Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Fall is in the air. Oct. 1 is the opening of a long list of different hunting seasons, including the Southern Zone opening of the early archery season for deer and bear. With so many things going on, it’s the perfect time to go fishing!
The rains that fell Tuesday night into Wednesday morning were a welcome sight. Early season salmon action in the lower Niagara River finally turned on the past week. Devil’s Hole is the place to be, fishing from a boat. Drift treated egg skein from a three-way rig. Shore anglers are picking up a few fish by casting spoons and spinners or drifting egg skein under floats. That action has already improved since the rains.
Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls was three for five on salmon last night with salmon egg skein. Bass and walleye are still available downriver toward Stella Niagara and the Fort. In the upper Niagara River, some bomber bass have been caught the past week on livebait and tubes. Over in Wilson and Olcott, good salmon and trout action is still being reported out in deep water, 300 to 400 foot depths. Pierhead trolling is still working for king salmon from boat. Spoons, J-plugs and meat are all working according to Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott. Pier action had been a little sporadic but things have turned on for salmon and the occasional trout off the piers casting spoons or spinners. Yesterday there were reports of large numbers of salmon hanging off the ends of the piers in Olcott. Cast orange or firetiger cleos or gems. A few salmon and trout are being reported at Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek but the big run hasn’t really started there. We’ll see what happens as a result of the rain. It could be happening right now.
A few notes, like lake trout season closes in Lake Ontario On on September 30. There are a few youth hunts coming up like the Youth Deer Hunt Oct. 6-8, the youth waterfowl hunt Oct. 13-14 and the youth pheasant hunt Oct. 13-14. Oct. 1 is the deadline for applying for Deer Management Permits.
Eastern Finger Lakes / Central New York Fishing Report
Mike Crawford of upstateguideservice.com
A long stretch of beautiful weather comes to a close as over a 1/2 inch of rain fell across the region this week.
Water temperatures in the Finger Lakes is in the low 70’s at surface and fishing continues to be fair. September is a repeat of August and lake conditions can be slow to transition.
Water at surface in the ponds up north still hovering in the low 70’s as well. The beginning of next month is a good time to target native trout with a fly rod in the North Country lakes and ponds.
The Salmon River is peak right now for the annual fall migration of King and Coho salmon. I recently enjoyed a stunning afternoon guiding Cheyenne Salisbury to her first salmon on a fly! Well done Cheyenne!
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Lake Ontario/Oswego River Report
According to Oz Angling Bait and Tackle:
The fall run of salmon on the Oswego River continues to heat up. There have been big numbers of kings at the Varick Dam for the past week with browns, steelhead, and even a few cohos mixed in. Yesterday the river flow increased to 4,500cfs with a push of fresh fish. Anglers fishing the high wall and low wall are producing better results with skein over the past few days as well. It’s game on at the Oz, fishing is going to be on fire when the river temperature drops some more.
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 visitoswegocounty.com and click on 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:
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop:
The anglers we spoke with reported getting into a mix of kings and cohos in the DSR, Staircase/Longbridge and Ballpark. The anglers who fished the DSR reported that the best action was in the afternoon. For those anglers who are fly fishing, bunny leeches, woolly buggers, egg sucking leeches, comets and egg patterns produced the best results. For those anglers who are bottom bouncing, blue and pink egg sacs have been productive.
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
A chilly overnight brought the water temperature down to 52 degrees as of 5 AM – air temperature barely nudging 50 degrees, dead calm and partly cloudy. The River Patrol fishing report indicated little fish movement in the lower areas of the run, with activity incrementally increasing the further up the run you went and, once again, the uppermost sections continue to produce steadily with a mix of kings, cohos and steelhead.
Oneida Lake Report:
The cooler temperatures which have moved into the area will likely spark a bit more walleye activity. Look for a good night bite trolling in shallow water or fishing from shore. Anglers are continuing to find a few walleye in deeper water during the day. Look for bass along the weed beds. Worm harnesses, jigs, crankbaits and blade baits are working well.
Sandy Pond report:
The pond is typically quiet this time of year.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Lake fishing is just about over for the season…and what a year it was with great catches and healthy-looking trout and salmon. Hardly any lamprey marks.
Currently the kings are staging in less than 100 feet of water and are hitting spoons and stickbaits. Some two-year-old kings have been in 200 feet of water.
We need rain to open-up Maxwell Creek at the mouth and to produce a nice flow of water. October is the month to catch the browns which follow the kings up the streams. Egg sacs…real or artificial…are your best bets for catching browns.
Pier fishing is another option. Use heavy spoons and cast out into the Sodus channel. Just be very careful. It’s not like you are standing and casting into two feet of water like Maxwell. The outlets are deep, and the current is flowing all the time. Be cautious…you don’t want to fall in the water.
Bays
The perch are in Sodus Bay. They are being caught near the channel in 20 feet of water. If they hit like last year, we will be having another fantastic ice fishing season.
Bass season is open until November 30th, the last Friday in the month. Currently, the largemouths are all along the shoreline of Port and Sodus Bays. Use your favorite bait. The bass will hit just about anything during the autumn season.
Erie Canal
Crappie action was reported near the Port Gibson bridge. Usually, they are targeted in the spring. Largemouth bass are being caught anywhere in the canal. Just cast near the weedlines on the south shore of the canal.
The launch sites along the Erie are all open. The canal officially closes October 10th for the season, however not all section will be drained for the year. The water at Widewaters will remain at the current level.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Capt. John Oravec of Tightlines Charters
Get Ready! The coming weeks are an exciting time for big fish, kings and browns and are now available to the small boat angler fishing in close, out to 20 ft. of water, as well as the shoreline/pier and creek boat anglers. I finished my tremendous 1000+ fish season with a brace of 22 pound kings for a local couple who recently walked on Troutman 2 for a late day troll. Be sure to come rigged with j plugs, jointed rapalas and assorted diving rattle crank baits in bright glo and florescent colors. Make sure hooks are in top condition, extra sharp too, as river run salmonids grow teeth and their jaws get leather tough! There has been a lot of rough stormy weather limiting boats so the catch report right now is light. But this same weather sets up favorable conditions for anglers who frequently fish the estuary piers and rivermouth flats with stained river outflow plumes that hold river bound monsters!
Orleans County Tourism and Bierstine of Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge
So far, kind of a mixed bag of salmon catching opportunities. We have now finally strung together a few nights of cool weather helping to lower water temps some. Still no big precipitation events – next chance of rain thru tonight and tomorrow. Lakeshore winds remain mostly non prevailing between East or South. It would be interesting to see what a few days of westerly winds would do for on shore movements of fish. Anglers are catching some salmon from the Oak rivermouth to the lower river to the last of the slow water to the fast water gravel and to the dam. No big slug of fish reported in any one particular spot. Fishing pressure remains moderate and spread out thru all those spots. There are now reports of a few fish in fast water areas downstream of the dam and in the typical staging spots in the last of the slow water areas. Those fish are likely moving to those spots stealthily some at least because there is not a lot of lower river boiling around staging. So in other words, fish for now don’t seem to be hanging around the lower river area much in traditional spots like say at the Bridges. Flows in the Oak (supplemented with Erie Canal feed 24/7) remain good if not up some and certainly higher and more productive then the natural runoff so far low flows of the other area smaller tributaries.