Fish Lake Ontario in Northern New York

By Keith Kaufman

At right: The author and his sons trolled up these nice 13- and 20-pound king salmon at Point Breeze on Lake Ontario on Memorial Day.




In November, we still have weeks of great striper and tog fishing action to enjoy. Yet it’s not too early to begin planning our next fishing trips, especially travel trips to new and exciting locations.

I would suggest that Lake Ontario in northern New York, with its impressive 30-pound king salmon and 15-pound steelhead, should be high on your list of “must go” fishing destinations next year.

Many of the ports and towns on the lake’s southern shore, including Point Breeze, Rochester, Fair Haven, Pulaski and Henderson Harbor, are home to charter boat captains who will take you fishing for trophy fish. Or, with a little planning and preparation, Mid-Atlantic fishermen can create their own fishing adventures by trailering their boats to Lake Ontario.

Trolling is the name of the game for Lake Ontario salmon and steelhead. Trolling on Lake Ontario can become rather involved featuring very specialized electronics and gear. Yet, as I discovered this season in my Starcraft Fishmaster 196, anglers can also use a simple and relatively inexpensive plan of attack that will also put lots of lunkers in the boat.

Basic necessities for private boaters include a depthfinder, two manual downriggers, downrigger rods, line counter reels filled with braided line, swivels, flashers and downrigger clips. Lures include spoons, flies and plugs.

Spoons are particularly productive in the spring and summer, and they’re available in a wide range of colors, including creatively-named patterns such as wonder bread, bloody nose, circus freak and monkey puke, to name a few.

A simple guide is to make sure the trolling spread features both light-colored (white, pearl, yellow, silver) and dark-colored (black, green, blue, purple) spoons until a fish or two is caught and the hot shade or colors for that particular day can be determined.

Lake Ontario gets deep, with depths of 100, 300, even 500 feet. At many New York ports, the bottom drops off rather quickly, which means it’s possible to fish in 200 to 400 feet of water only a mile or two off the beach and well within sight of landmarks on shore. Keep a close eye on the depthfinder to determine the depths the fish and/or bait are in, and use the downriggers to troll spoons or other lures at those depths.

Fish will be close to shore in April and May. During the heat of the summer, they can be caught near shore early in the mornings, but as the sun climbs higher in the sky each day, the fish will move to deeper water farther off shore. In late summer and fall, most trolling is done near shore, especially in front of tributary rivers, as big, mature salmon will stage near river mouths in preparation for the fall spawning run into the rivers.

Trolling speed and water temperature are important factors. Boat speeds of 1.5 to 3.5 miles an hour will catch both salmon and steelhead. Productive trolling speeds can vary from day to day. King salmon prefer 48- to 55-degree water while steelhead are usually found in water of 55 to 60 degrees.

King salmon are strong and determined fish that make drags scream. Steelhead are acrobats. The instant they’re hooked they make a beeline toward the surface, but they don’t stop there as they blast off and soar well above the water.

Wherever you fish, be sure to visit the local tackle shops. Many of them post updated fishing reports, featuring current hot spots and trolling depths. Tackle shop operators will also provide details on the trolling patterns and lure colors that are currently catching fish.

As you begin developing plans for your excursion to Lake Ontario, visit the following websites for important information about ports, hotel accommodations, marinas, boat ramps and fishing Lake Ontario: Niagara-usa.com, attheoak.com, waynecountytourism.com, and oswegocounty.com.