Brown trout like 'spoon-fed' lures on Lake Ontario
OSWEGO, N.Y. - Welcoming the four-angler party aboard his 30-foot Penn Yan Sport Fisherman, Capt. Troy Creasy of High Adventure Sportfishing asked - jokingly, it seemed - if they were there in an "official" capacity or as just fishermen.
Over the years, that had become an inside joke between Creasy, a Berwick native who is an annual exhibitor at the Early Bird Sports Expo at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds, and the four outdoors writers boarding his boat last summer. During the more than 20 years they had been fishing the lake together, it seemed all it took to turn fish off and kill the bite was to break out cameras and notebooks.
"Well, this time it shouldn't matter," Creasy said. "With this warm weather, the browns have moved off shore to deeper water and we've really been doing well by spoon-feeding them."
This was the first time the four writer/anglers had targeted brown trout in the summer, as this was when they usually came for steelhead and the occasional king salmon. Traditionally, spring is reserved for a morning assault on the browns after a late night of walleye fishing with Creasy.
These specially priced combination trips are a real bargain for anglers as just one-night's lodging is required, as charter trips for walleye depart the dock after sunset and the trips for brown trout depart at sunrise. In the summer, brown trout or salmon and steelhead can be targeted in the afternoon, with the species reversed the next morning to get the full experience of fishing Lake Ontario with just one night of lodging.
"In the summer, when the browns go deep, spoons seem to be what they want, and they really do the job on downriggers and lead-core line," Creasy said. "That's not to say we won't run stick baits, but whether it's their movement, the color or appearance, browns just can't seem to resist spoons in deep water.
"When we fish for browns in the spring, we start putting out plainer boards as soon as we leave the harbor and get tight to the shoreline. That's when you've got to use floating stick baits so they don't get caught at slow speeds because these big browns can be caught in water as shallow as five feet.
"Obviously, as the fish go deeper, the size and color of the spoons come into play, and there are times when it helps to mix some stick baits into the pattern. Other factors that affect success are the time of the day, time of the year and water quality."
Creasy is a pro-staff member for Dreamweaver Lures, which allows him to provide input to the company and test its newest designs and colors. When fishing for browns, he finds the shape and action of the company's Super Slims to be especially productive.
Another effective spoon for browns is the Michigan Stinger, and mixing these into a presentation of Super Slims creates the appearance of a school of alewife, the baitfish of choice for discriminating Lake Ontario sportfish. These spoons have the length and color combinations to make them appear to be a full-grown alewife, and their shape allows them to be used for slow trolling in shallow water and faster speeds in deep water.
"Most people who book charters in August are booking for salmon, and with them, it's salmon or bust," Creasy said. "Throughout the rest of the summer, however, I'd have to say it's at least 50 percent of my clients want to spend at least part of the trip targeting browns.
"In fact, a lot of clients who book an inshore spring trip specifically to target browns in the shallows often come back in the summer to go after big browns once they move offshore into deeper water. Going after summer browns has the potential of producing some really big fish, and there's the added bonus of getting into steelhead and the occasional king (salmon)."
On this particular trip, the bonus was that by Creasy spoon-feeding the brown trout there was plenty of action on the rods for the four outdoors writers. A total of 15 fish was boated, with eight traveling in coolers back to their new homes in Pennsylvania.Read More ...
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