Pictured above: Mike Rzucidlo king
Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
There are plenty of fish around to be caught! Scott Scheffler, Marina Director for the Town of Newfane and heading up Fisherman’s Park at Burt Dam/18 Mile Creek, reports that some dandy brown trout are starting to show up in the creek a bit more readily. It’s a nice complement to the salmon and steelhead that are already on the scene. Fresh fish can be found in all of the deeper holes further down towards the harbor and fish are still being caught off the piers and in the lake. When there’s a northeast wind, you can’t fish the piers at all because of the waves. However, when those winds subside, get out there and start casting spoons, spinners, rattlebaits, stickbaits or whatever. The fishing usually turns on! Another popular method is to use treated egg skein under a float. You can anchor or drift from a boat, too. Over in Wilson, they are still picking up some perch off the piers, as well as some nice trout. Use spinners and spoons for trout; minnows for the perch. Don’t rule out lake fishing either. If the weather cooperates – and it will be this weekend – don’t be afraid to try trolling for salmon and trout off the creek mouths or even out deep. There are plenty of fish to be caught!
Lower Niagara River
The lower Niagara River salmon action is starting to wind down a little bit but they are catching some silver fish that are fresh in the system. Casting glow in the dark spinners and Little Gem spoons under low light conditions work best. Rat-L-Traps can also produce salmon. Rich Pisa of Kenmore caught six kings from shore on Monday and four on Tuesday, so they are still getting them just fine. Even his father Richard picked up a few nice kings, fishing the Whirlpool area with treated egg skein. Boaters are still catching kings and cohos as well, with an occasional trout. It won’t be long before lake trout start showing up to spawn. Remember that the season is closed now until the end of the year.
Upper Niagara River
In the upper Niagara River, bass action has been good in the east river (east side of Grand Island) on shiners. A few musky are starting to show up, too.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Lake Ontario Report
The lake fishing is winding down for the season. Many anglers turn to the rivers and area tributaries for fishing by this time.
Oswego River Report
The water flow has been very low since last Friday when it dropped significantly. This morning it is flowing at 1920cfs. Anglers are finding salmon along with some steelhead. Floating skein, smack beads, egg sacs or throwing stickbaits are working. The area creeks are active with a number of fish.
Notice: The bridge to Leto Island is closed, and there are mandatory personal flotation device (PFD) zones on the river. For more information, visit our website at www.visitoswegocounty.com and click on the Fishing Report along the top bar on the home page.
Salmon River Report:
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
Earlier this morning the lower section was seeing small pods of 3-4 salmon slowly filling in the area but no concerted effort to move into the run. There is a larger group of salmon apparently staging in the estuary. Perhaps the lower section is finally waking up after a week-long relatively dry spell. Clients have been reporting a mix of steelhead and kings in the middle section all week. The upper section continues the weeklong trend by providing fairly good steelhead action. The uppermost section is seeing a mix of both steelhead and salmon with a “lot of action.” The water flow remains at 335cfs and 442cfs at Pineville.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
The lower end of the river is still producing a few salmon but the majority of anglers fishing in the lower end of the river are now targeting steelhead. The mid to upper end of the river is holding the most kings. Anglers who have been fishing Upper and Lower Fly Zones have reported getting into a mix of kings and cohos with single egg patterns, egg sucking leeches and woolly buggers producing the best results. The Upper Fly Zone has been producing the most coho action. The lower end of the river has been producing the best steelhead action with anglers getting into steelhead at the Longbridge/Staircase, Ballpark and Papermill.
Oneida Lake Report:
Cooler temperatures were needed to see some good fall walleye fishing and they have arrived. Casting stickbaits from shore just before and after dark is a good application at this time of year. Look for perch in about 10-15 feet of water using minnows. Surface activity may indicate smallmouth bass that are feeding on gizzard shad.
Sandy Pond report:
There is very little activity to report at this time.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
There still a little action in the lake with some browns close to shore following the salmon in the streams and bays. Your best bet is to cast off the piers…Sodus and Port Bay. Although Port Bay has a small channel the salmon really don’t care.
Streams
The run is on!!! Maxwell Creek has been hot with late salmon and brown trout. You should fish both sides of Lake Road. The north side is slow moving water and the south is fast. Like every year the best bait for the browns is egg sacs, artificial or the real eggs.
Today was a great day for salmon at Maxwell. You can also fish the smaller streams…Bear Creek in Ontario, Salmon Creek in Pultneyville and even the smaller Furnace Creek in Wolcott.
Where ever water dumps into the lake you’ll find trout and salmon.
Bays
The perch fishing in Sodus Bay has picked-up since last week. Concentrate on the drop-offs and also fish near the channel. Use small jigs tipped with spikes or go with minnows.
The crappies are hitting in Port Bay; however, many are smaller than the 9-inch limit. Crappies are suspended.
Don’t forget you need to wear a PFD the end of this month.
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 kayak anglers were out in the Widewaters catching bass. If you enjoy kayaking you can launch just about anywhere along the canal. October is the best month for extra hefty largemouth bass.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism
The cool down of last night brought frost to some areas but not the nearby shoreline of Lake Ontario.
Temperatures will be back up into the 60s and 70s for the rest of the week with no rain in sight.
There are salmon all through the “Oak”, Johnson Creek, Marsh Creek and Sandy Creek but they are spotty due to the fact that they are spread out so much.
Water conditions on all of the tributaries within Orleans County are slowing slightly and clearing, but still very fishable.
Fishing has slowed on Lake Alice, except for bass fishing on the upper reaches of the lake.
Tomorrow is the start of the Archer’s Club Catch and Release Derby and it runs through Friday October 20th this year.
The weather should be perfect, the water flow is the best in years, the food is always tremendous, the prizes are great and the size of the winning fish is up to you so enter now for a great time.