Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
We’re into the meat of the lineup as we head into some of the best fishing of the year. This week starts the Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby, the 50th Annual Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby, and Reelin’ for a Cure Ladies Tournament is Friday out of Wilson and Olcott.
Capt. Joe Marra of Niagara Rainbow Charters enjoyed a great day of fishing with Paul Ellingson of Indiana, his son Logan of North Tonawanda, and Tim Prendergast of Pendleton. The crew started in Devil’s Hole while water levels were lower, targeting walleyes with worm harnesses. They managed to catch ‘eyes up to 10 pounds before things slowed down and they ran down to the mouth of the river at the green buoy marker. More walleyes greeted them as they bounced bottom with harnesses. A few freshwater drums were mixed in. Then it was some bass and drum fishing along Fort Niagara, catching smallmouth up to 5 pounds on crayfish on three-way rigs. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston mirrored that report with some great action in the lower river and on the Niagara Bar for walleyes. Dragging gold blade worm harnesses with pink or orange beads have been on fire. Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports the fish action is on the rise. Smallmouth bass are loving nightcrawlers lately along the bank. Walleyes are being caught big-time in the Stella drift and on the Niagara Bar. Pink and firetiger-colored harnesses are doing the trick. Michael Maholic of Bradford, Pa. and his brother John shared details of their winning tournament catch during the Fishing Fur a Better Tomorrow benefiting the Niagara SPCA August 2. The two Bradford brothers were working the green buoy marker at the mouth of the river with gold spinners on a worm harness, bouncing bottom, when the 11.4-pound walleye hit. It was a personal best walleye for them.
Capt. Scipione also headed offshore, and the steelhead bite was on point using Northeast Troller spoons in any orange color down 30-foot. Salmon were hitting DW green alewife and Rodfather spoons down 60-foot. Browns have been cooperating on DW super slims in depths anywhere from 50 to 90-foot. Once you find them, drag bottom and its game on. Best spoons for browns were standard green alewife and green glow frog.
Capt. Joe Cinelli of Grand Island and Gary Laidman of South Wales enjoyed a banner day at the Niagara Bar, fishing the water from the red buoy to 4 Mile Creek in 80 to 140 feet of water. Most fish came on Spin Doctors and A-Tom-Mik flies down 65 to 75-foot on the riggers. Kings are starting to stage and should continue if we don’t see any East wind and the cold water that rolls in with it.
Over in Olcott, Karen Evarts with The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn reports fishing is good to awesome. Kings, steelhead and browns are biting, fishing anywhere from 140 to 500 feet of water. Some fish are straight out in 200 to 300 feet of water. Whites, and black/whites combos are hot colors. Lots of UV tape on things, and Evarts says that meat is hot, too. Spoons and flies – Mirage flies, green, black and white, as well as a variety of spoons. Some panfish and brown trout are being caught off the Olcott piers. Use Cleos for browns.
The 50th annual Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey starts on August 16 and runs through August 24. Once again it is being run through the Fishing Chaos App on your smartphone for registration and entering fish. Kids 15 and under can register for free. The Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby starts August 15, offering a $20,000 grand prize for the largest salmon weighed in. The derby continues through Labor Day. Other species categories include Rainbow/Steelhead and Brown Trout. There is over $63,000 in cash prizes. Find out all the information at loc.org.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Start Early and go Deep! That has been the latest technique for catching kings and steelhead. Work 450 to 600 fow, down 60 to 90.
Stinger spoons and cut bait have been working. Dirty Little White Boy, Angry Bird, and Carbon 14 have been favorite Stinger spoons.
There have been many 20 plus pound salmon caught from riggers and Dipsy Divers.
Make sure you sign up for the LOC Autumn Derby. The Grand Prize winner will receive $20,000 cash. That is an enormous amount of money!!
2025 DERBY DATES
• Fall Aug 15th Sept 1st.
• Register now to win your share of the $147,150 guaranteed cash in the 2025 loc derbies!!
Bays
The largemouth catch at Sodus Bay has been phenomenal this year. The bass are caught from the weed beds, near the islands at the north end, and near docks. With these hot days of summer, fish at dawn.
With the weed growth abundant use top water bait. Senko rigs have been great, and try spinner baits between the islands…Newark, Eagle, and LeRoy.
Some bluegills and smaller perch have been hitting next to the Port Bay channel. Use small 2- inch grubs on a bright chartreuse jig head.
Sodus Bay boats can be launched at the Margaretta launch on the west side of the bay or Bay Bridge Sport Shop at the south end.
Port Bay has the south and north DEC launch sites from West Port Bay Road. Both 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
Fish the canal early. Ninety degrees and no breeze is not the best mixture for anyone on a boat or shore.
Widewaters Park continues to be the best place to launch. This county park is a few miles west of Newark off Route 31.
The bass are on the bite and will hit your favorite presentation on the south side of the canal.
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 weather is hanging in. As the weather continues to heat up and temperatures stay warm, it seems as if the salmon action is becoming somewhat more consistent. It’s still not necessarily an everyday in-shore bite, but the mixed bag chances sure are good, and there are definitely some big, mature Kings coming over the gunwales.
Another hot and mostly calm day today, and then a chance of rain or showers for the midweek as a cool front goes through. Near-term forecast after that looks like seasonal summer warmth with the next chance at precip around the end of the weekend. There were some stiff east winds at the end of last week, but since then, there’s been just light lake breezes, so not enough to bring icy water in close. Most charters and recs are heading to off-shore waters. But as the near-shore waters might stabilize and as we move deeper into the season toward fall and trib runs, near-shore staging action could pick up.
Speaking of those east winds, CJO of Tightlines Charters says, “late last week the NE winds once again turned off the fishing inside of 200 fow. Best trips for Troutman2 have been fun action on med steelhead fishing in 300 – 400 fow and 45 – 65 ft down with a spoon program. Higher speed trolling with NK 28’s were best. For best ledge action, watch the Oak Orchard buoy for when the bottom temp indicates 45 – 55 F. Fish On!”
Capt. Gerry S. of Rod Benders Charters says the fishing is the best he’s seen all season. He’s been getting some nice big steelhead and Kings. “We fished the 33 – 35 line for mature Kings, coho and steelhead. Flasher flies chrome two-face with pro Am fly meat rigs from Route 18 Tackle. Mag DW orange Halloween spoon was good too.”
Capt. Lou B. of Get the Net Charters is having good off-shore action out of Bald Eagle. “There are stable temps and fish can be caught in good numbers with a good mix of steelhead, teenage and mature Kings and cohos. We’ve been working the 27 – 30 line, finding good pockets of fish. It’s been mostly a spoon bite for us, but flasher/flies and meat rigs are taking their fair share of fish.”
Oswego County
Fishing out of Oswego remains productive, but anglers should be prepared to travel 10 to 17 miles offshore to find the action.
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Those willing to make the offshore run are being rewarded with excellent catches of salmon, along with the occasional bonus steelhead. King salmon have been hitting chrome flasher patterns paired with Warship, Mustard Gas, and Pro-Am meat rigs. Spoons are also producing, with magnum sizes in Green Jeans, Carbon 14, and Chili Snacks proving effective.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Fishing out of Mexico has been challenging recently due to prevailing south and northeast winds, which have pushed fish out of local waters. Many boats are making the long trip to Oswego’s deepwater fishery to target salmon, while others head far north in pursuit of lake trout or to search for salmon in the shipping lanes.
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:
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.