It’s the time of year I’ve been waiting for. Football season is upon us, there’s a distinct sharp chill in the evening air, and the trout and salmon of the Great Lakes are preparing to make their runs. My kayak and I are ready. We wait for the perfect wind, and perfect skies. And we wait for the sleigh ride.
Taking a 12′ kayak out into the Great Lakes might seem crazy to some anglers, but I can attest to the fact that my Liquid Logic Manta Ray is up to the test (now made by Native Watercraft). I’ve bested 2 foot swells with little or no difficulty, and I can paddle into headwinds with relative ease if need be. So with winds around 5 mph, preferably from the South for where we fish on Lake Ontario, I feel as safe a mile out as I do when I’m in a small farm pond.
You’ll want a GPS with you, either a handheld or mounted as part of a fish finder. Just in case you lose sight of the shore. Or better yet, if you’ve already marked your hot spots in it. Or even better yet, if your BUDDY that’s with you has marked his. :)
As for buddies, I always recommend kayaking with a friend. If there’s a considerable amount of wind, it’s easy to lose track of things if you’re alone. If you are out with 2 or 3 kayakers, you have a better chance of making sound decisions as a group. And someone can always have an eye on that all important North sky… the sky that tends to trun black every now and again, and then sneak up on you.
Trout and Salmon Tactics from a Kayak on Lake Ontario
I plan on fleshing this idea out this season, as it will be my first full Fall of targeting steelhead, salmon, and browns on the open water of Lake Ontario from my kayak. When I read up on some fishing reports the first weekend of September, fish were being taken in 100 feet of water, usually about 60 to 80 feet down.
That’s a tough spot to get to for the novice kayaker. You’re going to be over a mile out, and that might be unsettling to some.
So my plan is to wait til they are false running, and get to them closer to shore. We should be getting close.
Tactics are going to be jigging egg sacs, and some artificials towards the bottom, or fly casting to cruising fish in the really shallow water. I’ll get into more specifics as I find out what works in the coming weeks.
Suffice to say I am excited. Catching a 40 pound king salmon from a kayak less than 45 minutes from my house is an event that can’t happen too many places on this great planet of ours. Here’s hoping that Lake Ontario and its tributaries are good to you all this year. And if you see us out in our kayaks, give a wave. And tell us where they are, ok?
Related posts:
- Trout fishing in a kayak – Lake Ontario tributaries…
- A List of Things this Kayak Fisherman is Thankful for.
- Early Season Kayak Fly Fishing on Canadice Lake
- WNY Water is Warming Up
- Kayak Fishing Rights on Posted Waterways
- Another failed bass fishing trip…
- Stocked Trout Behavior
- Wild Trout Streams of Western New York
- A Milestone for the WNY Kayak Fishing Association
- Creek Fly Fishing in a Kayak
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
keven,
Ive been going out into the lake now every other day for the last 2 weeks now. I dont go out unless the wind is less then 15 knotts. Ive lost 2 kings so far, and had many more hits. Ive been trolling glow 3/4 ounce cleos (white with orange dots) starting at 5pm. Pike are hitting this as well. Didnt get to go out last night, but on Monday night, the salmon were rolling on the surface. I need to get some eggs with that skin stuff still attached(like real real fresh, non-cured, i think drifting the river mouth lake side on real light wright florcarbon will be extreamly productive for browns right now. Let me know if u want to join me tomarrow. Today is gonna be really rough, unless the winds change drasticly.
Great website with lake ontario weather data, including wave height, wind speed, wind gusts, and temps. http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/wfo/sectors/bu...
this website is for a NOAA weather bouy in the middle of the lake, just north of us, great way to see how the lake will change 2-3 hours after the current forcast of the link above. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?stati...
Im getting most of my hits in 20-30 feet of water, when im paddleing with the wind, running about 80-100 feet of 30#power pro off my back end. all week ive been catching pike in the river/lake in the 35 inch range as well (1/3 ounce blue and silver cleos on 10# florocarbon). This lure matches the bait fish perfectly in size that were pushed into the river's last week from that strong north wind we had. Ill be going out tomarrow around 2pm for pike/bass then moving out into the lake, assuming it calms down for the evning, call me if ur interested in joining me, 585.305.3669.
make sure you have a very powerfull head lantern, for letting other boats see you, and so u can deal with a 20-45# fish trashing around in your lap. Once the sun sets, it gets real dark, real fast, catching a salmon in a kayak isnt a 10 min fight. I also have a LED light velcroed to the stern of my kayak that i run all the time after 5ish.
One other tip, make sure you wear long pants with LONG socks, and a long sleave windbreaker with a hat and UV glasses. I didnt wear long socks one night last week, i got 23 mosquito bites on my right ankle alone!!!!!
Andrew.
keven,
Ive been going out into the lake now every other day for the last 2 weeks now. I dont go out unless the wind is less then 15 knotts. Ive lost 2 kings so far, and had many more hits. Ive been trolling glow 3/4 ounce cleos (white with orange dots) starting at 5pm. Pike are hitting this as well. Didnt get to go out last night, but on Monday night, the salmon were rolling on the surface. I need to get some eggs with that skin stuff still attached(like real real fresh, non-cured, i think drifting the river mouth lake side on real light wright florcarbon will be extreamly productive for browns right now. Let me know if u want to join me tomarrow. Today is gonna be really rough, unless the winds change drasticly.
