Greater Niagara Region (www.Niagara-USA.com)
by Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario and tributaries – With the rain earlier in the week, many of the streams were high and muddy until things settled down. With the cold snap following, the ice is posing a bit of a problem along the shoreline. Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek is open according to Wes Walker at The Slippery Sinker, with steelhead and browns the top targets. Jigs tipped with wax worms and fished under a float is the top approach, but egg sacs will work, too. Keg Creek was open, too, and with milder temperatures being reported this weekend, it could open up some waters. In Olcott Harbor, a few anglers were fishing off the docks for perch, but they may have to crack through some ice in the morning. In Wilson, there was 5 to 6 inches of ice being reported. Perch and bluegills. Caution is advised. On Sunday, your best bet is to head to Lockport for the Lake Ontario Expo at Cornell Cooperative Extension Niagara on Route 78. The doors are open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lower Niagara River – Local outdoor writer Will Elliott of Pavilion is no stranger to the sport of fishing and he proved that last weekend when he won the Roger Tobey Memorial Steelhead contest with a 13.16-pound fish caught in the Devil’s Hole area of the Niagara River. He was fishing with Capt. Frank Campbell of Niagara Falls, as well as two contest regulars—John DeLong and John Kieller from the Finger Lakes. It was a silver and pink “bug bite” K-9 Kwikfish that did the trick. Second place went to Mike Pustulka of Delevan with an Oak Orchard steelie that weighed in at 10.88 pounds. Third place was Bob Hubler of Niagara Falls with a 9.92-pound lower river trout. And the top brown trout was a 9.62 pound fish from 12 Mile Creek in Wilson, caught by Chad Hottot of Niagara Falls. A total of 71 anglers competed in the contest and all faced tough conditions. With another high wind event in the forecast this past week, there’s no telling what that will do to the lower river water conditions. It could mess things up for a few days.
Upper Niagara River – Not too much fishing going on the past week with the rain, cold and high winds. This might be the perfect time to attend the Buffalo Bills Boat Show, set for the Buffalo Bills Field House in Orchard Park from Wednesday Feb. 27 through Sunday March 3. If you are in the market for a new water craft or would just like to get out and do a little dreaming, this is a great event to attend.
Chautauqua County (www.tourchautauqua.com/Fishing.aspx)
by Craig Robbins
Lake Erie – With the recent milder temperatures, stream levels came up and pushed out some ice. The majority of Lake Erie tributaries now have good flows and plenty of open water. Cattaraugus Creek is the exception, with higher, turbid flows. In cold water conditions it is best to keep drifted offerings slow and deep, as steelhead are lethargic and hugging the bottom. Egg sacs, egg pattern flies or small jigs tipped with a waxworm/spikes are good bets.
Winter season steelhead angling on the Lake Erie tributaries can be a challenging and potentially hazardous outing, due the onset of ice and snow. Safety is of utmost importance. Some helpful items that you should consider include neoprene waders, ice cleats for boot soles, walking stick/pole and a fishing companion whenever possible.
Chautauqua Lake – Reports of 4 to 5 inches of black ice is being reported in the lower basin of Chautauqua Lake at Burtis Bay.
Burtis Bay is favorite hardwater fishing area on Chautauqua Lake. The grassy structure around Grass Island is great for perch and sun fish. The hard bottom of Rock Island makes for excellent ambush spots for small and large mouth bass and walleye.
Using black haired jigs tipped off with minnows or wax worms works great during the later part of the hard water season.
Fair Haven/Cayuga County
by Captain Werner Stenger
As reported by Screwy Louie’s Sport Shop, Little Sodus Bay remains frozen over but fishing is slow with questionable ice on the north end. The park pond however has been producing good catches of perch, crappie, and panfish.
With warmer temperatures approaching it will not be long to the launch of the 2013 spring season.
