Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
A few trout are still holding in the faster drifts like Devil’s Hole and Artpark and they are biting on minnows fished off three-way rigs. The regular black bass season opened last Sunday, and bass are still responding to anglers targeting shallower water with a variety of baits. However, it was just a matter of time until the dreaded moss made its lower Niagara River appearance. Although it hasn’t appeared in full force yet, it has created some presentation issues. Bottom-hugging baits like Ned rigs and swimbaits are now more susceptible to moss. A better choice right now is drop-shotting, which holds the bait off the bottom. Bass fishing has been good on the lower river reports Capt. Joe Srouji with Angler Edge Outdoors. Throwing natural colored swim baits in shallow water has been producing good quality bass. Srouji agrees that the moss is starting to show up. It’s not a big problem yet, but it will get much worse in the next week or so. Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown said bass action was great this past weekend. Smaller bait imitations did well, and for the start of the regular season on Sunday, smaller minnows were being demolished. Some walleyes are being caught but not a huge presence of them yet. Raymond had some reports of lake trout up the river in the faster more oxygenated water. Jigging using soft plastics was one method that was working for anglers. Bruce Kowalski of TAAR Outdoors reported that the bank action has been decent with guys picking up a mixed bag of bass, walleye, silver bass, and even a stray trout still in the river. In the upper river, Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls continues to do well on tube jigs for rainbow trout and smallmouth bass. He had a surprise brown trout show up this past week, too. The water was very clear.
Out in Lake Ontario, action appears to be affected by the June transition timeframe. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston tried fishing out of Wilson and he targeted 140 to 225 feet of water. Coho salmon action is continuing. Those feisty salmon were cooperating on 5 and 7 colors of lead core line using 6-inch orange mini spin doctors with green peanut flies. King salmon were hitting meat rigs 115 to 125 deep on riggers and 325 to 350 clicks out on wire divers. Salmon Candy 8-inch UV super frog flashers and spin doctor bullfrogs with A-Tom-Mik meat rigs in green glow and lance 2 face. Scipione also managed kings on a DW mag green jeans spoon and Cohos on a slider/cheater using 3.75-inch Northeast Troller spoons in orange crushed ice and Coho killer. Salmon have been at unpredictable depths so trying different options is helpful.
The popular Hooks for Harry Memorial Kids Fishing Derby, in memory of Harrison Hazlett of Olcott, will be held June 21 in Olcott from 8 a.m. to noon. The measuring station will be at the Town of Newfane Marina. Next weekend, there is a Free Fishing Weekend throughout the state both Saturday and Sunday. No one needs a fishing license to fish in the Empire State, but you must abide by the fishing regulations where you are fishing. The Summer Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby will be starting on Saturday, June 28 so make sure you register at area tackle shops or online at loc.org. Grand Prize is $15,000 for the largest salmon.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Salmon fishing in Wayne County waters has been a struggle. It could be the northeast winds or tons of bait being marked; however, the kings are not making it easy.
Try the east side of the county… straight out from Blind Sodus Bay.
Use UV spoons and cut bait in 120 fow. If that is not working, target lake trout on the bottom with cowbell rigs or flashers with Spin-N-Glo at the terminal end.
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Bays
The opener for bass fishing was Sunday June 15th and the Lake Ontario waters near Sodus Bay were the hot spots to catch smallies.
The Sodus Bay Bass Club held its annual derby on opening day and the smallmouths dominated. The bass were caught out in the lake near the Sodus Pier heads, Maxwell Creek area and near Chimney Bluffs. Use grubs, tube jigs or worms for smallies.
Largemouths were caught in Sodus Bay, fishing near weed beds and under docks. Spinner baits worked the best. Also, the Senko rigs were productive near shallow waters.
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
The Widewaters launch site was very busy opening day for bass. Fish the south shore of the canal where the weeds are cover for the bass.
The canal waters also offer some of the best panfish action in the county.
Conditions permitting, all portions of the New York State Canal system are now open. This is the 201st consecutive year of travel along New York’s Canals and the 200th anniversary of the original Erie Canal’s completion on October 26, 1825.
There are no tolls or fees for recreational use of the Canal system this year.
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:
The King action is off and on here at the Oak and Orleans County waters. There have been some encouraging signs for consistent action coming on with decent days here and there, and then more east winds and cool temps return! The Lake then shows us how much cold water is moving around out there! We are on the backside once again of 4 days of light–med east winds with most guys in a search mode to find the Kings. There are sonar marks that most guys believe aren’t all Lakers (and lots of bait with still stressed/dying bait from those aforementioned cold waters). All that bait for salmon that are not that active because of the cold water might be making for tough competition for trollers’ spoons, flies or bait.
Charters are grinding it out with a few Kings, some cohos, Lakers for those that want to target them, and some Atlantic salmon. The forecast ahead looks consistently warmer with prevailing winds again, so we’ll look forward to the Lake setting up on a more traditional late spring and early summer temp pattern.
Capt. CJO says that well-fed up fish are coughing up alewives. “Fishing is tough, but Lakers are hitting 105 ft down and Atlantics 15 – 20 ft down. It looks like warmer water is trying to coast in – I expect more stable conditions and salmon returning after these 4 – 5 days of east winds. We also trolled 30 – 45 fow to the glass house and saw the normal amount of bait balls.” Shallow trolling has been largely untouched by the small boat civilian crowd, so who knows how many browns or cohos or Atlantics may have set up shop there while the cold water has hung in?
Oswego County
Brown trout fishing has been on fire in Oswego County waters!
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Brown trout remain the primary target for most boats. Anglers searching for salmon have mostly come up empty.
Fishing has been more productive to the west during the early morning hours, while the east has produced better results in the afternoon.
In the morning, natural-colored baits have worked best in the clear water. Later in the day, focusing on the dirtier river water with brighter baits has been more effective.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
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Both brown trout and salmon have been scarce. The only brown trout activity reported has been near Nine Mile Point. Similarly, the only king salmon bites have come from the area north of Nine Mile, in 150 to 250 feet of water.
As a result, most boats have shifted their focus northward in pursuit of lake trout.