Chautauqua County Fishing Report
by Craig Robbins
Lake Erie and Tribs – The walleye bite has been better out of Dunkirk Harbor. Trollers are picking up some walleye west of the harbor in 60-80 feet of water on running stick baits and worm harnesses 75-100 feet down. Out of Barcelona Harbor heading over to the Brocton Shoal, walleye anglers this past week are finding “eyes” in 85-90 feet of water, 40-50 feet down. However, the better action was near the PA line in 90-110 feet of water, on gear run 60 feet down.
West of Dunkirk, walleye trollers also see the occasional steelhead, brown trout or lake trout catch. A cheater line,, can be run for bonus trout and can be 6-8 feet of fluorocarbon line with a snap swivel on one end and spoon on the other.
Yellow perch fishing is picking back up, which is typical for late summer. Anglers have done well the last couple days west of Cattaraugus Creek in 56-62 feet of water, with the best action coming at depths of 63-64 feet. Live emerald shiners are the best bait, but salted shiners or fathead minnows work as well.
Chautauqua Lake – With the Lake temperatures staying in mid to upper 70’s, the Chautauqua Lake musky bite this past week has slowed down a bit, to more traditional late summer action. Trollers are still doing best in 15-40 feet of water in the northern basin. Keep stick baits as close to structure as possible.
This past weekend the FLW College division visited Chautauqua Lake with 50 college bass anglers from across the northest. The Ohio State team won a combination of shallow water bite for largemouth and deep rocky point smallies.
Shallow areas and around docks are still top spots for largemouth bass. Deep water points like Warners Bar and Upper Dewittville Bay are producing some good late summer smallmouth bass action. Bemus and Lakewood Bays in 6-10 feet of water are good spots for bluegill.
Niagara Fishing Report
by Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario and tributaries – Action in the big lake has improved out deep but near shore fishing has been tougher due to an influx of cold water. That could change with the recent southwest winds, so keep that in mind if you head out to target salmon and trout. Capt. Jim Gordon of Appleton was doing well in the top 70 feet over 450 feet of water with N&D Cut Bait, a Pacific herring strip that is really taking the local fishing scene by storm. Best area for fishing has been from the 24 line to the 27 line for a mix of kings and trout. Gordon’s catch this day was 14 salmon and trout, split down the middle on species. Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors is reporting that it has been tough to keep the cut bait available due to demand this time of year. With mature kings starting to knock on the doorstep of local tributaries, cut bait and flasher-fly are at the top of the list for getting kings to hit. For Richard Acer of Appleton, he decided to try a Zara Spook plug behind an E-Chip flasher to take a 31 pound, 2 ounce salmon off the 30 Mile Point area east of Olcott. The fish won the Grand Prize in the Fish Odyssey Derby (after a special drawing of all first place winners) last Sunday and it continues to lead the Lake Ontario Counties Fall Derby that ends on Monday at 1 pm. He was fishing with Larry Bowerman of Lockport, who caught his own first place Odyssey fish – a 14 pound, 7 ounce steelhead out of Olcott. He caught it on an old Northern King spoon. Olcott also produced the first place carp, a monster 36 pound, 9 ounce fish reeled in by Karen Cinelli of Newfane while fishing the harbor area with eggs. Over on the Niagara Bar, Roger Turton of Sanborn was the top laker taker with a 22 pound, 4 ounce fish taken on a spin-n-glow. James Kitner of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania took first place in the walleye division with an 11 pound 6 ounce fish, also coming from the Bar, on a worm harness. First place bass was a 5 pound, 9 ounce smallie reeled in by Dave Muir of North Tonawanda. He was fishing Lake Erie off Sturgeon Point. In the Junior Division, Grand Prize winner was Ethan Long of Batavia with a 24 pound, 3 ounce carp. Other top fish catchers were Matt Miller of Ohio with an 18 pound Olcott salmon; Jennifer Willms of Sanborn with a 9 pound, 10 ounce Olcott trout; Peter Campbell of Niagara Falls with a 4 pound, 11 ounce Niagara Bar bass; Abigail McGrath of Niagara Falls with a 1 pound, 3 ounce Lake Erie perch; and Steven Moskaluk of North Tonawanda with an 8 pound, 11 ounce Lower Niagara River walleye. Acer is still leading the Lake Ontario Counties Fall Derby for the $25,000 Grand Prize, which ends on Labor Day. Other divisional leaders are Patrick Stuck of Indiana with an 18 pound, 9 ounce steelhead from Point Breeze and David Rowe of Painted Post with a 16 pound, 15 ounce brown trout, also reeled in from the Point. Check out www.loc.org for updates. Tip of the week comes from 7 year old Christjin Skilton of Lockport while watching Capt. Bob Cinelli of Newfane win a knife at the Fish Odyssey Awards ceremony and proceed to slice his finger as he inspected its sharpness: “That’s why you’re not supposed to play with knives mister!”
