Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
We hope everyone had a good and safe 4th of July!
One person who did was John Van Hoff of North Tonawanda who continued his onslaught of mature king salmon on Independence Day while targeting the Niagara Bar. Using primarily spin doctors and flies, as well as NBK Magnum spoons in 130 to 140 feet of water area, 55 to 90 feet down with riggers and divers. At one point he went with only a two-rod set-up because they were hitting too many triples. He was fishing with only one other guy, making it too difficult to handle. They ended up catching 17 mature kings. He did the same thing over the weekend. They had similar numbers on Saturday and Sunday. Divers were set from 165 to 220 feet back on a No. 2-1/2 setting. White and green flashers combined with green and mirage flies did the trick both Saturday and Sunday.
Over in Olcott, Jayden Hubert of Lockport hit a 22-pound, 8-ounce king salmon to place ninth in the Summer LOC Derby. The current leader is 25 pounds. For a complete leaderboard, check out loc.org.
Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott reports that fishing is very good right now off both Wilson and Olcott. Flasher-fly and meat rigs produce a mix of salmon and trout. Fish seem to be spread out from 60 to 100 feet; from 120 to 300 feet; and 300 to 400 feet according to reports. Spoons are also working on a mixed bag of salmon and trout. Greens, blues, and oranges are good colors to start with. The Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association will be holding its in-club tournaments July 14 and 15. Stop on down to the group’s next meeting on July 6 at the North Amherst Fire Company on Tonawanda Creek Road in Amherst starting at 7 p.m. It is open to the public but if you want to fish in the club contests, you must be a member. Membership is just $10. The guest speaker at the meeting will be Capt. Jonathan Ross of Tomahawk Sportfishing giving a talk on Winning Summer Tournament Tactics. Also, in Olcott Harbor, there has been a mix of pike, rock bass, and bullhead.
The Niagara River still has significant moss so bottom fishing is negatively impacted according to Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield. However, smallmouth bass, silver bass, and freshwater drum are still being caught at the NYPA Fishing Platform in the lower river, smallmouth bass are plentiful in Devil’s Hole using live bait (worms and minnows) drifted under a float, and a few smallmouth bass are being caught at the Lewiston boat ramp. He has not seen any walleyes for three or four weeks now, and he attributes that to the alewife surge extending from the Lewiston boat ramp to Artpark. The discharge from the power plants on both sides of the river probably helps to block the alewife run any further up. The large presence of natural bait could be the main factor in keeping walleyes from cooperating. In the upper river, you can still catch bass if you learn to deal with the green stuff. Matt Wilson of Lewiston reported decent action Sunday, putting close to 30 in the boat on artificials. The Ned rig took the biggest bass of the day going 5.14 pounds. The Beaver Island flat is loaded with bass, but you must deal with weeds.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The kings are in Wayne County waters. A 25 pounder is leading the LOC Summer Derby.
Try straight out from Sodus Bay in 300 fow and send down your favorite bait 80 to 90 fow. Spoons and meat rigs are working. NBK has been a favorite, however you can catch kings on other spoons.
The water fleas are bad. Some charters use 30lb. test, however it’s summertime on Lake Ontario and those gooey pesky spiny waterfleas will be on your line.
Don’t forget the LOC Summer Derby started Saturday, July 1st and continues through July 30th.
Bays
It’s the 4th of July holiday time so if you fish …do it early in the morning. Recreational boat traffic will not be your friend if you are searching for bass.
The largemouths have been hitting worm rigs at the south end of Sodus Bay. You can also target bass and pike on the east side of LeRoy Island.
Launch at the south end of Port Bay on West Port Road and work the water from Wolcott Creek. The water is high because of the recent rainfall, so you’ll be fighting debris, however the largemouth bass are there.
There are still some perch in the bays. In Sodus Bay fish the north end and use white 2-inch rubber bait.
For Port Bay concentrate near the channel using the same shad colored bait.
Erie Canal
The largemouths are being caught in the Widewaters section. They are 5 plus pounds every year.
