Lk Ontario Salmon vs Lk Michigan Salmon

[arbogaster]

Maybe we can share experiences here. In my experience Lk Ontario does not seem to have the early morning bite or after dark bite that Lake Michigan does. I am usually up in Olcott in May so maybe it has to do with time of year. It just cracks me up to see guys leaving the dock well after first light and being on the trailer and in the local tavern before it gets dark? I am thinking that the biology of the foodchain is different in LK Ontario and that causes the difference. Maybe there is a early and late low light bite and I just have not hit it yet. Maybe it is less prominent at that time of year in the spring. I all reality I like being a little lazy and getting out later and back earlier if it does not hurt the chances of boxing fish. Anyone else have this same experience?

[mattmishler]

Had this talk the other day with a friend of mine but it was a lake Michigan, lake Michigan difference. I grew up fishing Ludington-Manistee, everyone there leaves way early(0430-0530), still plenty dark when we are setting up and hit fish in the dark too. The experience that happens in Grand Haven, from most of the charter boats is, they leave dock at 6am-6:30 all the time, no need rush out there. They say the early bite is later down there "most of the time"

[Turfwrench]

Interesting subject. I find over here in the S end of Lk Huron that a bit after soid daylight in spring is good and then again around 1 -3 in the afternoon. As summer progresses although we may get a few in the dark hours of the morning the crack of daybreak is super hot, peters out again til around 2 or so and than again just before end of dayllight in the evenings.

[fishy1]

Maybe we can share experiences here. In my experience Lk Ontario does not seem to have the early morning bite or after dark bite that Lake Michigan does. I am usually up in Olcott in May so maybe it has to do with time of year. It just cracks me up to see guys leaving the dock well after first light and being on the trailer and in the local tavern before it gets dark? I am thinking that the biology of the foodchain is different in LK Ontario and that causes the difference. Maybe there is a early and late low light bite and I just have not hit it yet. Maybe it is less prominent at that time of year in the spring. I all reality I like being a little lazy and getting out later and back earlier if it does not hurt the chances of boxing fish. Anyone else have this same experience?

I fished out of olcott with a friend of mine who lived there in the late 90's to early 2000's and did as well with the early and late bite as we do in Lake Michigan. I believe though we tended to catch more fish out of temperature than I recall doing here.I can't remember the boat name but there was a charter captain name Don who fished there out of a 30ft chris craft just wondering if he is still there. Also used to talk to Bob Cinelli also.

[Nailer]

That early morning, and last light bite is really pronounced when the water is warm here in Lake M. It seams.

I think it has to do with the fish laying on the bottom when the water is warm, and coming up to feed just as last/first light is there.

[killerbe20]

i agree, the dawn-dusk bite tends not to be as important early in the season

[southtrollsouth]

Had the same conversation the other day with some Lake O guys. They don't fish out of temp hi water fish before dark with plugs, etc. very much at all like some of us do. Lake O guys seem to really want to target way deep fish, never thinking you can catch kings 20 feet down at 530 am on a 100 copper with a plug in 70 degree water, and then again at 11 am when they come back up from the bottom to feed. I cannot image salmon having that different of feeding patterns between great lakes. Maybe saltwater with tides, etc.

[KJ pluggin]

Could water clarity have something to do with it?

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

I think KJ and Nailer kinda hit on the essence, both water clarity and temp. have a LOT to do with the bite time. Makes some wonder, others, well, gotta think this out for a conclusion that is qualitative, and what experience out there is worth. Ah for Olcott, quite the port in the early 90's when I visited. BIG FISH TOO!

[EdB]

I think it is a water temp or seasonal thing. I never leave the dock in the dark in the spring. Most times at St Joe with the long trip down the river, we are setting lines as the sun is rising. The best bite is mid morning most days. We are always setting lines in the dark in summer. The first hour bite is definitely stronger in summer than spring on Lk Mi.

[Yankee Troller]

For Kings we're lucky to get bit when it's dark. Morning and night. You will fish over the best screen you've ever seen, but they wont touch your baits. I don't know why, and it drives me crazy! Once that sun breaks the horizon it's game on in the morning!

