Trolling Lake Ontario for Trophy Spring Browns

[Aaron Shirley]

I had an opportunity to get out trolling for winter/early spring brown trout on Lake Ontario a couple of times recently. I had a great time and caught some nice fish. There is something special about trolling Lake Ontario in March with ice-covered piers and shoreline while most anglers aren't even thinking about their boats yet. Very few brave souls engage the icy elements and tricky launch ramps with salt and ice chisels to get out early in the year for trophy brown trout. Most of the time, I don't see anyone all day. The launch ramp is the most difficult part of the equation most times. Some ramps are simply not available or frozen up, requiring extensive chiseling and salt to launch. A four wheel drive truck is helpful, especially at the end of the day on an icy ramp. With the right conditions, a cold day in March can warm you up in a hurry when you tangle with a trophy sized brown trout!

The shoreline from 5- to 15-feet of water seems best with in-line planer boards and shallow floating stick baits. The Storm Thunderstick has been my go-to lures of choice most days. I typically start with 60-feet of line out, attach an inline planer board, then let out another 160-feet or more. I then add another board inside approximately 75-100-feet out from the boat. I try various lures until I get bites on any given day.

I find speeds of under 2mph is best in the cold water. Brown trout are available in shallow sandy areas on Lake Ontario in good numbers early in the year. If you can find stained green water on a beach or creek mouth, brown trout may be present. Brown trout are located all over Lake Ontario, but few anglers take advantage of them in March. April can see a bit of pressure for spring browns.

The early spring can be a good time to catch big brown trout, and having little wind is a big factor when venturing out in the cold elements. I keep a close eye on weather and head in quickly with unstable conditions. Even then, I got screwed the other day. All weather reports said NO WIND all day. Well, it picked up bigtime and I had to pound back in big waves in icy cold conditions over 25k's!!! Not the most fun part of my trip, but it was worth it with the quality of browns I got.

I spent well over an hour chiseling out a boat ramp this morning. Still about 2" of ice in the harbour, but I should be able to chisel that out when I launch the boat to get to open water. Maybe another hour worth of chiseling ice from the boat to get out. Hopefully I get to take advantage of my hard work this week, my arms are still jello! There are not many boat ramps free of ice yet, so you may need to take a drive with a chisel and shovel. I checked out 4 boat ramps today before I went to work on one. The only one of four that was even close to being ready.

Good fishing!

Aaron

[BillM]

Nice job Aaron!

[leaf4]

nice haul, good on you for braving the cold early season conditions as you said, not many are even thinking about giving it a go, certainly looks like it paid off

[mike rousseau]

Always wanted to try that...

[Sinker]

Good work buddy!!

 

S.

[Freshtrax]

God I need to try that.

[lookinforwalleye]

Nice!!!

[dave524]

Nice going Usually a good shorecaster could hit your inside planer board I guess

[spincast]

sweet! - counting down the days till I see those greeny blue hues of Lake O on either side of the gunnels

[Gnote]

Oh man those browns look nice, i cant wait for kings....

[moxie]

Beautiful Brownies. Bonus time of year if you can gain access to water. No crowds and fighting Trout in open water is an absolute blast.

[Tim Mills]

Excellent report, thx for posting

[solopaddler]

Sweet fish bud, glad to see you scratched the itch!

[NANUK]

WOW!! Nice !!!, solid effort with some beauty results.

Thanks for sharing not only pictures but your tips & techniques,

[Aaron Shirley]

Thanks everyone. I plan on getting out again real soon

 

Dave, I give the shore casters room and swing out deeper when I encounter them lol

[Joeytier]

Awesome! I used to love the early spring footballs...amazing how fat those things get in the big O.

[Jds63]

wow ... very nice Aaron , great pictures !

[spinnerdoc]

Those are good looking....actually killer looking fish Aaron

[fishindevil]

well done aaron !!! i miss those days for sure !!! some awesome spring browns man...

[superdad]

Aaron,

 

Now you've done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got the blood flowing and the need to launch and get out for those browns.

 

We've still got lots of ice in the eastern basin of BIg O.

 

Those are really nice fish - it seems that the fish in the western part of the lake are larger that down this way. We rarely see fish averaging the size you got.

 

Thanks for sharing and thanks for the details.

 

David aka Superdad

[Joey]

Sweet Browns Aaron. Way to go. Nice to see a soft water report. Spring is in the air

[4x4bassin]

Those are some nice browns , beautiful fish ! Like Joey said glad to see the soft water reports start to come in

[esoxansteel]

Awesome open water report Aaron, new you would be one of the first to brave the open water elements

[kevin booth]

nicely done and great fish.

[dave524]

Thanks everyone. I plan on getting out again real soon

 

Dave, I give the shore casters room and swing out deeper when I encounter them lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, for the last 30 years I've lived a 2 minute walk from the old pumphouse/pier here in Grimsby, can see the lake from my place I was trying to put some perspective on how close to shore you should be for early browns. Most of the guys are too far out from my experience.

Edited March 26, 2014 by dave524