Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
August is knocking on the doorstep and that means fishing contests galore. At the top of the contest list last weekend was the Summer Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby that ended Sunday. Three of the four category winners and the Grand Prize catch all occurred the final weekend, making for some exciting times. Most of them were in Niagara County. In the heart of it all was the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association’s club contests. For the $11,000 Grand Prize check, Robert Vazquez of Rochester on Friday was fishing both the Curt Meddaugh LOTSA contest and the LOC. He reeled in a 27-pound, 12-ounce salmon to win the Summer LOC Derby, the special LOTSA prize of $750 for big fish caught by a member in LOC, big fish on Friday for the Curt, and he also won the 323 LOTSA contest for best three fish over both days. Ed Brown of Pennsylvania, fishing with his wife Sandy and LOTSA president Joe Yaeger on his Salmonella boat, was 3 ounces back to win the division, also fishing in LOTSA on Saturday out of Wilson to win the club tournament. Wade Winch of North Tonawanda won the brown trout division with a 14-pound, 9-ounce fish he caught on the Niagara Bar the final morning of the derby. 14-year-old Logan Noon of Burt caught the first place Steelhead out of Olcott, also during the LOTSA Curt event – a personal best 15 pounds, 9 ounces. The largest lake trout was a 23-pound, 5-ounce fish caught by Paul Evanek of Lansing.
To complete the winners of the LOTSA club contests, winner of the 3-fish Curt Meddaugh contest was the Totally Hooked team led by Brian Gregson of Gasport. He was fishing with his brother Adam and wife Jill. The secret to their success was running A-Tom-Mik meat rigs down deep. They were fishing in front of Wilson in 160 to 270 feet of water and the riggers were down 125 feet or more into the cold water. Divers were back 250 to 270 on a No. 1 setting.
Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston did well on the Niagara Bar, first for walleyes around the green can and later for salmon and trout around the red can. Scipione says walleyes are stacked up around the river mouth. Best worm rig was a gold blade/pink beaded harness around the green can. At the drop off out deep, Scipione used a spoon program with DW Rod Father and Green Alewife spoon patterns to take a mix of kings and Cohos. Biggest salmon was 23 pounds.
Matt Wilson of Lewiston was using green, copper, and bronze bladed harnesses with a 28- to 36-inch leader to the three-way swivel to take his walleyes. His biggest walleye was 9 pounds. The smallmouth bass action is doing very well right now, too. Wilson was using all plastics and his tip of the week is to try new plastic bait companies you might stumble across for something different.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The LOC Summer Derby award ceremony was held Sunday July 28, at Riley’s Bar and Grill in North Rose. The highlight was the great catches of king salmon up and down the lake. What a phenomenal year! Make sure you register for the fall contest. With catch rates this high, and big prize money waiting for you…don’t hesitate.
Current conditions in Wayne County have some kings, steelhead, and browns being netted straight out and west of Hughes’ Marina. Try 90 to 150 feet of water down 70 to 90 feet for kings. Flasher flies and meat rigs work, however, it has been a spoon bite.
Bays
Reports from Sodus Bay have largemouths being caught near the weeds, at docks and near the channel. The Senko rigs still dominate the lure choice. Spinner baits work next to weed beds. The perch are scattered, and most have already entered Lake Ontario.
Pike have been caught near LeRoy Island. You need to fish early in the morning to beat summer recreational boats, however the east side of LeRoy is quiet. Port Bay has the same routine. Often this 500-acre bay is a quieter place to fish. Bluegills are being caught with 2- inch rubber bait…chartreuse with a paddletail. Try the points of land that extend in the bay.
The Wayne County Youth Fishing Derby ended on July 28. Check out the web for more leaderboards. The awards ceremony is August 4th at the Sodus Point Firehall. Stop by…it’s a lot of fun.
Erie Canal
They are catching the largemouths in Widewaters. Fish the south side of the waterway where this is weed growth. Some catfish are being caught near the deeper pools near Palmyra. The cats love raw shrimp and nightcrawlers.
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. On 1298 Route 104 is Ontario Country Max, and 625 E Main St. is Palmyra Country Max.
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 crappies has been increased from nine inches to ten inches.
Orleans County
Orleans County Sportfishing Coordinator Ron Bierstine:
Looks and feels a bit like summer trolling conditions are finally upon us after a tremendous stretch of consistent great catches. So it seems what many anglers described as “easy catching” has now changed more into “real fishing.” That is – you have to work a little bit harder now for hook ups but the chances are still real good for some quality fish. Plenty of big Kings, plump cohos, good steelhead, nice browns and fat lakers are being taken in the Orleans County waters of Lake Ontario.
Probably the biggest change is that warmer water has finally moved in to displace the cooler and baitfish inhabited mid depth waters. Now fish and bait and anglers are more spread out in their searching patterns. No longer are trollers dropping lines before or at the weather buoy and expecting fish. Sure you might still find some cooperative Kings in 100 fow or less, but it’s just not automatic anymore. Look for hot and unsettled weather and chance of storms around this midweek and then clearing some – still hot with some humidity but less chance of passing storms thru the end of week.
The summer LOC has concluded and the big money fall LOC Aug 16 – Sep 02 is still ahead. It could be we are looking at the good chance for 30 pounders as top tier fish for that fall action. In the concluded summer LOC, the two die hard steelhead anglers John V. and Edward H. got the 3rd place steelhead weighing 13 lbs 7 ounces about 7 miles east of port in 250 fow on a dipsey rod set 170 ft back on a #2 setting. What a great looking fish!
