Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario
After the hard northeast blow on Lake Ontario, trollers were forced out to more stable water in the 300 foot to 500 foot depth contour off Wilson and Olcott. Spin doctors and flies have been attracting a few mature kings, Coho salmon and steelhead. Spoons are also working consistently out there. August is crunch time for the mature kings and there are plenty of fishing contests that coincide with the return of the king to the ports they were stocked at. Look for fishing activity to increase. Bob Ashley of Mentor, Ohio visited Niagara County waters this week as a result of the weekly fishing report. Bob and his most frequent fishing partner fished Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning of this week. They hooked 11 salmon and landed eight with the largest being 24 pounds. Bob and Larry fished off the Niagara Bar in water 179 feet to 220 feet deep. They found their fish between 45 and 60 feet down, meaning they didn’t have to break out the downriggers but used directional divers exclusively. All of the fish were taken on flasher-fly combos. Waters are slowly starting to turn on closer to shore.
Lower Niagara River
In the lower Niagara River, walleye action is starting to slow down again after a couple of weeks of decent fishing. Worm harnesses bounced along the bottom with three-way rigs works well. Best spots have been the Stella drift and at the mouth of the river around the green buoy marker. Some smallmouth bass are available, too – crabs and shiners for live bait; tubes and drop shot rigs for artificials. You can catch bass in Devil’s Hole, as well as many of the drifts all the way down to Lake Ontario. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls is still popping some gar pike in the gorge area along Artpark. He combined a rope fly with a jig to allow him to cast better with the strong river current.
Upper Niagara River
Fishing continues to be good, although it’s not as strong as it was. Bass and walleye are still being caught in the river with a spinner and worm working best for walleye and the occasional bass. Crayfish and shiners will work for bass and sheepshead. A new interactive online hot spot fishing map has been unveiled that will give anglers new insight into the local waters of Niagara, Erie and Chautauqua counties. Check it out!
A couple of ladies led the way in the Summer Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Summer Derby that ended Sunday. Grand Prize winner was Sandra Brown of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, reeling in a 32 pound, 4 ounce Niagara Bar king salmon while fishing with her husband Ed and Joe Yaeger of Amherst. Trolling a spin doctor and fly in 160 feet of water, 60 feet down. She earned a check for $11,000 for reeling in that fish. First place in the Salmon Division was a 31 pound, 10 ounce king caught out of Point Breeze, weighed in by Kristin Wilson of Rockstream, NY. The Niagara Bar produced the first place lake trout, a 23 pound, 13 ounce Niagara Bar fish checked in by Steve Klejdys of North Tonawanda. The big steelhead was caught out of Olcott when Adam Robinson of Portland, Oregon out-battled a 17 pound, 4 ounce steelie while fishing with Capt. Vince Pierleoni of Newfane. First place brown trout was a 16 pound, 2 ounce fish caught out of Fair Haven. Lon Colley of Burt was the youth salmon winners with a 26 pound, 1 ounce king. The fall derby will be starting up August 18 and run through Labor Day. Check out loc.org for more information. Also coming up on the derby docket is the Orleans County Rotary Derby August 5 to 20 and the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby August 19 to 27.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Oswego River Report
We have had several days of beautiful dry weather. As a result the water flow has dropped to 6,800cfs. This makes a few more areas along the river fishable. Anglers are continuing to use the river walks, both east and west. Crayfish or tube jigs are taking smallmouth bass and sheepshead are responding to crayfish.
Lake Ontario report:
The salmon fishing is excellent on Lake Ontario. Anglers are coming back to the dock with limit catches. The bite is active in 150+ feet of water and Capt. Ed Monette of Cannonball Runner Charters is finding the most action in 300-450 feet. Cut bait, spoons, and flies and flashers are working well. Smallmouth bass are taking crabs and tube jigs in 10-20 feet of water.
Pulaski Area and Salmon River report:
According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
The fishing continues to be very good on the lake. Anglers are finding salmon in 150-450 feet of water. Spoons, flashers and flies and cut bait are all getting their attention. A few brown trout are being taken in 60-80 feet and lakers can be found in about 150 feet of water. There is a perch bite along the shore in Mexico Bay and anglers are finding bass in 20 feet of water in the same location with soft-shelled crabs and nightcrawlers.
