Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario And Tributaries
The Burt Dam area of 18 Mile Creek has seen a bit of a push as far as salmon are concerned. Several small schools of fish have pushed up through the harbor and made it to the dam according to Wes Walker and the Slippery Sinker in Olcott. While it’s not on fire, they are catching some salmon and browns off the piers casting spoons, spinners, J-13 Rapalas and Rat-L-Traps. The same thing in the harbor, too. A few guys like to drift egg skein to take fish. At night, some boats like to anchor and toss stickbaits. Up at the dam, it’s mostly eggs – skein, sacks, egg imitations. There was decent flow there today (Thursday) at 80 cfs. It’s pulling a few fish in but if we get a heavy rain, that will be the trigger we need. Some perch are in the harbor at Olcott, as well as in Wilson. Pike are in both harbors, too. Perch and browns are being caught off the Route 425 pier. There was a 14-inch bluegill caught in Wilson harbor this past week, too. Casting the beaches near the creek mouths can produce some trout, too. That was happening in Olcott and it should be happening in Wilson, as well. If you want to target staging kings off Olcott, there should be some fish there for the trollers … but no one is really doing that right now. Josh Wittcop of Lyndonville is leading the King of the Creek contest with a 27.93 pound king caught off the piers in Olcott. The largest fish caught off a boat so far is a 24.03 pound king reeled in by John Drotter of Burt. The contest runs through Nov. 6 at ASB Tackle in Newfane.
Action has been good since the weekend. Boats were limiting out in Devil’s Hole earlier in the week on treated egg skein fished off three way rigs. The fewer the boats, the better your chance at catching a fish. Writer Dave Figura of Syracuse reeled in a Devil’s Hole salmon while fishing with Capt. Frank Campbell over the long weekend. He also shore fished with Glenn Strzelczyk of Niagara Falls despite some unpleasant rainy conditions. While they didn’t catch anything, they saw plenty of fish rolling and it was still a good experience none the less. Shore fishermen have been taking some nice fish casting spoons, spinners or jigs. Eggs fished under a float will also work under certain conditions. Water temps were into the lower 60s so that should help with fishing.
Lower Niagara River
Smallmouth bass have been hitting at the head of the river on large golden shiners. That bite will also work in the river proper, too. The walleye bite is starting to turn on off Broderick Park. With waters starting to cool, musky action should start to improve, as well.
Oct. 15 is important in the fishing arena because it’s the last day for several seasons before they close. The state’s inland trout season closes on Oct. 15 – which also includes lake trout – as well as landlocked salmon season inland. This does not include the Great Lakes and its tributaries as far as trout is concerned – except lake trout. Lake trout closed in Lake Ontario and the Niagara River on Oct. 1. It gets complicated. Be sure to check out the state regulations guide for specific details. Speaking of regulations, the state has announced that the comment period for the new proposed regulations changes has been extended through Nov. 11. Check out all of those regs at www.dec.ny.gov. The deadline to comment on the Lake Ontario stocking proposal is Oct. 14 – also extended but we saw no press release on that one.
Upper Niagara River
Bass action should start to pick up as water temps start to cool down. Ditto for musky action.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Oswego River Report
After a higher water flow, the level steadily dropped since Tuesday to 600cfs yesterday but is up to 1,370cfs this afternoon. The salmon bite continues with some nice size fish being taken. The first trout of the season were reported over the weekend with a few browns and rainbows coming to the net. Skein is working well.
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.
Salmon River Report
Salmon River Notice: Due to the low water conditions anglers should be aware that the Lower Fly Zone is closed until further notice. For more information https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/NYSDEC/bulletins/16822b1.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop and Motel:
Yesterdays anglers stopping into the shop reported having a good day in the Ballpark, Trestle and Upper Fly Zone with a mix of kings and cohos. For those anglers who are fly fishing, single egg patterns and natural colored streamers have produced the best results over the last couple of days. For those anglers who are using spinning gear, blue and pink egg sacs have produced steady results.
