Chautauqua County Fishing Report
by Craig Robbins
Lake Erie and Tribs – The Western Basin of Lake Erie is as hot as it has been in many years for early fall walleyes. Bass action remains slow while a few steelhead are starting to show in Cattaraugus Creek.
The warm weather over the past week has kept the walleye fishing good for offshore trollers. The better locations didn’t appear to change much from the previous week with anglers seeing action out of Dunkirk and Barcelona. Dunkirk Harbor anglers are finding eyes in 100-110 feet off Van Buren Point and at the state line west of Barcelona with baits concentrated at the thermocline around 60-70 feet. Worm harnesses in purple and blue remain the best bets although stickbaits are a good option when pesky white bass are around.
The perch bite is setting up in Cattaraugus Creek in good numbers with some limits being caught at 64 feet from Cattaraugus Creek. Many of the perch are in the large to jumbo size range of 11-13 inches. Top catches are all coming from live emerald shiners fished just off the bottom.
For salmon anglers, the best action remains for lake trout. Lake trout have been very plentiful at depths of 80 feet or more from Dunkirk west to the state line, trolling spoons just off the bottom. The lakers are averaging 8-12 pounds, but it is not uncommon to hook into one in excess of 20 pounds and 3 feet long. September is also the time when steelhead begin to stage off the creek mouths, waiting for a for cooler water to begin entering the streams. Trolling flashy spoons at slightly higher speeds than walleye around the creek mouths and outward to 70 foot depths is a good tactic. Some coho salmon in the 10-12 pound range have also been showing up in offshore catches. Some anglers are beginning to pick up a few steelhead in Cattaraugus Creek. Cooler temperatures over the weekend might spark this a bit along with some rain, but the run doesn’t really pick up till creek temperatures get into the mid-60’s.
Chautauqua Lake – With the water temperature beginning to drop smallmouth bass are beginning to move into the areas like deep rocky points with shallow rocky shoreline structure close by. This will allow the smallies to move up and down to feed.
Muskie trollers are feed the same type of program for toothy critters. Trollers are finding muskies off Chautauqua Belle Tower Point, with muskie holding in 20-28 feet moving into the shallow point at dusk. Off Warner Bar, the same program is working in the morning, with fish holding in 16-22 feet of water and moving up in the early morning.
Niagara Fishing Forecast
by Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario and tributaries – Things are still messed up in the lake but fishing action is still decent considering what anglers have been facing. Capt. Bob Cinelli of Newfane reported that he was fishing out of Olcott earlier this week to find cold water just 20 feet below the surface during the morning. By the afternoon, the conditions were a bit better as the water moved around. Best mature salmon water has been 30 to 120 foot depths throughout the day. Use all the hardware that comes out of the tackle box for this time of year – plugs, spoons, flasher-fly and meat rigs – traditional baits for fall salmon. A second bite has been found in 200 feet of water and deeper for an occasional mature salmon, some immature kings and steelhead. Cinelli only went as far as 300 foot to take his fish and spoons were his best lures. Water coming out of 18 Mile Creek is still 70 degrees, but if we get some cooler rains it might trigger some fish to come in. As of right now, there were no confirmed reports off the piers and nothing up at Burt Dam except for a few smaller trout and some bass.
Lower Niagara River – This Cystic Fibrosis Lower River Challenge was held this week and we’ll try and have a full report for you on Sunday. In the meantime, bass fishing was good most of the week – both in the river and on the Niagara Bar. Gary Hall of Niagara Falls was fishing with Capt. Frank Campbell of Niagara Falls to prefish the CF event and he reeled in a six and a half pound smallmouth from the Coast Guard drift on a crab on Tuesday. They nearly duplicated that feat on Wednesday with a 21-1/2 inch fish that was released to fight another day. While a majority of the boats were fishing for bass, a few of the guides headed out for walleye. Capt. Jeff Draper of Grand Island was using Kwikfish lures off three-way rigs to reel in three walleye from Devil’s Hole. They also lost a nice musky. Speaking of walleye, Paul Luzzi of Lewiston has been doing well all week on walleye using worm harnesses on the bottom from Stella and Pine drifts. Remember that the Power Authority is still offering a free shuttle service from Lot C at the Visitors Center to the fishing platform. While fishing is not hot and heavy yet, a few salmon have been caught off the platform.
