Lake Ontario out of Fairhaven State Park 8/1
Got out here starting around 7 am with fellow guide/friend Kurt Hoefig. We’re both pretty darn busy guiding the Finger Lakes, but are trying to find some time to get out and fish together as well as do some exploring. We each have somewhat different approaches to fishing – there are many ways to skin a cat! But we have more similarities than differences, that’s for sure. Kurt does some really neat stuff like guiding Otisco Lake for walleye casting trips in the fall among other patterns.
Things got off to a terrific start – I hooked up a big King on the first drop of my jig! Kurt seemed more excited than I was, and it was great to see! After some long runs and a lot of dogging, Kurt slipped the net under the fish, which was around 37″ long and weighed somewhere between 17.5 and 18.5lbs. Great fish and it’s heading to my smoker. I figured we might have a banner day after that, but fish seemed very tentative. We worked from shallow water out to deep and found fish almost everywhere we went, but they were pretty neutral. It was what we call a lot of “lookers!” We had some good chases but very few grabs. Kurt had a hit or two, but nothing solid. We experimented with a few different lures and tactics today.
Lake Ontario is a different beast than the Finger Lakes. I’ve mentioned this before, but currents can be intense and there are huge “plateaus” of both warm and cold water being pushed around. Hit the right day and be in the right place at the right time, and you could have a banner day. Miss the mark, and it’s going to be a long, slow, day out on the big lake. Even when you have everything together, you still have waves and winds to watch out for. You also have to make sure you’re tackle is in top-notch shape. This is no place for guys who don’t check their gear and really test it.
My advice for people that really want to dive into this stuff head first, is to get some friends together and hire a good charter captain for a trolling trip. Ask around for opinions on who is reputable and hopefully has a good to great track record and has been guiding for awhile. Tell your captain that you want to learn about the “habits of the King” and you are going to ask a lot of questions! Ask how they relate to changing water temperatures and other conditions. Where are they seasonally? You’re looking to be able to find fish on your own. If they’re willing to share information with you, I think you’ll find it a worthy and fun investment. Checking some DEC documents on their website as well as LOC Derby results for the spring, summer and fall contests can give you some good ideas of what ports are hot at what times of the year.
If you just want to go out and try jigging for Kings, by all means go for it. You may hit a banner day when you’re marking fish all over the place and they are chasing like crazy. It certainly has been the case at times this summer. Just remember that it’s a very different “ball of wax” than the Finger Lakes. If you get one on the jig, you had a great day, just like we did today!
Lastly, if you have a group of 4 to 6 people, and you’re looking for a lake trout trip on Cayuga Lake, give me or Kurt a call and if our schedules line-up, we can do a two-boat trip.
First Drop King! And it was a beauty! Photo #1

Another shot of it!

With the LOC Derby in-between the Summer and Fall contests, the lake was pretty much vacant today. We saw two charter boats on the lake during the AM. We never had another boat near us and were able to find fish in very “jig-able” water!