Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
In the 49th Annual Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby that ended last Sunday, some impressive fish were measured through the Fishing Chaos app. For the adults, first place catches were a 40-inch salmon by Doug Updyke; a 28-inch brown trout by Matt Vogt; a 31-3/4-inch rainbow by Roy Leising; a 21-1/2-inch smallmouth bass by Gabby Geiger; a 37-inch carp by Dan Kelsey; a 31-inch walleye by Mike Pinkham; and a 39-inch lake trout by Mike Freeman. Getting the kids out there is important, too, and the winning Odyssey youth catches this year were Emma Flaherty with a 35-1/2 inch lake trout; Logan Wilson with a 20-inch bass; Marshall Beck with a 35-1/2 inch carp; Aiden Wilson with a 9-1/4-inch rock bass; Trevor Wilson with a 27-inch sheepshead; Connor Flaherty with a 28-inch walleye; and Josh Wittkop with a 38-1/4-inch salmon.
The upper Niagara River and Lake Erie were the focus for the 2nd Annual Casting for Courage Tournament out of Anchor Marine on Grand Island. A total of 8 local charter captains took out corporate sponsors with youngsters who have been impacted by cancer. A total of 198 fish (bass and sheepshead) were caught in four hours of fishing. The biggest fish for the morning was reeled in by Sonny Oswald with a 27-inch sheepshead caught off Capt. Ryan O’Neill’s boat (Buffalo Wingz Sportfishing). Vinnie Miller and Rohan Singh on one boat and Riley Greene and Milan Singh on another tied for most fish caught as they each split 102 fish. It was the father-son charter team of Chris and Connor Cinelli of Grand Island captaining their way to victory. The real winners were the local charities supporting pediatric oncology. The kids had a blast, too.
On Lake Ontario, Capt. Mike Johannes of On the Rocks Charters out of Wilson reports the salmon fishing has been slow since east winds blew. He’s been fishing inside of 100 feet of water for browns and occasional stager kings. The best depth varies each day, so you need to vary your depth until you find the fish. He’s been having his best luck with gold and copper back spoons such as the gold UV Alewive or Carmel Dolphin. Hopefully east winds will subside, and salmon stagers will start showing up more often. The temperature is usually right on bottom, but the kings will hit up out of their normal temperature range. Sometimes 54 feet down over 100 feet of water will be over 60 degrees, but the salmon are there out of temp reports Johannes.
Capt. Paul Schirmer of Cambria reported good action on the Niagara Bar drop-off this week. One highlight was 15-year-old James D. Weed of Shelton, CT with a personal best brown trout that weighed 12.4 pounds. It is currently in 5th place in the LOC Derby. He ran the rigger all by himself and caught the big brown on the ledge in 85 feet of water. It ate a flasher-fly combo. He was fishing with his father James. Schirmer says cold water moved in and scattered most of those browns now, but there are still plenty to be had. Kings have been trickling in tight but not in huge numbers yet. We need a good wind to set things up. Flies caught most of their fish. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston also had good action on the Bar with the Kantar brothers – two from Yonkers and one from Buffalo. Fish were spread out from 65 to 250 feet of water. They caught brown trout, king and coho salmon, lake trout, and a beautiful steelhead. They took all fish on Warrior Rodfather and Dreamweaver green glow frog spoons.
Karen Evarts at the Tackle Barn and Boat Doctors in Olcott reports that the best action has been offshore in 500 to 600 feet of water, targeting fish 120 to 160 feet down. The best bait for mature kings has been flasher-fly and meat rigs. If you want brown trout, focus in the evening in 80 to 200 feet of water with green or caramel spoons. Nothing to speak of off the piers yet. Stop down to the shop this weekend for the late Bob Cinelli blowout sale. All his leftover fishing tackle will be sold off all weekend. As the Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby heads into its final weekend, Dan Blackmore of Orford, New Hampshire is still setting the pace for the $25,000 Grand Prize check with his 31-pound, 5-ounce salmon. The derby concludes on Labor Day. Other leaders include Brad Pieffer of Pennsylvania with a 13-pound, 4-ounce brown trout out of Wilson and Daniel Illig of Jamestown took over the rainbow/steelhead lead with a 13-pound 11-ounce steelhead out of Olcott. The leading walleye is from the Niagara Bar, an 11-pound, 9-ounce fish reeled in by Anthony Certo of Youngstown.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Start around 250fow and work it until 400fow. Sunday the bait was at 250fow down 90 to 120fow.
