Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Fishing has been productive from Devil’s Hole to the Niagara Bar when conditions allow. Some dirty water last week has turned to a fishable green and the fish have responded. Steelhead now dominate the catches in the upriver drifts such as Devil’s Hole and Artpark. Steelheads have been responding to eggs, beads, minnows, and MagLips. It’s nice to see some decent size fish in the mix with fish in the double digits being taken. Catch and release is a good option when steelheads of that size are caught. The middle-of-the-river areas such as Stella, Pine, and Jackson drifts have been giving up some browns with the occasional steelhead or lake trout in the mix. Best baits have been similar offerings to the upriver areas.
On the Bar, browns are outnumbering the lake trout with an occasional walleye in the mix. Live bait seems to draw the most strikes but plenty of action is coming on MagLips and jigs. Capt. Arnie Jonathan of AJ’s Guide Service reports that action was good on the Niagara Bar area Monday for a mixed bag of trout. The water color was perfect and egg sacs fished off three-way rigs were the bait of the day for him. Pink was a good color.
Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports he hasn’t seen too many people out this week. A few guys were out catching steelhead closer to the Artpark drifts, and browns are still being caught near the fort. A nice sized pike was caught at the shop along Water Street. The river just started to clear up, so it’ll be a better week this week.
Up in the gorge, Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls reports that it’s been bitter cold, and the water is pretty much clear, offering 4 to 5 feet of visibility. He’s caught plenty of steelhead and rainbows on his white bucktail jigs and blue/chartreuse mix No. 4 spinners. He shares some tips for fishing in the cold weather. Ziehm says don’t use braided lines in temperatures below 28 to 32 degrees. Standard monofilament line works best for him. Use Stanley’s ice off paste or WD40 on rod guides to keep things from icing up. When respooling your reel with fresh line, try not to fill to maximum capacity because line memory is much tougher to maintain with temps at or below 28 degrees. It can cause your line to shoot off your spool, causing an unwanted mess.
The good news is that things are warming up into the mid-40’s heading out into the weekend. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls was 5 for 7 on trout his last time out using his No. 4 silver/green spinners. Lake trout and rainbows were his target.
In the Lake Ontario tributaries, fishing has been stabilizing for the past couple weeks, reports Matt Vogt of Newfane. The quick extreme cold drops of late seem to throw the bite off for a little while. The Burt Dam area has been providing for anglers, but Vogt has had his eyes on other local streams as well. Smaller creeks have started flowing decently now and trout will start pushing up those smaller tributaries. More flow also means more color, so he insists that you adjust what you drift accordingly. He’s had good luck using egg sacs and jigs depending on the water clarity.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario and Streams
I traveled the county yesterday to check out the streams. Ice junks were in Maxwell; however, they should melt a little with temps in their high 30’s today. You can cast out into the Sodus Channel close to the Coast Guard Station. The pier is too icy, however that will melt if we have a warm-up.
Bays
The temperature on Christmas Eve is now 38 degrees. We were so close to having some safe ice. It’s not anywhere near safe.
Sections of Sodus Bay had a skim of ice at the south end and the north end next to LeRoy Island. There was open water next to the Coast Guard Station, where duck hunters were launching boats.
The same situation is at Port Bay. If we could have a cold consistent week, the layer on Port Bay could have been safe. But now…nothing is safe. Don’t take any chances.
Some of the small ponds are frozen, however they only have less than an inch of ice. Sodus Center pond has a skim of ice.
Erie Canal
Widewaters is covered with a skim of ice, nevertheless it’s the same story as the bays. Warmer temperatures will melt what was a possible ice fishing situation.
Let’s make a New Year’s resolution. “We want safe ice, and we want it now.”
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. The dock is extremely high because it’s not a floater. Use caution.
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 now fixed.
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:
Merry Coho Christmas! A few Oak Orchard Christmas cohos are around, check out the nice Coho in the pic below. After a few days of actual winter cold temps and some snow, all the area tribs are low and clear and have some icing conditions. Upstream reaches on the Oak are open and some of the downstream frogwater is closing in. Smaller area waterways have more icing. Icing up should continue thru the next day or two and there is 1 – 3 inches of area wide snow forecast tonight. By mid week and end of week there is another warm up forecast and chance for eventual rain or showers by next weekend. Depending on how long the warm up lasts and/or how much future precipitation there may be will affect upcoming trib flows.
For now, there is real light fishing pressure as folks are enjoying family and holiday time and only a few have braved the temps. Look for a few more guys out on warming temps and in between the holidays.
Oswego County
Fishing in Oswego County has really heated up, despite dropping temperatures.
Request a Free Fishing Map for Salmon River!
Designed to slip into your pocket, this map covers popular public and private fishing locations, as well as boat launches. The best news: it’s completely free!
Contact the Oswego County Tourism Department:
Salmon River, Pulaski NY
The water has finally receded and there are steelhead spread throughout the river. The best spots are the slower deeper pools such as: the Schoolhouse, Wire, Trestle, Pineville, Ace, Sportsman, Papermill, 81 and Town Pools.
Egg sacs have been the most productive lately. Blue, white, pink, peach, purple and yellow have all been good. And fish are still being taken on 10 and 12mm beads. Also, as the fish head to the deeper pools don’t be afraid try a jig. Tight lines!
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
• Click Here for the Current CFS at Pineville
Oswego River, City of Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
As the water drops, fishing will pick back up on the wall. The west side shoreline, above the power plant, has also been producing big trout!
As temperatures keep dropping, the deep channel behind the hotels will produce browns and walleye. Jigs have been a steady producer, especially in white. While beads continue to take plenty of fish. As water levels drop, egg sacs will start producing better as well.
Please Consider the Following Year-Round Notice: There are mandatory personal flotation device (PFD) zones on the river. The Oswego Fire Department offers loaner life jackets at no charge through its “Loaner for Life” program. For more information contact the fire station at 35 E. Cayuga St. by calling [http://callto:+13153432161](315) 343.2161.
- Click here for the current water flow
- Read the recent news release about access on the West Riverwalk
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.