Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Action has picked back up again in the lower Niagara River according to Lisa Drabczyk of Creek Road Bait and Tackle in Lewiston. Steelhead fishing was good in Devil’s Hole and along Artpark on pink egg sacs and Kwikfish. Some fish have also been caught on MagLips. There was no ice and water clarity was good, for now anyway. Best color of Kwikfish was gold. Some browns are still hitting downriver and walleye are still being caught. Emerald shiner fishing has been consistent off three-way rigs. Remember that walleye season closes in the state on March 15. From shore in the gorge, be careful of the shelf ice. Artpark only had a foot or two, but more could be found further up into the gorge toward the Whirlpool. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls was using jigs and spinners from shore to catch steelhead. Others were using egg sacs in pink, purple and chartreuse.
If you can find some open water in the tributaries, you should be able to catch some steelhead and the occasional brown trout. One area is 18 Mile Creek near Burt Dam but don’t be afraid to try some exploring in the smaller streams. Temperatures are getting close to 50 today and near 60 tomorrow and 50 on Friday so that could make a difference along the streams. Egg sacs, egg imitations and jigs fished under a float are all good approaches for this time of year.
We just received word from DEC that Oppenheim Park Pond will be stocked with 300 trout on April 11 at 10 a.m. and Hyde Park Lake and Gill Creek in Niagara Falls will be stocked on April 11 at 11 a.m. with over 2,500 trout.
The winners were announced for the Niagara County Federation of Conservation Clubs Conservation Awards for 2018. Check out the Buffalo News on March 14 for who they are. The dinner is April 6 in Lockport at Cornell Cooperative Extension starting at 5:30 p.m. Call Dave Whitt at 754-2133 for tickets or more information.
Eastern Finger Lakes / Central New York Fishing Report
Mike Crawford of upstateguideservice.com
The final days of the hardwater walleye season are here and die hard ice anglers are making the most of it in Upstate New York!
With mild daytime temperatures accompanied with nights below freezing, the ice fishing will continue. The best is still to come for panfishers!
Ice thickness is near 18 to 24 inches on most all lakes in Central New York and the North Country regions of Upstate New York.
All late season ice anglers should use caution as we encounter more thawing temperatures.
For more information on ice fishing safety please visit my blog
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Oswego River Report
According to Oz Angling Tackle:
The current water flow this afternoon is 7,100cfs. Anglers have been finding some good trout activity in the river with steelhead, browns, and a rainbow or two. Dark steelhead are stacked up by the dam and browns are consolidating in the lower river. The trout fishing should only get better from here as water temperatures rise and more chromers enter the river.
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:
A little over a dozen anglers trickled in throughout the day yesterday, taking advantage of another calm day. Reports from most of those anglers were one’s and two’s landed, with the best report today being 5 for 8. We do have some fish starting to spawn. A majority of the fish landed were colored up, but there were a few fresh chromers here and there, even a bonus brown trout. The current release from the dam is 350cfs with a reported flow of 550cfs at the Pineville gauge.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
Over the last couple of days bank anglers have been taking advantage of the low water conditions. Overall the best reports have been in the upper end of the river and the Lower Fly Zone. With the low water the fish have been holding in and around the deeper holes and larger runs. Indicator fishing with single egg patterns or dead drifting with nymphs has produced the best results. The most productive patterns have been black stoneflies, rusher nymphs, wiggles stones, woolly buggers, pink squirmy worms, sucker spawn, estaz eggs and glo-bugs. For those anglers who are bottom bouncing or float fishing blue egg sacs, pink worms and beads have produced steady results on a daily basis.
Oneida Lake Report:
Anglers were out yesterday and this morning. Afternoon temperatures today and tomorrow are expected to be close to 60 degrees. There are some reported gas holes and pressure cracks and with this temporary warm up, conditions can change quickly. The extended forecast is calling for a cool down for the weekend with temperatures falling back into the 30s.
Sandy Pond Report:
Anglers have enjoyed decent conditions on the pond. However, we have a temporary warm up with temperatures reaching near 50 degrees into tomorrow. Expect some slushy conditions and use caution near the shoreline and pressure cracks as conditions can change quickly. Temperatures in the 30s will return for the weekend.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
There are a few openings in Maxwell Creek and the Bear Creek stream is open at the launch site. Warm weather is on the way so there will be more open areas to fish.
The steelhead are hitting egg sacs dropped under torpedo bobbers. The fish being caught are bright and shiny…the normal color of late winter steelies.
Bays
Some of the ice is getting darker in color so be careful ice fishing this time of year. Port Bay had 10 inches in different place, however some of the shoreline ice is breaking-up. The warmer weather will heat the shallow water shoreline and that ice will be the first to melt.
The perch are still hitting near Third Creek. They were in 15 to 20 feet of water Again use caution. Temps will be in the high 50’s on Thursday which will melt ice. Don’t use ATV’s this time of year.
If you need bait or equipment go to B-E Fishing Tackle in Ontario or Bay Bridge Sport Shop and Davenports at the south end of Sodus.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops.
Erie Canal
A few holes were being drilled on the Widewaters section of the canal. Currently the ice is a safe eight inches, however that can change in a few days.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Bierstine of Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge
There was just enough warm weather over the weekend to bring flows up. Sort of stalemate temperatures for the beginning part of the week so far – 30-ish°F during the day and colder, below freezing at night is the forecast. So for now, flows will be in a stalemate at high-ish. Look for warmer temperatures in the forecast and flows will likely be going toward blown for the middle or end of the week. For now flows in the Oak are high with just a little bit of overflow water. Turbine flows look pretty well wide open. Water color is about 2 ft. of visibility and should get dirtier over the next day or so.
Downstream slow water has begun to open up. There are guys on the waterway today getting some drifts in mostly nearer the dam or in the downstream slow water. The other area smaller tributaries have high and dirty flows that are trying to bust out all the ice and debris and for now are mostly jamming up downstream and/or running over top of some of the upstream fast water.