# Lake Ontario Niagara Bar this May 4-6, 2022



## bigwalleye

Fellow ogf salmon chasers: I’m planning to fish the Niagara Bar from the either the fort launch in the river or from Wilson or both that first week of May this year.
Planning to camp at KOA Lewiston. Stayed there last year lotsa pull thru room for boats, tents, campers, etc if anyones looking

Message me if you plan to go before, during, after for networking, report sharing. I’ll post how I do on this thread.

ps Looking forward to targeting coho with my high divers and boards this year so we’ll see what happens!


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## bigwalleye

Just a public service announcement for those OGF salmon fishers that frequently launch at Olcott.

In case you hadn’t heard or seen, the Olcott Harbor has been reconfigured to better handle high water/rough water conditions.

AND there’s a NEW BREAKWALL right out front of the entrance to the harbor. It runs east/west parallel to shore, much like the steel breakwall out front of Oak Orchard creek at Point Breeze.

So for anyone traveling to Olcott this season, you may want to get a good look at the harbor in the daylight. And beware there’s now a giant breakwall right in front of the exit to the lake.

New breakwalls don’t happen everyday/year etc so thought I’d share that news here.


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## BaddFish

bigwalleye said:


> Fellow ogf salmon chasers: I’m planning to fish the Niagara Bar from the either the fort launch in the river or from Wilson or both that first week of May this year.
> Planning to camp at KOA Lewiston. Stayed there last year lotsa pull thru room for boats, tents, campers, etc if anyones looking
> 
> Message me if you plan to go before, during, after for networking, report sharing. I’ll post how I do on this thread.
> 
> ps Looking forward to targeting coho with my high divers and boards this year so we’ll see what happens!


I can't join you but I will be with you in spirit! 2 weeks ago I went up there with my son & Dad and we couldn't get out of the river,
very strong SW winds had the whole bar in an uproar. My son is only 8 so i couldn't push it. We tried once to get past the curve right at the mouth and a wave came over the front, 
so i turned around. I have a 621 Ranger. I tell you that because I could sure use some advice on wind direction and WHEN to fish the Bar! (Winds less then 5mph!) LOL!? (Does that ever happen!??)
I was assuming that a South or Southwest wind would be good for the Bar (Similar to Erie)- I was very wrong. Ive watched the weather & wind report since then and I don't recall seeing ANY day where the wind was less then 12-15mph. 
We ended up trolling the river mouth for 3 hours with nothing to show but 3 lost spoons.
The mouth is some challenging fishing with the wind currents and river current fighting each other- we could barely get our dipseys to stop tripping going against the current..
So I tried with the current but .....nothing. I was VERY shocked at the lack of marking fish in the mouth, we went up around the first slight bend and back a couple times. I think we only marked 5-6 fish.

In my pea brain, I was thinking that if your drifting with the current at 2mph, you really want to be going 4mph so in essence your lures are moving 2mph- Right?

I look forward to seeing your reports next week and thanks for any advice! Good luck!


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## bigwalleye

Update/switched my dates to May 8, 9, 10. Hope the weather cooperates.

Bar wise I’ve only fished ‘off’ the bar where it drops off. Wind wise yeah, calmer is good since it’s about 4 miles out. If it’s choppier than calmer then I’ll launch at Wilson and fish towards the bar since you can access deeper water right out front. And that warmer river water is out there somewhere flowing past.


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## Deep Trouble

We’ve fished the bar many times. Super fun. More recently we’ve been going out of Wilson late April and early spring for lakers with kings mixed in. Went up last weekend and caught a few mature kings, immature kings and cohos in 120’ish water. Came in to 75-85’ and Lakers were on fire with some mature kings mixed in. Not sure if bite will be similar this week but hope that helps. Mostly ran spoons on riggers and divers. Cohos up high on spoons and kwikfish.


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## I_Shock_Em

Headed to the bar this Friday - Sunday. If anyone else is going and wants to share intel, let me know!


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## jmyers8

I've seen alot of reports from Wilson to the bar from 100 to 200 ft and they are just killing them seems like mostly a spoon bite. I'm jealous we didnt make a spring trip. Be there first weekend in august

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## bigwalleye

If you’ve ever wanted to fish spring kings now is the time to do it. Fish are loaded on and off the bar. Wife & I spent the last 2 days catching some nice fish. No LOC Derby fish but our biggest was about 19.5.

We boated about a dozen mature fish Mon & Tues. Pattern wise it was a faster bite for us, around 3mph down and mag spoons. Dreamweaver NBK was our star both days on rigger or diver about 40’ down. Other DW spoons like Roys Salmon Seeker took fish too.

We took most of our fish 60-90 but I heard guys getting good numbers in 40-60, 120-180, just about everywhere depending on time of day and traffic. We had mostly east winds and going east most boats watched the boats going west catch fish, though we got a couple going east.


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## bigwalleye

Here are a couple pics of some of the better fish. They’re all still swimming. We also caught a couple lakers plus a couple nice coho that made the trip home to Ohio. Lotsa coho out there now. They were busting the surface for bugs on Tuesday.


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## Tom h

bigwalleye said:


> Here are a couple pics of some of the better fish. They’re all still swimming. We also caught a couple lakers plus a couple nice coho that made the trip home to Ohio. Lotsa coho out there now. They were busting the surface for bugs on Tuesday.