Use everything you have to get them to bite. Meat rigs, flasher flies and spoons. Some of the larger kings were out in 400fow.
A cold front is predicted on Wednesday so troll tomorrow.
The LOC Fall Derby started 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 loc.org or at weigh in stations listed on website.
Grand Prize is currently a “whooper” weighing 31.05 caught near Pulaski.
$25,000 is a lot of cash, so sign up.
Bays
Fishing the bays is still a search and catch method. The biggest bite is still the largemouth bass in Sodus and Port Bays.
Use top water, spinner baits and Senko rigs. Fish the old weed beds and around the docks in the bay.
Some perch were still in the bays. Try near both channels in Sodus and Port.
Some pike are caught near LeRoy Island.
Rock bass were scattered. Cast under docks using small bright spinnerbaits.
Erie Canal
Kayakers were fishing Widewaters over the weekend. They were catching bluegills, sunnies and some suspended crappies.
Largemouth bass are hitting along the southern section of the Erie. The bass are hitting the scales at four to six pounds.
Some catfish were caught near Palmyra. They will hit raw shrimp and dough balls.
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:
Trollers are in a search-and-find mode as we find ourselves in a bit of the summer doldrums that we somehow missed out on so far this season. Anglers are finding lots of warm water unless heading offshore to more stable depths. Gone for now is the fish and bait inviting cool inside water. Alas, though, the hot weather and flat seas are forecast to change around this mid week with chance of winds turning east and cooler temps and precipitation. The fishing may be a little tougher compared to how off-the-charts good it was earlier, but plenty of anglers are still coming in with nice catches of Kings, steelhead and browns. Signs are afoot already that the cooler water is moving back in. Big mature staging salmon shouldn’t be far behind!
Doug, Sandy and Ed from Clearfield and Mercer, PA found some action from their nicely trimmed Arima. They trolled east and west of harbor in 225 – 250 fow running their spread at 90 – 100 ft down. The bigger fish came on the downriggers, a mag raspberry super glow carbon was the best lure.
Paige and Scott took advantage of the secure transient dockage at the Orleans County Marine Park and spent some long days on the water to make it productive. Their persistence paid off with Kings, steelhead and browns. First they worked 100 fow for browns with spoons on riggers. Then they pulled stakes and headed out to 550 – 600 fow and got into some nice steelhead and Kings on flasher flies and meat rigs down 80 – 110 ft.
Capt. Lou Borrelli from Get the Net Charters says “the fishing can be a grind on the inside 80 – 100 fow off Bald Eagle. There are mature salmon there but they seem to have lockjaw. Offshore has been the most consistent with a mix of steelhead and teenage salmon anywhere from the 29N to 32N line. This past weekend we found a good pocket of fish in 270 – 300 fow off the glass house.”
Oswego County
Lake Ontario – Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The salmon have come home!
Fishing has started to pick up in the shallows! No longer do you have to run out 10-15miles. 120-180’ has been the best zone.
Kings are mixed in with browns, lakers and cohos.
Flasher fly rigs have ben the most consistent. We recommend finding where 57-63 degrees meets the bottom and start targeting your efforts there.
We have mostly found success with white pattern flashers with green/glow, and b flies and studs.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The most productive boats have been heading north of the Salmon River in the 110-150’ range. There have been lots of fish showing up there.
Flasher fly combos and j-plugs have been producing the most. Focus on chromes in the sun and white or greens in the morning and late.
Tight lines everyone!
Salmon River, Pulaski NY
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
• Click Here for the Current CFS at Pineville
Now that the water has come down it has revealed all the salmon that entered the river during the high-water event. Salmon can be found all the way to Altmar.
Obviously, this time of year you have to look for moving pinch points down river and big holding spots up top. But the fish are there!
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.