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Old 07-28-10, 11:15 AM   #1
BlueDaksi
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Default It's great when a half-fast plan comes together... Lake Ontario out of Sandy Creek

The bass fishing for me this year has not been what it was last year due work schedule, poor weather, and family emergencies. Now, when I have more time to fish, the bass fishing has slowed into the dog-days of summer. Fortunately where I live, there's other fish to catch!

Since I got my Malibu Kayaks Stealth 14 last year and had a plastic vessel capable of going onto big water, I've been eager to take it out into open water to deep-troll for some of the salmon and trout species that are abundant in Lake Ontario. I got my chance yesterday when a couple of my fellow Western NY Kayak Fishing Association friends, Andrew and Jude, caught the trolling bug with me. Andrew and Jude had gone out on charters the week previous and had a general idea of recent reports about where the fish were.

Other than what I have read about trolling in Lake Ontario, I had no experience or idea what to set up or how to set it up. So, I took an old Quantum baitcast Bill Dance catfish combo that I had laying around and converted it into a trolling rig. I put a detachable line counter on the rod and spooled it up with 200 yards of 40# Sufix Performance Braid, tied on 001 Luhr Jensen Dipsy Diver, added a snubber with a 6-ft 8# fluorocarbon leader, and tied on a 4-in dimpled trolling spoon by Northern King Lures. I made sure that I brought along my fish finder and gps unit so I could pay attention to depth and speed.

Jude was already out on the water when I launched from Sandy Creek at about 5:30pm and joined him about 1.5 miles out in 60-100 ft of water. Andrew joined us soon after and we soon commenced to trolling side-by-side in a half-fast manner.

The first thing I noticed, to my amazement, was that I could actually see the thermoclines on my beat-up old Humminbird PiranhaMax 160 fish finder. I really had no idea about how deep my Dipsy Diver would go with braided line, but I had read about a general rule of thumb to let out three times the amount of line as the depth you want to go. So, I let out 180 ft of line, set the drag, and commenced to paddling. We spotted baitfish and marked some fish 60 ft down in about 80 fow. After a couple of ~300-yd passes in 80-100 fow, I felt a tug and my drag started letting out. I grabbed the rod, popped the Dipsy, and reeled in to find that my 8# leader had been snipped off clean. This time, I tied on a 20# Yozuri Hybrid leader and a new lure and trolled about 100 yds before I got the next hit.

Despite my general skepticism about having any success on my first time out, I had a fish on and managed to boat a King Salmon. It was a dink, but legal (barely), and my first salmon ever. What a beautiful and brilliantly colored fish! Jude told me that it appeared to be a wild-bred fish because all of the stocked fish have their adipose fins clipped. I released it after Jude photographed us.


My first Lake Ontario King Salmon.

I set back up and trolled halfway through my second pass before I got another hit. This time, I could tell it was something bigger. This fish was a bit more of a fighter and I was surprised to see that I had a lake trout. Not my first lake trout, but what a strong fish! I must have been trolling deeper than I thought, because these guys are generally found closer to the bottom.


Lake Ontario Lake Trout.

We wanted to get back to shore before dark, and while I had a couple of what I thought were hits on the way back, I reeled up nothing else. Though I spent about 3.5 hrs on the water, time spent actually fishing was much less and I am very pleased with the success of my first attempt to do this type of fishing. I love to paddle, and I found that I could easily keep my trolling speed between 2.2-2.5 mph that I've been told is ideal. I can't wait to get out and try again!
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Old 07-28-10, 11:42 AM   #2
Cavs1123
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Those are some nice lookin fish
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Old 07-28-10, 11:49 AM   #3
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Very cool BD!..Glad you got to test out that stealth....Thats a good looking rig!
Nice fish too!
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Old 07-28-10, 03:20 PM   #4
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Good stuff there, Blue! Sounds like a fun time and glad you finally got out to do some fishing.
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Old 07-28-10, 04:19 PM   #5
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Nice fish man... I am new over at kayakbassfishin and saw this thread over there... you are gonna have to give a brotha kayak fishin tips man..
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Old 07-28-10, 04:45 PM   #6
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Nice fish Blue. How do the big boats treat you guys out there?
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Old 07-28-10, 07:58 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cavs1123 View Post
Those are some nice lookin fish
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaffleJaw View Post
Very cool BD!..Glad you got to test out that stealth....Thats a good looking rig!
Nice fish too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodnreel View Post
Good stuff there, Blue! Sounds like a fun time and glad you finally got out to do some fishing.
Thanks! They aren't as big as what I know is out there, but for my first time doing this type of fishing, I'll take 'em!

Quote:
Originally Posted by walkeraviator View Post
Nice fish man... I am new over at kayakbassfishin and saw this thread over there... you are gonna have to give a brotha kayak fishin tips man..
The folks at kayakbassfishing are great about answering questions. I by no means consider myself an expert, but I'm always happy to share my experiences with successes and failures.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bassinbob View Post
Nice fish Blue. How do the big boats treat you guys out there?
We had no trouble with the big boats at all. One boater asked if I could troll at 2-2.5 mph, and I told him that I could. I'm sure that some folks out there thought we were crazy, but there was plenty of water to share and our kayaks were built to handle blue water. The salmon and trout fishing will only get better for the next couple of months as the water cools down and the big fish move closer to shore. I can't wait to tangle with a 20#+ fish!
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Old 08-01-10, 09:05 AM   #8
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I was prepared to chalk up my first success at trolling for trout and salmon on Lake Ontario a few days ago as beginners luck. However, Jude and I went out Friday for just under four hours and had some success during mid-day and reportedly slow fishing conditions. I caught another king salmon - a bit larger than my last, but not much. Jude caught a nice rainbow trout.

We caught these both about 2.25 miles out in the lake north of Sandy Creek in 150 feet of water. We were using 001 Dipsy Divers trolling 100 ft down with Northern King 4-in spoons.


Nice rainbow trout that Jude caught.


Another small king salmon - I'm told the big ones will be showing up soon...

We went out again early morning yesterday. Jude caught two similar-sized king salmon right off the bat about 2 miles out. I didn't catch anything until we were about to head in and had paddled over 10 miles. I was happy to pull in this nice brown trout after all that work in rough water and steady easterly winds. I love to paddle and fight powerful fish. I'm finding this type of fishing to be challenging and a heck of a lot of fun.

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Old 08-01-10, 09:51 AM   #9
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fantastic pics palo. thanks for sharing. i am gonna have ot hurry up and get out there EVERYONE is catching fish. cept me, heck, even when i do go i don't do good anyway. but i am going anyway real soon.
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