Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Hopefully the spring weather has arrived with more consistent temperatures into the 50-degree range now. Be sure to mark your calendar for the Lewiston Smelt Festival – the date has changed from the first Friday in May to the first Friday in June – June 5 this year – to help with the weather situation. As far as when the smelt will be running, it’s always a crap shoot. With the removal of the ice boom and warmer temperatures, we could see an earlier run … if there is going to be one.
As far as the Lake Ontario tributaries, all streams have rainbows and browns now according to Roy Letcher of Newfane. Eggs, wax worms, and crawlers are all working. There was already a report of a couple bullhead caught in the Wilson/Olcott area. Mark your calendars for April 3-5 for the 8th Annual Niagara County Bullhead Tournament out of the Wilson Conservation Club. More details to come. Letcher also noted that boats are getting browns along the shoreline out in the lake; piers are showing a few browns, too, on plugs, spoons, and spinners. Live bait under a bobber will also work.
A mix of wind and rain continues to muddy the water up in the Niagara River and make fishing difficult from both boat and shore. More wind and rain is coming Friday. Shore anglers have been tossing spinners or drifting egg sacs or beads to take trout along the shoreline. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls caught a beautiful 12-pound brown trout along Artpark using a No. 4 spinner this week, an impressive catch for sure. Boaters have been encountering tough conditions. Running bright baits with sound or movement could be the ticket, such as MagLips or Kwikfish. Water clarity was about 2-3 feet at last report. Capt. Frank Campbell of Lewiston was hitting some lake trout on Pautzke-dyed minnows in chartreuse on Wednesday morning. He’s been averaging about 6-8 fish a trip, mostly a mixed bag of trout and the occasional walleye. Walleye, Northern pike, pickerel and tiger musky seasons close on March 15.
Some inland trout stocking is starting to take place by DEC around Western New York. Weekly updates are recorded at 358-2050 if you want to hear numbers and locations. No word on when they will be stocking Hyde Park Lake, Gill Creek or Oppenheim Park Pond yet.
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 water flow has been up and down some the last few days but is currently 13,700 CFS. Fresh chrome are making a solid push into the Oswego River right now. With the river temperature at 40 degrees, steelhead are quite willing to bite in the upper river lately. Egg sacs and beads have been producing best results as some early spawners are starting to drop eggs. Marabou jigs, pink worms, night crawlers, and Gulp minnows have caught fish recently as well. More browns and walleyes have been reported in the lower river ever since the water temperature got above 38 degrees. Don’t be deterred by the high water, quality fishing is happening on the Oswego 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:
We received some mixed reports from our guests on Tuesday. Those who joined us in the morning had a tougher go of it but the afternoon bite proved to be more productive. The majority of fish reported were chrome bright hen steelhead on their way upstream! 10 mm cream colored beads were the bait of choice although nuke eggs, glo bugs, and stone fly patterns all took bites as well. With the runoff from the Tug Hill the water flow has jumped to 2,200 CFS and 2,750 CFS at Pineville. The run was closed yesterday but expected to be open regular hours today.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
The water level is still high with the runoff from melting snow coming off the Tughill but the river is fishable. A few anglers that stopped in were heading to some of the smaller local tributaries. The fish that are being landed in the river have been a mix of fresh fish that came in with the high water, colored up fish that have been in the river and the occasional drop back.
Oneida Lake Report:
Reports are indicating many areas of the lake are unsafe at this point. Shoreline ice is receding and many large areas are honeycombed. Large holes can be found across the lake. With the recent warm temperatures, the ice fishing season is coming to a close.
Sandy Pond Report:
According to Greene Point Marina:
With the warmer temperatures, the ice fishing season on the pond has come to a close.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Steelhead are being caught in Maxwell Creek on both sides of Lake Road. They like the bright red colors, so throw out red beads, egg sacs, or small silver colored Little Cleos.
The current is excellent and there is no snowpack along the shoreline.
Some browns were being caught at the Bear Creek mouth in the town of Ontario.
A cold front is passing through the region today. The 70-degree temps will disappear. Currently it is 60 degrees in Wayne County.
Try casting from the Sodus Bay pier for steelhead and some hold-over browns. Be cautious because of current and use a long-handled net.
Next-up for anglers is close-to-shore fishing for browns in Lake Ontario
Bay Bridge Sport Shop at the south end of Sodus Bay has everything you need for stream angling.
Bays
The short ice fishing season is now over. Even with a cold blast the bays will never freeze this late in the season.
The crappies were hitting at Bay Bridge, however anglers fishing for perch at the northern end of Port Bay were having a difficult time catching anything.
Ice-out time is usually slow action. After a week or two fishing the bays will be productive. Get your boat ready.
If you need tackle and bait Bay Bridge Sport Shop and Davenports at the south end of Sodus Bay are always opened. They both have live bait if you like fishing with small minnows.
They also have plenty of fresh spikes.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops.
Erie Canal
The ice was breaking-up in Widewaters and near Port Gibson on the canal. As soon as the water warms the crappies and other panfish will be hitting along the shoreline.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Capt. John Oravec, Tight Lines Charters
Flows are hanging in at slightly high to high in the Oak but its not really all that dirty anymore. The previous couple of cold nights must have taken care of that. Water color is at least 2 ft of visibility. Typically, for as high as the Oak is, it would be more stained, but not right now. There is nice, warm, agreeable temps for fishing now and through the week with some showers or rain in the forecast today. The forecast precipitation looks like it will maintain flows high-ish, while anymore significant precipitation could raise flows back up more and stained. Flows look like something close to full bore turbine water and diminished overflow water.
Water temp is definitely warming up, already flirting with 40°F after this sunny past Sunday so look for temps to be probably moving through the 40’s this week if there’s sunny clear weather. Ice cover on Lake Alice is just about gone.
Fishing pressure is pretty lite, most guys are at the dam. Hookups include still a few browns and steelhead. Action is on and off pretty much as its been this whole past winter with some days better then others. I don’t know if there’s a big concentration of fish in downstream fast water areas, but I know there’s some and it takes fair drifting skill to get on them now in the higher flows. Plus the tendency is to fish heavier leads and tippets because of the higher water, while the clearer water calls for lighter leads and tippets. When fish drop back more from the dam looking for gravel that should lead to more hook ups too.
The other area smaller tributaries are in good drifting shape at medium to slightly high and slightly stained flows. Likewise today’s precipitation should maintain those flows or possibly raise them up stained a little bit. Anglers are quietly going about their business with hookups reported on steelhead west of the Oak and browns on the smaller waterways east of the Oak.