Upstate New York Fishing Report for August 25, 2016

Greater Niagara Region

Bill Hilts, Jr.

Lake Ontario And Tributaries

The Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey and Lake Ontario Counties derbies are dominating the catching scene as things settle back into more favorable conditions after some nasty winds blew through and messed the lake up. On Monday, it was cold water everywhere but by Tuesday places like the Niagara Bar had fish stacked up like cord wood as Karen Evarts at the Boat Doctor put it. That was confirmed by Walt Zebker and Mike Mongan of Grand Island as they reported excellent fishing at the drop off in 65 to 80 feet of water. That drop sees the bottom plummet from 60 to 220 feet in a very short amount of time and running your baits along that ledge was the ticket for both salmon and lake trout. Best bait set-up for them was a cutbait rig and a double-crush glow spin doctor with a no-see-em fly on or near the bottom. To the east, off Wilson and Olcott, trollers are still working the 50 to 100 foot stretch for mature kings getting ready to stage. Flasher-fly, cutbait, J-plugs and even magnum spoons will all take fish according to Wes Walker at The Slippery Sinker. The deep water program was returning to normal … if you can stay out of the weeds. Trout and salmon are available from the 24 to the 27 line south of the Niagara river current or north of the 31 line or north of the Niagara River current. Primarily spoons for a mix of fish. Some nice browns have been taken inside 55 feet of water. Just ask Dennis Stabler of Lockport who hit a 17 pounder to lead both the Fish Odyssey and LOC Derby – taking a spin doctor and fly in 55 feet of water. The inaugural Reelin’ for a Cure last Friday was a resounding success according to Stephanie Pierleoni of Newfane. They had 12 ladies teams signed up and the winning team was “Hooked on a Cure” fishing with Dave Peterson aboard the Hotline boat. They scored a six fish limit that totaled 117.11 points – based on 10 points per fish and a point per pound. Second place went to Smelting Hearts fishing with Capt. Kurt Driscoll and his Stalker boat with a score of 115.07 points. Big fish in the contest went to Chrissy’s Crew, fishing with 716 Sportfishing and Capt. Matt Bedient with a 20.94 pound king salmon. Congrats to all of the winners in the Orleans County Rotary Derby that ended last Sunday. Grand Prize was a 30 pound, 14 ounce king salmon reeled in by Julie Schaeffer of Sligo, Pennsylvania. Top steelhead was a 14 pound, 1 ounce fish caught Robert Griffith of Akron, Ohio. Scott Bengsch of Webster had the top lake trout with 21 pounds, 1 ounce and Patrick Pullinzi of Hamlin was the leading brown trout catcher at 15 pounds, 7 ounces. The Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby is underway and some impressive catches have been coming to the scales. Grand Prize leader for the $25,000 check is a 33 pound, 13 ounce king caught by Richard Clark of Tyler Hill, Pennsylvania while fishing out east. Go to loc.org for details. The 40th Annual Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby honoring the late, great Capt. Jeremiah Heffernan, is also underway through Sunday. Some nice fish have come to the weigh in sites in Niagara, Erie and Orleans counties including Mike Pinkham’s 28 pound, 7 ounce king; Jim Janese with a 24 and a half pound carp; Dave Muir’s 6 pound, 6 ounce smallmouth bass; Richard Barber with a 15 pound, 2 ounce lake trout; and Chris Pitek with an 11 pound, 15 ounce walleye caught on the Niagara Bar. Nice fish in the Junior Division, too. Check out fishodyssey.net for a leaderboard. It’s still not too late to register and kids are free!

Lower Niagara River

Speaking of walleye, the Niagara River Anglers Assn. will give it another go this Saturday for its Lower River Walleye Contest after the event was postponed last weekend. Sign up at Creek Road Bait and Tackle in Lewiston. All the action will be held at the Lewiston Landing area, including the weigh in. Best two fish. For more info call Mike Heylek at 510-9750. A few walleye are being caught but most anglers are being tight-lipped on the action as they prepare for the contest. Worm harnesses or yellow sally flies with a spinner and a worm are the tried and true methods. Bass continue to be spotty, but there have been some nice smallmouth caught from shore along Artpark with in-line spinners in blue and silver. The first salmon of the year have shown up in small numbers in the lower Niagara River.

