Niagara Region Fishing Report

by Bill Hilts, Jr.

Lake Ontario and tributaries – Action is slowly starting to heat up as the ice is dissipating from Lake Erie. If you are looking for salmon, you are better off staying away from the colder Niagara River current. While the occasional king is showing up, it seems as to some better action is occurring to the east of Olcott. Capt. Fred Lockwood of Orleans County reported some kings earlier this week from 30 Mile Point to just east of Shadigee Road, targeting 10 to 40 feet of water. His biggest was 14 pounds. Mixed in were some Coho salmon, steelies and browns. Capt. Dan Evans of Wilson was hosting a camera crew from Illinois (Don Dziedzina of Illinois Outdoors) on Monday and they had a banner morning on browns, Coho salmon and lake trout. Best bait was a Long A Bomber in purple and black, fishing on either side of 15 feet of water. Lake trout were a bit deeper, using black and purple spoons in 40 to 70 feet of water. With the LOC Derby going on until Sunday, look for fishing to improve incrementally as the water continues to warm. The big salmon as of this writing was John Tustin of Pennsylvania with a 23 pound, 12 ounce Olcott king. Clair Lawson of Dalton was leading the lake trout division with a 24 pound, 11 ounce fish out of Wilson. Big brown so far was a 14 pound, 14 ounce fish out of Sodus Point reeled in by Jeremy Miller of Pittsford. Tim Queior of Dexter has the first place walleye with a 10 pound, 15 ounce fish from Henderson Harbor. For a current leaderboard check out www.loc.org. The derby ends at 1 pm on Sunday. The awards will follow in Sodus Point starting at 4 pm. Don’t forget that the Wilson Harbor Invitational event is Saturday. Check out www.wilsonharborinvitational.com for details. The deadline for registering online for the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Salmon Team tournament is May 11. Check it out at www.lakeontarioproam.net. You can still pick up some trout in the tributaries, but the warm water fish species are starting to turn on, as well. Cast the piers with spoons or spinners for trout. If you target bass you must use artificial lures. Bob George of Buck Knives and Ray Lynch with Real Tree had an outstanding bass day around Fort Niagara on Tuesday. The hot bait was a new Strike King Coffee Tube, a 3.5 inch bait in watermelon gold and copper flake. Moving the bait slowly along the bottom was the key to success, but snags on the bottom were encountered frequently with a ¼ ounce jig head. Tip of the week from Capt. Dan Evans is always make sure you have a spare set of keys around when driving your vehicle – either to your boat or when hauling a boat. If you lock the only set you have in the car or truck, you will waste both time and money.

Lower Niagara River – The big news is that the smelt started to run heavier on Monday night. After we reported that some shiners started to move in, the smelt followed suit and they are in town now! For how long is anyone’s guess. Take advantage while you can. The daily limit is eight quarts per person per day. Trout fishing has been slow in the river but some fish are being caught in Devil’s Hole and along Artpark by pulling Kwikfish or spot tail shiners. Bass fishing around Fort Niagara has been good on tubes. Remember that you must use artificial baits for bass.

Upper Niagara River – With the ice still floating down through the system, not too many reports have been coming in. Fishing around Beaver Island State Park at the marina is one option that usually offers up some success this time of year. Holiday Inn is another popular area. With the Erie Canal open, warm water flows out of Tonawanda Creek can help to turn fish like northern pike on at feeder creeks. Look for any place that is shielded from the ice that offers up some warmer water.

Fair Haven/Cayuga County

by Werner Stenger

Fishing out of Fair Haven is still great! This past Saturday we had the bachelor party for Steve Biekert and the guys had a blast. They kept their limit of browns with a nice steelhead and a king salmon while releasing a bunch as well. Most of the damage was done inside 10′ of water on spoons and stick baits in natural and goby patterns.

There are still bullheads to be had at the creek mouths. Crappie are still slow to show in numbers at the docks.

Walleye and Esox opened last weekend but no confirmed reports in the area as of yet. The mouth to blind Sodus did blow open so some walleye should be migrating out of there at night.

Attached is a photo of most of the Biekert group that fished aboard the “POPEYE” last weekend.

Chautauqua County

by Craig Robbins

Lake Erie and Tribs – Stream levels have dropped back quickly since the last weeks rains. The smaller and some medium sized streams are in good shape. Cattaraugus Creek is running high at 1,270 cubic feet per second. Some steelhead are still in the streams, but numbers are starting to dwindle. Spring run steelhead hit a variety of baits including egg sacs, egg pattern flies, trout beads, jigs with grubs fished under a float, minnows, night crawlers, streamer patterns and bugger patterns.

Smallmouth bass are just starting to show in the lower ends of the tributaries. Creek temperatures are still cool, fluctuating between the upper 40s and low 50s. As creek temperatures warm, look for the smallmouth bass action to really take off. Woolly buggers and minnow imitation patterns are good bass offerings for fly anglers, and spinning anglers generally do well with stickbaits and natural baits like minnows, crayfish and worms.