Wayne County (www.waynecountytourism.co)
by Christopher Kenyon
Some great fishing has been happening at Maxwell Creek. The water flow is excellent and the steelhead are still roaming the stream.
Use the basics. With little ice build-up you can fish egg sacs under torpedo bobbers. Or use your favorite fly. Egg sacs always do the trick.
Currently you can also cast off the Sodus pier. Other streams in Wayne County are also running nice. No crowds on the smaller streams.
The ice situation is still precarious in the bays. You have to know where you are going. Uniform ice thickness hasn’t occurred the entire season. Sodus Bay does have solid ice at the south end of the bay. If you are new to the area just ask the folks at Davenport Bait and the Sodus Bay Sport Shop. They know the thickness.
Port Bay has 5 to 8 inches, although beware of ice under snow cover. The perch are hitting forage minnows and teardrop jigs tipped with spikes.
The perch are hitting on the north east section of Sodus and off the points on Port Bay.
The access road near the south end of Port Bay is open.
The bait shops in Wayne County have very consistent hours. If you need egg sacs, flies, jigs or spikes you’ll find everything you need. Check out the Wayne County Tourism web page for their locations.
We have a brand new Wayne County Fishing Brochure. This publication features where to go, what to use, and what to catch. Call our office for a free fishing packet, including the new brochure. 1-800-527-6510.
Erie Canal – Anglers were fishing the Widewaters section of the canal last Sunday. This historic waterway has plenty of panfish. Last week anglers were catching perch and bluegills at the Widewaters section of the canal. It is located just west of the town of Newark on Route 31.
Trade Shows – Wayne County tourism staff will be attending the following sports shows. Stop by the Lake Ontario Sportfishing booth and find out the latest news.
Springfield, Mass “Big E’ Feb. 21-24
Western New York Sport Show, Hamburg Fairgrounds March 7-10
Oswego County (www.visitoswegocounty.com)
by Mary Ellen Barbeau
Oswego River – According to Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop. the water level has dropped the last couple of days to 7,610cfs. Mother Nature is bringing lake effect snow and wind our way today. Once this system moves through, temperatures will again reach into the thirties for the weekend. Anglers are finding steelhead, brown trout and a few rainbows throughout the river. Driftboat anglers have been doing well when the wind is not an issue.
Salmon River – According to Garrett Brancy of the Douglaston Salmon Run, fishing has been much tougher in the colder temperatures. The bright sunshine in the afternoon on a couple of days got enough fish active for just about all of our anglers to get a fish or two. Blue and copper backed stone flies size 10 to 12 took a few bites for our fly fishing guests while blue egg sacs and green machine beads got action for the float fishermen.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel, as of Wednesday morning the water flow was running at 1200cfs. On Tuesday, the temperature reached into the 30’s, but in the afternoon we had heavy wet lake effect snow showers. The cold weather has returned for today along with very windy conditions and more lake effect snow. The anglers we spoke with yesterday reported having a slow day while fishing the upper end of the river between Altmar and Pineville. Improving weather conditions for the weekend will hopefully spark some more action.
Oneida Lake – At this point, the ice on the lake has been holding well. Anglers are reporting some nice walleye and perch catches on the lake although the location can change on a daily basis. We have experienced a mixed bag of weather the last few days with wind, rain and some lake effect snow. Once we get through the next 24 hours, the weekend looks good. Temperatures above freezing are expected from Friday on but night time temperatures should help keep the ice. However, as always, check the ice as you venture out.
Sandy Pond – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, the ice is good on the pond and should remain so through the weekend. A stretch of daytime highs above freezing is expected but nighttime temperatures will be below freezing. Overall the perch bite has been slow although there has been talk of a little more activity in the last couple of days. A decent pike bite continues with minnows being the choice bait. Two ice fishing derbies are scheduled this weekend; Saturday, Feb. 23, Christine Reed Memorial (315-807-7844) and Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-24, Wayside Inn Taco Bob’s (315-387-3766).