When planning a fishing charter with us on Lake Ontario, it is important to note the seasons in which we target each species. In this post, I hope to educate you on when you will have the best success catching your target species! As a reminder, all of our Lake Ontario fishing charters will be done on our 31' Tiara Open fully rigged with the latest fishing gear. All trips will be run out of our private dock on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY just below the Route 3 Bridge. We can accommodate parties up to 6 people!
Brown Trout! (April-July)
A typical Lake Ontario charter in the spring will consist of starting the morning in the shallows targeting aggressive Brown Trout that are feeding on baitfish that are coming to the creek mouths to spawn. This Brown Trout feeding frenzy creates fantastic fishing when the conditions are there! For Brown Trout, we look for "colored" or "stained" water. This water color gives Brown Trout the predatory advantage and they always goes on the feed in these conditions. Doubles and even triples are not uncommon during this time of the year! The Brown Trout usually range in size from (4-10 pounds). April and May are the biggest producing months for numbers of Brown Trout caught. Brown Trout in the spring are considered to be some of the best freshwater tasting fish there are!
In June and July, these fish will slide out to deeper water in Mexico Bay (in the 30-70' range). When we have water temperature set up so 58 degrees meets the bottom in this depth range, we can guarantee there will be Brown Trout around. This time of year is when we usually see our largest Brown Trout of the season.
Lake Trout! (April-July)
The Lake Trout fishing on our Lake Ontario fishing charters can be phenomenal from April all the way through July. These fish live and migrate in large schools making it easy for us to put together a fantastic box of Lake Trout each trip. The Lake Trout range in size from 4 pounds all the way to 20 pounds! These fish are fun to catch and are great for family trips as they are the most consistent fish we have to catch in Mexico Bay on Lake Ontario. There is no bad time frame to come and target Lake Trout with us from April to July!
King and Coho Salmon! (July-September)
King Salmon migrate from the Niagara River all the way to Mexico Bay and usually start showing up in late June. Conditions such as water temperature, wind, and lake currents dictate the speed of their migration. As a safe bet, we encourage anglers looking to target King Salmon to book between mid July and mid September. In July and August, we are usually fishing deeper water in the 120-200' range and sometimes even deeper! The King Salmon during this time period are very silver and have great fight in them! This is also when they are the best table fair! As we edge closer to the staging period in late August/early September, the Salmon will migrate near the mouth of the Salmon River where we fish for them in the 20-80' range. This time of the year the King Salmon are at their peak weight and size and never give up fighting until they are in the hoop. These fish are usually darker in color but still make good table fair.
Coho Salmon usually start showing up in Mexico Bay around mid to late August and stay until mid September before they run up the river. Although the fishing season is short for them, it can be fantastic. Each season we have several days of lights out Coho fishing on our flasher/fly combos! These are the true bounty of Lake Ontario as far as table fair goes.
We are looking forward to a fantastic 2023 Lake Ontario Charter Season and cannot wait to see all of you on the water! Please contact us in advance to get the best possible dates booked for your target species of choice! On our Lake Ontario Charters, we also offer multi species trips where we can try to knock a few bucket list species off your list!
TO BOOK TRIP VISIT: https://www.cobblecreekoutfitters.com/lake-ontario-charters
Capt Andy