Upper Niagara River

Bass action continues to be decent, but some of the better fishing has been in Canadian Waters. If you are fishing in Canadian waters, make sure you call in to Customs and report your entry. Passports are now at the top of the list when you call in, but you can get by with an enhanced driver’s license. A third option is a driver’s license and a birth certificate. Capt. Terry Jones of 1st Class Bass reports that tube jigs have been working in some of the deeper holes in the river. In fact, he noted that a 7 pound, 3 ounce smallmouth was caught from Thompson’s Hole last weekend during a local bass club contest – a tournament that was won by Ted Barth of Bolivar with 18-plus pounds. Many of his winning catch were reeled in at the head of the river. Lyndon Hilts of Gasport is in third place in the Odyssey with a 5 pound, 4 ounce upper river smallie caught on a tube. Look for some deeper holes this time of year. Some big sheepshead are also being reported.

Oswego County

Mary Ellen Barbeau

Lake Ontario report

Anglers are reporting that a good number of salmon have moved into the area and they are big. The top 18 out of the top 20 salmon weighed in so far for the Fall LOC Derby are 30 pounds or more with the leader at 33.03 at this time.

According to Capt. Andy Bliss of Chasin’ Tail Adventures:
Salmon are beginning to stage off the Oswego and Salmon Rivers. Cut bait and flies have been the best.
White green dot, Hammertime, pig pen, and white mountain dew attractors; glo bfly, glo hammer and green glo flies are suggested

According to Capt. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift:
We have some of the nicest kings around in quite a few years – many in the upper 20s and low 30s. The numbers also seem to be pretty good. It’s looking like a good river season if we ever get some water.

Oswego River Report

The water level has been between 1,000-2,000cfs over the last few days. This afternoon it is running at 1,520cfs. Anglers are finding a few walleye and smallmouth bass. Stickbaits, cut bait and nightcrawlers are working well. We have not had any reports of salmon in the river as yet but it shouldn’t be much longer.

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 along the top bar on the home page. 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 Report

According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop and Motel:
The salmon fishing on the eastern end of Lake Ontario has picked up and we have staging kings in Mexico Bay. For those of you not familiar with the lake, Mexico Bay is the eastern end of Lake Ontario and this is where the fish stage before making the annual journey up the Salmon River. On August 19th the LOC Fall Salmon Derby started and over the weekend several big salmon were weighed in at our end of the lake including the leader. After only a couple days of fishing 3 kings have already been weighed in that are bigger than last year’s winner. We’ve been fishing off the Salmon River in 115 – 125 feet of water and marking good numbers of fish. Some days are better than others, but were catching a few fish with cut bait/flashers and A-Tom-Mik flies/flashers producing the best results. From what we’ve caught and the pictures I’ve seen, the salmon look healthy and are good size which is a positive sign for this year’s run.

Salmon River report

According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
The first salmon were spotted in the river on Tuesday. Yesterday one of our guides spent a few hours scouting the river sighting four in a few hours. He caught two of those. He was out today for about two hours sighting four more and catching one. “Fish on” has started!

Oneida Lake Report

Conditions have not changed much on the lake. The walleye bite remains spotty. Anglers are taking a few in 20-30 feet of water with blade baits and stickbaits. Smallmouth bass are responding to drop-shot rigs and crayfish around the shoals.

Sandy Pond report

According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
The pond is heavily weeded with little fishing taking place.

Orleans County

Orleans County Tourism
Well at some point the lake has to set up again, but not quite yet.

There are big fish on the inside waters but also very warm water.

Water temperature is slowly dropping to more seasonal temperatures but it’s not happening fast.

If you’re looking for numbers the 30 plus line seems to be where the best action is but they are smaller fish.

That area seems to have a good mix of Coho, Chinook and Steelhead.

On the inland waters fishing is also on the slow side.

Lake Alice is giving up some bass and Carp along with a few Bluegill.

I haven’t had any reports from the Erie Canal lately but usually the wide water area is a good spot for a mixed bag of fish.

The 40th Annual Fish Odyssey runs through this Sunday, August 28th and the Fall LOC Derby runs through September 5th this year.

Speaking of the Fall LOC Derby, right now the top 12 salmon in it are all over 30 pounds which speaks well of Lake Ontario fishing.

Salmon River

Michael De Rosa – Zero Limit Adventures – Tailwater Lodge
We have had periods of hard rain on the Tug Hill late last week with the river flow increasing to 335 cfs but is now back to 185 cfs. Water temps have dropped to the mid 60s. There have been a couple of Salmon spotted in the river but no run as of yet. Lake Captains are reporting Salmon moving shallower. Lake charters have had a good summer season which speaks well for the fall salmon run.

There are still Smallmouth Bass throughout the river but the larger bass have worked their way back to Lake Ontario. There are continues to be good evening hatches and there are numbers of parr steelhead and landlock salmon working back to the lake.

Both Upper and Lower Reservoirs, as well as the Upper Fly Zone, are experiencing very little pressure. The Upper Reservoir is producing good catches of Smallmouth Bass and Walleyes.