Greater Niagara Region Fishing Report
Lake Ontario and tributaries – It was a battle of two Ultimate Fishing Town ports for the Orleans County Rotary Derby. Point Breeze, the Ultimate Fishing Town for 2013, came out the overall winner for the Grand Prize catch when Foster Miller of Holley weighed in a 34 pound, 13 ounce king salmon. Not far behind and leader of the Salmon Division was Jim Mazur of Varysburg with a 32 pound, 13 ounce Olcott fish. Top Brown trout went to Olcott, with a 15 pound, nine ounce fish reeled in by Charles Davis of Pennsylvania. It beat out the previous leader from Point Breeze by just one ounce. The reverse happened in the steelhead division when Gary Tubach of Pennsylvania hauled in a 13 pound, 13 ounce Point Breeze steelhead to beat out Dean Kapolka’s Olcott fish by three ounces. Lake trout winner was Hunter Westcott of Hamlin with an 18 pound, four ounce fish weighed in at Point Breeze. The competition continues with the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby going on until Sunday at 1 p.m. If you’d like to check out the leaderboard, visit www.fishodyssey.net. It’s been a great week of fishing so far with more to come. Just check out some of the incredible fish that have come to the scales so far, like Paul Devlin of Niagara Falls with his 12 pound, 14 ounce walleye from the Niagara Bar; 14 year old Mike Creighton of Buffalo with a six pound smallmouth bass; Carl Hubler of Niagara Falls with a 28 pound carp; Bob Turton of Sanborn with a 24 pound, 13 ounce lake trout; Larry Goehring of Pennsylvania with a 17 pound, 13 ounce brown trout; and Sandra Brown of Pennsylvania with a 35 pound, three ounce salmon. A big part of the Fish Odyssey derby is the fact that a special Junior Division is available for kids 15 and under for FREE! Every kid in the county should be registered for it. Sign up on line at the same website. For every kid that shows up at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Newfane Community Center, a ticket will be given to them for a drawing for a new bike courtesy Charlie the Chimp and the Primate Sanctuary. You don’t even need to catch a fish! The kids that are catching fish, though, have been impressing the adults – like Jacob Velesko of Middleport with a 29 pound, seven ounce salmon or Peter Campbell of Niagara Falls with a 12 pound, 12 ounce steelhead. It’s not too late! Lake action has been good to very good for a mix of fish. You can pick up mature kings first thing in the morning as close as 75 feet of water in front of Wilson and Olcott. On the Niagara Bar, kings are also available at the drop off and beyond. Fish have been scattered from the 26 line to the 32 line out in front of Olcott, with flasher-fly, spoon or meat your top baits. Target the top 60 feet of water for trout; down a little deeper to 90-100 feet for kings. In the battle for the $25,000 LOC Derby king salmon, 36-1/2 pounds is leading the way right now. Twentieth place is 31-plus pounds. Three steelies are tied for first at 14 pounds, four ounces and Larry Goehring’s big brown is the current leader. The LOC continues through Labor Day. Tip of the week goes to Chris Zaganiaczyk of the Buffalo area who chartered with Capt. Bob Cinelli of Olcott this week. After being warned about the derbies going on, they opted not to enter into the contests. The result was a massive steelhead that tipped the scales at better than 18 pounds.
Lower Niagara River – No reports of the first king salmon off the fishing platform yet, but it won’t be long. The big news this week is the hot walleye bite that’s going on in the river – just in time for the Lower Niagara River Walleye Tournament sponsored by the Niagara River Anglers Association on Aug. 24. Sign up at www.niagarariveranglers.com, Creek Road Bait and Tackle in Lewiston or register at the Lewiston Landing launch first thing in the morning. Capt. Steve Drabczyk sends word that good catches are being reported in the river, especially from the Stella Drift in 32 feet of water on worm harnesses fished off three-way rigs. The Niagara Bar seems to be producing the bigger fish, but you do have to work for them. Harnesses with larger blades seem to be attracting the big boys like Paul Devlin’s 12 pound, 14 ounce fish. Green has been a good color to use. Bass fishing has been spotty, but some nice fish have been reported from Devil’s Hole to the Bar. Live bait like crayfish or shiners will work for you, as will tube jigs or drop shot rigs. Shore fishermen are doing okay on bass with twistertails up in the gorge.
Upper Niagara River – The Bird Island Pier is back up for shore fishing action and that area is a good bet for bass on the river side of the pier. Bass are also being caught at the Ontario Street launch area. Boat fishermen are picking up bass on the east side of Motor and Strawberry islands; in the west river on the west side of Grand Island; and at the head of the river. Target 10-20 feet of water with crayfish for best success. Two fish on the Fish Odyssey leaderboard were caught in the upper river.