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
Anglers are reporting plenty of fish, kings and cohos, in the river. A few more steelhead have also been reported. Most anglers are reporting landing 6-10 fish and hooking into more. No particular part of the run seems to be doing better than any other.
Oneida Lake Report
The fishing on the lake remains challenging. Anglers are finding a perch bite in deeper water with minnows. The fall walleye bite has been slow getting underway. There is a little rain in the extended forecast but cooler temperatures are needed.
Sandy Pond report
There has not been much activity on the pond.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
There has been a little action at the mouth of Maxwell Creek. You can park in the DEC area on the north side of Lake Road and walk along the creek to the Lake Ontario shoreline. Cast Cleos or other spoons out and try for a few browns.
Or you can try pier fishing because there is no water in Maxwell or the creeks. It’s supposed to rain this week so maybe the flow can start.
Hughes’ Marina is another option for some browns. There is a small channel which leads to the lake and the browns will enter the small coves.
Bays
Bay fishing has been great with largemouths hitting in Sodus Bay along the weedlines. The perch are still scattered and difficult to find, however with the cooler temps they might start schooling in 20 to 25 feet of water. Try small minnows for the perch, and concentrate where there are drop-offs.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops. 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
Anglers are catching crappies near the Port Gibson bridge. You can fish from the shore or launch at Widewaters. And the largemouth bass fishing has been great. This is the time of year where they start to “chow down.”
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism
The cold temperatures and frost of Monday night and Tuesday morning should go a long way in convincing salmon that it’s spawning time.
Even though temperatures will be back up in the 70’s today tributary temperatures are definitely heading in the right direction.
Some solid reports have Brown trout and even some Atlantic salmon entering the mix. The best action still is occurring around the mouths of the tributaries and from small boats working the shoreline.
There are fish all the way up to the dam on Oak Orchard but not as heavy as you would expect at this time of year.
Basically it seems that everything is about two weeks behind where you would expect it to be.
A good rain would go a long way towards bringing things back to something close to being normal.
On Lake Alice the cooler temperatures have moved many of the species back to the weed beds around the lake.
Bluegill and Crappie are still being taken from the Waterport Bridge but not in the numbers they were a week ago.
Don’t lose out on some great fishing, food, friends and prizes at the St. Mary’s Archer’s Club Catch and Release Derby which will be held on October 19th to the 21st this year.
It is truly one of the great events of the fall fishing season.
Salmon River
Michael De Rosa – Zero Limit Adventures – Tailwater Lodge
Water flow continues at 185 cfs with some rain on the Tug Hill Plateau on Saturday helped move additional fish into the river system. There is additional rain forecasted for the beginning of next week which will help water flow. Good news is that water temps are in the low 60’s and will continue to drop with the cold night we are experiencing.
The low water is NOT slowing the salmon run one bit! The entire river system is still fishing very well with large King Salmon and recent numbers of Cohos moving. Again we are seeing Kings are measuring over 40” in length with girths of 20” -22.” The number of trout is being caught continues to grow each day with many steelhead and brown trout moving into the rive system.
As reported last: fish continue moving throughout the river with boat captains reporting multiple hookups. The total length of the river open to salmon is 13 miles from Port Ontario to the base of the dam at the Lower Reservoir. It does not take long for these fish to disperse throughout the system. Note, the Lower Fly Zone has been closed due to drought conditions.
The DEC has started the annual egg collection at the NYS Fish Hatchery located Altmar. This week they are collecting eggs from kings and next week they will be collecting eggs from cohos. It is well worth checking out if you’ve never seen it before. They typically start collecting eggs at 9:30 am and finish around noon.
Any flies that are natural looking colors such as black, olive or brown have been productive in the low and clear water conditions. Over the past week were seeing more loose salmon eggs in the river and single patterns also been very productive.