Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
On the local fishing scene, the East Pier in Olcott is now fully open for casters seeking out salmon and trout. The fish have also started to arrive at Burt Dam in better numbers according to reports by Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott as water flows increase. King salmon and Coho salmon are being caught at the dam area and fish are also being taken between the dam and the lake. Pier action is a bit slow, but some are still being caught casting spoons, spinners, stickbaits and drifting egg skein under a float. Chris Trzaska of Buffalo hit a king salmon off the Wilson pier casting a Chuck Booker green metallic No. 4 spinner this past week. There have been no reports out in the lake.
Lower River action continues to be good for salmon, trout, bass, and walleye. Mike Baio, Jr. of Youngstown caught a personal best walleye this week when he reeled in a 13-pounder on a homemade worm harness near the Fort. He was simply drifting his harness with gold blades and red and gold beads in the current in 30 feet of water on a three-way rig. The fish was 32 inches long. Boaters are still picking up salmon in Devil’s Hole and some trout are starting to hit along Artpark reports Lisa Drabczyk with Creek Road Bait and Tackle. If you happen to catch a lake trout, remember that the season is closed until Dec. 1. Kwikfish, MagLips, beads, egg sacs and minnows should catch you trout. Salmon prefers treated egg skein. All are fished off three-way rigs. Some perch are still being caught around Lewiston, but that is starting to slow down.
From shore, casters are doing very well right now. Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls says that he is getting a nice mix of walleye, brown trout, and plenty of salmon. He will also catch an occasional lake trout mixed in while he is targeting those other species. Some of the salmon are silver, so they are still fresh entering the system. Thanks to recent wind and rain, Ziehm reports that visibility is around 3 feet as of Monday. He has been catching everything on mixed color combinations of chartreuse and silver with reds using a No. 4 and No. 5 spinner with 12-pound test line. On the NYPA fishing platform, Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield says that salmon were being caught left and right earlier this week. Baits used were chartreuse crazy eggs, natural egg sacs, and twister tails. Some drift fishermen were using peach colored trout beads to take trout and salmon.
Capt. Connor Cinelli of Grand Island reports bass fishing has been good in the upper river above Niagara Falls. He has been picking up some big bass on shiners, paddle tails and drop shots next to Strawberry Island and in the east river. In the October Slamfest hosted by WNY Bassmasters to benefit the UB Fishing Team last Sunday, the lunker bass for the day was a 6.32-pound largemouth caught by Joe Ferraro when Lake Erie forced teams off the lake due to high winds before the contest was over. The winning team of Bowers, Schwab and Costello topped the field with a five fish bag of 23.98 pounds under some very difficult conditions.
Oswego County
- Salmon, season is starting to wind down on the Salmon River.
- We have been seeing a trickle of trout lately. Hopefully the big push of trout is right around the corner.
- Oswego has dropped leading to some great fishing opportunities over the past week.
- Order a free fishing guide
Oswego River
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Fishing on the Oswego has been great this week. The flows are at a low level, allowing anglers to access all of the river.
Many anglers have been having great success from the lock to the dam. Anglers swinging flies in the flats have been having incredible success. Those heading back from the dam have reported seeing plenty of fish. But the wall anglers, have struggled this week.
Popular baits are the same as used on the Salmon River when fishing the shallow waters. But when casting from the wall the best baits include deep-diving Thundersticks and bandits in bright colors.
Fishing skein under slip float has also been producing fish. Red, pink, and orange have all been working. 12-16mm beads in various shades of red have kept floats dropping.
Salmon River
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Fish have been entering the river at a slower pace than normal for this time of year. If you are still looking to capture some salmon concentrate on the upper river, that’s where the highest concentrations are right now.
The water is starting to cool down and fish have been all over the spawning areas. Therefore, concentrate on the gravel.
The best baits have been egg imitations in a variety of colors. Red, orange, chart and blue. Jensen eggs, Fire Balls and soft beads. Popular flies include: glo bugs, comets and Eztaz. Cheese, orange, magenta and chartreuse all being popular.
Free Fishing Guide
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The 68-page guide includes a detailed overview of fishing opportunities on eastern Lake Ontario, Oneida Lake, the Oswego and Salmon rivers and a variety of other tributaries, as well as the more than 40,000 acres of public lands available for hunting.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Most of the streams don’t have enough flow for trout and salmon. Maxwell is still a trickle. Salmon Creek in Pultneyville has fish. There is limited access across from the post office.