Chautauqua County
by Craig Robbins
Lake Erie – Anglers out of both Dunkirk and Barcelona are doing well in 80 plus feet. Working worm harnesses and stickbaits between 55-75 feet down for active walleye that are suspended at 60-70 feet. West of Dunkirk, trollers may also see the occasional steelhead, brown trout or lake trout catch.
The shallows reef areas have been good for walleyes. Some walleye anglers do quite well around reefs by casting and retrieving weight forward spinners tipped off with nightcrawlers or by bottom bouncing with worm harnesses along the deeper edges. Most of the reef “eyes” being 16-18 inches and are from the 2010 year class, with the occasional larger fish mixed in.
Yellow perch fishing has been better out of Cattaraugus Creek, but spotty. Smaller perch schools are scattered in 50-70 feet of water. Emerald shiners are the best bait.
Chautauqua Lake – Largemouth bass and sunfish are common along weed edges and open pockets in the weeds. Trolling with large stickbaits along weed edges will also draw muskellunge strikes, in the northern basin. Moving a little deeper off the weed lines in the northern basin are great opportunities to catch smallmouth bass. Minnows, crayfish or plastics work well for smallmouth bass. White perch catches are widespread on worms fished near the bottom.
Fairhaven/Cayuga County
by Captain Werner Stenger
Warm waters prevailed on Lake Ontario this past weekend. Warm temperatures down as far as 160 feet pushed the party offshore. While some good catches were had in the 200- to 250-foot range, the best action was to be found in 300 to 550 feet of water. Dipseys were the most preferred presentation with mag dipseys out 280-330′ and regular dipseys out 400 to 500 feet. The A-Tom-Mik/Spindoctor combo Captain Valium was the best performer on the dipseys. Riggers were producing some bites 110 to 160 feet down. Meat rigs on copper took a few. Kings, cohos, and steelhead were the mainstay of our action. The reasonably stable climate forecast over the next 10 days should allow the lake to balance the thermocline out a bit and bring the salmon back to shallower waters to stage.
Oswego County
courtesy of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Fall LOC Derby – August 15 through September 1
Oswego River – According to Larry Muroski of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop, the water level has been up and down between 1,000-5,000cfs for the last few days. This morning the flow is down to 2,470cfs. There continues to be a few salmon reported at the dam but no real increase in activity as yet. Anglers are finding smallmouth bass, panfish, catfish, sheephead and carp throughout the river along with an occasional walleye. Suggested baits include minnows, worms, crayfish and stickbaits. Remember the bridge to Leto Island is closed, and there are Mandatory Personal Flotation Device (PFD) zones on the Oswego River below the Varick Dam. For more information, view the Oswego County Tourism web site at www.visitoswegocounty.com and look for the fishing report under fishing and hunting.
Lake Ontario – According to Capt. Mike Conroy of Proteus Fishing Charters, the temperature is starting to straighten in the near shore area in 100-200 feet of water. Cutbait, echips, slashers and spin doctors and flies are taking some fish 110-135 feet down on riggers and 320-340 number two setting on dipseys. White color early and bright colors in the sun.
According to Capt. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift Fishing Charters, unless the wind blows again, the salmon should be here to stay! We had an easy 4-man limit and back to the dock on Tuesday with two bins full.
Pulaski area/Salmon River – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, the lake fishing is on fire with the consistent weather pattern we have been experiencing. Anglers are finding fish in 95-150 feet of water down 100 feet from the surface in that deeper range. Downriggers, flies and flashers, cutbait and a few spoons are getting the work done. There is no build up of fish in the estuary but they are passing through with fish being reported up through the village of Pulaski.
According to Garrett Brancy of the Douglaston Salmon Run, guests enjoyed some fantastic salmon fishing this past weekend. Good numbers of primarily wild king salmon (no adipose fin clips) were on the move nearly all day on Saturday and Sunday. The fishing continued to be good or even better into the first of the week. Apparently a few cohos are in the mix and the fish have been aggressive. Pink or chartreuse comets #6; white, red, or purple popsicles #6; articulated bunny leaches in black or olive #4, and a variety of egg patterns have all been effective.
Oneida Lake – After a tough week on the lake with the wind, Mother Nature has cooperated with a stretch of beautiful weather and good fishing conditions this week. There has been a walleye bite in deeper water 25-30 feet with bucktail jigs tipped with a nightcrawler working well. Look for yellow perch in with the walleye taking minnows. Look for diving birds, a good sign of gizzard shad and you will likely find some bass. For the new downloadable Oneida Lake Association boating safety map, visit their web site at www.oneidalakeassociation.org.
Sandy Pond – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, the pond is typically quiet this time of year. Anglers are finding some bass and northern pike activity.