Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
When winds keep you off Lake Ontario or Lake Erie, look to the Niagara River as a viable angling option. Capt. Joe Srouji of Angler Edge Charters reports the walleye fishing continues to be good in the lower Niagara River. Problematic moss is almost completely gone, but there are some areas in the river that have more moss than other areas. Frequently check your worm harnesses to make sure you’re grass free. Adapt the speed of your boat to be just a little bit faster than the current. Too fast and you’re going to be unable to stay on bottom; not fast enough and you’re either going to get grassed up or you’re going to get hung up on the bottom. Use gold blades on cloudy days. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston fished a 4-hour ½-day trip over the weekend with a great group. Yahia Jaber and his 13-year-old twin sons AJ and Ameer from Tinley Park, Illinois came to fish in the lower river. They started with a triple header on the very first drift in Stella Niagara. They caught two nice keeper walleyes and a smallmouth bass. Stella kept producing using Scipione’s custom-made worm harnesses until about 10 a.m. Then they switched gears to target bass in Devil’s Hole. They managed a mix of several nice smallmouth, walleye, and sheepshead on crayfish and golden shiners fished on a 3-way rig. In the upper Niagara River, Matt Wilson of Lewiston played the wind and knew it would be East River all day on Saturday. He had a stellar morning catching multiple fish in the 4-pound range and multiple over 3 pounds. There were a lot of weeds to contend with due to rain and wind, but Wilson managed by using drop shot and Ned rigs. His Huntley plant area died off when the wind kicked up, so they moved down river near the south bridge and managed close to 20 bass. On Sunday, there was a change of plans using spinnerbaits and lipless cranks. He managed fish up to 5 pounds. The best drift was in Tonawanda near Mississippi Mudds. He was using the lipless crank like a blade bait and 80% of the time the fish would eat it on the fall. He did notice a lot of muskies in the main channel near the south bridge. Wilson’s tip of the week is to play the wind using the wind finder app. It helps to know the areas you can fish hour by hour.
Capt. Matt Yablonsky of Wet Net Charters reports that we are in transition right now after the east wind last week, followed by strong west winds over the weekend. The water went from perfect to ice water all the way to the shoreline by Thursday afternoon. He fished for half a day on Saturday in big waves and only had 3 bites. He caught 2 kings, both down deep with 130-140 feet of cable out on the rigger with meat. This west wind should make our bite good again. The north shore is getting cold which pushes the fish back to our side. It should set things up nicely for the Reelin’ for a Cure ladies’ tournament on Friday, as well as the start of the LOC and Fish Odyssey derbies. Yablonsky’s best guess is that the fish will be in 120-150 feet of water. Target 46-to-56-degree water this time of year.
It’s fishing derby time in Niagara Falls USA! The Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby runs from Aug. 16 to Labor Day. The biggest salmon wins a $25,000 Grand Prize, and there is a total cash payout of over $71,000 dollars! Salmon, brown trout, rainbow/steelhead trout, and walleye are the four species categories to fish for. Every day, there is $1,100 up for grabs ($500 for salmon, $250 for each trout, and $100 for walleye) for the biggest fish in each of the divisions. To find out information on registration, weigh stations, rules and more, check out the LOC website at www.loc.org. The Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby is slated for August 16 to August 25. For 49 years, this derby has been making fishing families happy. Kids 15 and under can fish for free for seven different fish species while adults can pay $30 to fish for cash prizes. Sign up on the Fishing Chaos App on your smart phone and all fish must be measured and photographed to be eligible. For more information call 282-8992 Ext. 303.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The recent wind has pushed the bait around and finding the salmon has been tough.
Try west of Sodus Bay towards Pultneyville and work water 200 to250fow. Some temp breaks were found down 120fow.
Flasher flies and meat rigs have been catching some kings, however if you mark fish… open up the “tackle box” and throw anything at them.
The LOC Fall Derby kicks off this Friday, August 16th. The Grand Prize is $25,000 in cash, with $71,425 in guaranteed cash payout available. There is also $1100 in Daily Cash. Register online at www.loc.org or at weigh in stations listed on website.
Bays
The 4 inches of rain we received has turned the creeks into muddy water streams entering the bays. Things have calmed down so try fishing for bass near the south end of both Sodus and Port Bays.
Currently, the largemouth action has been from Sodus Bay
Cast off the points and next to the weed beds. Senko rigs still dominate the best lures.
Pike are still being caught on the east side of LeRoy Island and next to the bridge at Fowlers Marina.
Port Bay has some panfish action next to the channel. Concentrate on the east side of the channel close to the shoreline.
Erie Canal
The deluge of rain has made the canal muddy. It has calmed down a little. The Canandaigua outlet in Lyons is now dumping clearer water into the Erie.
The stirring of mud on the bottom of the canal will attract bass, walleye, catfish, and panfish, all grabbing a bite to eat. Fish from the shore or you can launch a kayak or boat at Widewaters Park.
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:
Well the stable summer weather and mostly bluebird days has changed for now. There’s been some swings in wind direction especially through last week that created some challenging trolling conditions off the Oak. The area got a good dose of east winds that was probably overdue. Maybe its better that happened now instead of later summer or early fall when we might expect more fish to be staged nearshore off the Oak. Then those east winds of last week were followed up by strong prevailing westerly winds that kept most of the fleet of charters and recs grounded for the past weekend. Boaters are getting back out there now though and the weather ahead through the week looks fishable and then chance of precipitation or storms again for the upcoming weekend.
According to Captain Mike Grager of Get Hooked Charters “last Friday the Lake almost flipped and most guys fished off shore for steelhead and younger salmon. Then a few guys tried it for a short while only on Saturday. We will get back out there the beginning of this week. The water temp at the buoy after the west winds came back was 71°F top to bottom.”
Meanwhile ever intrepid Capt. John Oravec of Tightlines Charters was using “spring surface tactics in the cold water netting chinook, brown trout and steelhead from the piers to 30 fow. At the same time Capt. Jon Forder of Mister Charters found medium salmon 45 – 60 ft down over 400 fow off Johnson Creek. He was using a mix of cut bait, flasher flies and Dreamweaver mag spoons. Several other Oak Orchard captains and OH rec boats were scoring Kings and steelhead in 300 – 400 fow. Capt John O. has been landing some early ledge staging salmon in 85 – 105 fow from the Little Flats to Devils Nose. The best has been flasher/flies off wire dipseys.”
Oswego County
Fishing in Oswego County has become challenging lately. Out of Oswego salmon have been taken daily, but some days have been tough. Out of Mexico, fishing has been a bigger challenge.
Lake Ontario – Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Salmon fishing, Oswego started out tough after the hurricane push through. Temps went from down 25 to down 150. But recently, the fish have settled and the bite has picked up. Fish are being caught from 180’ out to 700’.
Flashers pulling ATOMMIK meat rigs have been best, but spoons and flasher/fly combos are starting to take a good share of fish too.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Mexico has been tough with lots of warm water. The trout have been pushed to the bottom and spread out with no distinct temperature break and the salmon fishing is very far offshore. Additionally, the lake trout fishing is still far to the north.
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.