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
August arrived and cranked up the heat. Beautiful mornings have given way to hot afternoons. Yesterday we had a decent handful of anglers join us to spend some time on the water. Most of our guests covered the run top to bottom and were rewarded with a few bass and a number of fall fish. The river flow will be at 350cfs on Friday, 750cfs Saturday and Sunday for a white water release, and back to 350cfs on Monday.
Notice: The Salmon River Fish Hatchery building continues to be closed due to construction. The grounds, including picnic area and fish ladder, are still open dawn to dusk. You can reach the hatchery at 315-298-5051, Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.
Oneida Lake Report:
Fishing is getting tougher on Oneida Lake with the heavy algal bloom. Largemouth bass often move into shallow water under these conditions. Walleye can be found in deep water trolling worm harnesses or blade baits or along the shore near weed beds.
Sandy Pond report:
According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
Conditions have improved somewhat on the pond. Access is still a bit difficult in places but can be done at various marinas around the pond and the DEC boat launch reopened last Friday. Persistent anglers will likely find some Northern pike, walleye and bass.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
It’s August which means a great king bite and that’s what is occurring now. Charters are catching their salmon straight out from Sodus and out from Hughes’ Marina.
Yesterday the bite was over 260 to 400 fow.
Riggers were out working the divers and copper. Most fish were caught 60 to 90 down and spoons were faring better than flasher/ flies.
Cut bait hasn’t been as strong as it was a couple of weeks ago…who knows why.
Steelhead are also being caught in the same water. Again, spoons have been the dominate lure for trout and salmon with black-glow the go to color. Steelhead like anything red.
Bays
The ramp at the north end of Port Bay is now open and Sodus Bay has Margaretta Road and Bay Bridge for launching.
The bass fishing has been hot in all the bays in Wayne County. Bass are hitting Zoom bait and spinner baits along the weedlines at Sodus Bay. The water level is still high; however, the weeds are growing. Fish the southern end of Sodus near Bay Bridge.
Perch are hitting near the channel at Sodus and the channel at Port Bay has seen some smallmouths caught, which is a nice sign.
The no wake conditions remain on all Wayne County bays, so that will make getting to your preferred location very difficult.
It sounds like a broken record however, the speed on the bays is still idle. It’s a Wayne County Emergency condition. There is no restriction on Lake Ontario.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops. waynecountytourism.com.
Erie Canal
The cat fish bite is turning on near Palmyra. The current and muddy water from last weekend has subsided a bit and the cats are hitting cut bait. Or you can use shrimp, however that can be a little costly. The bass are being caught in the Widewaters. Fish the south side of the canal, using plastic worms.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism
Congratulations to the winners of the Summer LOC Derby, especially those that were caught out of Orleans County.
Out of our county we had the First Place in the salmon division was a 31.1-pound salmon caught by Kristin Wilson.
Victor Rowcliffe had the 4th place salmon weighing 29.05 pounds
In the Lake Trout Division, the 4th place fish weighed 21.1 pounds and was caught by James Irene and the 7th place fish was 20.04 pounds caught by Michael Wichtowski.
In the Rainbow/Steelhead Division Darwin Snow caught the 6th place fish which weighed 12.15 pounds, 10th place was Tiffany Keicher’s 11.15-pound fish, 13th place went to Laura Brown with a 11.11-pound fish and the 17th place fish weighed 11.08 pounds and was caught by Patrick Pullinzi.
All in all, not a bad showing for the great fishing in the waters of Lake Ontario off Orleans County.
Fishing on Lake Ontario seems to have moved off shore and for right and now seems to be taking place around the 30 line and beyond.
Good catches of both salmon and steelhead are being reported using a mixture of both spoons and flasher/fly combinations in a multitude of color patterns.
On the Erie Canal around the wide water area some great catfish catches are being taken along with many other species.
Lake Alice still has some great bass fishing in the upper stretches where the boat traffic is much lighter and the lower stretches of the “Oak” are still producing Northern Pike and bass.
The weather for the rest of this week and into next week contains the possibility of some pop up showers and thunderstorms so keep a lookout for them.