Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
The Niagara Region showed off its fishing prowess once again during the annual gathering of the top media personalities from around the country last week. Smallmouth bass up to seven pounds were fooled by anglers throwing Spro’s McStick 110+1 jerk baits into 5 to 15 feet of water. The key to enticing bigger smallmouth was a long pause or dead-sticking the bait. The same method proved effective in the Upper Niagara River also while filming for Bigwater Adventure’s with Mark Davis and his guest Frank Campbell of Lewiston. The dynamic duo managed to boat (and release) more than 60 smallmouth bass, making for a great show. In the lower Niagara River, there are still some trout hanging around while the warm water species are starting to turn on. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston hit the river with some of the same media. In Devil’s hole, smallmouth bass, and the occasional lake trout fell victim to 3-inch swimbaits with a ¼-ounce jig head. Green pumpkin and white patterns worked best for him. Most of the steelhead they caught were spawned out and headed for the lake. However, the drop backs were cooperating mostly on emerald shiners fished on a 3-way rig with 8-pound fluorocarbon line and a 1-ounce pencil sinker. Bass were cooperating in just about every drift from Devil’s Hole to the Fort Niagara wall. One day the bass wanted jigs and swimbaits; the next day crankbaits and jerk baits. They worked 8-foot to 25-foot depths until they found the depths that worked best on any given day.
Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield had a decent morning on the NYPA Fishing Platform Monday. In addition to a nice walleye, he also caught a steelhead, and several smallmouth bass. He also noted that lake sturgeon are in and breaching the surface, a cool sight to see when these large fish break the surface.
Alan Raymond of The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports smallmouth bass are in and biting on either slow plastic baitfish/craw presentations, but with the weather we have had, they are a bit more finicky. The drop shot method with a 6th sense party minnow on light line has been the very effective approach. There was a good amount of rainbow trout/steelhead near the shore upriver. They have been caught off nightcrawlers, jigs and baitfish. The lake was a tough bite for most after the flip, and we are starting to see more lake trout closer to the bar.
Scipione reports that king salmon fishing continues to be tough out in the lake. Most everyone has been struggling to get the king salmon to cooperate, but the Coho bite has been great. For Scipione, 3 to 7 colors of lead core lines have been working well. Also, reels spooled with 20-pound monofilament let out 75 feet back with a snap weight (3 to 5 ounces); then let out another 75 feet on an in-line planer board seemed to do very well for Scipione. Six-inch spin doctors in any orange color with a smaller Crinkle fly behind it were producing limit Coho catches.
Capt. Joe Oakes of Salmonboy Charters reports that king salmon fishing has been slow with random fish being taken on spoons, meat and flies. Coho fishing remains good. Place your lures in the top 40 feet of water. Cohos are everywhere from Olcott to the Niagara Bar. Bait is moving in in large numbers so good king fishing should return soon with some stable weather. Cohos have been caught from as shallow as 50 feet of water to as deep as 250 feet of water.
After 10 days of fishing, the Grand Prize in the Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby came down to one ounce. When the derby concluded on May 11th, it was Brian Klice of Cuba, NY winning a check for $15,500 with a 24-pound, 8-ounce king salmon he caught out of Wilson. He was fishing aboard the Yankee Troller with Justin Botting and Capt. Craig Hajecki. The winning fish was just one ounce better than Diane Nieves of Milton, Ohio and her 24-pound, 7-ounce king salmon she caught out of Wilson on the Niagara Bar. Second place in the salmon division was Matt Dunn of Newfane with a 23-pound, 7-ounce Niagara Bar salmon. Top lake trout was a 22-pound, 12-ounce hawg reeled in by James English of Mexico, NY. The brown trout winner was a 12-pound, 1-ounce Oswego fish reeled in by Ed Dobrowolski of Milford, New Jersey. Check out www.loc.org for a complete leaderboard.
