Greater Niagara Region

by Bill Hilts Jr.

Lake Ontario and tributaries – Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek is in decent shape right now according to Greg Stanley at All in the Same Boat Tackle shop in Newfane. Water flow was good and they were generating power at the dam. Water was slightly stained. He fished the creek earlier in the week and managed to pick up Coho Salmon, brown trout and steelhead. His best bait was either a chartreuse or black colored jig tipped with a wax worm or a meal worm. You might have some shore ice to contend with if things stay cold so waiting until later in the day is a good plan of attack if it’s going to warm up any. No reports from Wilson or Olcott harbors, but fish should be available if the weather cooperates. We’re still a ways off for hard water. With Christmas just around the corner, you might want to think about buying a derby pass for the Lake Ontario Counties derbies at www.loc.org or buy a seat for the Salmon School sponsored by the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association January 25 at www.lotsa.org. There’s also Bass University in Niagara Falls Jan. 25-26 for those of you that dream about becoming a bass legend. Books also make great gifts for the avid outdoorsman or woman in your life.

Lower Niagara River – In the lower Niagara River, you can always find open water someplace. The concern is whether the water is fishable due to muddy conditions. Wind earlier this week riled the waters again to shut the boat action down, but some shore fishing is still going on in the gorge along Artpark and Devil’s Hole. Be careful of icy conditions. When conditions are stained, use brightly colored baits to attract attention. If the water does clear, use a more natural color to entice a trout to hit. Just prior to the wind, the trout action was hot from Devil’s Hole to the Niagara Bar for boaters. Kwikfish, minnows or egg sacs were catching fish. On the bar, the occasional Chinook or Coho was being caught, but most of the action has been for lakers, browns and a few steelies. Artpark is another good drift for trout. Remember that musky season is open until Dec. 15 and that lake trout season is open on the Canadian side of the river. It opens on the NY side on Jan. 1, 2014. The stairs at Artpark are down for the winter.

Upper Niagara River – Best spot of late has been Broderick Park where shoreline casters can pick up either perch or trout. Perch like emerald shiners to munch on; trout prefer egg sacs or spoons.

Wayne County

by Christopher Kenyon

Streams – Some good news from Maxwell. Anglers were catching some nice steelhead and browns. The steelies were hitting green glow colors. The browns were biting egg sacs.
Everything was released.

The water flow is perfect and there is no ice build-up anywhere. The other small streams also have fish.

Don’t forget about Hughes’ Marina where the fishing is good until ice freezes the small ponds… Fish along the shoreline next to the small channel. There is a $5 fee for Hughes.

Bays – Anglers are still launching boats and fishing the bays. It has been tough locating perch in Port Bay, one of the smaller embayments.

The Sodus Bay action has been off the many points. Perch is the targeted fish. Fish the drop-offs. Follow the crowd if you are new to the area. Launch at the Coast Guard Station of the ramp on Route 14.

Don’t forget the New York State law that you need to wear a PFD from November 1st until May 1st on any New York State waters. This is one of the better regulations.

Check out the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops. www.waynecountytourism.com.

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. We also have a new publication on Great Lakes fishing.

Erie Canal – The canal has open water, however not many anglers are fishing this historic waterway. The ramp is available at Widewaters Park.

Chautauqua County

by Craig Robbins

Lake Erie – Water levels have been falling the past few days making the smaller streams being your best bet. All creeks except Cattaraugus should be good to go by mid week, with ideal water conditions likely. Cattaraugus Creek is running high at about 1,700 cubic feet per second and should be down by weeks end. Anglers continue to report good steelhead action on many creeks. Chautauqua, South Branch Cattaraugus, Eighteenmile are good choices.

Lake Erie steelhead commonly hit natural baits like egg sacs and worms, flies such as egg imitations, streamers and bugger patterns, and artificial lures like trout beads, minnow-type stickbaits and in-line spinners. In cold water conditions, it is best to keep drifted offerings slow and deep, as steelhead are more lethargic and hugging the bottom. It is also good to concentrate efforts during the warmest part of the day when chasing winter steelhead

Chautauqua Lake – Parts of the lake iced over during the last cold snap. Some thin ice remains in the sheltered bays of the south basin, which are not safe and parts of northern basin remains open to boating. Anglers can find yellow perch and sunfish action in the shallow areas. Small minnows, worms and small ice fishing jigs tipped with waxworms work well. Boaters can target walleye below 20-25 feet in the deep holes of the north basin. Vertical jigging just off the bottom with Swedish pimples, jigging Rapalas and hair jigs tipped with worms or minnows are good bets for walleye. Anglers may still target bass by catch and release only, artificial lures only.

The special bass season runs from December 1 till June 20th, and allows bass anglers to use artificial baits and immediately release bass back into the Chautauqua Lake.

Oswego County

courtesy of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning

Oswego River – The water level is still over 10,000cfs running at 12,300cfs this afternoon. Temperatures are forecast to be in the 20s for the next few days with some snow expected. These conditions will make fishing difficult for the shore angler. Steelhead continue to be very active along with a few brown trout. 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.

According to Capt. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift, winter is back! Wednesday we had 27 degrees and 30 mph winds, it was a perfect day for steelhead! We didn’t get the amount of snow predicted last night and this morning it’s cold at 15 degrees but the sun is out. We have had some great days fishing. The quality of the fish is awesome this year. Saturday we had high dirty water but managed to capture many. Sunday we hit fish in every spot we tried, lots of steelhead and there are some browns back in the mix. All released to fight another day.

Pulaski area/Salmon River – According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop and Motel, the water flow is currently running at 750cfs. With the recent lake effect snow Pulaski looks like a winter wonderland picking up roughly 15 to 18 inches with more expected. On Wednesday very few anglers were on the water and the few that braved the elements reported having a slow day in the upper end of the river. As of early this morning the temperature was in the single digits so anglers should expect slush ice in the lower end of the river. Cold weather and wind along with some snow is expected over the next couple of days.

According to Salmon Heaven Lodge, there was very little fishing pressure on Wednesday due to the weather. One angler reported landing steelhead from Altmar to Pineville using mostly lures from the driftboat but also a couple under a float with pink egg sacs.

Oneida Lake – The warmer temperatures last week have turned into windy, cold temperatures with some snow. The walleye bite has dropped off some but shore anglers casting stickbaits have been successful. If these cold temperatures stay around over the next couple of weeks we may see some ice fishing before too long.

Sandy Pond – We are seeing some cold temperatures but it is a bit early for ice fishing yet.