Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Misty Wells, TV show host with “Let’s Take it Outside” on the Discovery Channel, is now a fan of the area’s fishing. She came in for an episode filming late last week and she hit the weather – and fishing – just right. The result was one of her best shows ever, catching five different species that were all new for her including steelhead, brown trout, lake trout, smallmouth bass, and walleye. The action was good from Devil’s Hole to the Niagara Bar with Mag Lips and minnows fished off three-way rigs. The show will air the first quarter of 2024.
Capt. Joe Srouji of Angler Edge Charters reports that he caught brown trout last week downriver off Youngstown. Lake trout are moving into the river in larger numbers right now and remember that lake trout season is closed until Dec. 1. There are some steelheads around. The river temperature earlier this week was 58 degrees, so it is starting to come back down again after the brief warm-up. Water clarity was 4 to 5 feet of visibility. There are some yellow perch being caught off Lewiston Landing.
Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls reports he’s been in the Gorge a few times this past week with Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls and they have both been doing well on everything but brown trout. King salmon have been at the top of the list, with a few Cohos mixed in. It appears that a good run of browns came in with the full moon. All fish were caught on No. 4 or No. 5 spinners that they make themselves. Water visibility stayed clear through the recent windstorm. If you are fishing at Artpark, the parking lot there is under construction until next December.
On the NYPA fishing platform, Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield says he is continuing to catch salmon using beads. They have been doing well on steelhead, too. The platform traditionally closes on Dec. 1, but it may be shut down if the weather is bad enough. The informational update phone number for the platform is 286-6662.
Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island reports he has been consistent on musky so far in the upper Niagara River. There seems to be a good number of toothy fish around so far this fall. Bass fishing is still good, too. Outside Donnelly’s Wall is holding some nice big bass. The river is good for bass, too, and the best way to catch them is to use big shiners.
Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors Tackle Barn in Olcott reports pier and dam fishing for browns has been good this week. Salmon is on and off as the run slowly starts to wind down, with some steelhead being reported at Fisherman’s Park. Marabou jigs in white, purple, and army green for browns; salmon are mostly egg sacs, and beads.
If you operate a boat less than 21 feet long, you must now wear a life vest as of Nov. 1st and that law will continue through May 1st. Remember that the daily limit on brown trout is one per person. If you catch an Atlantic salmon or steelhead, the daily limit is one for each of those species, too, and the minimum size is 25 inches in the Lake Ontario tributaries.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Maxwell is still not flowing. For stream anglers try Salmon Creek in Pultneyville. It’s located at the junction of Route 21 and Lake Road. Access is limited however you can cast out from the south shoreline.
Salmon Creek, like Bear Creek, flow directly into the lake without smaller outlets like Maxwell.
Use fresh egg sacs to catch brown trout. A few steelhead have also been caught casting out bright red spoons.
You can also pier fish Sodus and Port Bay’s channels. Be careful of slippery conditions on the piers.
There just happened to be an inch of snow that fell this morning making the piers not the best place to cast today.
Bays
Sodus Bay has been the place to catch bass. Use spinner baits, worm rigs, and top water stickbaits. Fish around the docks and near any old weed growth.
Bass season closes November 30th; however, you can catch and release with artificial bait December 1st. through June 14th.
There have been some good catches of perch at Port Bay. Concentrate on the east side or off the points in the bay.
Use a 2-inch white rubber. The perch have been feeding on shad.
DEC has launch sites at the northern barrier bar and the south end at West Port Bay Road. Use the south end. It has a newly constructed long ramp.
Erie Canal
Widewaters was calm over the weekend, unlike the wind-blown waves of Wayne County bays.
Fish for bass on the south side. Some crappies were caught near the Port Gibson Bridge. Crappies are usually suspended. Use small bright jigs 12 to 14 inches up from the bottom.
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:
Hope you all had a happy Halloween – never mind all the candy, time to catch some big browns, Kings, Atlantics and steelhead! Brown trout action on the Oak is coming on in somewhat normal timing now for the end of October and beginning part of November. Kings are hanging in too with plenty of action for those heavyweights if you wanted. Otherwise a nice mixed bag scenario of hook-ups on some steelhead, cohos and Atlantics too. Check out above the cool kype on the 31 inch Atlantic from the Oak that Mike D caught and released. He and other guys are getting multiple hook-ups on Atlantics.
Some rain over the past couple days amounted to about 3/4 inch. Good for maintenance flows all around and it looks like Canal feed for now may be throttled back a tad in the waterways. Look for flows in the Oak at about medium while Johnson and Sandy are about moderate. There’s a little stain to the water but for the most part flows are clear. Weather is cool and fall like with temps dropping back at night. Chance of some lake effect rain or snow that is forecast mostly south of the area thru the mid week. Slight warmup for end of week and weekend.
Fishing pressure looks to be in a bit of a lull between serious salmon guys and serious brown trout guys. Look for a perk up in the fishing pressure for the begin part of November. Salmon may be past peak but there’s still a good number of fresher fish to target and there are always late-to-the-party migrations. In the Oak yesterday, there was tougher action reported, yet most everyone will remark there are plenty of browns spotted. Pods of fish moving up the smaller area waterways too and when those migrating fish are encountered guys are having real nice action.
Oswego County
Salmon River, Pulaski NY
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
• Click Here for the Current CFS at Pineville
It’s been a solid two weeks of steelhead entering the river. Fish are spread throughout the entire river. And the lower river continues to see daily pushes of fresh fish.
With all of the salmon nests, the best baits this time of year are anything that imitates a single salmon egg. Beads, glo bugs and soft eggs. Natural colors are typically your best choice with Cheese, Glo Roe, Ontari-Roe and Tangerine all being great choices.
Egg sacs in blue, purple and white also work well. But don’t be afraid to switch things up with a chartreuse bead or egg sac.
Oswego River, Oswego NY
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
• Click Here for the Current CFS
Fishing on the Oswego has been good for those willing to wade around and find fast water. With the lower water conditions, the search has been a chore. The wall anglers have seen limited success, with most fish taken at low light times of the day.
As of the writing of this it looks like the draining of the Finger Lakes has begun so we will be seeing an increase in flows. So, things should be changing. Hopefully this will draw a few more fish into the system.
- Egg sacs in pink, chart and peach have been best.
- Beads in brighter colors like Exit Music, UV Tangerine and Atomic Yellow have all been great.
- And remember, when you start to see the birds feeding, get the white jigs out.
Note: Click here to see a map of the areas that are closed due to construction.
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.