Great website with lake ontario weather data, including wave height, wind speed, wind gusts, and temps. http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/wfo/sectors/bu...
this website is for a NOAA weather bouy in the middle of the lake, just north of us, great way to see how the lake will change 2-3 hours after the current forcast of the link above. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?stati...
Im getting most of my hits in 20-30 feet of water, when im paddleing with the wind, running about 80-100 feet of 30#power pro off my back end. all week ive been catching pike in the river/lake in the 35 inch range as well (1/3 ounce blue and silver cleos on 10# florocarbon). This lure matches the bait fish perfectly in size that were pushed into the river's last week from that strong north wind we had. Ill be going out tomarrow around 2pm for pike/bass then moving out into the lake, assuming it calms down for the evning, call me if ur interested in joining me, 585.305.3669.
make sure you have a very powerfull head lantern, for letting other boats see you, and so u can deal with a 20-45# fish trashing around in your lap. Once the sun sets, it gets real dark, real fast, catching a salmon in a kayak isnt a 10 min fight. I also have a LED light velcroed to the stern of my kayak that i run all the time after 5ish.
One other tip, make sure you wear long pants with LONG socks, and a long sleave windbreaker with a hat and UV glasses. I didnt wear long socks one night last week, i got 23 mosquito bites on my right ankle alone!!!!!
Andrew.
I always look forward to your write ups Andrew.
I'm pretty much relegated to weekend fishing these days. Would love to do a dawn fish on Saturday or Sunday, or dusk on Saturday.
If that works, let me know. Bet we could talk Jude and Paul into it as well.
“I always look forward to your write ups Andrew.” – not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
if it rains friday night, and the high for saturday stays at 60, saturday AM could be very productive. I am supposed to work at FedEx on Saturday AM, but i feel a slight cough comming on…. weather depending =)
all it takes is one or two cold(er) rains, followed by a cool day to get them moving. HOWEVER, once they enter the rivers, they no longer bite to feed, rather to kill their pray, to increase the chance that their offspring wont be consumed by that prey, so line sensitivity is key. Good thing they run till december.
If u want to catch salmon, you need to be on the water, where there gonna be, before the sun comes up. as in its still almost pitch dark out. If u want to catch trout, you can have a day job, and start fishing at 5:30.
tomarrow night is shaping up even better, wind gusts at only 5 knotts for 6pm off hamlin. well ill be out there, look for that speck of a green kayak bobbing up and down.
“there are some reports that salmon do bite hard even on spawning grounds. One theory supports by saying that salmon often takes care of each others’ eggs, that why using salmon roe makes baiting a more win situation. Salmon encloses those roes into its mouth and depositing it to where it would be safer. Others would support that salmons do tend to bite because it is protecting its breeding vicinity, which could also be true given that salmons are often seen snapping at each other on the breeding grounds.”
“As the migrating salmons prepares for the spawning season, their vision goes sensitive to shades of green from blue, so having jigs of this color increases chances of biting.”
i just found this out this morning!!! i thought it was interesting, that the salmon minght be trying to protect other salmons eggs, rather then the belief that they smash them to help their young survive.
guess i won't see you on the other side.
good luck with getting traffic for your “experiment” but you still don't get it.
you could make this site be on the first page of g for kayak fishing very easily and you already have a small stream of traffic to monetize and test but i guess that's not for you.
I was banned at ABW for my comment supporting ecomcity and since there is no one there anymore except a bunch of bored AMs and a 1,000 yahoo slurp bots (those guest numbers are off by over 1,000 because of that. To see it is undocumented so I cant say how) I won't be back there unless Haiku finds a way to bring it back to life.
Couldn't find your email so I posted here presuming that you moderate comments before they post. Hope I'm right.
Daisy
Daisy – email me at azioto@yahoo.com directly from your own email account, as i cant respond to your last post.
My girlfriend and I just bought our first 2 fishing kayaks. Annually we get a charter at the end of August for the salmon and have a great time. Now we'd like to try to tackle the lake ourselves. We usually go out of Mexico and we're hoping that someone knows of a local kayak fishing club that we can contact. Our email is nic7j@yahoo.com. Anyone's help will be greatly appreciated
m&a
Rome, NY
Congrats on the purchase! You might want to come chat with us over at http://www.fishgator.ning.com. Our club resides there, and although we haven't made it out to Rome just yet, we have some members from that region.
thanks…heading there now to check it out
My girlfriend and I just bought our first 2 fishing kayaks. Annually we get a charter at the end of August for the salmon and have a great time. Now we'd like to try to tackle the lake ourselves. We usually go out of Mexico and we're hoping that someone knows of a local kayak fishing club that we can contact. Our email is nic7j@yahoo.com. Anyone's help will be greatly appreciated
m&a
Rome, NY
Congrats on the purchase! You might want to come chat with us over at http://www.fishgator.ning.com. Our club resides there, and although we haven't made it out to Rome just yet, we have some members from that region.
thanks…heading there now to check it out