Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Charter captains have been struggling in the Devil’s Hole area for salmon. In fact, some captains have cancelled their salmon season due to sparse numbers. The shore guys are catching a few, like off the NYPA fishing platform. Glow spoons have been the ticket. A few brown trout have been caught by casters using spoons and spinners according to Lisa Drabczyk of Creek Road Bait and Tackle.
Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls caught 2 steelhead and 2 smallmouth bass casting spinners off the platform on Tuesday morning, so some fish are available. Many have opted to switch gears and chase bass in boats. Capt.
Joe Marra of Niagara Rainbow Charters took out Kurt Gregory Smutko of North Carolina and Dr. George Smutko of Lewiston on the Niagara Bar area this week around Fort Niagara and they had a banner day, catching some 50 fish in the process – and no sheepshead. Minnows were the top bait and they caught several smallmouth bass over 5 pounds. The fishing days aren’t all like that but this day was a special one.
In Lake Ontario, fishing for salmon and trout picked up off the piers at Olcott Monday morning, followed by more good fishing on Tuesday morning. When fishing the piers at night, use blues and glows for spoon colors. They are still fish jumping in the lake, too. The piers at Wilson have been producing some brown trout, northern pike and the occasional salmon. Getting them to bite has not been easy. In 18 Mile Creek, there appears to be fishable numbers of salmon. At Burt Dam, they’ve been picking up a few kings, browns and steelhead, but the main run has not started yet according to Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott. This week’s weather could be the ticket to trigger more fish movement. Heavy rain is in the forecast.
Oct. 1 kicked off the early archery season for big game in the Southern Zone. This weekend is the Youth Waterfowl Hunt. More hunting opportunities will generally mean less fish pressure. Good luck and good fishing.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Lake Ontario/Oswego River Report
Lake Ontario Report
As we move into the month of October the number of lake fishing anglers has dwindled. Salmon along with some browns and steelhead are making their way up into the area tributaries. It has been a great season but our reports for the lake are ending until Spring.
Oswego River Report
The river flow has remained fairly steady over the last few days but with some rainfall it has increased since yesterday. This morning the flow is at 3,460 cfs. After a very warm and humid day on Tuesday, the weather pattern has definitely changed. The temperatures are expected to be in the 50s for the next seven days with the exception of Sunday which may reach low 60s. Water temperatures in the river will likely drop and hopefully set us up for some good salmon action in the days ahead. Anglers have been finding salmon off the wall using skein under slip floats and deep diving thundersticks. Egg sacs, beads, soft plastic eggs, marabou jigs, and skein have all been used to catch salmon at the dam lately.
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:
After a very warm day on Tuesday, yesterday was another quiet day down on the run with sporadic activity. Anglers saw a fair amount of cohos, kings, and the occasional brown trout, with only a little reported steelhead activity. The water flow out of Pineville is 482 cfs and from the dam 350 cfs. Much cooler temperatures moved into the area yesterday with some rain which is expected to spark some action.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
The good news is that yesterday morning scattered rain showers moved through the area along with a cold front which will give us much colder conditions for the remainder of the week. We currently have fish spread out in the river from top to bottom. The lower end of the river has been getting the most fishing pressure on a daily basis but anglers have been getting into kings in the DSR, Black Hole, Staircase/Longbridge, Town Pool, Ballpark, Papermill and RT2A. In the mid to upper end of the river the fish continue to be holding in and around the deeper holes and larger runs such as Sportsman Pool, Pineville, Trestle Pool, Ellis Cove and Schoolhouse Pool. Anglers have also reported fish holding in both the Upper & Lower Fly Zone. The most productive patterns have been glo-bugs, sucker spawn, estaz eggs, hot stones, steelhead hammer, egg sucking leeches, comets, bunny leeches and woolly buggers.
Oneida Lake Report:
For bass, keep an eye out for bird activity or for fish breaking on the surface. This species can provide some exciting fishing. The stretch of warmer weather slowed the shore walleye bite but cooler temperatures have moved in so the action is likely to pick up. Casting stickbaits just before or after dark is working well. Anglers are still finding some in deeper water – around 25 feet. A variety of baits are working depending on the depth you are fishing, some popular ones have been worm harnesses, blade baits, swim baits and stickbaits.
Sandy Pond Report:
Activity is quiet on the pond which is typical for this time of year.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
You can still catch some trout and salmon in the lake. They haven’t all journeyed up the streams. Work the temperature close to shore for kings and browns. Use spoons.
They have also pulled-in some nice browns from the Sodus Bay piers. Cast out heavy spoons. The Little Cleos have always worked or use Kastmaster spoons. They have the weight and the action.
Streams
Nothing really happening in Maxwell Creek. Recent rain and colder temperatures should provide some action. Hughes’ Marina has a nice outlet to the lake, and the browns will come into the small harbor. The marina is one mile east of Pultneyville on Lake Road.
Bays
Port Bay has seen some perch action off the points. Perch come into the bays from the lake this time of year. There have been some nice 12 inchers caught. If you start catching smaller perch just move.
The minnows are not really working as well as small jigs with spikes.
The fishing for bass has been excellent this year, especially in Sodus Bay. The largemouths have been hitting worm rigs and spinner baits. Fish under the docks or concentrate near the weedlines.
The docks at Margaretta Road launch are now finished. They are 60 X 60-foot poly deck dock.
All launch sites are open in Wayne County.
If you need tackle Bay Bridge Sport Shop and Davenports at the south end of Sodus Bay are always opened. B-E Fishing in Ontario has everything you need to put you on the water.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops. waynecountytourism.com.
Erie Canal
Angling canal waters will always produce some nice fish. You can set-up near the locks along Route 31 or launch your boats at Widewaters… west of Newark. They are still catching some nice bluegills along the north shoreline of the canal near Port Gibson.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Capt. John Oravec, Tight Lines Charters
Welcome to October – well by the calendar anyway. By the weather and warm temps, it doesn’t feel much like October. The forecast is for unseasonably warm today (Tues, 10/1) and through some of tomorrow and then a cool down. Chance of rain or showers with that change in the weather tomorrow. Any cooler and wetter weather would be a good thing to cool down both near the shore of Lake Ontario waters and the tributary waters.
So far, a continued medium – slow pick on the Kings with scattered numbers of fish spread are from the Lake to the dam. Its been an apparent slow trickle of fish with no crashing or typical porpoising concentrations seen like at the Bridges or other areas. Yet we know fish are moving through the Oak since there are fair numbers at the dam. Other area smaller tributaries are reported to have some fish boiling in the estuary spots.
The Kings in the Lake that were scattered by earlier weather should be making their way back to the Oak plume so anglers should still expect Rivermouth action, especially with cooler weather. Lower river traditional staging may be late or the fish may just motor through as has kind of been the changing MO these past few years.
Flows for now are low to moderate and pretty clear, reported by hydro managers to consist of the normal Erie Canal 24/7 supplemental feed. Fishing pressure so far this week is not bad after a fairly sporty past weekend from free fishing days. Along with the Kings, there have already been some browns and rainbows and Atlantics caught. The browns are the early arriving big males and by the few Atlantics hooked already, we might expect better action yet to come later this fall.