Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Brown trout and steelhead are dominating the fishing report this week, with walleye not far behind. Buffy Frank of Lockport caught a monster brown trout yesterday while fishing a favorite Niagara County Lake Ontario tributary. Using a black marabou jig tipped with wax worms, she hauled in a 34-inch brownie that tipped the scales at better than 15 pounds. She didn’t get an actual weight because she wanted to get it back into the water and release it as quickly as possible. She did get a quick photo though. Nice fish! Tributaries seem to be offering moderate to medium flows. Egg sacs, single eggs, egg imitations and a variety of flies are all working to take fish. Surprisingly, there hasn’t been a lot of fishing pressure the past week. We could see a little bit of rain and temperatures into the 40’s over the weekend.
In the lower Niagara River, fishing was good from both boat and shore. Brown trout, steelhead and walleye have all been caught with consistency. Boaters are using three-way rigs to entice fish to hit with MagLips, Kwikfish, beads, egg sacs and minnows. A minnow is what worked for Matt Gerhart of Spring Mills, Pa. when he was fishing with Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island. He reeled in an 11-pound walleye fishing the lower river. Some nice browns and steelies into the double-digits have also been caught by drifters. Shoreline casters in the gorge are using spinners, jigs and egg sacs to take trout and the occasional walleye, too. Even a few late salmon are hanging around. Musky season ends on Saturday, Dec. 15.
Above Niagara Falls in the upper river, Rich Pisa of Kenmore grabbed his boat and hit some favorite spots with his dad, Richard of Tonawanda. Using jigs, they managed to catch 3 lake trout up to 16 pounds, 10 walleye and some silver bass. Water conditions were near-perfect.
We’re only a month away from the Greater Niagara Fishing and Outdoor Expo, set for Jan. 18-20, 2019 at the Conference and Event Center Niagara Falls. Check the website out at www.niagarafishingexpo.com and see what all the buzz is about.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Oswego River Report
With little significant precipitation in the last few days, the river level continues to drop slowly running at 16,200cfs as of this afternoon. This is still a high level for fishing along much of the river. Behind the hotels is a suggested area for steelhead, browns and walleye. Many Lake Ontario tributaries are also producing some nice trout.
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 & Motel:
Over the last couple of days we’ve had stable weather and water conditions so anglers have been doing well throughout the river. Anglers have been getting into fresh fish that have been holding along the inside seams of the transition water. The darker colored fish have been holding in the softer water and normal winter holding water. With the current conditions the drift boats still have plenty of water to float, the bank anglers have plenty of options and fresh fish are still entering the river. Anglers who are fly fishing have had success swinging streamers with sinking leaders, dead drifting nymphs or indicator fishing with single egg patterns. The most productive patterns have been, egg sucking leeches, wiggle stones, steelhead stones, steak-n-eggs, glo bugs and sucker spawn. For those anglers who are bottom bouncing or float fishing, pink and blue egg sacs or beads have produced the best results.
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
Yesterday most anglers indicated rather energetic fish, despite cold temperatures, comparing their energy to that of an October steelhead. A majority of those anglers were able to get into good numbers of fish throughout the course of the day no matter the angling type. We have a continued theme of a great morning bite, when the sun peaks out over the water, the activity slows down. The release at the dam will be adjusted to 550 CFS this evening.
Oneida Lake Report:
There is not a lot to report from the lake. Temperatures have been up and down over the last week – at times in the 20s and up into the mid 40s. Those higher temperatures are expected over the weekend with some rain in the forecast. Safe ice formation is a ways off yet. The shore night bite is still producing a few walleye with stickbaits.
Sandy Pond Report:
There has been no activity reported from the pond. Although we have had some colder temperatures, we still need a period of steady cold temperatures for safe ice formation.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Streams fishing has been hot and cold. Maxwell is flowing and there are some browns being caught. A few steelhead are also hitting egg sacs, and that’s a good thing. Water flow is perfect, and the shoreline of Maxwell is ice free. That could change overnight, however today the temps are in the mid-30’s.
Pier fishing is difficult at the end of the Sodus Bay; however, you can still cast out next to the Coast Guard station. Use Kastmasters and Cleos. Use the Little Cleo Glows. They are great spoons to cast and they catch trout.
Bays
Starting November 1s you need to be wearing a PFD while in your boat. You need to wear it…not just have it on your boat.
The transition time continues in the bays. There is no solid ice yet, and the skim coat has made launching the boats difficult.
The perch are there and waiting. You can still launch at Sodus Bay’s north end. The current from the channel has kept open water next to the Coast Guard station’s ramp.
Erie Canal
It’s the same transition time at the south end of the county. No solid ice…just enough to make launching a boat very difficult. Let’s hope for a deep freeze.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Bierstine of Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge
All the tributary flows continue on a slow drop and clear. Flows in the Oak are about one notch less then medium or between moderate and medium and mostly clear. Still pretty good flows by post Erie Canal feed and December standards. Enough flows where fish can be in different spots, although the clearer water color will make hook ups a little tougher. The other area smaller tributaries have moderate flows and mostly clear water color.
No serious icing that we’ve heard of on any of the waterways. No major precipitation is in the near forecast although temperatures are forecast warmer in the 40’s°F thru the upcoming weekend. The little bit of snow we have and resultant melt off should maintain flows or bump them up only slightly.
Fishing pressure especially on the Oak looks like its settling into the typical winter time mode with just a few cars in the parking areas so far this mid week period. Warmer temps, nice days and post deer season may bring a few more anglers back out. Hook ups include browns, steelhead, some good looking cohos and still a few greenish Kings.