Another location for browns is Hughes’ Marina. The small ponds connect to the lake because of the small outlet and the browns and some late season salmon will enter.
Pier fishing has been working at the Sodus Bay channel and the outlet to Port Bay. Cast out your favorite spoon. Cleos, Kastmasters and Eppinger dardevles are a few good solid casting spoons.
Be careful fishing from piers. Wear a pfd and bring a long handled net.
Lake Ontario tributary regulations:
Three fish in combination and not to include more than one Rainbow Trout (or Steelhead) and One Brown Trout.
Bays
Late October is one of the best times to fish the bays for perch. Currently they have been at the north end of Sodus Bay in 20 fow.
The Port Bay perch have been on the east side of the bay in 15 fow. Look for drop-offs and rocky bottoms.
Use small 2- inch white rubber bait and tip your presentation with a few spikes.
Erie Canal
The Widewaters section is still the place to launch and fish. Currently the bass have been hitting along the south side of the canal. You can also fish sections along Route 31 where there are numerous pull-offs to cast from the shore.
More Info: canals.ny.gov/boating/hours.html
• Keep informed from the NYS Canal web for changes and restrictions with canal waters.
• Keep informed about 2022 canal hours.
• There are no tolls or fees for recreational use of the Canal system this year.
Notable Freshwater Fishing Regulation Changes
The following list offers a summary of the most notable fishing regulation changes resulting from the adopted rulemakings described above.
- New statewide regulation for rainbow trout, brown trout, and splake in lakes and ponds. The season will now be open year-round, with a five-fish daily limit, any size, with a “no more than two longer than 12 inches” harvest rule.
- Statewide Atlantic salmon regulations will now allow for a year-round open season.
- Ice fishing is permitted on all waters in New York unless specifically prohibited with the exception of Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Warren, and Washington counties where previous rules remain.
- New specific dates replaced floating dates for statewide season openers to include:
- May 1 – Walleye, Northern Pike, Pickerel, and Tiger Muskellunge.
- June 1 – Muskellunge. (Note that in 2022, DEC will allow for the fishing of muskellunge beginning the last Saturday in May to accommodate previously planned fishing trips);and
- June 15 – Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass.
- A five-fish daily walleye limit in Oneida Lake.
- A new regulation to limit the growth of the walleye population in Skaneateles Lake. No daily possession limit; 12-inch minimum size limit, open year-round.
- The statewide sunfish daily harvest limit has been reduced from 50 to 25 fish: and
- The statewide minimum size limit for crappie has been increased from nine inches to ten inches.
Orleans County
Ron Bierstine from Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge brings us this Stream Fishing report:
The NYS fish licensing system is back up! Available at Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge and Narby’s.
Mixed bag action on the Oak, mostly salmon action on the other area smaller tribs. Most anglers report good fishing. Cool if not coldish temps forecast thru this week with rain showers. The rain is Lake Effect so as is often the case with snow most of it goes south of the area. Not enough precipitation here yet to cause any great change in Oak or trib flows. But the gloom and the cool definitely conducive for fish migrations, guys remarking that fish were migrating yesterday.
So conditions real nice, especially considering how dry summer was and how some of this fall has been so far. Fishable flows we have now in Johnson, Oak and Sandy largely a result of bolstered Erie Canal flows. Flows in Johnson Creek for sure up and even stained from a pretty good shot of water. Check the Canal schedule for duration. There were bottled up Kings at the mouth of Johnson Creek that now should be spread up thru the waterway. That good “run” of Kings in the Oak from end of last week has spread out nearest the dam, but guys are finding pods of spawning fish in the downstream fast water reaches. Given somewhat of the late start to the salmon action, I’d have to say that we might only be amidships in the “run.” Look for Kings arriving into start of November. More then not, fish are still in good green shape.
Past weekend action a little slower perhaps a result of increased fishing pressure. On the Oak guys are into more then a few cohos too. Browns and Atlantics and steelhead in the mix. A few good browns reported to be hooked up yesterday on the Oak. Look for plenty of brown trout action ahead, most guys targeting browns look toward end of Oct, thru Nov and begin part of Dec. You gotta get thru at least some Kings before that brown trout action heats up then followed by steelhead! Its fall and its leaf fall time so expect maybe daily water level fluctuations on the Oak thanks to hydro power operation. Flows in the Oak down just a touch, maybe some of that love from Canal water being shared with Johnson Creek is responsible for that.