Lake Ontario out of Oswego Harbor 5/27

Reports

Got out here around 11:30 am for some jigging.  As I write this I’m sure some people might wonder why I don’t get up at 2 or 3 am and drive out towards Western Lake Ontario or at least start at dark thirty on the Eastern basin.  Most of my own recreational fishing happens later in the day.  A lot of it is just fatigue.  Having guided now since 2005 and full time since 2006, I just get burned out a bit. I just did 7 trips in 6 days in the hot sun.   It’s hard to have a day off and want to drive 3 hours after getting up at 3 am.  I get out on my own primarily to enjoy the day and relax a bit.  Some guides eat, breathe and sleep fishing. I’m not one of them at this point in my life.   I have other interests.  I think balance helps a lot.  I’ve fished enough that I know what I like to do and what trips my trigger.  That being said, I do plan on doing some longer drives and a few other things in the near future if my schedule allows.

First off – the DEC Fishing Hotline states that Wright’s Landing is closed.  It is and will be until mid-July.  There is nobody at the booth.  Restrooms are locked.  The Oswego Mayor plans on opening Wrights once construction is completed.  Despite a couple construction projects, you can still launch a boat there.  There is a good amount of parking available too.

I was surprised by a few things when I got on the water.  I covered miles of the lake and saw the best bait numbers that I’ve seen in a very long time.  A lot of that was probably due to the massive amounts of warm water around the area.  What also surprised me what how few fish I marked!  I didn’t find much.  As most avid salmon anglers know, Kings can cover hundreds of miles in a few days.  Salmon schools are likely finding a lot of bait further west or north right now.  The south winds of the past week pushed warm water up towards and likely into Canada.  The Kings and other salmonids will follow that bait around.  Bait is their structure along with water temperature.

I had one half-hearted follow by what may have been an immature salmon or rainbow given where it was in the water column.  That was it.  I did about an hour of smallmouth fishing to end the day and lost a big bruiser of a bass and landed a big bruiser of a bass (a 4lber that ran 19″.)  That was it.  Still a fun day and the bugs (midges) appear to be done for now.  I did see some mayflies, biting flies and other assorted insects (what looked like stoneflies) buzzing around.   Water temps were in the upper 50s to even low 60s on the surface of the lake where I fished.  I had cold water down around 35′ to 40′.