Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Overall, in the lower Niagara River, salmon fishing has been decent in the Devil’s Hole area of the gorge for drifters and casters according to Capt. Frank Campbell of Lewiston. A few steelhead are starting to show up in the mix, too. Treated egg skein is still the best offering for salmon, fished off three-way rigs. Downriver, Mag Lips are the best lure right now, also fished off three-way rigs. Bass, walleye, and the occasional trout are showing up on the end of angler lines. Water was stained and high as of Monday with more rain on the way, so it should push more fish into the lower river system. Gorge casters with spinners, spoons and sticks are happy to see the watercolor change, moving fish like salmon and the occasional trout closer to shore. Bass and walleye are still available, too.
Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield hit the NYPA fishing platform over the weekend and went three for four landing king salmon, each bigger than the last. He was using a modified Carolina rig with pink/white twister tails. In the upper river, Capt. Connor Cinelli of Grand Island reports that smallmouth bass action has been around Strawberry Island, Motor Island, and the Grand Island shoreline. He’s switched over to big golden shiner or small suckers as bait.
Recent rains triggered runs of salmon into the rivers and streams that receive stockings. Remember, due to a new stocking strategy for salmon, there are limited tributaries that receive stocking plants. 18 Mile Creek at Olcott, the Oak Orchard River at Point Breeze, and the Genesee River at Charlotte are the featured stocking locations for salmon in the Western Basin of the lake. The Niagara River also receives stockings, but it is not a featured location like the other sites.
According to Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott, recent cold rains triggered good runs of fish up to Burt Dam and in the harbor. Only a few fish have been caught off the piers according to recent reports, primarily due to wind issues. Lake action for king salmon has been good when you can get out there, trolling off the piers and into the harbor with large stickbaits and plugs. Egg skein has been the ticket at Burt Dam, fished under a float. Matt Vogt of Newfane reports that he’s been working for salmon and trout drifting eggs. Good numbers of fish – both salmon and brown trout – are being reported right now, all the way up to the dam at Burt. You may even see a steelhead or two.
Navigation in the Erie Canal will be closing down on Oct. 11. There will still be water in the canal to operate between lift bridges and locks, but any movement beyond those areas will cease for 2023.
Remember that lake trout season is now closed in Lake Ontario and the lower Niagara River as they get ready to spawn. The season is closed for two months, reopening on Dec. 1. If you do catch a lake trout, release it quickly and safely back into the water.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The lake turned-over last week which brought 40 plus degrees close to shore. That messed-up any ‘close to shore’ browns. Then we had two days of windy conditions which made it impossible to get a small craft out into Lake Ontario.
Streams
The rain we experienced did nothing to help the flow of streams in our region. The heavy precipitation occurred to the east.
Currently, Maxwell Creek has a trickle of water entering the lake. We need some serious rainfall for stream fishing.
The temps in the lake have returned to a modest 60 plus degrees, which gives some pier anglers a chance to catch kings, browns, or steelhead.
Cast out your heavy spoons at the Sodus and Port Bay channels.
Bays
The perch are hitting in Sodus Bay; however, they are the smaller variety. It’s always positive when we see plenty of yearly class fish, however the bigger ones make the best meals.
Port Bay has crappies, perch and some lunker bass. They have been caught on the east side of the bay. The weekend wind stopped anglers from fishing the bay.
The perch and crappies were going after anything white. Use two-inch rubber with a good working tail. Put four spikes on this rig and crimp a split shot 12 inches below.
Erie Canal
We are very fortunate to have calm water on the canal when Lake Ontario and the bays make it impossible to launch.
The largemouth bass are hitting on the south side of Widewaters. Use Senko rigs or spinnerbaits.
Crappies are under the Port Gibson bridge and can be caught from shore. Crappies are usually suspended, and you need to use small bright jigs. Remember, the new regulations require a minimum 10-inch fish.
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:
Thru the past weekend, there was some area rain that made a minimal bump up in the area smaller tribs. For now, most of the lake effect rain is SW of the area as is often the case with the lake effect snow. Chance that it may bring just some showers here to the Niagara Frontier today and then clearing for the mid week. Next chance of meaningful precipitation is end of the week and beginning of the upcoming weekend with a forecasted area wide rain. Cool temps continue with a slight bump up for end of week. By fall fish migrations standards, the weather is pretty agreeable (cool and gloomy) for upstream migrations of more earnest Kings. Sure, more rain for a bigger rise in flows and to move out summer weeds and debris would be welcome especially for the smaller tribs. We’ll see if that comes with this weekend’s forecast. Expect daily water level fluctuations in the Oak thanks to hydropower operations, especially on windy days thanks to leaf fall.
There are good to strong numbers of Kings in the Oak from the dam to the downstream frog water. You can see the attractive med Canal contributing flow drawing in green salmon up the Oak like in the pic above from Mark D of PA. Lower river and rivermouth action may have slowed some with anglers reporting less obvious fish movement lately. Look for the latest Kings to move from Lake Ontario and thru the lower river spots without lingering. Browns are mixed in with the salmon hookups in the Oak and a few steelhead and Atlantics too. Once lighter drift guys start targeting those fish there’ll likely be more hookups especially later thru October and into Nov/Dec.
Mostly green, darker green or fresher salmon are in the mix and some fish now setting up in a spawning mode thanks to cooling trib waters. Despite the other area smaller waterways, lower flows salmon are losing their patience and in some cases steaming up anyway. They are spreading out some thru the fair flows in Sandy and even pods of Kings and browns are being seen moving up on Johnson. Reports of Kings and browns at 18 Mile in Olcott too and the last precipitation may have made a bump up in Genesee flows to maybe make a little easier for what was some good action in fairly technical low water drifts and plug action. Normal holiday weekend uptick in the fishing pressure like at the dam most recently, and some of those anglers hanging in at the Oak so far for this week.
Oswego County
Salmon River, Pulaski NY
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Fishing has been consistent this week. There have been plenty of fish on the spawning grounds and those not ready to spawn are holding up in the bigger holes. The feeder streams like Orwell and Trout Brook now have salmon spread throughout.
Don’t disturb the hens. If you pick off the males, more will fill in; if you take the hen, the whole nest will be left. Fish are now spread out from top to bottom of the river. Altmar to 2A has been the most productive. Other good spots are deep shaded pools like the Glass, Sportsman and Snagging Pool.
The best baits this time of year are flies in egg patterns or comets. Rubber egg imitations and foam eggs are always productive. But don’t overlook a 12-18mm bead. You might be surprised by a coho or steelhead!
Oswego River, Oswego NY
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Water levels have increased with the heavy rains. We’ve seen flows from 2k-7k this past week; so take care when wading. Anglers on the high wall have been having success on skein and big beads under slip floats. On the low wall, we recommend deep diving cranks.
There has been a large pod of fish on the flats. Anglers have been having success fly fishing and floating skein. But with the big increase in flow, many fish have migrated back to the dam.
Atomic flies, behind 8 and 11-inch attractors have been doing the most damage for when boats get under the “15-feet J-plug rule.”
Free Oswego 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.