Lake Ontario Spoon Size and Color
Lake Ontario spoon size and color can play an important role in determining whether or not you have a successful day trolling on the big pond. On any given day, running the right spoon size and color can pay big dividends in generating bites. In this post we will discuss the sizes and colors that we use on an almost daily basis while trolling on one of our Lake Ontario fishing charters.
In a previous article entitled “Matching The Hatch Through Understanding“, we touched on some of the reasons why certain spoons seem to work at certain times of the year. When it comes to Lake Ontario spoon size and color, time of year and depth of water are two very important factors in determining which spoons to run. First, let’s look at time of the year.
In the spring or early part of the season, there are many young of the year alewives swimming around in the shallow waters and shoreline areas. One way to verify this, is to check the contents of the stomachs of any of the fish that you were fortunate enough to catch. Another way is to check out the fish cleaning station and see what’s coming out there. Sometimes, your catch will actually heave up what they have been eating on your deck when you land them. Prudence would dictate to match the size of the prey species being consumed by the predators you are pursuing. As the season progresses, the size of the prey species will get larger as they approach adulthood.
In shallower water, such as in early spring, natural lure colors tend to be a better choice to imitate prey species, but water clarity must also be taken into consideration. In stained water conditions, brighter colors such as greens and yellows work well. Low light conditions favor glow patterns. Some of our favorite lures include those manufactured by Michigan Stinger and Carl Sherman. They both manufacture sizes and patterns to help you match the hatch of the prey species for any given time of the year.
In deeper water, spoons with glow patterns, ultra violet, or both can have their days. There will also be a period where yellow and white colored spoons will really shine and produce bites. One of our favorites for deeper water is the “Ace In The Hole” spoon custom crafted by Carl Sherman at Hooked Up Custom Baits. It has produced multiple bites for us under the right conditions.
Some specific spoon patterns that we favor are Alewive, (both glow and non), Mongoose, Glow Frog, Natural Born Killer, Yellow Killer, and Nascar. Ultra violet versions of these patterns can be productive,too. We run spoons sizes from Scorpion up to Mags and Super Mags depending on what size the fish are feeding on and the time of year. Loading up on the various sizes and colors of spoons and having them on board expands your fishing horizon when it comes to catching fish. If you haven’t already, our previous post ” Running Spoons on Lake Ontario” is worth the read shedding some light on how we run our spoons when trolling the big pond. 