Upper Niagara River – Bass fishing continues to be good in the upper river above Niagara Falls and one of the best spots is the head of the river where Lake Erie flows in near Buffalo. Try using a three-way rig with a crab or shiner. Some drifters like to throw on a tube, also off a three-way, or just tied direct to the line and bouncing the bottom. For musky, try using large tubes around Strawberry Island or the Huntley Power Station. From shore, panfish and bass are being caught primarily on live bait.
Oswego County
This report courtesy of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
According to Larry Muroski of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop, although the water level has been as high as 6,000cfs over the last week, this morning it is running at 2,020cfs. There are a few salmon reported at the dam but not a large number of them. A cold front with wind and rain has been working through the area overnight and this morning. Hopefully this will trigger some good action for the weekend. We will keep you updated. 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. Andy Bliss of Chasin’ Tail Adventures, fishing has been steady this week with fish coming in 90-200 feet of water. Most bites have been in 48-62° temperatures so concentrate your efforts in this part of the column. The best bite has been straight out front of Oswego to Nine Mile Point. Best baits have been flasher fly combos in white/ mt. dew, green, or chrome/ mt. dew. Meat rigs are also taking plenty of fish. White and green have been good color choices. Plugs have started to come on lately so don’t be afraid to throw one out! As I write this report (Wednesday evening) the wind is blowing out of the south at 30 mph. This will bring temperatures up. But the wind is going to come around to the NW which should push temperatures back down by the weekend.
Salmon River/ Pulaski Area
According to Garrett Brancy of the Douglaston Salmon Run, overall, most guests reported seeing a few more fish yesterday. The morning started out better with action slowing mid-day. We had reports of a school of coho in the estuary, although they did not make a push upstream. There was a steady trickle of kings making their way up the Run but persistence was the name of the game. Even experienced anglers had a tough time landing a fish. Rain is over the area this morning. Temperatures will reach the low 70s early in the day and tonight they could dip into the 40s. Let’s keep our fingers crossed the cool, rainy weather triggers some movement! Flows will remain at 350cfs through midnight Friday.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel, cooler weather conditions are expected as we head into the upcoming weekend. Yesterday the anglers we spoke with who fished the lower end of the river reported seeing a few more fish than the previous day, but still no big numbers. Angers who fished the upper end of the river reported seeing a few fish holding in some of the deeper holes between Altmar and Pineville. Yesterday afternoon we went back out on the lake and fished in 85-100 ft of water off the river. We marked good numbers of fish along with plenty of bait. The cutbait/flasher rig produced most of the action, but we did catch one on a Michigan Stinger Spoon.
Pulaski Area – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, the wind will likely be an issue today for lake fishing although it is expected to settle down through the day tomorrow. This week anglers have continued to target the 100-110 foot water depth with flies/flashers, spoons and cut bait working well. There were a few salmon in the estuary yesterday but not a significant movement into the river. This could change at any time as this front passes through and the temperature gets much cooler for the next few days.
Oneida Lake – The activity on the lake has not changed much. A few walleye are still active in the 30 foot water range. Stickbaits, blade baits and bucktail jigs tipped with a nightcrawler are working well. The bass bite continues to be in the more shallow water and a few perch have also been taken.
Sandy Pond – According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle, there is very little activity on the pond at this time.
Fair Haven / Cayuga County
by Werner Stenger
Well everything was a few weeks late this year. The salmon were no different. Now that many boats have packed up and left for the fall salmon are showing in droves. Both kings staging and fresh cohos are abound. Most action near the temp break in 120′ of water. Flies are proving to be the most consistent bite. Keep an eye on the weather as September winds can turn the lake quickly from calm to dangerous.
Wayne County Fishing Report
Lake Ontario – It was slow last week; however the 30 pounders are showing-up in some nets. The charter captains are catching a complete mix of browns, steelies and kings.
Fish 80 to 200 feet of water and throw everything at them.
Spoons and flasher flies are catching kings off the riggers, dipseys and copper. The word from the lake is “solid bites.”
The kings are staging so fish straight out from Maxwell Creek, Sodus and Port Bays.
Bays – Huge largemouths are roaming the weedlines of Sodus Bay. This is the time of year to fish Wayne County embayments. With cooler water the fish are on the bite.
Blind Sodus Bay – on the east side of the county- has bass and pike action and Port Bay has hosted some bass tourneys.
Boat traffic has disappeared for the season, so the water is quiet for anglers.
Check out the rest of 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 fishing has been excellent this season and the best is yet to come. Autumn fishing the Erie produces cats, bass, pike and walleye.