The opening of the Erie Canal for its bicentennial year will be different than expected this year, with heavy rainfall causing a delayed start for much of the NYS Canal System. Instead of opening all at once, the NYS Canal System will open in phases, with the Erie Canal from Lock E-28A in Lyons (Wayne County) through Locks E-34/35 in Lockport (and to the Niagara River) opening on Friday, May 16. Significant rainfall has created high flows and unsafe conditions along the Eastern and Central Erie Canal, Champlain Canal, and Oswego Canal. Those sections will open once movable dams are able to be set and navigation is safe.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Straight out from Sodus and Port Bays there has been some “spotty” brown trout catches. Fish the shoreline in 20 to 30 fow using Green Alewife Michigan Stingers or bright green stickbaits.
The lake is calm and there are some muddy lines coming out of Sodus and Port Bay, however most of the close to shore trolling has been in clear water. A few kings have been caught in 100 fow down 45.
Bays
The perch catch in Port Bay has been off the points or near the channel. Use 2-inch grubs with spikes. The perch are hitting that white rubber with a chartreuse tail. If you find the schools, you’ll be catching a whole bunch of little ones before you hook the eight-to-ten-inch keeper.
The Sodus Bay perch have also been near the channel, and the anglers are catching 10 to 12 inch perch. And…the rock bass bite is starting. Rock bass on ultra-light gear will give you an exciting fight.
The pike season opened Thursday May 1st. The limit is 5 fish with an 18-inch minimum.
Use some heavy bright spoons and cast or troll near LeRoy Island or between the other islands. The good ole Eppinger Dardevle still works. Remember that spoon??
n New York, the open season (harvest) for largemouth and smallmouth bass, collectively known as black bass, runs from June 15 to November 30, with a catch-and-release season from December 1 to June 14.
Sodus Bay will be the place to be when the bass season opens.
Erie Canal
Some kayak anglers were fishing Widewaters early on Mother’s Day. The bite has been crappies, bluegills, and some pike.
If you launch at the county park at Widewaters you will be able to fish miles of water between the canal locks.
The canal officially opens on May 16th for every boater. This is still the current date after all our rainfall.
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:
Lately, the weather patterns have the Orleans County open Lake waters stuck in light and variable or moderate easterly winds. At this rate of not-so-much prevailing winds, we might even hope for something stiff if it is going to blow out of the east. Some have said we are “stuck in the cold water doldrums.” Others have said, “all the water is the same out there.” Still others have said the “Lake can’t stabilize.” This week’s weather forecast looks like rain or showers off and on with mostly light/med easterly winds. So as the weather goes, so goes the fishing for now – waiting for something to set up into a pattern here on the west end. Even the fleet that goes all the way west to the Niagara plume hasn’t yet hit reliable King action like in previous years’ spring.
Capt. Chris V. from U-Betcha Charters says, “there have been some browns, cohos and Lakers taken out of Bald Eagle.” Capt. Mike L. from Intimidator Charters says “no consistent King action, the occasional Laker, brown trout, or coho is being caught.”
Capt. Rob W. of Legacy Sportfishing out of Sandy Creek says, “very few Kings around. Most of us point to the weather as the biggest factor in that. The lake trout bite has been solid with good action in 70 – 120 fow. King gear, like spin doctors and flies, along with spoons, has been getting the Lakers. However, hammerhead cowbells are the ticket. On the days we have good colored water along the shoreline, the brown trout bite seems to be good. We have had some decent catches of cohos in the shallow water while fishing for browns, which has been a huge bonus.”
On the tasty panfish side of things, anglers are into some perch in the Oak Orchard River. Minnows or chunks of worms can be good. Inland panfish action for bluegills like on Lake Alice is also available.
For now, the weather buoys in Oswego, Sodus and Oak Orchard are held up in budget concerns. The Upstate Freshwater Institute (UFI), along with NYSDEC, is working on hopeful deployment soon proceeding from east to west. The Oak Orchard buoy is concerning due to its furthest distance from UFI headquarters in Syracuse. Orleans County Sportfishing is aware that many anglers and boaters rely on the weather and water data to make informed trip and fishing decisions. If you would like to voice your support for the Oak Orchard weather buoy (and/or others) you can send an email to uficontact@upstatefreshwater.org.
