The Lake Ontario fishing forecast for 2023 looks very promising. Based upon the 2022 observations during our Lake Ontario fishing charters, there was an abundance of juvenile fish in the aquatic ecosystem. Two year old fish were also present in our catches suggesting a good population of them, as well.
Brown Trout
In 2021 , there was a very successful stocking of young of the year brown trout in the Oswego area. Our 2022 season catches of browns, produced many two year old browns in the 3-5lb range. They could be found both to the east and west of the Port of Oswego. There were also reports of good brown trout catches in the Mexico Bay area! Lots of young of the year browns were present at times in our catches and subsequently released! This was indicative of a succesful 2022 stocking of juvenal browns. So for 2023, if all goes to plan, we should have a good two year old (3-5lbs) and three year old age class of browns (8-10lbs) to fish for in the Oswego area. Let’s not forget the older Trophy size browns we target in June still swimming around in our waters weighing in the mid to upper teens.
King Salmon
The Lake Ontario fishing forecast for 2023 King Salmon also appears to be quite promising! The 2022 season saw loads of juvenille salmon in our Oswego area. Even in that category, there were kings in size from 8″ up to 18 inches in length. The Oswego net pen project kept up to its yearly raising and releasing of well over 90,000 high protein pellet fed, and smolted salmon into our local waters. There were also an abundance of two year old kings around as evidenced in our clients’ 2022 season catches. The basis is there for a stellar 2023 season due to the abundance and presence of the previous years’ age classes.
Steelhead
Steelhead, being the nomadic species that they are, were not prevalent in the Oswego waters that we fished in 2022. 2021 steelhead fishing was stellar for about a two month period starting in June and well into July the previous year. The good news is that both the Oswego and Salmon rivers had a decent return of steelhead this fall and early 2023. As mentioned, they are very nomadic and are not afraid to relocate many miles away when they feel like it. Apparently in 2022 they did just that. But this fall they returned to their perennial streams and rivers! So one can conclude that they will be out there, somewhere!
Overall Outlook
The Lake Ontario fishing forecast for 2023 has all the makings for a banner year. The forage base of alewives appear to be in good health and numbers according to biological reports for the species for the 2023 year outlook. Our sources indicate there will also be a 10% increase in the 2023 salmon stocking to 126,330 in the Oswego River due to the healthy alewive population assessments! The population age make-ups of target species are also in great shape. Having an abundance of juvenille, yearling, two year old and adult fish are indicative of a sustainable fishery. After all, you can’t have three year old fish without two year old fish. You also can’t have two year old fish without one year old fish. And of course, no yearling fish without fry or minnows.
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