This report courtesy of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Oswego River report:
Spring and summer mean bass on the Oswego River. Anglers also target carp, walleye, and pan fish. Occasionally a summer run steelhead or Atlantic salmon is spotted in the mix too.
Our recommendation for walleye is to fish on the west side, between the two bridges, especially at night. Most walleye setups will get the job done.
Please check our website for the current CFS, and check back in mid-August for the fall salmon report.
Please Consider the Following Year-Round Notice: There are mandatory personal flotation device (PFD) zones on the river. For more information, visit our website at visitoswegocounty.com and click on the Fishing Report along the top bar on the home page. The Oswego Fire Department offers loaner life jackets at no charge through its “Loaner for Life” program. For more information contact the fire station at 35 E. Cayuga St. by calling 315-343-2161.
Click here for the Brookfield Varick Fish Safely brochure.
Click here for the current water flow.
Salmon River report:
Things are certainly winding down as far as dropbacks go. Water temperatures are remaining cool, offering some leisure for the remaining steelhead on their ride back home.
Spring means bass on the Salmon River. Smallmouth are bedding up and can be very aggressive. Our biggest recommendation is to try a lot of pockets and keep moving throughout the day. They’ll hit anything from a juicy fly to a crank bait.
Please check our website for the river CFS, and check back in mid-August for the fall salmon report.
Lake Ontario report:
Oswego:
Lake conditions have been stable, with light winds and the surface temperature of our water on the rise. However, we expect a gust of west winds this coming weekend.
The following report is courtesy of Captain Zack Rayno of Rayno’s Fishing Excursions and Hat Trick Charters.
The fishing in Oswego is up and down. Most of the fleet, including The Hat Trick, have abandoned targeting Brown Trout on the shoreline and have moved offshore. The browns aren’t concentrated enough to have consistent success.
Most mornings we are able to generate a handful of salmon or steelhead bites high in the water column, typically keeping Michigan Stinger Stingray spoons in the top 40 feet. A healthy spread of lead cores on planer boards, slide divers, and downriggers have been our ticket to success. An array of spoons are being utilized onboard The Hat Trick, but a few standouts have been UV Tuxedo, Natural Born Killer, and UV Pickle Seed.
Once the sun is high, we generally go in search of Lake Trout on the bottom. Every day we have found them in a different contour, as the currents have been pretty substantial. Somewhere between a 100-190 feet of water there have been enough to keep a crew happy. Chartreuse cowbells and Silver and Blue cowbells have been our go-to, with various spin-n-glo patterns behind them.
We expect the fishing to improve as we see more and more bait with each trip, which in turn has led to more suspended predators. The higher temperatures will continue to increase surface temperature and create more structure and hopefully serve to concentrate the fish.
A notable fish this week was a 24.7 pound King Salmon landed by Angler Barrett Perkins while fishing on Hat Trick. After screaming out 500 feet of line, Barrett skillfully brought the silver slab to hand, great job!
Mexico:
Lake conditions have been fairly calm this week, with surface temperature hovering around 52-53 degrees on Lake Ontario’s east end. We are finally seeing warmer days and nights, which will only continue into June.
This following report is courtesy of First mate Joe Sicherman, of Sich’s Guide Service and Mid Way charters out of the lighthouse marina in Port Ontario.
Overall, fishing has been tough on the east end of Lake Ontario. Silver fish remain heavily scattered. The inshore brown trout bite has been challenging. However, captains are reporting early bites on most days.
Stickbaits like smithwicks and rapalas, or even spoons on flat lines and shorter cores like one, and two colors have been effective. Fishing doesn’t get any easier.
You can still find browns and lakers, and if you’re lucky. Even the occasional king salmon, although they still seem to be few and far between on our end. Fishing Michigan stinger spoons at speeds around 2.3 to even 3.0 miles an hour produces the best bite from browns and king salmon.
The water is still slightly stained but not too dirty. we are finding ourselves running a lot of “go to” spoons in stinger and stingray sizes. Such as, Lances 2 face UV, green glo alewive, UV pickle seed, UV green tux, and UV chicken wing. We are spreading out our rigs throughout the water column.
The lake trout fishing on the east end has been nothing short of great, as we continue to see huge boxes of Lakers come back to the dock each day. The lake trout have been around 130-160’to the north of the salmon river. To target these lake trout we are trolling at slower speeds, around 1.7-2.0 miles an hour, and running cowbells on the bottom. Bells in silver/blue and silver/chartreuse have also been mainstays. Keep changing things to find what works and then stick with it. Sometimes the slightest change can make the biggest difference on a finicky lake trout bite. But when the “bite is on,” it doesn’t even matter.
Tight lines everyone!
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