A change of pace...

As a change of pace from usual walleye/perch fishing, a group of us takes a yearly trip up to Point Breeze New York to fish the Sandy Creek Shoot Out with the boys from Crazy Yankee Sportfishing. Friday, we pre-fished the tournament finding a nice mix bag of Kings, Steelhead and an occasional Laker. For Saturday's tournament we fished a little further east from the day previous looking for a larger grade of King Salmon. It didn't take long before the down rigger rods and the copper long lines started firing Saturday morning with bigger Kings. We slammed the fish in 100-120 FOW on herring meat rigs and A-Tom-Mik flies. Our 4 biggest Kings went nearly 91lbs which was good enough for 2nd place in the Shootout in a field of 46 boats. Though I am an avid Erie fisherman, Lake Ontario has the potential to ruin you. I am yet to see a walleye spool off 100' of drag! :)


http://www.crazyyankeesportfishing.com/

Great Job, and very nice report! I'd like to hear more about it as I am very interested in learning how to fish for Kings and Steelhead out in the lake. Are you by chance docked in Marblehead at Bass Haven? I think I may have ran into you before.

iiiiii-carumba! I think just seein those pictures might have ruined me

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Originally Posted by Jiga-Byte

Great Job, and very nice report! I'd like to hear more about it as I am very interested in learning how to fish for Kings and Steelhead out in the lake. Are you by chance docked in Marblehead at Bass Haven? I think I may have ran into you before.

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We sure are... we have one boat on I dock and another on L dock... Where are you located at?

I personally do not know much about fishing for salmon and steelhead. Its a whole new science with down riggers, current, thermocline/water temp, flashers, dodgers, copper line, steel line etc. We have been going up now for about ten years trying different charters out. We finally ran across the Hajecki brothers (Crazy Yankee Sportfishing) about 4-5 years ago who tournament fish and when they are not tournament fishing, they charter their boat for clients. I highly recommend them to introduce you into this new fishing scene.

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Originally Posted by Buc-Eye

We sure are... we have one boat on I dock and another on L dock... Where are you located at?

I personally do not know much about fishing for salmon and steelhead. Its a whole new science with down riggers, current, thermocline/water temp, flashers, dodgers, copper line, steel line etc. We have been going up now for about ten years trying different charters out. We finally ran across the Hajecki brothers (Crazy Yankee Sportfishing) about 4-5 years ago who tournament fish and when they are not tournament fishing, they charter their boat for clients. I highly recommend them to introduce you into this new fishing scene.

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I'm also on I dock. I'm pretty sure we crossed paths earlier this year and spoke briefly. So far I've been pretty much just into the Walleye and Perch like most western basin guys, but wouldn't mind going further east to try and catch some Steelhead. Or even exploring other waters for Kings. Went on a charter and caught Kings one time on Lake Michigan, but never on my own boat. Seems like an exciting new frontier.

Wow! That will get the old heart pumping! Congratulations on your great catch. I'm also ready for a change of pace, so we are heading up to Frankfort off of Lake Michigan this coming weekend. Reports are not the best, but I will post how we do anyway.

nice were leaving on the 6th for a week in olcott

Let us know how you do next week.

I am going this weekend to Olcott. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who feels like Mid-July thru Mid-August is a tough time to catch fish on the western basin. That time period is prime time for Salmon much like May and June is our prime time for suspended walleye. If you're already geared up for walleye trolling, all you need in addition to what you probably have is a pair of downriggers, a speed/temp probe, and maybe a couple high capacity reels for copper or leadcore line and some different terminal tackle. The best part is when these fish hit, there is no question whether you got a bite. No 'reading the Rod tips' required. The Rod explodes!

That looks like it might be addicting!

Nice work! It's been a long time since I've fished out of Pt. Breeze and it sounds like this year is one of the best ever so far.

Jiga-Byte,
We were up the whole week of Memorial Day. I have been busy with the duties that a young family brings so I haven’t been back up since. Stop me next time you see us up on I dock!

Dgf2250
“No 'reading the Rod tips' required. The Rod explodes!” Lol, it’s not hard to read a fish trying to rip the dipsey diver rod out of the gunwale. 

My Trophy Wife / Dgf 2250 / Billy Joe,
Lets us know how you guys do out of Lake Michigan and Olcott!

MageeEast
I saw your post about running up to Wheatly for steelhead. I have threatened the idea for years hearing of people making the long run from the Islands past Peele but the gas prices and unpredictable Lake Erie weather forecasts have held me back. There was a guy on the old WBSA message threads that seemed to do it regularly with success. I cannot remember his name though.

Was it Steve Carlson? I know he used to run from Lorain up there. I usually drive up and ramp in at either Wheatley or Erieau.

DGF2250. My 2 buddies just left Lake Ontario after fishing this morning. We were going to be there till Sunday (I was heading up after work today). They caught 2 Steelhead. 1 skippy & 1 about 5 lbs. Lots of boats out early but by the time they got back to the launch (11:45) 1 trailer in parking lot. The East wind that's supposed to hit this weekend will shut those fish right down into the mud. Those fish are different than walleye. You get an East wind & they shut down in a heartbeat. I've heard it has something to do with the oxygen content in the water & the down currents. Not sure if that's it or not. But I've seen the shutdown happen many many times over the 20 years I've been fishing Ontario.

It's a shame because I was talking to a guy who live up there in the Olcott area & he said they were slamming the kings this summer.

And you're absolutely correct on the tackle. Not much more than what you mentioned is needed. Maybe magnum spoons & flasher/fly combos. Best investment you can make if you're going to fish salmon regulary is a down speed & temp probe.

And when a salmon hits you'll have a hard time getting the rod out of the rod holder!! No mistaking a salmon or steelhead hit.