held on Saturday/Sunday June 10-11 and the King of the Oak (KOTO) was Friday June 9. Good fishing days for all 3 days with the action getting better for most boats each day - ending with good action on Sunday. Things seemed to work out for good competition in the Oak Orchard Open non communication event with no observers and with teams able to weigh in their best 5 salmon/5 trout for Pro's and best 3 salmon/3 trout for Am's.
For the first leg of the KOTO on Friday there were 32 boats competing. Team Screamer Dave Antenori was 1st place, team Yankee Troller Captain Rick Hajecki was 2nd place and team U-Betcha Captain Chris Vogt was 3rd place. The next KOTO tourney will be July 15th so there's all season ahead for more lead changes and competition!
For the Oak Orchard Open, 28 Pro teams and 11 Am teams competed for all cash in/out totaling over $21,000.00! Pro's paid out 6 spots for $15,000.00 including big fish of the day. The Calcutta paid out 3 spots for $3,600.00. Am's paid out 4 spots for $2,750 including big fish of the day. Fish USA, Shark USA and A-TOM-MIK also contributed gear and prizes for the derby. In the Pro's team Screamer took 1st place, team Bite Me took 2nd place and team Yankee Troller took 3rd place. For the Am's it was team Howl at the Sky in 1st place, team Roll with It in 2nd place and team Double AA in 3rd place.
Dave Antenori's Screamer Pro team had the clean sweep for all 3 days! For this serious tourney competing team they'll be heading back to home port in Oswego but they like to take advantage of the hot spring action on the west end out of Wilson and Oak Orchard. This is the third year out of 4 that they have competed and they haven't placed lower then second place! They weighed in their 5 best salmon and trout both days for the Oak Orchard Open and made the run back west toward 30 Mile Point. They fished the same way points both Saturday and Sunday and pretty much found Kings and steelhead in the same water. They trolled over 400 - 500 fow and 80 - 100 feet down for Kings with the steelhead up higher at 50 feet. A NE/SW troll was the ticket for best lure action.
Chip Eaton's Howl at the Sky Am team said the Oak Orchard Open is their favorite Pro/Am to fish because the fishing is always good. "All the people involved are real good and Ernst's Lake Breeze Marina is top notch." Sodus is their home port but they like the adventures of fishing up and down the Lake. On day one they were in third place and had a good showing on Sunday to make up about 8 pts to come in first place in the end.
Congrats to all teams and everyone involved and lets make the next KOTO and next year's Oak Orchard Open even bigger and better!
Some tough trolling action through last week's calm and flat conditions ended with a medium NE blow Saturday. By Sunday it did kind of blow itself out and the forecast is for prevailing winds and maybe some NW through the upcoming mid week. That wouldn't be a bad thing to try and move the Niagara plume that's been essentially bottled up on that west end. That good water should move along some of the trout and salmon that did a Houdini from here. And the Saturday NE blow scattered the Oak Orchard action that we did have and moved in cold water and scattered the bait. Prevailing W or some reasonable NW winds will help set back up good temp structure off Point Breeze. Even off shore guys lately have been hard pressed to find the typical more consistent action out there.
So bring along your June optimism for improving fishing action (it always does!) and get ready for the Oak Orchard Open on June 9 - 11, 2023. Good luck, fish hard, fish fair, be safe and have fun competing. When you come off the water you can bring the crew or family to Albion's Strawberry Festival on June 9 and 10, 2023. There's lots of great things to do and enjoy and of course sample some strawberry cuisine! There'll be live music and entertainment into the evenings. There's always a great compliment to the fishing here in Orleans County!
