couple days on lake O

Buckster

Buckster

Well-Known Member
As things are starting to quiet down on Lake Erie, decided to make a run up to lake O in search of some big kings. There was a bit of pressure on the line as I had my old school room mate down who guides on lake Athabasca for monster lakers.....so i needed to find some big fish.

Thursday was a battle in the hard North winds gusting upwards of 40, so we stuck close to the burlington shore and managed to go 10/14, half were juvenile fish but we did boat some big ugly's, one breaking the 30 mark - fished 60-80fow. Mostly a spoon bite.
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These fish aren't winning any beauty pageants.

Friday was much more relaxed, with a light sw wind, almost too flat. Started slow, 4/7 by 10am in 60-70 fow - moved south and deeper to 110 and managed to locate some bait, we just circled around it and picked away at hungry fish. ended up boating 17 more. The day ended 21/30. Lots of rainbows and juvenile fish, no big boys but a fun day on the water.

Both days it turned out to be a spoon bite.....my favourite !

Kept a few smaller guys for the table.
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Next stop erie.
 
Nice work!

After having some fun on an Erie trib yesterday I decided to head to Bronte pier around 8 pm to try for some salmon and only saw 2 fish caught in 5 hours or so. I've never been pier fishing on a Friday night, but I do know that it'll never happen again. So many idiots wanting to get as close to the end of the pier as possible that they're nearly sitting on your lap. Sorry, but you're too close when my rod is in your face when I'm trying to cast :mad:

I'm taking the boat out next week and have never targeted salmon in the boat. Would you be willing to share a few tips such as what area of the water column to fish at this time of year, size and color of spoons, speed, etc?
 
Yes please, some tips from the pros here. We will be launching out of Pier 4 Monday AM in Hamilton. Born, bred, educated and paid my taxes there for 45 years before we moved to Erie and this will be my first time fishing Hamilton in my own boat, ever. Going out with Featherstone Ted who knows Ontario big time. Would like him think I know what I'm talking about.
 
I suppose the depth can very but we were getting most of the fish at 40 and 55. they were scattered a bit, so shake it up to where you mark fish. we started trolling right out of the harbour and picked fish off in 45 and 55 fow about 30 down. DW Blue dolphin and lemon ice mags did most of the damage both days. The fish did seem to favour the downrigger as the day went on, dipseys were hot in the morning.
 
Buckster said:
@ch312 @WhatsthePoint how did you guys make out?

I Might give it one more whirl this week
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Today was beginners luck day!

Landed 14 out of 25 with a mixed bag between 8 and noon with the big fish being a 14lb bright silver chinook (black gums and mouth, right?). I'll make a post tomorrow with pics and details.
 
Buckster said:
I suppose the depth can very but we were getting most of the fish at 40 and 55. they were scattered a bit, so shake it up to where you mark fish. we started trolling right out of the harbour and picked fish off in 45 and 55 fow about 30 down. DW Blue dolphin and lemon ice mags did most of the damage both days. The fish did seem to favour the downrigger as the day went on, dipseys were hot in the morning.
Click to expand...

Well I wish I had something to report as a success from yesterday but the only thing I caught was a serious cold.

Launched at 09:00 and started marking fish as soon as we hit the end of the canal. There were plenty of fish to be caught but had only one hit that knocked off a Dipsy. It had a Orange crush on it. We tried everything at our disposal other than a Tim Bit on a hook. Because there were only 4 rods out and zero boat traffic until noon we chased a school for about an hour straight and not even a foul hooked fish. If I maneuvered my boat properly the many jumpers we saw could have landed in the livewell.


We only counted 4 other boats in the morning and according to the gentleman I spoke to on the marine radio they weren't having any success in the 2 hours they trolled the 2 miles or so from the canal. They were heading to Bronte and it looked like the others were heading that way also as all the boats had disappeared as well.

We packed up around 3 rather than take the short run to Bronte as some rather dark clouds rolled in and the wind picked up from the NE.

I did learn 3 things yesterday.

1) I can still read plant activity by watching the bleeders and stacks of the integrated steel plants.
2) You can always depend on Hamilton being Hamilton, even fishing everyone acts like a tough guy, only one fishing wave from the 3 boats we saw close enough to wave. Ted said hey Johnny D don't they know who you are? You used to be infamous here in the old days. Yea Ted, the operative phrase is "old days".
3) I still can't catch salmon on Lake Ontario unless I'm paying a charter guy, or at least someone is paying.

Unless someone wants to see a picture of US Steel or Burlington's new multi million dollar pier nothing here to see, move along please
 
If any of you Salmon guys are heading out next week and wouldn't mind teaming up any day but Wednesday in separate boats or want to take a seat in my 19 footer let me know. It's either Ted or me but there is something to it when Ted gets skunked. He says it's me. I'm starting to believe him, he was a very successful charter Capt. on Ontario for 20 or more years.

I strongly believe it's the rap music from the radio not me.

Hey ch312, where were you between noon and 3? Only saw 2 or 3 boats fishing just off of the canal around that time that were close enough to wave to. One that was close enough to see well had a red head aboard. I was going to say attractive but just in case it was a young man with 70's hair syndrome I won't say anything else. That boat waved back.

Another was a white 16 to 18 footer with side console. The pilot had a large red life jacket on.
 
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Guys most good reports recently have been from the Bronte area....lots of people got skunked East of there....temps are very cold in East direction and it seems many kings are staging in front of Bronte for now. If you look the lake temps you'll understand why. That big 24 rain few days ago messed things up a bit. Anything bellow 20 feet down is less than 48 degrees....colder than spring....Can't say much about Hamilton but chances are you'll get some fish in front of Bronte....

Cheers,
Ice Fisherman
 
I was out from that long big ship dock just west of Bronte until 1-2pm when the fish totally shut down and I started trolling back to the skyway only marking one bait ball with a few fish around it.

Here's the rig if anyone wants to tangle my lines, sink me, or send pirates after me :D

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I'll FINALLY post pics and details of my day tomorrow.
 
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