Orleans County
Orleans County Sportfishing Coordinator Ron Bierstine:
Lately, the weather patterns have the Orleans County open Lake waters stuck in light and variable or moderate easterly winds. At this rate of not-so-much prevailing winds, we might even hope for something stiff if it is going to blow out of the east. Some have said we are “stuck in the cold water doldrums.” Others have said, “all the water is the same out there.” Still others have said the “Lake can’t stabilize.” This week’s weather forecast looks like rain or showers off and on with mostly light/med easterly winds. So as the weather goes, so goes the fishing for now – waiting for something to set up into a pattern here on the west end. Even the fleet that goes all the way west to the Niagara plume hasn’t yet hit reliable King action like in previous years’ spring.
Capt. Chris V. from U-Betcha Charters says, “there have been some browns, cohos and Lakers taken out of Bald Eagle.” Capt. Mike L. from Intimidator Charters says “no consistent King action, the occasional Laker, brown trout, or coho is being caught.”
Capt. Rob W. of Legacy Sportfishing out of Sandy Creek says, “very few Kings around. Most of us point to the weather as the biggest factor in that. The lake trout bite has been solid with good action in 70 – 120 fow. King gear, like spin doctors and flies, along with spoons, has been getting the Lakers. However, hammerhead cowbells are the ticket. On the days we have good colored water along the shoreline, the brown trout bite seems to be good. We have had some decent catches of cohos in the shallow water while fishing for browns, which has been a huge bonus.”
On the tasty panfish side of things, anglers are into some perch in the Oak Orchard River. Minnows or chunks of worms can be good. Inland panfish action for bluegills like on Lake Alice is also available.
For now, the weather buoys in Oswego, Sodus and Oak Orchard are held up in budget concerns. The Upstate Freshwater Institute (UFI), along with NYSDEC, is working on hopeful deployment soon proceeding from east to west. The Oak Orchard buoy is concerning due to its furthest distance from UFI headquarters in Syracuse. Orleans County Sportfishing is aware that many anglers and boaters rely on the weather and water data to make informed trip and fishing decisions. If you would like to voice your support for the Oak Orchard weather buoy (and/or others) you can send an email to uficontact@upstatefreshwater.org.
Oswego County
Catch rates on Lake Ontario have varied greatly depending on which port you’re fishing out of, but overall fishing has been great!
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Brown trout action continues to be excellent out of Oswego, with consistent catches both east and west of the port. Anglers are seeing a healthy mix of cookie-cutter 3- to 5-pounders along with the occasional trophy fish.
Due to recent east and south winds, shoreline waters have remained cool, holding browns in the 8- to 15-foot range. Boats are also having success slightly deeper, with productive fishing reported out to 30 feet.
For those venturing farther offshore, the 60- to 120-foot range is starting to produce as well. A fair number of King salmon are showing up, with Coho, Atlantic salmon, brown trout, and lake trout all mixed in.
Productive baits for brown trout include Scorpion and standard-size Stinger spoons in a variety of colors:
- Tuxedo
- Can’t Afford It
- Pickleseed
- Gold Perch
- Circus Freak
- Lance’s Two-Face
Effective stick baits (3.5″–4.5″) include:
- Black/Silver
- Golden Bass
- Jailbreak
- Hot Steel
King salmon have been hitting well on Stingray-sized spoons. Glow patterns are producing early in the day, while more natural colors are working better once the sun is up. Top-performing colors include:
- Seasick
- Arctic Ice
- UV Tux
- Black Widow
- Black Wiggler
Lake Ontario – Mexico
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Mexico Bay has been unusually clear and challenging, with brown trout scattered and wary. The recent strong west winds on Wednesday, combined with high flows from the Oswego River, should help push stained water into the bay—something anglers have been hoping for.
If you’re targeting brown trout, focus your efforts from Pleasant Point to the High Rocks, as that area is likely to see the off-colored water first. If conditions remain too clear or slow inshore, consider heading offshore to target lake trout.