Lower Niagara River – Bass have been snapping consistently thanks to the influx of cold water along the Lake Ontario shoreline. When that happens, smallmouth will scramble into the warmer Lake Erie waters flowing down the river. On Monday, Chad Brachman of Sanborn was fishing with his 9 year old daughter Olivia and Jay Danielwicz of Sanborn using crabs along the Coast Guard drift. Their smallest fish was three pounds. The biggest was 22 inches long! Similar success was being enjoyed by several of the local guides taking advantage of the situation. The same general area also produced some monster muskellunge in the past week – one 51 incher and a second 52-1/2 incher. Both were released to fight another day. Walleye are also available for those willing to put your time in. Worm harnesses are the most effective bait, drifted off three-way rigs in the river or off the mouth on the Niagara Bar. In the Niagara River Anglers walleye contest last Saturday, it was Joe Augustyniak of Niagara Falls topping the 39 anglers with a two fish catch of 16.48 pounds. His total included the big fish for the tournament, a 9.88 pound walleye from the bar on a worm harness with copper blades. Second place was Jamie Brolinski with 12.90 pounds for two fish. Third place was Steve Majka of Niagara Falls with 12.40 pound. He was fishing with Augustyniak. They also boated a five foot long sturgeon while fishing for walleye – a nice surprise. Sturgeons are protected so they must be release immediately. The access road at the New York Power Authority is still closed for the fishing platform, but NYPA announced that they will be reopening the pier on Sept. 5 … with a caveat. NYPA will be funding a shuttle from Lot C at the Power Vista to the platform from 7 am to 5 pm every half hour. No pedestrian traffic is allowed on the road. No alcohol is allowed on the shuttle. Call 286-6661 for more info. For updates on the construction call 796-0135 Ext. 45.
Upper Niagara River – Bass action continues to be the most consistent fishing available. Shiners and crabs work best, but worm harnesses will also catch fish. Tube jigs or drop shot rigs also work. Use three-way rigs to entice bass to hit. Some musky are also available for anglers and John Syracuse of Newfane connected with a nice fish around Strawberry Island recently using a black spinnerbait with an orange blade. Unfortunately, he had local pastors Dave Emmons and Nate Hlad of Newfane in charge of the netting. In classic Laurel and Hardy style, they managed to miss the fish and watch it swim away unharmed … sporting new jewelry to show off to its friends. Sounds like they need to read the Book of Peter again. No reports on shore fishing but be aware that there is some construction going on at Broderick Park.
Wayne County Fishing Report
Lake Ontario – The bite is on…Kings are starting the fall frenzy, chomping away on alewives. They are in 150 feet of water down 40 or they can be in 400 feet of water down 100. Start in 150 looking for bait and then head out deeper.
Fish are coming on spoons, flies, and some cut bait. Many kings are 25 to 30 pounds, which can give you a pretty powerful fight.
Steelhead are also being netted, usually closer to the surface…down 30 feet.
Don’t forget the LOC Fall Derby. Info and leaderboards are at loc.org. A cool $25,000 for the first place. Not too shabby for a fishing trip!
Bays – Bay fishing continues to be hot, especially for largemouth bass. Sodus is the largest bay, however the smaller bays in our county are producing plenty fish.
Our youth derby is over for 2014; however we’ll be back next year. The final leaderboard for the youngsters is on the GrandSlam section of our web page.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops.
Visit www.waynecountytourism.com for more information.
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 bass are hitting in canal waters. There have been contests the entire bass season because the canal produces some of the heaviest fish in the county. Go get um!
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 has been up as high as 12,000cfs over the past week but this morning it is flowing at 1,550cfs. Areas all along the river are accessible including the dam. There are no salmon reported in the river at this time. Hopefully in the next week or so we will see the first run.
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, the salmon fishing remains so so. Not a ton of kings around but some nice quality. Atommik trolling flies are doing the trick and Uv big fin glows are hot. This week we have been fishing out as deep as 600 feet and in as shallow as 70 feet. Still looking for the mother load to show. We had some rough water yesterday so we will have to see how the action is as conditions calm down.
Salmon River/ Pulaski Area – According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel, the water level did come down to 750cfs and is posted to stay this level through Tuesday September 2nd. The few anglers we spoke with who fished the lower end of the river reported that they did not see any fish.
According to Garrett Brancy of the Douglaston Salmon Run, things have remained pretty quiet down on the Run. The higher flows have made fishing difficult but a few anglers have tried their luck each morning, all with high hopes of catching the first salmon of the season. The weather report looks good for the next few days and we will enjoy more mild temperatures with limited rain in the forecast.
Pulaski Area – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, due to the wind, anglers were not on the lake yesterday. Earlier in the week, there was some good salmon activity in 70-90 feet of water off the Salmon River and north of the river. Flies/flashers, magnum spoons and cutbait were working well. With activity in this area it may not be long before we see the first good run in the river.
Oneida Lake – Conditions on the lake are about the same. Some walleye are still being taken in about 30 feet of water. Suggested applications are stickbaits, blade baits and bucktail jigs tipped with a nightcrawlers. Areas around the shoals and the shallow waters along the shoreline are producing some bass.
Sandy Pond – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, there is very little activity on the pond this time of year.