Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Mark and Jake Romanack with Fishing 411 TV that appears on the World Fishing Network reports that action on Lake Ontario for salmon and steelhead has been exceptional this week. The Romanack’s paid a visit to Olcott Sunday and Monday and they managed to shoot two episodes for their 2025 line up of episodes. They trolled Wolverine Tackle Magnum Silver Streak spoons on downriggers, diving planers and 10 color lead core set ups. Top colors included Michael Jackson, Green Alewife and Black Raspberry. They experienced excellent fishing north of Olcott in 100-280 feet of water. Most of the fish were mature kings, but a good number of Coho salmon and steelhead were in the mix. The best fishing was from 40-60 down. Also this week, Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston launched out of Fort Niagara and ran out a couple miles east of the red can. Fishing with his son Dylan, they did some father-son bonding as they hit salmon working 125 to 250 feet of water. It was fast and furious according to Scipione and 8 Coho salmon hit the deck before the first big king. Dylan managed to catch a personal-best salmon at 18 pounds. The best spoon on the boat by far was green UV alewife. It took 10 of the 15 fish they caught (all released to fight another day). Other noteworthy spoons included green jeans and burnt toast. Best depth was 65 feet down.
Walleye action in the lower Niagara River was good for Capt. Joe Marra of Niagara Rainbow Charters as he skippered a father-son team of Paul Ellingson of Indiana and his son Logan, who is a senior at SUNY Binghamton. Early morning action was the best as Marra used his trolling motor to spin the blades with his worm harnesses, fishing off three-way rigs in the Devil’s Hole area. After more than a dozen fish, when the bite slowed, they headed to the lake to the green buoy marker and managed a couple more ‘eyes before calling it quits. Matt Wilson of Lewiston went to the lower river on Saturday and put a beat down on numbers of 2 to 2-1/2-pound bass. Walleye anglers should have no problem catching fish on the bar, which were stacked in big numbers from 18 feet to 36 feet of water.
The Summer Lake Ontario Counties Salmon and Trout Derby continues, and the new Grand Prize leader is Ed Chaney of Hilton with a 26-pound king salmon he caught out of Rochester. The new steelhead leader is Jason Monkelbaan of Wheatfield while fishing out of Wilson with a 13-pound, 1-ounce silver bullet. Some big browns are starting to come out of Olcott. Check out the leaderboard at loc.org. The derby ends on July 28th. The eastern basin of Lake Erie and the Upper Niagara River did it again — they made the Top Ten water bodies in the country for bass fishing as named by Bassmaster magazine, the true authorities on all things bass. The area placed 7th overall. Number one was the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The Sodus Pro-Am runs this week. Sodus Point will be the hangout for the teams. Should be high scores with the salmon fishing a “boom” this year.
Today was a hot one, however quiet on the lake. Not sure what will happen with the weather tomorrow. Remnants from the hurricane are predicted to blow through.
The kings have been deep in 300 fow. Spoons seem to be catching most fish. Notable spoons are Carbon 14, Michigan Stingers NBK, Moonshine RVs, and Dreamweaver Mags. “Dirty White Boy” has been a solid lure.
Flasher flies have worked and meat rigs, however, stick with the spoons.
With this fantastic fishing make sure you sign up for the summer LOC Summer Derby. It starts this Saturday, June 29th. Maybe we will see a 40-pounder weighed.
Bays
Port Bay has bluegills off the points. It takes some time to clean them, however the taste is unbelievable.
Now that the holiday boat traffic has slowed it’s a good time to launch. The algae-blooms are starting to clutter the bays and the weed growth is thick. It could be our hot hot days creating havoc with weed growth.
The largemouth bass are hitting ever where on Sodus and Port Bays. Senko rigs, spinnerbaits, top water, and grubs have all caught bass.
The Wayne County Youth Fishing Derby started June 21st and runs until July 28. Check out the web for more information.
The awards ceremony is August 4th at the Sodus Point Firehall. Stop by…it’s a lot of fun.
Erie Canal
Widewaters continues to be where you want to fish if you are looking for those large “bucket mouths.”
Launch at the county park west of Newark on Route 31.
Launch sites for Sodus: Bay Bridge Sport Shop. Launch at the Margaretta. It’s on your right on Route 14 just past Martin’s Marina.
Launch sites for Port Bay: Barrier bar road at the north end of West Port Bay Road and the south end DEC site. The north barrier bar road is very bumpy. Take it slow.
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:
Wow! There is some pretty good trolling action in the Orleans County waters at the Oak. By most all accounts both Rec anglers and Charters are into good numbers of fish and real nice quality Kings. Check out Scott and Paige’s big King which is good enough for 17th place right now in the summer LOC. (View Leaderboard) The weather has been mostly cooperative and finally the number of anglers out on the water is reflective of the quality fishing. Even with a few more anglers out like over the previous holiday weekend there seems to be lots of hookups all around. With strong numbers of willing biters and seemingly lots of bait to hold the fish in mid depth waters the fishing may be as good as it can get! Summer warm weather is forecast ahead with always the chance for passing storms. Remnant precipitation from the hurricane Beryl is expected to hit mid week with the chance for significant precipitation. Monitor local and marine forecasts for safe operation.
Cpt. Lou Borelli says “fishing continues to be real good, fish are being caught anywhere from 80 – 300 fow. A good mix of Kings and steelhead are around. Spoons, meat, flies are all getting it done. Run your go-to lures and most likely you’re gonna get bit.”
Cpt. John Oravec has been limiting out on nice Kings and the occasional hefty Coho or steelhead. He too is excited to see all the trollers finally out after previous lackluster fishing pressure. “The fish seem to be going for flasher/fly rigs especially on the wire dipsey. A deep rigger has been real good. A stud fly behind a chartreuse and green nuclear 8 inch paddle has been my best.”
Another local veteran rec angler says “it’s a 90% spoon bite for me. Normally it’s more a flasher/fly or meat bite this time of year but the spoons keep producing. There’s a ton of bait, big pods suspended and in 50 – 70 fow the bottom is loaded. Brown trout in that zone should be getting fat. I’ve been having some of my best action out of preferred temp and in the warmer water.”
Oswego County
Fishing has been off the charts! If you’re thinking to book a last minute summer charter, don’t wait any longer.
Lake Ontario – Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The best salmon fishing has been from 110-300’. Temperatures have been moving up and down a bit We recommend finding 58* and setting rigs below that level.
Overall:
- 60-100’ of water
- 300-450 coppers
- 200-275 divers
- Meat rigs have been taking a large majority of fish. But spoons have also been working too. The few anglers who’ve targeted browns have been very happy this week too.
Lake Ontario – Lake Ontario – Oswego, Mexico, Port Ontario NY
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The brown trout bite has been really good in 70 to 90 feet of water. We recommend fishing 5 to 10 feet off the most active fish.
The salmon bite has been good also from 150 to 300 feet, off 9 Mile Point. Another option is to run north off the pond in 150 feet.
Tight lines everyone!
Free Oswego Fishing Guide
The updated Oswego County Fishing and Hunting Guide is now available online and in print. The guide features a new cover and an expanded listing of fishing guides and charters.
The 67-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.