From the shore, fish near any of the locks on the canal. When the locks open the bottom is stirred up and the fish will bite. Now that the Erie is open to recreational vessels, the locks are very busy.
The current is strong because of our rainfall. When it slows, fish for catfish near Palmyra.
Use cut shrimp or worms.
Bait for fishing is available on the south end of Sodus at Davenports and Bay Bridge Sport Shop.
On Port Bay Jarvis Bait Farm is open on Brown Road. The signs are on East Port Bay Road at the junction of Brown Road.
Toadz Bait is near the end of West Port Bay Road.
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
Orleans County Sportfishing Coordinator Ron Bierstine:
Along with BBQ, family and good ole USA fun, anglers are out on the water enjoying excellent summer trolling here “at the Oak” in Orleans County! Summer weather may be settling in for now. Just lately there’s been some rain and thunderstorms. No prolonged blows though, and boaters have been able to get out before and after the wet weather. For this mid-week period it looks like the forecast is for hot and humid but dry conditions with a chance of rain or showers coming back for the end of week or weekend. Anglers are reporting everyone’s favorite sea fleas are coming on, so look to clean those lines and rigs as needed. Check the wind forecast online and for up to date weather info check out the Oak Orchard weather buoy. What a great asset right here for Point Breeze. (These links are also on our website’s Fishing Report page.)
This week’s fishing info comes mostly from rec boats. Charter guys are no doubt getting into their busiest season and are plugging away with long days. You can reach out directly to them if you want to book a trip while some days might still open. All and all it sounds like most boats rec or pros are doing pretty good on Kings with a good steelhead mix too in that typical King water. You’d have to think that those steelhead will be moving farther off shore to more typical haunts eventually.
The happy do-it-themselves laker couple Paige and Scott are frequent visitors to the Oak for long weekends. On their most recent day when they weighed in the laker they also boated 4 Kings with 2 matures but had twice as many hits. They go with a simple spread finding it more fun and less headache and plenty productive. A copper rod down the chute and one rigger each outside with maybe a cheater line. They went with flashers and meat rigs out to 120 ft deep and fishing 50 – 70 feet down. Flasher favs are green and mirage when the sun comes up. An east/west or west/east troll worked and they did work that copper line right along the bottom at times.
• The LOC Derby is in full swing and runs from July 1st to the 30th. Follow them on Facebook. View the current leaderboard here.
Oswego County
The Pro Am Fishing Tournament is this Weekend
July 8-9, 2023
Oswego County Tourism caught up with the event organizers to ask some questions about the tournament:
Q. How can I register for the Pro-Am?
You can visit one of our local tackle shops: Fat Nancy’s, Woody’s, Sonny’s or All Seasons. There is also an online registration option, which has been posted on our Facebook page and at OswegoProAm.com. You can also call/text the event organizer, Mike Lewis (315) 345.0316.
Lake Ontario – Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The fishing out of Oswego has been great from 100-600’ of water. Kings have been feeding from 60 to 100‘ down. Some, anglers are catching them on spoons, but most are using flasher/fly combos and meat rigs.
Keep the dipsey out from 150-270’ and coppers in 300-450’ sections.
Hot spoons have been “Carbon 14,” “Green Jeans,” “UV Gator” and “Lance 2 Face.” “White Green Dot,” “UV Hammertime” and “Valium” flashers trailing grn/glow flies have been great. “Shenster,” “Illusion,” and “Green Glo” meat rigs have been good behind “Chin Music,” “2 Face” and “Antifreeze.”
Chrome patterns have been better in the sun with the whites working early in the day.
Lake Ontario – Mexico, NY
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Salmon are starting to invade the bay! 130-250’ off of 9 Mile Point is starting to produce nice catches of kings! Alternatively, boats can head north for lake trout and target 130-165’ of water.
Lure recommendations are the same as the above (Oswego) report.
Free Oswego Fishing Guide
Click Here to Order a Free Guide
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.