May 2025 Fishing Reports
Slowly but surely we are inching toward more Spring-like weather and hopefully a little more consistency in the trolling action. It was a little bit cold and rainy over the past holiday weekend, but it didn’t deter some guys from getting out there on the Orleans County waters. Yes, the fleet is still finding lots of cold water out there – you know it’s a late spring when the west winds blow and it still feels cold! But we are on the backside of the longest stretch of consecutive prevailing westerly wind days maybe in months, so inevitably that bodes well for moving great water back in front of home port at the Oak!
We’ll look to keep that trend of better water moving in from the west going, and the latest catches are coming on with a few more smaller Kings in the mix. This week’s weather looks like only light lake breezes through about Wednesday, so that should keep the overall warming trend going. Chance of rain or showers for end of week, but accumulations are not expected as heavy as last week’s rain.
Capt. Mike G. from Get Hooked Sportfishing says, “The bite has been mostly cohos and young salmon in 60 – 120 fow. There are lakers on the bottom in 80 - 130 fow for guys who want to fish for them. Use caution, there have been some logs and sticks out there in 50 – 70 fow east and west of the port, so be careful going through there.”
Capt. Mike L. from Intimidator Charters has had “good action on a mixed bag of fish anywhere from 50 – 120 fow, and the smaller spoons have been best. Bites have been anywhere from top to bottom.” Sometimes when fish are finding lots of bait and are full, maybe they think they can fit in that one last bite of a smaller spoon – and lucky angler, you are on the other end!
Capt. Bob Stevens from Sunrise II Charters fished the holiday Monday and found “ lakers, Kings, and coho in 80 – 120 fow. Nice action east and west of the Oak.” Let's hear it for the nice cohos this year, keeping the bite going. Hoping we can see some of those maturing into tackle busters later on!
Light fishing pressure on the Orleans County open Lake waters for now. Some of our charter fleet are still plying the west end and finding pockets of salmon with some nice cohos thrown in the mix too. Off the Oak, the rec boat pressure is pretty light too, so if you’re looking for unharried water, there’s plenty of space here! We are still up against some challenging weather conditions with no great warm-up yet afoot. Today featured a medium hard east wind, and there may be more of that in the forecast through mid-week, with rain and storms expected. Looking ahead toward the holiday weekend, it looks like the temps may moderate. Hopeful that some prevailing winds can set up to stabilize and warm the mid-depth waters.
For now, Capt. Chris V. from U-Betcha Charters got out for some of the past weekend (Sunday was a blow day) and found lakers in 135 fow. The lakers liked cowbells and white spinnies. Heading north, they went out to the 27 line around 350 fow and found some Kings and steelhead. Free sliders and short cores were the ticket for those hook-ups.
Some warmer spring weather has to come eventually, and we look forward to the first home derby here at the Oak on June 6 – 8. Check out Facebook for more info for the first leg of King of the Oak (KOTO) and the Orleans County Pro-Am. Early season conditions may bring out the best trollers and weed some of the rest out! Fishing action and pressure should be picking up by then, and either way, it’s all good-natured fun for bragging rights here at the Oak!
On the tribs thanks to a good head of water pumping through all the waterways, likely from the seasonal filling of the Erie Canal, there’s been good smallmouth bass action reported. Great catch and release fun for these big Lake run bruisers that’ll retreat back to the big Lake waters soon.
Lately, the weather patterns have the Orleans County open Lake waters stuck in light and variable or moderate easterly winds. At this rate of not-so-much prevailing winds, we might even hope for something stiff if it is going to blow out of the east. Some have said we are “stuck in the cold water doldrums.” Others have said, “all the water is the same out there.” Still others have said the “Lake can’t stabilize.” This week’s weather forecast looks like rain or showers off and on with mostly light/med easterly winds. So as the weather goes, so goes the fishing for now – waiting for something to set up into a pattern here on the west end. Even the fleet that goes all the way west to the Niagara plume hasn’t yet hit reliable King action like in previous years’ spring.
Capt. Chris V. from U-Betcha Charters says, “there have been some browns, cohos and Lakers taken out of Bald Eagle.” Capt. Mike L. from Intimidator Charters says “no consistent King action, the occasional Laker, brown trout, or coho is being caught.”
Capt. Rob W. of Legacy Sportfishing out of Sandy Creek says, “very few Kings around. Most of us point to the weather as the biggest factor in that. The lake trout bite has been solid with good action in 70 – 120 fow. King gear, like spin doctors and flies, along with spoons, has been getting the Lakers. However, hammerhead cowbells are the ticket. On the days we have good colored water along the shoreline, the brown trout bite seems to be good. We have had some decent catches of cohos in the shallow water while fishing for browns, which has been a huge bonus.”
On the tasty panfish side of things, anglers are into some perch in the Oak Orchard River. Minnows or chunks of worms can be good. Inland panfish action for bluegills like on Lake Alice is also available.
For now, the weather buoys in Oswego, Sodus and Oak Orchard are held up in budget concerns. The Upstate Freshwater Institute (UFI), along with NYSDEC, is working on hopeful deployment soon proceeding from east to west. The Oak Orchard buoy is concerning due to its furthest distance from UFI headquarters in Syracuse. Orleans County Sportfishing is aware that many anglers and boaters rely on the weather and water data to make informed trip and fishing decisions. If you would like to voice your support for the Oak Orchard weather buoy (and/or others) you can send an email to uficontact@upstatefreshwater.org.
Open Lake action in the Orleans County waters has been up and down, somewhat as the weather has likewise gone up and down. Most trollers are in a bit of a search mode - trying to come up with something consistent, especially for Kings. After the end of last week and the past weekend’s east and northeast winds and recent precipitation, it looks like we may be headed for more consistent weather patterns through this week and into the weekend. Right now, all the tribs are once again moving out some high and stained flows. And there is still a chance of more rain or storms through later today and tonight.
Before the tribs outflow stain came on just recently, the inside waters were mostly clear and full of bait, especially going toward the west. Not sure that we have seen onshore bait movement like this in quite a few years. So, spoons and plugs competing for bites in all that bait and clear water was a tough ask. Most guys went on a search mode deeper for Kings or hung with the Laker marks for their hookups.
One veteran civilian angler couple got their 9th place spring LOC salmon by going west in 90 fow around the Bluffs. Check out that big King in the pic below! Mike and Charlotte fished anywhere from 50 feet down to the bottom. The derby fish hit a DW gold spoon on a 300 copper line running about 60 ft down. Mike and Charlotte are persistent with previous LOC prizewinners, so I wouldn’t count them out for coming up with a bigger leaderboard salmon!
On the Charter side of things, some of the Oak “regulars” are still out west looking for that Niagara plume early season King action. A guess is that the previous east winds making things tough here were making for challenging conditions there too. But Cpt. Dave S. from Tracker Charters hangs in here at the Oak and said “weekend fishing was great, the weather was the issue. We saw the bait and clear water inside, so we moved north to 90 – 130 fow. We got silvers on slide divers and high riggers on black and gold. There were good marks and bait deeper 40 to 60 ft down, but the only deep bite was lake trout for good action all day.”
Finishing up the spring stocking (after release of the pen salmon and steelhead) – some direct stock fingerlings have been released. The recent plants included Atlantic (50,000) and brown trout (38,500), and more steelhead (20,000). Many thanks to NYSDEC hatchery personnel and managers for late in their day efforts and USDA cormorant control for trying to help get all the fingerlings dispersed and out into the open Lake.
