Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario and tributaries
The Great Lakes fishing action for trout and salmon does NOT kick off on April 1 like the local media has been stating for the Empire State – these waters are open year-round. That said, the new month did have some welcome weather changes that saw a fair number of people hitting the streams, the piers and the lake to take advantage of some increased activity of fish. At Burt Dam, some steelhead have started spawning but a good brown trout bite was being reported. The flow was good with a tea color stain according to Wes Walker at The Slippery Sinker in Olcott. Egg sacs were at the top of the list, but jigs tipped with a wax worm and fished under a float was not far behind. Egg imitations, too. Pier casters are still using spoons or spinners, but the top bait was a minnow fished under a float. Activity in Olcott Harbor has shut the fishing down a bit as they prepare for the coming boating season. No report on perch fishing there and Wilson Harbor still has a little more ice to get rid of in that harbor. Speaking of Wilson, the Bullhead Derby sponsored by the Wilson Conservation Club is April 10-12 starting at 5 pm on the 10th. Best two fish. Sign up at CMC Auto in Wilson or The Slippery Sinker in Olcott. For more info call 638-4158 or 751-0505. Shoreline trollers are starting to pick up a few more trout and even a Coho hit a stickbait offering this past week. Warm rain could trigger more fish to hit. Tributaries like Keg, Hopkins, 12 Mile and 4 Mile all have fish in them and the smaller creeks are low and clear. That will change after the rain. The Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Assn. will be putting their pens together and into the water on Saturday, April 11 starting at 9 am at the Town of Newfane marina. Check out www.lotsa.org for more details. LOTSA also has its next meeting on April 9 and guest speaker will be Capt. Carl Bish with Salmo Charters talking spring brown trout. The meeting starts at 7 pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension Niagara, Lockport.
Lower Niagara River
With the influx of additional water in the Niagara River with the April 1 water flow changes, trout fishing really turned on according to Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island. He was reporting good catches for customers in Devil’s Hole and along Artpark on pink egg sacs. Minnows have also been working for three-way drifters from boats. They boated 8 steelhead in four drifts on Wednesday morning and caught a few more along Artpark – one for cameraperson Jaclyn Asztalos from Channel 7 who was filming a segment on fishing in Niagara USA. Timing is everything. Shore fishermen have also been doing well, too. With the start of some trout spawning, egg sacs are a good bet. Egg imitations, spoons and spinners will all catch fish, too. Not rule out the mouth of the river off Fort Niagara for a little shoreline trolling action. Capt. Matt Yablonsky says that the temperatures are slowly increasing and he’s started to see more fish becoming active. The NYPA fishing platform should be opening up on Monday, but it will be weather-permitting. For information on the fishing pier, call 716-796-0135, extension 45.Tip of the week comes from Capt. Ernie Calandrelli of Lewiston. Make sure your riders are secured properly before motoring up river in a boat. It also poses a most interesting question: If a customer falls into the river along with four fishing rods, what do you save first? Some of those rods and reels can be pretty expensive!
Upper Niagara River
Locals are anticipating some trout stockings from the state in places like Oppenheim Park Pond, Hyde Park Lake and Gill Creek. According to the Caledonia hatchery where these fish would be coming from, it will probably be the week of April 13, but no exact date has been given yet. In the meantime, casting the shoreline in the upper rapids area could produce a few trout with an egg sac, spoon or spinner.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Oswego River
The water level has been up just a little over the last couple of days running at 9,390cfs. Five driftboats were on the river this morning enjoying the nice weather.
Capt. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift reports that his clients had some good luck on Tuesday. They found a good mix of browns, rainbows, steelhead and a few salmon. We even captured the elusive fantail rainbow.
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. The Oswego Fire Department offers loaner life jackets at no charge through its “Loaner For Life” program. For more information contact the fire station, 35 E. Cayuga St., at 315-343-2161.
Salmon River
The Douglaston Salmon Run reports that the DSR section of the Salmon River is open from the Meadow (except for the south channel right below the Meadow) all the way up to the property line below the Black Hole. The anglers using egg sacs did well today while the fly fishermen struggled to produce results. Pink, blue, and white egg sacs all produced fish. The water level is still 350cfs out of the dam and 548cfs at Pineville.
Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel reports that the Upper Fly Zone is now open and should help take some of the fishing pressure off the Lower Fly Zone. With the low water conditions the fish have been holding in the deep holes which means the fish get a long slow look at your presentation so a fluorocarbon leader or tippet is suggested. We got mixed reports from anglers depending on where they fished. Anglers staying in the motel reported getting into fish in the Upper and Lower Fly Zone on black stoneflies and single egg patterns. Anglers who fished the mid to lower end of the river got into some fish while bottom bouncing or float fishing with blue and pink egg sacs.
Oneida Lake
Anglers are reporting decent ice – 24 inches in many areas of the lake. The perch bite seems to be spotty with some anglers doing well and others reporting little activity. A number of them are small but there are some nice catches in the mix. Some anglers reported doing better early in the day. Just a reminder that walleye season closed on March 15.
Sandy Pond
Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle reports that so far they still have some good ice on the pond with 20 inches in many areas. The edges have not deteriorated much and are in good shape. The bite has been fairly good with a number of fish being caught. There are many small ones so you will need to pick and choose but you will find some nice keepers too. Fathead minnows with jigs, larva and plastic bait are working well.