Upstate New York Fishing Report for May 21, 2015

Greater Niagara Region

Bill Hilts, Jr.

Lake Ontario And Tributaries

Fishing continues to be very good on Lake Ontario from the Niagara Bar to 30 Mile Point off the shores of Niagara County. Top catches have been for spring salmon and lake trout, but if you want to target catch and release bass, you’ll want to toss some tubes or jerk baits around Fort Niagara near the mouth of the Niagara River. Getting back to the salmon and trout, outdoor writer Dave Barus of East Aurora (better known as Forrest Fisher), took his grandson Collin Voss out earlier this week to the Niagara Bar drop off and they managed to do extremely well. They caught 7 fish in four hours of action before noon including 5 kings up to 21lbs and 2 steelies…all nice fish. They fished the edge of the bar 4 miles east out the Fort. Collin caught his first king and it took him 26 minutes to reel in. All he could say was …”wow!” He caught that one on a wire line dipsy with a salmon candy spoon on 9 foot leader at 2.7 mph at the drop off near the red buoy marker. Awesome fun! Next big fishing contest will be the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Salmon Team Tournaments May 30-31 and June 6-7 out of Wilson and Olcott. Deadline for registering for the recreational open division is the Monday prior to each event by paying cash only – all one day contests for a total of four. Drop them off at The Slippery Sinker. Sign up in Olcott by 5 pm Monday. Don’t forget that there will be two one-fish, three-fish contests the day before each Pro-Am weekend (May 29 and June 5) – the Don Johannes and Pete DeAngelo Memorial events. You don’t have to be in the Pro-Am to fish these. Call 778-0713 for more info. Speaking of The Slippery Sinker, the best action in the lake has been between 70 and 150 feet of water on spoons, but flasher-fly are catching a few, too. In the creeks and harbors, a few trout could still be available but most of the action has been on warm water fish like bass, pike, perch and carp. Another new regulation that DEC slipped in without telling anyone is that it’s now illegal to take a picture of a fish that’s been caught out of season.

Lower Niagara River

Good mix of fish is being reported by drifters and casters. Pick and choose what you want to try and target, but you will probably catch something different anyway. Capt. Frank Campbell was reported six different species of fish near Fort Niagara on tube jigs – smallmouth, largemouth, Coho salmon, sheepshead, steelhead and lake trout. Up in Devil’s Hole, mixed bags were being reported by boats drifting Kwikfish lures, minnows or egg sacs off three-way rigs. Shore anglers are catching fish, too. It’s a good time of year to be fishing in the river.

Upper Niagara River

With water temperatures over 50 degrees now, a mixed bag of fish species is being reported – crappie, bluegills, perch and bass. Kody Lozinsky of Niagara Falls has been doing well on largemouth bass using rubber worms, but like a true fisherman he was fishing from a “secret” spot on Grand Island! Inland waters musky will open up on May 30 this year, which is new, with a minimum size of 40 inches and a limit of one fish if you wanted to keep one. However, this new season does NOT include the Niagara River (upper or lower), Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Great Lakes musky regulations will continue to be an opening day of the third Saturday in June (June 20 this year). In addition, the minimum musky size for all Great Lakes waters will be 54 inches in length with a daily limit of one. And if you catch a musky in those Great Lakes waters … don’t take a picture if it’s before the season!

Oswego County

Mary Ellen Barbeau

Oswego River/Lake Ontario

According to Larry Muroski of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop:
The water flow has been between 8,000-10,000cfs for a few days. This afternoon it is running at 9,130cfs.
This is still high to fish many areas along the river. Anglers are finding a walleye bite from the railroad bridge north to the area behind St. Luke Apartments. Nightcrawlers, leeches and stickbaits remain the baits of choice. Bullhead are hitting worms and leeches at Ox Creek and 3-Mile Creek.

Lake Ontario report:

According to Capt. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift:
The weekend was a good mixed bag with kings, browns, steelhead and lakers. I like the number of kings around. Yesterday was a good king bite early and then it was over. We did find some nice lakers around to fill in though.

According to Capt. Mike Conroy of Proteus Fishing Charters:
The very foggy conditions in Oswego on Sunday made it very challenging for the charter fleet. There is a lot of water in the forties east and west of the harbor. We ran a full spread on the boat with riggers, inline planers and slide dipsy’s. We managed to hook up to two King Salmon in 50 feet of water, a mile east of the harbor in 49 degree water on stingray stingers. It appears that more King Salmon are showing up off of Oswego and hopefully more bait sticks are around. Cover water and use different applications to get into some silver fish.

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.

Pulaski Area/Salmon River

The change in weather the end of last week resulted in some good fishing over the weekend. The brown trout bite picked up and the lake trout remained active. Weather conditions were a bit difficult on Sunday with a good deal of fog.

Salmon River:

According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
Over the weekend a handful of anglers were on the water and managed to find a few drop backs and smallmouth bass mostly in the lower end of the river. If you plan on fishing the Upper or Lower Fly Zone be aware of the regulation changes that started on May 1st.

According to Douglaston Salmon Run:
We had one angler go upriver and catch a nice steelhead and a large smallmouth bass at the top of the Glide. Another went downriver and caught ten smallmouth bass in the 15” range at the bottom of the Meadows. In our area, anglers may target bass off season, and take a picture, provided these fish are released unharmed. Regulations for other areas, regarding fishing for specific species during their closed season, as well as taking pictures of such fish, differs so be sure to check beforehand.

Oneida Lake

Since the season opener, the walleye bite has been spotty. The shore night bite has been decent casting stickbaits and anglers boat fishing are using jigs tipped with a nightcrawler. Bullhead are active along the shoreline with nightcrawlers and leeches suggested bait.

Sandy Pond

According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
There isn’t a lot of activity this time of year on the pond but anglers are finding a crappie bite with small minnows under a float.

Wayne County Fishing Update

Chris Kenyon

Lake Ontario

It was another slow week with the browns and lakers hitting out from Hughes Marina. Yesterday and today are blow-offs with the wind cranking 25 to 30 mph. Ten footers are rolling in from Lake Ontario.

Tomorrow will have less wind however the clear water and temps running 40 to 43 on the top will make fishing difficult.
The lake trout are down 130 feet and the cowbell set-up is working. The early morning browns are hitting spoons…all sorts of colors.

Fish the western region of Wayne County for any Memorial Day action. Make sure you get out there early. Start at Sodus Bay and work the water to Bear Creek.

Bays

The bullhead fishing is just about over. You can catch them along Bay Bridge at the south end of Sodus Bay. Anglers are also catching pike near the islands on the north end of Sodus.

Port Bay anglers are still catching crappies near the south end of the bay. You can launch at the DEC ramp.

A whooper channel catfish was caught in the Port Bay channel a couple of weeks ago. It weighed-in at 40 pounds. It looked like a monster…the ones you see from the deep south.

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.

The Wayne County Youth Fishing Derby starts in June with a brand new exciting division for youngsters 4-7 years of age. All the info is on our web page.

Erie Canal

Canal fishing probably has been the most productive place to try your luck. The species are smaller however the action is constant.