Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
After the storms on Lake Erie the past week, anglers feared that the river water was going to be trashed. Instead, the water turned murky, but was still fishable – especially for shoreline casters. In the lower Niagara River, Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls braved the cold by dressing for the weather. The water clarity is cleaning up nicely and was almost ideal conditions as of Monday. Ziehm managed two steelheads on white bucktail jigs and two steelheads on his homemade No. 4 spinners in the Devil’s Hole area. Remember that the NYPA fishing facilities are all closed for the season now. He would target the areas where the current was slow. “We should start to see more trout move up the river with water temperatures now in the 40s,” said Ziehm. Water temperatures should drop another couple of degrees quickly. Alan Raymond with the Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports that there have been lots of browns in front of the Coast Guard station. Fish are being caught on baits with brighter colors like orange, yellow, and chartreuse with the low visibility of the river. By the shop, Raymond has seen everything being caught on white flukes, including lakers and steelhead. Up river along Artpark, the lake trout have been hungry. White tackle such as spoons, hair jigs and flukes on a bright colored jig head) are working, as are beads off three-way rigs.
Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston braved the elements on Monday and targeted the Niagara Bar first before the wind was too bad. It was a bit choppy with a west-northwest wind building as the day progressed. He started off by power pulling MagLips and hooked up straight away with numerous doubleheaders on brown trout and lake trout. When the waves built to over 3-foot, he switched over to live bait (golden shiners). The shiner bite was fantastic, again landing several doubles on multiple drifts. He was blown off by noon and started drifting the Coast Guard drift in the river with an egg sac/bead combo off a three-way rig, and landed several beautiful browns until the boat traffic proved to be too much for them. He ended the day at Artpark drifting a pink sac/bead combo and hooking up with some beautiful steelhead. He then switched over to pulling MagLips, and more doubleheader action ensued.
In the upper Niagara, Steve Brzuszkiewicz of Marilla managed to catch steelhead at the foot of Ferry Street off Buffalo. He was casting out a three-way rig with 3 ounces of lead, using a floating jig head tipped with an emerald shiner to catch his steelhead.
Area Lake Ontario tributaries are still seeing some very good brown trout fishing at places like 18 Mile Creek and Burt Dam according to Matt Vogt of Newfane. He’s also catching an occasional salmon, but it is definitely the final stages of that run right now. Vogt expects to see more steelhead in the coming weeks. All fall he has been drifting egg sacs with decent success. The only thing he changes up is the color of the mesh for the sacs from time to time. Flows have been fairly consistent the past couple of weeks, with the smaller streams starting to rise slightly, as well. There is very limited snow along the lakeshore.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario and Streams
The streams are flowing in Wayne County, however finding the steelhead and brown trout over the weekend was difficult.
They will change when the fish enter from the lake. You can try the small pools on the south side of Maxwell Creek or the browns on the north side where the water flow is slow. In the slower section throw out an egg sac of bright beads under a torpedo bobber.
The steelhead, which will spawn soon, will be holding in the small pools. Use fresh egg sacs.
Bays
The perch were hitting near the north end of Sodus Bay. The wind has kept most anglers off the bay.
At Port Bay use the northern barrier bar road to launch. There was a little skim of ice crust where there wasn’t any wind.
Wind and snow are the enemies for making ice on the larger bays. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some ice fishing this year.
The smaller inland ponds like Sodus Center will freeze first. The wind and some of the lake effect snow will not hurt safe ice like the bays close to the lake.
When we get ice (a hopeful type of promise) I will try and give you an accurate weekly thickness.
Erie Canal
Widewaters had a skim of ice yesterday. If we can keep freezing temps, this area of the canal will be the first hard water safe for the shanties.
It’s the perfect place to ice fish without the constant wind. The species can be crappies, bluegills, perch, and (catch and release bass).
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:
A little bit of winter has settled in after what was a good stretch of mild fall temps. Look for highs in the 30’s°F and dropping back at night. The area did just lately get a little bit of lake effect snow on a NW wind change and there is the chance for minor accumulations thru this week and an area wide snow end of week. Temps are forecast to remain seasonably cold.
The WNY south shore of Lake Ontario has no where close to the feet of snow like some other areas – use caution in interpreting Weather Channel lake effect snow prognostications for the Oak Orchard area.
Cold temps have dropped back and cleared up all the trib flows for now. There could be some icing in the smaller waterways especially on snowy days. Water temps are falling and overall fishing pressure is pretty light.
Anglers report working for their hook ups like on the Oak for a few browns and steelhead. Atlantics are still reported. Light line, small presentation, careful float guys are hooking some fish in the overflow pools. We are still looking for some more Atlantic salmon pics from the overflow channel, please forward when you encounter any Atlantics.
The other area tribs are likewise hanging on. There isn’t a hungrier or much more willing biter then a post spawn brown trout wondering why he/she left the comfort of the open Lake and all the bait out there!
Canal hydro managers tell us the Canal winter seasonal draining has begun – hastened by the colder weather. So, even though for now, flows are dropping and clearing. We expect all the area trib flows very soon to be on the rise and going off color for something like 7 – 10 days while this slug of water passes. We are unsure at what flow schedule or rate any specific trib will see at this point in time. We do not expect anything to blow out or become unfishable. A good slug of water wouldn’t be a bad thing though to encourage fresh fish migrations or move some stale fish around in the watercourses. After the Canal draining is complete we will be left with natural run of the river flows which without milder temps and precipitation could be exceptionally low.
Oswego County
Winter is here and the cold weather has slowed the steelhead bite.
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
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
• Click Here for the Current CFS at Pineville
With continued 185 CFS flows out of the dam and cold weather setting in, the steelhead have had a case of lock jaw lately. The fish are also starting to split between the shallow fast water and their typical winter holding water. When the fish spread out, it leads to more challenging fishing.
The water temperature has dropped 5 degrees in the last week. Once the conditions stabilize things should pick up!
If you’re wading, most of the pressure is from Altmar to Pineville. So as a pro tip, we recommend trying mid river – the “Town Pool” all the way to the “Sportsman Pool.”
Egg sacs have taken over as the best bait option.
Oswego River, City of Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Water levels really shut off last week, but they have settled down to 8000 to 9000 CFS. Unfortunately, the red light has been on for the last 10 days which is keeping any anglers from wading the river.
Those fishing off the high and low walls are having steady success. There have also been plenty of fish upstream of the lower house. And the jig bite has picked up in the channel, along with beads coming in a close second.
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 (315) 343.2161.
• Check the current water flow
And be sure to read the recent news release about fishing 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.