Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Moss is still the enemy on the lower Niagara River. However, smallmouth bass will cooperate if you can get a clean presentation to them. One of the best presentations this past week was to throw spinnerbaits in areas with not as much moss flowing through the water column. That was the case with Outdoor Writer Alan Clemons of Alabama and Randy Clemons of Georgia who were visiting the area for story material and photos. They managed to catch some feisty bass using that approach. Bass action is still pretty good along the shore, reports Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown. Many anglers have turned to crayfish for bait.
Out in the lake, fishing picked up between Wilson and Olcott the last few days and the best starting point was 200 feet of water reports Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn at Olcott. The action was decent for king salmon and a few Atlantic salmon this past weekend. Focus your efforts between Olcott and Wilson, starting in 200-foot depths and head north to almost 500 feet of water. Then turn around and make the trip back, placing baits 50 to 80 feet down. You will find pockets of kings and steelhead. Meat has been the best approach for mature salmon. Anything with green and white is working. There is a lot of bait around, primarily alewife. Cohos are still hot on the orange 6-inch spin doctor-fly combo, but action has been slowing for the smaller salmon. Steelhead are starting to munch on spoons. Over in Wilson, Capt. Joe Oakes of Salmonboy Charters reports that the Cohos have started to disperse but there are more kings around inside of 400 feet. The best baits have been meat and spoons down 60 to 100 feet. Oakes has gotten some steelhead on spoons in depths of 300-foot plus, focusing on the top 60 feet with spoons in green, orange, and white-black colors. Out of the Oak, Capt. Bob Songin reports that trout and salmon action is starting to pick back up again. Most recently he found decent action between 100 and 150 feet of water. Riggers down 50 to 80 feet, a 400-copper line, and divers 160 to 180 back on No. 1, as well as 120 to 130 back on No. 3 were enticing fish to hit.
No change on the top of the Grand Prize leaderboard for the Summer Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby. Jack Ozyp of Wilson is still leading the way with a 27-pound, 11-ounce king salmon he caught fishing out of Wilson for the $15,000 Grand Prize. Brian Price of Erie, Pa. is now runnerup salmon with a 26-pound, 9-ounce Olcott fish he caught Sunday. A new lake trout leader showed up when Jan Chybinski of Mexico (NY) reeled in a 25-pound, 1-ounce laker.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The kings are back and the cohos are swimming elsewhere. East of Port Bay in 140 to 175 fow down 90 fow was working.
The kings were hitting flasher flies on a wire dipsy and spoons were working in 175 fow.
The LOC leaderboard had some Wayne County fish in first place. Well…the brown trout was first with a 14.09.fish
Second place is now a Wayne County 24.15 lake trout.
The summer king salmon have arrived.
The Sodus Pro-Am is scheduled for July 19-20 with Captain Jack’s Big Fish Friday July 18th.
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Bays
The bass fishing is excellent. During the summer season make sure you start early and miss all the recreational boat traffic.
Use Senko rigs, spinnerbaits, or top water rigs for casting near the weeds. You can also catch some smallmouths near the channel.
Anglers are also catching pike near LeRoy Island using pike minnows or large bright spoons.
When the wind isn’t blowing try casting Kastmaster and Cleos from the Sodus Point pier. Some browns have been caught from the pier.
The Port Bay perch have entered the lake. Look for structure east of the bay.
Both the south and north DEC launch sites from West Port Bay Road are in great shape for boats with enough parking for the trailers.
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
Widewaters is again the hot spot for some hefty largemouth bass. Stay on the south side of the canal where the weeds are located.
You can also shore fishing from some pull-offs on Route 31.
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:
Summer and warmer weather look to be finally settling in here on the Orleans County waters of Lake Ontario. Hot weather and the resultant warming Lake temps are upon us.
Coming off a busy July 4th weekend, it feels like more trolling anglers are out now, and they are having better success. Charters are grinding away, and now it’s good to see a healthy amount of serious rec anglers working the water too. Yes, many anglers are still searching in-shore or off-shore – but a good outing might bring 2 – 3 or more mature to the back of the boat. The weather ahead in the near term looks to continue warm with highs in the 80s F. There were some passing storms for the beginning part of the week, and the forecast looks clear for this mid-week. Slight chance of thunderstorms for Thursday and again for the end of the upcoming weekend. Any lake breezes for now look light and variable.
The Mark and Teresa team aboard Getting Wet recently fished a couple of days and had good catches of cohos in the 8 – 10 lb range. Most of their action came in 300 – 450 fow fishing anywhere from 55 – 75 feet down. Teresa took a great steelhead on a flasher/fly off a chinook diver out 195’. Mark got nearly a 20 lb King on a white 2face flasher and Atomic stud fly off the chinook diver out 210’.
Another solo troller decided he should check the nearer shore waters off the Park for a few hours sunrise troll. There were good marks and lots of bait. All the previous stressed dead and dying alewives look to be done, and there were still big pods of bait out there at 35 – 55 feet down. One good fish took a rip on a flasher/fly off a wire diver out 160’ on a 2.5 setting. One hundred to 120 fow was the hot zone for a couple more matures netted. One came off a rigger at 70’ with a flasher/fly, and another on a standard diver out 120 on a 2.5 setting. Water temp was 49 F down 70’ and 55 F down 60’, so that’s not too bad for an inside water set-up.
Did you know there’s a salmon so big here at the Oak we need a trailer to move it?! Charlie the Chinook is the “King” of Orleans County, don’t you know, and he made a big splash at the July 4th festivities and Lyndonville parade. Maybe you were able to snap a quick photo while he was “creeled” at Point Breeze this past weekend.
Oswego County
Fishing activity has really picked up out of Oswego. Salmon are being found from West Nine Mile all the way east into Mexico Bay.
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
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Anglers departing from Oswego have been working depths from 100 out to 400 feet. North-south trolling patterns have been productive, though anglers are finding success branching off in other directions as well.
Meat rigs have been the top-producing bait recently, while spoons have been noticeably less effective.
Chartreuse-themed flashers have performed best overall, with chrome flashers producing well during sunny conditions.
Effective meat rig patterns include Green Glow, Stud, and Warship.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
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Brown trout fishing has remained consistent over the past few weeks. Productive depths have been 35 to 60 feet, particularly from Catfish Creek to the High Rocks.
Leadcores, slide divers, and downriggers have all been generating solid results.
For anglers targeting large lake trout, heading north toward Stoney Point is a good bet, with fish typically holding in 130 to 170 feet of water.
Alternatively, head west of Nine Mile to join the salmon bite.