Good job you look happy me and my wife are going up this weekend never fished to spring bite any info on where to launch usually launch from Olcott but planning on fishing closer to the bar so would like to launch closer thanks in advance


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## durpdurp41

I_Shock_Em said:


> Headed to the bar this Friday - Sunday. If anyone else is going and wants to share intel, let me know!


I should be up there this Saturday and Sunday. Pm your number if you want to share info. 

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## durpdurp41

Tom h said:


> Good job you look happy me and my wife are going up this weekend never fished to spring bite any info on where to launch usually launch from Olcott but planning on fishing closer to the bar so would like to launch closer thanks in advance


Launch from either Wilson or Fort Niagara if you want to launch closer to the bar. 

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## bigwalleye

We launched at Fort Niagara. For those that never have, there’s 2 launches, a north launch and a south launch. We used the north launch and had no problems. It’s about a 4 mile run out to the edge of the bar from there. Wilson is 12 miles east of the Niagara River, so it’s a longer run from there. Since I’ve never done it I can’t say exactly how far. Wilson has just 2 lanes to launch and a challenging little approach. Do not dawdle if launching there or face the wrath of your fellow eager beaver salmon fishermen at your own peril! Good luck!


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## Tom h

bigwalleye said:


> We launched at Fort Niagara. For those that never have, there’s 2 launches, a north launch and a south launch. We used the north launch and had no problems. It’s about a 4 mile run out to the edge of the bar from there. Wilson is 12 miles east of the Niagara River, so it’s a longer run from there. Since I’ve never done it I can’t say exactly how far. Wilson has just 2 lanes to launch and a challenging little approach. Do not dawdle if launching there or face the wrath of your fellow eager beaver salmon fishermen at your own peril! Good luck!


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## Tom h

Can you launch big boats from there I have a 24 ft Pena yann


bigwalleye said:


> We launched at Fort Niagara. For those that never have, there’s 2 launches, a north launch and a south launch. We used the north launch and had no problems. It’s about a 4 mile run out to the edge of the bar from there. Wilson is 12 miles east of the Niagara River, so it’s a longer run from there. Since I’ve never done it I can’t say exactly how far. Wilson has just 2 lanes to launch and a challenging little approach. Do not dawdle if launching there or face the wrath of your fellow eag





bigwalleye said:


> We launched at Fort Niagara. For those that never have, there’s 2 launches, a north launch and a south launch. We used the north launch and had no problems. It’s about a 4 mile run out to the edge of the bar from there. Wilson is 12 miles east of the Niagara River, so it’s a longer run from there. Since I’ve never done it I can’t say exactly how far. Wilson has just 2 lanes to launch and a challenging little approach. Do not dawdle if launching there or face the wrath of your fellow eager beaver salmon fishermen at your own peril! Good luck!


Can you launch big boats from there I have a 24 ft Penn yan


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## bigwalleye

Yes. I saw a 245 I/O Contender recovered on Tuesday and a 23 Parker launched. I do ‘believe’ most bigger boats launch at the south ramp. The entrance to the ramp serves both. $8 launch fee, autopay machine.

Turn left at the bottom of the hill and go passed the bathrooms for the south ramp or hook a right at bottom of the hill for north ramp. Limited parking down below as most end up going back up the hill and parking in the grass nearby

The pads for the north ramps are not real long. But as I said, I saw some bigger boats launched/recovered on Tuesday with no drama.


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## Tom h

bigwalleye said:


> Yes. I saw a 245 I/O Contender recovered on Tuesday and a 23 Parker launched. I do ‘believe’ most bigger boats launch at the south ramp. The entrance to the ramp serves both. $8 launch fee, autopay machine.
> 
> Turn left at the bottom of the hill and go passed the bathrooms for the south ramp or hook a right at bottom of the hill for north ramp. Limited parking down below as most end up going back up the hill and parking in the grass nearby
> 
> The pads for the north ramps are not real long. But as I said, I saw some bigger boats launched/recovered on Tuesday with no drama.


Great that's what I have a 245 contender so I shouldn't have any problems really appreciate your feedback thank you


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## BaddFish

bigwalleye said:


> Here are a couple pics of some of the better fish. They’re all still swimming. We also caught a couple lakers plus a couple nice coho that made the trip home to Ohio. Lotsa coho out there now. They were busting the surface for bugs on Tuesday.


Thanks so much for posting this report! I'm headed up w/ my Dad there tomorrow morning, launching from Fort Niagara- hopefully there is parking when we get there.
I'll post how we do.


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## BaddFish

We ended catching 5 coho salmon and lost another at boat.. I first set my dipsey with spoon I had a big hit, grabbed the rod and something big broke my 20lb leader, fun day!
Thanks to Mark on OGF for feeding info.. We sure could of used another person in the boat, just to get those extra 2 rods in the water.
The largest coho we got hit off a offshore board and a big spoon off a tru trip 40 only running 15ft down, its fun when experimenting works! tight lines guys


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## I_Shock_Em

We ended up having an alright trip. Not as hot as reports from earlier in the week. Fished Friday evening, Saturday from 6-2:30, Sunday 6-11:30. Fished anywhere from 50'-200'. 70'-100' was best for us. Big paddles/flies on riggers, spoons on riggers, spin doctor/flies on wire dipseys, and 3 color leadcore/spoons on boards were best. Caught kings and coho with the biggest king being about 18lbs. We were expecting it to be a zoo out there at the bar, but really wasn't too crowded. Looking forward to the next trip!!!


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## BaddFish

Looks like we are headed up Sunday for another go around....I really hope we get a drag screamer!


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