Lake Ontario action for the past weekend and beginning part of this week was mostly shut down thanks to high winds and storms. Charters and recs are headed back out there today searching mostly beyond near-shore. Warm water be darned though this time of the year, Kings could be found staged up in 60 - 80+ fow - or shallower. So watch the temp probe less for matures this time of the year and maybe try a near shore troll. There are some salmon seen crashing outside the rivermouth at the O-dark thirty hours. Hot and dry and bluebird weather forecast ahead and the subsequent clearing water might make it tough in the near future and stealth tactics or casts could be the order of the day. Upstream trib action not taking off just yet, rivermouth casters will be the first to intercept the first scouts of the season.
In the last leg of the King of the Oak (KOTO) Capt Chris Vogt and the U-Betcha Team took the August win. For the KOTO season 3 legs combined the Yankee Troller team took first, U-Betcha second place and Intimidator third place. Congrats to all the winners and thanks to the volunteers and Ernst Lake Breeze Marina for helping and hosting. See you in 2025 for even more Oak Orchard big fish action!
In the Fall LOC Derby that concluded over the past Labor Day weekend, there were some high on the leaderboard fish caught out of the Oak. Bill Hilts Jr. reports that second place in the Salmon Division was Edward Hetrick of Edinburg, PA with a 29 lb 3 oz King. He was fishing out of his 17 foot Sylvan Backtroller with partner John Verba of Zelienople, PA. They won 2,500 and an extra $500 for catching the largest salmon while being a member of LOTSA. "We were trolling a green J-plug 95 ft down over 130 fow on Aug 27" said Hetrick. "The fish hit so hard it almost spooled my Penn 310!" Hetrick has been fishing in the derbies a long time. His best fish was a 35 pounder in the old ESLO Derby. This year he recorded a 5th place King in the Spring LOC, a 3rd place steelhead in the Summer LOC and the 2nd place King this Fall.
Also caught out of the Oak was the first place Brown Trout in the Fall LOC. It was a 15 lb 3 oz beauty reeled in by Kristine Grager of Lyndonville. She was fishing with her husband Capt. Mike Grager of Get Hooked Sportfishing. The big brown was worth $2,500 plus $250 for big fish of the day. "We were fishing in both the LOC and KOTO when storms chased us off the Lake," said Grager at the awards ceremony. "We went back out later for my personal best brown trout. We were in 70 fow and the Moonshine Green Hulk 14 spoon was on the bottom, using our downrigger to get it there. We thought it was a lake trout."
Here's to some quality Orleans County and Oak Orchard fish this warm water season and more big salmon and trout in the cold water trib season upcoming!
Busy times on the water as fall approaches! The open Lake Ontario action is winding down for some and the tributary action is soon to heat up! Tournaments are closing with some impressive leaderboards posted. Check out the LOC Fall Derby results here. Once again, big Kings were caught by anglers that weren't registered in the derby! Always happens - don't be that guy! For the Oak Orchard Big Boy Shootout congrats to team Thrillseeker First place, team Screamin' Reels Second place and team Crazy Yankee Third place. We'll post KOTO results as soon as they get published.
The near shore action for staging Kings is showing good potential. Now if only the water would set up stable. That's not the case lately though as some sporty winds have kept things changeable inside. So far, for the start of this week it looks like warm water has pushed back in. Unconfirmed reports of only a handful of fish actually in the river and a patient O-dark thirty observation at the rivermouth might reveal a couple floppers. Charters today never paused near shore and didn't start to set rods until around 100 fow and most were moving beyond that.
Capt. Chris LoPresti from Maverick Charters says "the weekend was like fishing in a washing machine - current, wind and temps were all over the place. There are some Kings beginning to stage at 80 - 100 fow. For us, the off-shore bite at the 30 - 32 line was good with steelhead, immature Kings, cohos and strangler matures. Seventy - 100 ft down with flasher flies and meat rigs took the most fish with occasional bites on a black/green glow silver spoon. Enjoy the fall everyone!"
Capt. Lou Borrelli from Get the Net Charters didn't push his luck on Saturday with storms looming so he worked 100 - 115 fow. "We found a good pod of mature Kings between Bald Eagle and the glass house. All of our bites came in the top 50 ft. with J-plugs, meat rigs and spoons all working. See you for charter action again next year!"
