Pictured above: Buffy Frank with colorful brown trout from the Burt dam area.
Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Niagara River
Back-to-back storms in Western New York had an impact on some of the fishing opportunities last week and weather continues to influence where and when you can fish. As this report is being written, it is 15 degrees out with a wind chill in the single digits. It is cold! The high winds last week led to terrible conditions in the Niagara River. As of mid-week, though, shore casters were using egg sacs to take some nice steelhead in the gorge area with three feet of visibility. Other baits worthy of consideration are spinners, trout beads and even wobble baits like Kwikfish or MagLips. Boaters should be able to get out this weekend if the weather cooperates. Egg sacs, those same wobbling baits and beads will all work from a three-way rig as you drift from Devil’s Hole down to the Niagara Bar – not one big drift but a series of smaller drifts. Before the water muddied up, they were doing pretty good on brown trout around the Coast Guard drift and out on the Niagara Bar. Lake trout season is open on the Canadian side of the river. It opens in New York on Jan. 1, 2018. Musky season in the lower river and Lake Ontario closes Dec. 15 so essentially that is over for the year until the season reopens the third Saturday in June.
Lake Ontario Tributaries
A late run of Coho salmon have been surprising anglers with black marabou jigs tipped with a wax worm working well. Egg sacs or egg imitations have been working on steelhead and browns in places like 18 Mile Creek at Burt Dam, as well as some of the streams to the east. At Burt, the flow has been low and slow with stained conditions. It’s more of a waiting game, but you can do well if you put your time in. Jigs fished under a float is being more of a staple. If you want to learn more about fishing, join a local club like the Niagara River Anglers Assn. or the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Assn. It would make a great stocking stuffer, too.
The Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby has a Christmas special going on – $20 off a season’s pass. The Greater Niagara Fishing and Outdoor Expo has a weekend pass for $20 at niagarafishingexpo.com. There are also pay-to-play clinics and special schools like the LOTSA Salmon School set for Jan. 20 at the Conference and Event Center Niagara Falls. Sign up at lotsa1.org. This is also a good time to pick up a book or two like the Ultimate Guide to Kayak Fishing by Joel Spring, a local author. Other authors to consider include Rick Kustich, J. Michael Kelly, Spider Rybaak and Jim Lorentz – all fishing books that offer some great insight into fish and fishing.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Oswego River Report
The river flow has been up and down over the last few days between 2,000-5,000cfs. This morning it is flowing at 3,080cfs. There has not been much shore fishing activity with the very cold temperatures and lake effect snow. Driftboats reporting earlier in the week were finding steelhead, rainbows and the occasional brown trout but they were working for them at times. This weather pattern will be with us for a couple more days and then a little warmer earlier next week.
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:
Tuesday we had several periods of near white-out conditions but only picked up another 3-4 inches of snow. We had a few anglers fish the run and each of them reported landing a few steelhead. In each case, pink and chartreuse egg sacs were the ticket to success. A mix of bright chrome, slightly pink, greenish, and one colored up steelhead were reported. Flows will remain at 1,500cfs through midnight Friday. With the low temperatures slush may be an issue.
Oneida Lake Report:
Conditions have been a bit wintery over the last few days with some snow, wind and cold temperatures. There has not been much activity to report. Anglers will likely find some walleye casting stickbaits from shore just before and after dark. Ice fishing anglers are waiting patiently for some ice formation.
Sandy Pond report:
There is no activity to report at this time. Although we have had cold temperatures there is no safe ice formation on the pond as yet.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism
Well the crews must have finished their work on the Erie Canal because the canal has been refilled to check the repairs.
Once everything passes inspection the system should be dewatered again for the winter.
For the tributaries within Orleans County this means added water flow until possibly the end of December this year.
Right now, water levels are good to very good with 2 feet or better visibility.
Fish are spread throughout the tributary system and decent numbers of both brown trout and steelhead/rainbow trout are being reported.
On the lower stretches of the “Oak” perch fishing has been fairly consistent.
Interestingly perch caught at the Point has Gobies in them and perch caught farther up stream had items in them colored orange.
Finally, with winter starting on December 22nd, this means that the white stuff that is on the ground now is just leaves that have turned from red to orange to yellow to brown and finally to white.