The Ice Boom has been removed and the Chautauqua County end of Lake Erie is officially wide open. With that being said it’s important to keep in mind the post ice debris that will be floating on Lake Erie for the next few days.

Walleye season opened this past Saturday, but until the water starts to warm up, its currently in the mid to high 30’s the bite wouldn’t be good for a while. Early season walleye anglers generally do best in shallow spawning areas at night. Trolling in 6-15 feet of water with shallow diving stickbaits or worm harnesses over rocky/rubble areas is a good bet.

The harbors are good spots for smallmouth bass when the special season opens on Saturday. These areas warm quicker than the open lake, drawing in smallmouth bass. The harbors at Barcelona and Dunkirk are great places to start.

Chautauqua Lake – This past week, Chautauqua County hosted the Association of Great Lake Outdoor Writers-AGLOW for their annual Cast N Blast. Anglers fished Chautauqua Lake and found walleyes in front of Chautauqua Institution just outside the weed line in 8-14 feet of water. Smallmouth are bring to move into the shallows in the lower basin in Ashville Bay and the northern side of Bemus Bay. Three inch tubes and artificial crawfish style baits are working best.

Wayne County

By Christopher Kenyon

Lake Ontario – Browns continue to roam the shores of Lake Ontario; however they are starting to scatter now that the waters are heating-up. Off shore the temps are 44 to 47 degrees.

Start your trip early before the sun scares the skittish trout. You need to be fishing by 5:30 am.

Stickbaits and spoons are both working. Any color is lethal, but if want the killer go with black and orange.

Charter boats are running boards and riggers.

Some nice kings are also being netted and a few steelhead are hitting on top over 30 feet.

The LOC Derby will continue until Sunday, May 11th with the awards ceremony held at Jack’s Tavern at 4pm. Jack’s is located on Greig Street, Sodus Point. Wayne County will usually have a monster brown placing on the leaderboard.

Currently there is a 14 pounder in third.

Bays – Some walleye are being caught in Sodus Bay. Pike roam near the islands. Fish the pike with spoons or still fish with minnows.

Crappies are suspended close to shore in 15 feet of water and bullheads are still hitting near the south end of the bay.

Port Bay has scattered perch near the south end. The perch will spawn then head for Lake Ontario.

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 is now open for boat traffic, so now is the time to concentrate your fishing near the locks. When they open the gates the water flow stirs-up bait and bait stirs-up fish.

Oswego County

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

Oswego River/Lake Ontario – According to Larry Muroski of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop, the river level has dropped substantially over the last couple of days running at 8,000cfs this morning. Look for walleye throughout the river with the area behind the old Coleman’s building being very active. Big stickbaits, leeches and nightcrawlers are working well. 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. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift, we had an out of this world outing yesterday. Lakers, browns, rainbows, steelhead, kings and a walleye – what more can you ask for. This morning we have clear water and no wind so the bite is a little tougher but we are getting some.

According to Larry Muroski of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop, the lake fishing has been very good. In 7-20 feet of water anglers are finding lake trout, brown trout, steelhead and walleye. Spoons and stickbaits are the suggested baits to try.

Salmon River/ Pulaski Area – According to Garrett Brancy of the Douglaston Salmon Run, on Thursday, anglers experienced another day of steady action from top to bottom and great weather down on the Run! Sunny skies and calm winds have been a nice respite compared to all the wind and rain we’ve seen over the past couple weeks. Flows remain at 1500cfs through midnight Thursday. The hot ticket today was the white/pink marabou fly, but egg sacs, beads, and white or olive wooly buggers #4-8 proved successful as well.

According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop and Motel, as of right now we currently have a mix of spawning fish in the gravel areas of the river and dropbacks scattered from top to bottom. Yesterday the majority of anglers we spoke with reported having another very good day with flies, beads, egg sacs and pink worms all producing. The drift boats have been doing well pulling plugs and float fishing with pink worms and egg sacs. Anglers who are fly fishing have done well swinging woolly buggers and egg sucking leeches or fishing egg patterns under a strike indicator.

Pulaski Area – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, the brown trout fishing continues to be good and the wind has not been an issue the last couple of days. Early in the day look in 6-8 feet of water but as the sun is up and it gets to about 8 a.m. the deeper water, 20-30 feet, has been active. Stickbaits have been working well early with spoons the suggested bait as the day goes on.

Oneida Lake – Reports are indicating that the walleye action on Oneida has been good. Some anglers reported activity in 10-20 feet of water with others finding the bite in deeper water out as far as 30 feet. Black and purple jigs tipped with a nightcrawler have been working well.

Sandy Pond – The walleye bite has been a bit slow likely due to the water being cold. With the warmer temperatures over the next few days, the activity should pick up. Worm harnesses trolled at about 1.0 mph along with crankbaits and jigging with bucktail jigs tipped with a worm are working well. Crappies are taking live minnows under a float and small light jigs under a casting bobber.