You’ve heard of the running of the bulls in Spain. Come fall here in Western New York we have something even better, here we have the running of the kings. Lake Ontario has some of the best king (chinook) salmon fishing in the country. Each fall anglers from all over the northeast come to tangle with the king … the hardest fighting fish in fresh water.
I contacted charter captain Jeremy Sage on the best ways to catch these trophy kings at this time of year. Here is what he passed on to me, “Come the last couple weeks of August, as the nights get cooler, kings will start making their way towards the creeks and rivers that they were originally stocked in. What that means to a charter captain is that these fish, the bigger mature fish, are going to be tricky to catch. They stop feeding, and merely eat out of aggression.
“When they are still in the lake you see them congregating in different depths of water close to shore. They will hold inside 150 ft. of water, 80 ft. and even into 30 ft. depths. Once you figure out what it takes to make these fish bite, HOLD ON because they are very hard fighting and big.
“The first sign that chinooks are beginning their migration to spawn is the color of their skin; it darkens through to a green olive color and eventually will be a dark brown once they are at the dams or up the rivers.
“Most of the same baits you fish all season will be perfect for targeting spawning kings. I usually run a simpler program the closer and shallower I get to the piers. This means that the deeper the water, the more rods/lures I put in the water to target these fish. At first, light moonshine glow magnum spoons and big glow attractor and fly combos are my go to. Cut bait rigs fished near the bottom work great as well. Cut bait is a method of fishing a salted or brined filet of herring behind an attractor that gives the filet a roll in the water when it is being pulled behind your boat. This can be deadly when fished off stainless steel wire dipsy divers, or downriggers. In my lineup at this time of year I typically run a lot more attractors and flies than spoons. I think it aggravates and triggers them to hit more than spoons would. The attractors come in different shapes, which give the fly behind it a different action. Some attractors will make a complete 360 circle and some go side to side while being trolled behind the attractors, you would run something with a hook in it. Most popular are trolling flies – these Mylar/tinsel beauties come in many different colored patterns. I prefer to match the color scheme to your attractor. For example, with a white glow spin doctor with green on it I would try running a green glow fly behind it.
“The distance behind the attractors is also crucial … typically 18-24 inches behind your smaller 8-inch attractors. For some examples of these flies and rigs you can check out www.Atommik.com where they have some great products and gear to check out.
“This weekend I will have two dipsy divers in the water pulling cut bait rigs, three downriggers pulling two spin doctor/e-chip combinations, with one downrigger pulling a magnum spoon. Depending on what depth of water I am working I will deploy a second set of dipsy divers or run some longer lines far behind or to the sides of my boat.
“Another deadly lure you should have somewhere in your lure spread is a j-plug type bait. These are wobbly baits that usually glow, or are chrome in color and have a pretty erratic side-to-side action which spawning salmon can’t resist.
“Boat speed is very important based of what lures you have in the water. Typically, I keep my lures running at 2.4 to 2.8 mph down speed. That speed is taken off a temperature/speed device that I run off of my downriggers. It is very important to make sure your lures are running at the correct speed where the fish are, versus how fast your boat is moving. Sometimes these two variables differ big time, making this the most important tool that I own other than my boat.
“When you find a band of water you want to fish, target the marks you see on your finder. Do not worry about it being too warm or cold for fall kings. They have one thing on their minds and that is to eventually get up the creeks or rivers to spawn. Do not be afraid to change things up: speed, lure colors, direction of your troll. A lot of factors come into play but do not get stuck saying the fish stopped biting.
“Into September you can find these salmon right outside the piers and breakwalls of your nearby tributaries. Some charter captains fish right through to the end of September, targeting these same fish which usually forage the entire lake out to 700 ft. of water into 10-15 ft.
“Once there is a large congregation of these kings in the shallow water it gets interesting. You can go out there in any kind of boat that is safe for the conditions and catch yourself a 20 lb. plus salmon. When I fish in that tight to shore I run a lot of J-plugs and stick baits. These baits dive only 3-5 ft., allowing you to run them by themselves, or flat lined off the side of your boat. I let 50-75 ft. of line off and try trolling them off of my downriggers parked 1-3 ft. down in the water.
“Planer boards can also come in handy to get them away from your boat. I would deploy them the same way, 30-75 ft. and attach your inline planer board. Then run your planer board out to the side of your boat. This set up is great because you can maneuver around quickly once you catch a fish or two. Oftentimes fish will hold in one area for a few hours. So it is very important to turn back and go right back through where you just caught a fish.
“Get out on the water this fall and catch your fish of a lifetime. For more information hop on the web or contact me by email with any questions you may have.”
Jeremy has put hundreds of hours on the water perfecting these salmon techniques and I thank him for passing them on…many would not. If you don’t have a boat and want to latch on to one of these monsters, contact Jeremy at JD Custom Charters (jdscustomcharters.com), Jeremy Sage’s Facebook page, or by phone 585-734-8930. This dude will work hard to get you on these trophy kings.
