10/1/2012 2012 Season Wrap Up
It’s that time of the year again when all good things must come to an end and this year is no different ……….. except we are closing out one of the best ever seasons on Lake Ontario. Fishing for king salmon this year was at its best. Beginning in June, and all the way through the second week of September, Lake Ontario fishing has been superb. Even when the weather wouldn’t allow us to go after king salmon, the brown trout fishing was there to take its place. We caught brown trout weighing into the teens and were sometimes rewarded with a king salmon in the mix along with steelheads trout lake trout and atlantics while plying brown trout waters. Limit catches were more common than not.
Some of the highlights this year included our sportfishing pro team winning the classic division and the overall award for the Oak Orchard Leg of the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Series. We also placed 4th in the Oswego Leg and 8th in the Sodus Leg to give us a 3rd place finish for the Lake Wide Cup.
Our clients also did quite well in tournaments while fishing with us during their charters. We do try to enter all tournaments and derbies if the clients are willing. Team King led by Chastity King finished in third place participating in the First Annual Chad Gehrrig’s all ladies tournament for breast cancer. It was the first time for most of the crew fishing the big waters of Lake Ontario. During the Attomik Challenge Troy Brown along with his grandson Colby also did well finishing in the top ten in a field with well over fifty boats. We have a video of 11 year old Colby successfully battling a Lake Ontario king salmon on our website.
The largest king salmon caught on one of our charters this year was landed by Ilene Buckingham and weighed 32.5lbs. Last I knew. her husband Rick was going to have it mounted for her saying it was “going on the wall”.
We are planning to do several informational articles over this winter to help explain some of the ways that we do things while out on the water as well as what we may do when approaching a new area that we have not fished in a while or at all.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all the Ace Charter clients who took the time to fish with us this year and in years past. I hope that you had as great a time as I did fishing the “Big Pond” and that we will all get to do again next year and for many years to come.
9/1/2012
Another season is fast approaching its end as the king salmon begin to stage outside of their annual pre-natal streams. “Wow” is all I can say about the 2012 Lake Ontario fishing season. We have used terms like slaughter and bloodbath in describing the catch and how the decks of the boats look with the big salmon laying on them. Having three and four fish on at one time has become pretty common over the last several days. I will be fishing the weekend of Sept.8/9 and will be rapping up one of my most successful seasons ever.
8/1/2012
For the past couple of weeks the Lake Ontario fishing has been excellent on most days. Check out these recent pictures. The great thing about this is that the king salmon and the coho salmon have not began to even stage yet. We would anticipate the fishing to improve significantly as this pre-natal staging begins. Anglers, can you even begin to imagine the possibilities of the fishing getting even better than it has been? Amazing!!!!
7/16/2012
HOT! HOT! HOT! Last week was fantastic for Ace Charters with many king salmon coming to the boat and that success continued right into the weekend. We finished first in the 5th annual Fat Nancy’s Big fish Friday Tournament with the biggest box for three fish with over a 24lb average in a field of over 50 competing boats. We also finished fourth overall in the Classic Division for the Oswego County Pro-Am. This means that we are currently sitting in second place for the lake-wide cup with just one tournament left to go. All total we won over $3000.00 in cash and prizes just for this past weekend.
7/11/2012
Hello anglers, just when you think the fishing can’t get any better, it does. King salmon fishing on Lake Ontario has been fantastic thus past week. If you stay on the sidelines and watch you are missing out on one fantastic fishing opportunity. Beat the heat catching fish on Lake Ontario.
6/30/2012
Lake Ontario fishing just can’t get much better! If you have been waiting to try out the fishing, don’t wait any longer. Call today so we can get you in on this action.
6/25/2012
We had a grandfather and grandson fish with us Saturday on a charter. So we also entered the Attomik Challenge which is a local tournament that fielded 72 boats. Well don’t you know my charter guys, grandfather and grandson finished in 9th place. Not bad for first timers Troy Brown and grandson Colby. (Colby is in the second row on the far left)
Colby Gets His King Salmon Video
6/21/2012
Here are a couple pictures from the week.
6/17/2012
We had another outstanding weekend for the Ace Charters crew as we finished third place in the First Annual Chad Gehrig’s All Ladies Tournament to benefit breast cancer research. Our team named “Team King” and led by Chastity King managed a third place finish amongst some of the best teams around. Not bad for their first time participating as a fishing team in such an event. In fact, it was a first time for most of the team to ever fish big water’s of Lake Ontario. Thank you girls for making my weekend so spectacular!
Here are some pictures of our practice he week before the First Annual Chad Gehrig’s All Ladies Tournament to benefit breast cancer research.
6/10/2012
There’s a saying going around the Great Lakes and other great fishing destinations that says, “From a zero to a hero”. That certainly sums up our Lake Ontario tournament fishing experience after completing the second of four legs of the prestigious Lake Ontario Pro-am series. As was noted in previous reports our performance at the Niagra/Wilson tournament was at best, fair to midland. Ah!! But along comes the “Oak” as the Orleans county derby is often referred to.
