June 2025 Fishing Reports
The King action is off and on here at the Oak and Orleans County waters. There have been some encouraging signs for consistent action coming on with decent days here and there, and then more east winds and cool temps return! The Lake then shows us how much cold water is moving around out there! We are on the backside once again of 4 days of light–med east winds with most guys in a search mode to find the Kings. There are sonar marks that most guys believe aren’t all Lakers (and lots of bait with still stressed/dying bait from those aforementioned cold waters). All that bait for salmon that are not that active because of the cold water might be making for tough competition for trollers’ spoons, flies or bait.
Charters are grinding it out with a few Kings, some cohos, Lakers for those that want to target them, and some Atlantic salmon. The forecast ahead looks consistently warmer with prevailing winds again, so we’ll look forward to the Lake setting up on a more traditional late spring and early summer temp pattern.
Capt. CJO says that well-fed up fish are coughing up alewives. “Fishing is tough, but Lakers are hitting 105 ft down and Atlantics 15 – 20 ft down. It looks like warmer water is trying to coast in – I expect more stable conditions and salmon returning after these 4 – 5 days of east winds. We also trolled 30 – 45 fow to the glass house and saw the normal amount of bait balls.” Shallow trolling has been largely untouched by the small boat civilian crowd, so who knows how many browns or cohos or Atlantics may have set up shop there while the cold water has hung in?
The past weekend here at the Oak featured the Orleans County Open Pro/Amon Sunday and Saturday, and the first leg of the King of the Oak (KOTO) on Friday. It was great to see a buzz of fishing activity here around the Orleans County waters! Thirty-three (33) teams, including 21 Pros and 12 Am's fished the Open, and twenty-two (22) teams fished the KOTO. Salmon action has been coming on a little better, and it was good for most boats through the end of last week and for the KOTO. That action coming on was coincidental with better water temps and prevailing winds. Then the Lake “does what it does” as they say and threw a curveball with east winds building through the weekend. It wasn’t enough to keep anglers off the water, but basically you could say most guys headed to the west on Friday for their best action, then Saturday found guys searching for the fish they had found Friday, and finally on Sunday, guys wound up going east to get their bites. Everything was changing day to day!
In the Orleans County Open for the Pro’s it was the Legacy team (Capt. Rob W.) in first place, Thrillseeker (Capt. Vince P.) in second place, and U-Betcha (Capt. Chris V.) in third place. The Legacy team's win was decisive as they had good boxes both days, unlike some other teams that featured a good box for just one day. Capt. Rob W. said, “Fished from my home port of Bald Eagle. The tourney days were spent fishing from Devils Nose to the glass house in 75 – 180 fow. A good surface and down break was in 100 – 125 fow and the fish were just inside and outside of it. Cut bait and flashers were the answer for the salmon on divers and on a deep rigger. High DW ss spoons on shallow downriggers worked for steelhead, and hammered cowbells and gambler rigs took our Lakers.”
For the Am’s in the Orleans County Open, it was team Roll With It in first place, Rigger Mortis in second place, and Shotgun in third place. The Am teams found the same changeable fishing conditions from day to day. The Rigger Mortis team, docked at the Orleans County Marine Park, took the big fish award with a near 21 lb King. They said they dropped one good fish that could have put them over the top for first. Andrew C., team leader, said, “On Friday, Kings and steelies were great west of Green Harbor in 120 – 250 fow. Spoons on the surface and down to 110 ft worked. Some Kings came on meat on 100 – 120 ft riggers. On Saturday, we went back and everything was gone! Sunday was again poor screens to the west, so we headed east to the Flats and glass house in 90 – 120 fow. There was a lot of bait on the bottom and suspended. The big King came on a white flasher/hammer fly.”
In the KOTO, where all boats are equal, it was the Oh Baby team (Matt L.) in first place, the Richmond VI team (Dave W.) in second place, and the 5 More Minutes team (Tony C.) in third place. This was just the first leg of future KOTO tourneys, so you can still get in on the bragging rights for Oak Orchard. It’s been a slow and somewhat up-and-down start to the trolling season, but everyone is looking forward to the action ahead with lots of good summer days! Come on out to the Oak!
Could it be that we are finally breaking toward warmer weather?! Drier weather?! Less easterly winds?! Time will tell, but we have, for sure, just recently put together the most consecutive prevailing westerly wind days that we have had in months. Gone, hopefully, are the 40°F nights! The forecast looks favorable ahead for warmer temps and good winds. A downright hot spell is in the forecast for this mid-week period, and then seasonably warm for the end of the week and weekend with a chance of rain or showers.
The recent westerly winds haven’t come without some pain, though. Those prevailing winds have been stiff enough that it's kept trollers of the Lake recently. There were small craft advisories through most of the past weekend. Now we can hope for light to moderate winds to help continue to move good water and good fishing to the Orleans County waters. There has been exceptionally light fishing pressure to date. We expect that to change with the Oak Orchard Open Pro/Am and KOTO contests this weekend. And recent reports of King action coming on better to the west optimistically mean that salmon action will slide east to the Oak Orchard area just in time for derby time.
Here's the most recent prognostication from Capt. John O. of Tightlines Charters. “When the weather settles down, there will be more fishing action. Lots of rough waters with the worst May ever at Point Breeze. There’s barely been 2 days of consecutive fishable weather! The strong W and NW winds that have kept anglers off the Lake will push warmer water to Orleans County. It’s been a slow bite, but the sonar screens look promising. Reports include some Kings 50 – 60 ft down and lakers as deep as 90 ft. Teenage Kings and the cohos that have been providing some action all spring were in the top 35 fow. Successful boats have been fishing straight out of port to the Johnson Creek bluffs.”
Capt. Rick H. of Crazy Yankee Sportfishing says anglers can register for the KOTO at Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina. The Oak Orchard Open takes place this Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8, 2025. Come join the fishing competition at the Oak!