Now, on our east end of the lake the charter fleet gets out in the dark to grab their BT limits early before they shut off. That seems to work fairly well.

For charter fishing it's easier on the clients who aren't used to getting up that early to leave at 6 or 6:30.

[The Salmon Slayer]

Here on the Western Shore of Lake Michigan I’d agree the Chinook bite really doesn’t start in earnest until mid to late May with July being the best time to catch the big Chinooks.

In May and June the Chinooks can be caught later in the morning. But come July, August, September and October we launch at 3AM with lines down by 3:30 AM and the bites starts then too. A full moon changes the bite to night fishing and earlier in the morning if you can stand starting at 2 AM or sooner.

Warm water shortens the feeding time, so in late July through early September the mature Chinooks seem to feed in the dark and right as it starts to get light and the feeding period is maybe a 30 to 45 minute duration. This is probably also due to the Chinook bodies going through their physiology changes for spawning, i.e. their stomachs shrink and stop functioning.

Overall though if you want to be a Chinook fisherman you’d better start earlier in the morning and stay later in the evening. Sleep when you’re dead!

[Spoonin Around]

during the full moons like to start around 8pm then ur coming back in by 12 or 1am

[joelsanders]

as for early or later do not forget the beer factor from the previous evening.sometimes things need to settle.

[tltorrice]

I fish both Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario. For the past 4 years I have spent the first week of August at Point Breeze, Oak Orchard. We found the same thing, no early morning bite or late evening. Last year we just accepted it. Slept in a little in the morning, hit the water after it was light out. We came in before dark. When the sun starts getting low in the sky the bite stops. It was actually a very restful vacation.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

I still think the temp is the key on the lakes for bites early and late. In late July and August we here in Ludington see that bite early and late most pronounced. When the water is cold yet and again late, like May and June, again in late Sept. and Oct. the late morning and early afternoons produce the best for me.

[Cork Dust]

Arbogaster, some questions to ask about Lake Ontario salmon fishery: Do you get any pronounced temperature break established for a couple of days to a week that fish seem to concentrate on anytime during open water fishery interval? What leads do you normally fish off your 'riggers? How many, on average, and what size alewife, again on average, do you find in your salmon stomachs during summer months?

[LongLine]

On Big-O, I like to be set up just as the sun starts to rise on the horizon. At 8:30 it's time to sit back, relax, enjoy being outdoors for a couple hours & wonder where the He[[ the fish went.

[tbromund]

On Big-O, I like to be set up just as the sun starts to rise on the horizon. At 8:30 it's time to sit back, relax, enjoy being outdoors for a couple hours & wonder where the He[[ the fish went.

and then come late morning it's 4 alarm fire drill time again.

[arbogaster]

I'm usually there in the spring so we are looking for the warmest water we can find i know temp breaks set up later in the year but it's pretty cold top to bottom when i am there in may my leads off the ball are about 30 feet. Feel free to give me a call and I'll tell what i know. Someone from another site did the same for me a few years ago 812 584 4271

Eric

[LongLine]

and then come late morning it's 4 alarm fire drill time again.

Yep...

[Cork Dust]

Those intense salmon bites are tied zooplankton concentrating at the temperature break to feed on the concentrations of phytoplankton that build up there due to sequentially increasing water density as they sink through this layer. The zooplankton and Mysis sp. are very light sensitive. As sunlight angle of incidence declines(evening bit starts), or light intensity at depth increases (morning bite declines), bait fish concentrate around the temperature break to feed on the increased concentrations of zooplankton and Mysis relicta.

If you fish along sections of Lake Ontario with exposure to long fetch distances, thermal bars don't form well, or for very long. Bathymetry of the basin, compared to Lake Michigan, also likely plays a role since Lake O. is a rift valley basin. Lake O. is also less productive with lower bait fish biomass, with the exception of the west end which is enriched by fertile Lake Erie waters. This water chemistry and productivity difference is fast eroding in the era of Dreissenid mussel infestations, since their colonies have significantly impacted both lake's productivity, with Lake Michigan experiencing greater declines from the pre-invasive mussel colony interval prior 1997.