Going into this year’s pro-am series, I knew deep down that I had a team that could get it done. Our first day fishing the Oak was Friday, the day before the tournament started. Looking at local internet reports and speaking with fellow charter captain and buddy, Chas from Bucaroo Charters, helped us to determine how we were going to fish the lake. The general consensus was that king salmon were few and far between. Due to this fact, we decided to fish for brown trout and steelhead. Our programs for both species landed us over thirty fish in practice. We did not catch any adult kings in the mix even though we had a few king applications out just in case we came across any.
After reviewing the results of other boats catches for the day, we decided that on the first day of the tournament we would stick to our plan of fishing for brown trout and steelhead. As Mother Nature often does, she threw us a curveball. The water temps had shot up three degrees and shut the brown trout bite off for us. Note though, that we did get one brown trout that tipped the scales at 14.5lbs. After talking with Yankee Troller we decided to head out and fish for steelhead and guess what happened!!! Our first Dipsy shot turned out to be an adult king salmon that weighed over 25lbs and would turn out to be the big fish for day one netting us a cool $500.00 in cash. We then hit a few steelheads that were big enough to keep. The bite was slow, but the fish we were getting were quality. We managed to get a few lesser king salmon and a few coho salmon to bring us to eleven fish out of an allowed dozen. Oh how we were wishing for that twelfth fish as we ran out of time. As it turned out we ended up in 7th place for the classic box and 4th place for the trophy box divisions with our catch for day one. We were in the hunt.
After reviewing day one results, our team decided to head out and fish for king salmon and steelhead with a top to bottom spread. The first bite was a good king over twenty pounds as was the second and third bites. We were into kings!!!!! The bite was so good that we ended up twenty bites and a dozen fish by 9:02AM. We were the first boat boxed out and in the pier head by 9:39AM.
As it turned out we ended up winning the Classic Division with our two day total and second place in the Trophy Division with our final totals. When it was all said and done, our Team netted over $6000.00 in cash and prizes. To say the guys on our team were ecstatic would be the understatement of the year!
At this point I would like to mention that our sponsors deserve a great amount of credit in making our successful performance possible. I especially want to thank Shark Downrigger Weights, Attomik Trolling Flies, Big Jon Downriggers, Ande Fishing line, and last but not least especially, Blitz Flourocarbon. Their support is greatly appreciated.
3/28/2012 Spring Specials
Do to popular request we have decided to offer daily fishing specials out of the ports of Wilson and Oak Orchard during our stay at the western end of the lake this spring. We have the following dates available for groups up to four people. We may upon special request take up to six persons. We have May 29th, 30th, and 31st available where we will be fishing out of Wilson, NY and the Niagra Bar for spring kings. We also have June 5th, 6th, and 7th available out of the Port of Oak Orchard where we will be fishing for kings and a mixed bag.
We are prepared to offer 8hr (or more) trips and overnight lodging at both locations for $450.00/day or $112.50/person for a group of four. Call us for further details or to make a reservation at 413-346-7675. This will be on a first come first serve basis.
3/18/2012 Early Season Lake Ontario Fishing Special On Ace Charters
I am offering a golden opportunity to fish for several days with my Co-Capt. Brent “Perky” Perkins and myself in preparation for the upcoming Western End Pro-Am Tournaments. We are planning to fish the dates of May 29,30,31 out of Wilson, NY and June 5,6,7 out of Oak Orchard, NY
Here’s the deal! We are offering a group of up to four people a fishing/lodging package if you book at least three consecutive days at either port. The special rate will be $450.00 /day /group, or $112.50/person/day based on a group of four people, or three days at $337.50 per person based on a group of four people. We will provide the following: Three eight hour days or longer of fishing and free lodging with us at each site. We stay in a 2004 30ft Sportsman trailer that sleeps eight people. There is a separate sleep area for your group as well. We will provide all the fish cleaning and all transportation while you are with us fishing.
Rest assured that our goal is to go out and catch fish in preparation for the upcoming tournaments. Over the past several tournaments that we have fished we have had many several top ten finishes. Our teams have also finished 7th place overall for the lake wide cup three times. This is great opportunity to catch a lot of fish and also to get to fish with some new tackle/lure prototypes that are not available to the general public as of yet!
The only requirements on your end will be getting there and paying for what you want to eat and drink. Sometimes we will be cooking out as there are supermarkets nearby to buy groceries and we can share this. Beer is O.K., too! If you are interested please contact me at 413-346-7675 or e-mail me for more details.
2/8/2012 Special Announcement
Ace Charters is proud to announce that Bob Redfern and crew will be joining us for some Lake Ontario fishing action this summer. Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine can be seen on the Versus Channel Monday’s at 1:30pm and Thursday’s at 11:00am showcasing some of the best hunting and fishing available in the USA. Bob is based out of South Carolina and his website is www.bobredfern.com. We would also like to announce that we are now booking for the 2012 season both on the Hudson River for the large sea run breeding class stripers and Lake Ontario for trout and salmon.