Upstate New York Fishing Report – November 1, 2018

Pictured above: Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls with a lower river lake trout.

Greater Niagara Region

Bill Hilts, Jr.

Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek continue to be good for king salmon, brown trout and steelhead according to Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott. Skein, egg sacs or egg imitations are the way to go. Maribou jigs and beads are also working. Chartreuse, orange and pink egg sacs have been working, along with nymphs, glo bugs and woolly buggers in purples, browns and blacks. Peach and orange beads have been catching fish, too. The Olcott and Wilson piers have been producing some pike and steelhead for casters using spoons and spinners. Water flow is still an issue in many of the smaller streams in the lake. When they do get water, it pulls fish in and many times those fish will be stranded in some of the deeper holes. If you notice any illegal activity, use your phone to call 844-DEC ECOS.

Lower Niagara River fishing is switching from salmon to trout, and some lake trout are starting to move in. Remember lake trout season is closed right now. Shore fishing guru Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls has been tossing jigs and No. 4 spinners to take salmon, walleye, steelhead and lake trout (all released quickly and unharmed) off the New York Power Authority Fishing Platform. If we don’t see any snow and ice, expect the platform to remain open until Dec. 1 at least. Rzucidlo has also done well in the gorge, especially along the Artpark trail. If you would prefer to target smallmouth bass, the bronzebacks have been on a fall feed and Capt. Frank Campbell of Niagara Falls reports that his hot bait was a Strike King Rage Swimmer producing fish up to almost 6 pounds. They were taken downriver and action was fast for the most part.

In the upper Niagara River (above Niagara Falls), Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island reports decent musky action as waters start to cool and fish move in to winter over. This past week he caught fish up to 49 inches long using a three-way rig and a special set-up involving live bait. Timing is perfect for the Tim Wittek Memorial Catch and Release Musky Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 4. It is hosted by the Niagara Musky Association from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. You must be a club member to participate. Cost for tourney is $25. For more info call Scott McKee at 225-3816. The club’s month meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 6 at the Eldredge Club, 17 Broad Street, Tonawanda starting at 7 p.m. Five different members will talk about different fall musky fishing points. It should be a good one. As of Nov. 1, you are now required to wear a personal flotation device if you are on or in a water craft 21 feet in length or smaller. It’s a good idea anyway.

Oswego County

Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.

Oswego River Report

With the several days of rain we have had the water flow in the river has been increasing over the last few days. This morning it is flowing at 11,900cfs. This make some areas along the river difficult to fish. We will have rain in the area again for the next day or so and we will keep an eye on the flow.

According to Capt. Andy Bliss of Chasin’ Tail Adventures:
Browns, rainbows, kings and steelhead today. Doesn’t get much better!!!

According to Oz Angling Bait and Tackle:
The king salmon run is still going strong on the Oswego River. We expect the kings to be around in good numbers for the next couple of weeks based on the amount of fresh kings that are in the river right now.

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 the Douglaston Salmon Run:
We finally had a sunny day on Tuesday. While the angler’s seemed to enjoy it, it didn’t appear that the fish liked it. A difficult day for most of our anglers. As has been the pattern in the past several days, if you happened to be in “the spot” where the fish turned on, you had an outstanding day. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason, but certain sections of the run just “light up” for a few hours and it never seems to be the same spot two days in a row. Cover water, keep the line in the water, and hope the best. Water from the reservoir has been raised to 1000cfs until midnight Wednesday which still a very manageable level. Currently the water at the Pineville gauge is 617cfs which is down from 637cfs earlier today.

According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
Over the last couple of days we got mixed reports from anglers, some groups did well, while others had a tough time getting into fish. Depending on what section of river your fishing, experience level and how much water your covering has played the biggest factor. The most productive patterns have been flesh flies, black woolly buggers, egg sucking leeches, sucker spawn, estaz eggs and glo-bugs.

Oneida Lake report:

This change in the weather pattern with much cooler temperatures has definitely increase the shore night bite for walleye. Casting stickbaits just before and after dark has been working well. Anglers have been finding a perch bite in 10-15 feet of water using minnows.

Sandy Pond report:

There has been no activity reported from the pond. There likely won’t be much until the beginning of the ice fishing season.

Wayne County Fishing Update

Chris Kenyon

Streams

Maxwell Creek is finally flowing. It has been raining everyday except today, so we finally have some water movement in our streams. There were anglers fishing the south end of the creek this afternoon.

There were some salmon hitting in Salmon Creek in Pultneyville. They were hitting eggs sacs.

It’s supposed to rain the rest of the week, which is great for the streams and not so great for the leaf-peepers.

Bays

Starting November 1st…which is Thursday…you need to be wearing a PFD while in your boat.

The perch are in Sodus and Port Bays and are hitting Power Bait shad 2 to 3 inches. Or throw out some jigs tipped with spikes. The perch are running 10 to 12 inches and are schooling near the drop-offs in both bays.

The largemouths are at the south end of Sodus near the weeds. You can also catch them near the docks on the west side of Port Bay.

There is also plenty of panfish action near the Port Bay channel. The water level in all bays is very low so be careful where you fish. Watch out for boulders and ledges near the drop-offs. And you need to be careful at the boat ramps when you back in your trailer. You do not want to have trailer wheels drop off the end of the launch ramps.

Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops at waynecountytourism.com.

Erie Canal

Anglers were fishing under the Port Gibson Bridge at Widewaters. Not sure what they were catching. It has always been a great location for crappies. The largemouths are hitting near the south shore of the canal near the heavy weeds.

Orleans County

Orleans County Tourism and Bierstine of Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge

Depending upon your perspective, the area escaped the most recent heavier precipitation. Most of the past weekend’s significant rain hit south of here and so the Oak flows should be maintained at what’s been a real nice medium flow or barely greater and mostly clear. The other area smaller tributaries with local, smaller watershed might have come up from real low to just low for now. With greenery slowly capturing less water and the ground now a bit wetter, the next significant precipitation could show some runoff for higher flows in the smaller tributaries. Showers are in the forecast Wednesday and there is the chance for a soaking rain Thursday & Friday. Any rise in flows in the smaller tributaries will likely move a bunch of staged up salmon and trout upstream for good action. Forecast temperatures thru this week look pretty agreeable with highs around 50 F.

Fishing pressure was high last weekend and now seems down and more agreeable so far thru this week. Water temps are dropping back into the high 40’s now with colder nights. Kings are definitely still present and still strong at or nearer the dam. Some are showing signs of zombie wear while green stragglers are still moving upstream. Downstream frog water or lower river or rivermouth action for Kings is probably more hit or miss now. Upstream fast water and dam action on the Oak is real good for mixed bag chances at browns, steelhead, Atlantics, cohos and Kings. Some guys remark that the Kings are real active biters. As we’re moving into November, look for more guys concentrating on trout chances and less on Kings. We’re in a bit of a transition between camps right now so I think that’s why the fishing pressure has eased some. Should be lots of good action still ahead.