Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
The winds have blown in change in the lower Niagara River. Strong northeast winds turned Lake Erie over and sent some cooler water down the Niagara River. However, with those cooler temperatures, along came a tougher bite for both walleye and bass. Fishing continues to be spotty with some active fish responding to a few different presentations. Bass are being taken on both crawfish and minnows fished off three-way rigs and drop shot presentations. Walleyes have been taken mostly on worm harnesses and a few fish have been taken through jigging. A good measuring stick for the fishing was the Fish Odyssey derby which saw most of the leading fish caught at the beginning of the contest under stable weather conditions. Fishing should pick up again soon. Look for the first push of salmon to be in the river right now with the cooler water temperatures and rough Lake Ontario conditions.
Matt Wilson of Wheatfield hit the lower river on Sunday and found a large school of bass in front of Fort Niagara. After catching double figure bass in 20 minutes, the action shut down. He moved into the river where he worked the drift from the clay banks to Joseph Davis State Park casting Crush City 2-3/4-inch swimbaits – dragging and lifting. After plenty of consistent action, it was back down to the Coast Guard drift to catch three walleyes using Maxscent flat worms in goby and black colors. For the day he caught 33 bass and three walleyes.
Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield reports the walleye action has picked up along the gorge shoreline this week at multiple locations. He had good success at Devil’s Hole using bottom bouncer weights with white/silver paddletails. At Artpark, jerk baits seemed to be the bait of choice. He was fortunate enough to limit out at both locations the past couple of evenings. No sign of salmon yet at the NYPA platform. Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls got into some walleye and bass in crystal clear conditions using his homemade silver No. 3 spinners, and he’ll be on the hunt starting next week looking for the first salmon of the season, as well as more walleyes.
John Van Hoff of North Tonawanda went back to the Niagara Bar to check things out in the lake and found warmer water, finding 72-degree temperatures down 100 feet. He made the decision to run offshore around the 26 line with a spoon program 60 to 90 feet down. In two days of fishing, they enjoyed 70 bites from salmon and steelhead – including several doubles, triples and quadruples.
Karen Evarts with The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn in Olcott reports that pier action has picked up for browns and pike on Cleos. With the lake rollovers, most stable water is deep near the border. Spoons in orange, green, black, and white variations are working best. In Olcott harbor, bluegills, perch, and smaller bass are biting.
The Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby is entering its final weekend and there’s a new leader for the Grand Prize. 75-year-old Roy Hunsburger of Mexico, NY hauled in a 31-pound, 6-ounce king salmon on a Salmon Candy spoon to take over the Grand Prize lead for the $20,000 check. Top steelhead is a new leader, too. Nate Stephenson of Wilson was fishing out of Wilson when he caught an impressive 17-pound, 10-ounce silver bullet. Top Brown Trout is still a 15-pound 3-ounce fish hauled in by Bill Weber of Palmyra.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Northeast winds probably pushed the kings into deeper water.
Currently…and that changes fast…the kings have been in 500 to 600 fow. The bite has been down 40 to 50 fow.
Spoons have been Michigan Stingers; Blue Dolphin UV, Carbon 14, and Blue Killer.
Flasher flies are also taking some steelhead in deeper water.
Staging salmon should be in a couple of weeks.
The LOC Derby awards will be at Riley’s at the south end of Sodus Bay on Labor Day, Sept. 1st.
2025 DERBY DATES
• Fall Aug 15th Sept 1st.
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Bays
Sodus Bay continues to provide some excellent bass fishing. The largemouths are close to the weed cover, under docks, and between the islands at the north of the bay.
Senko rigs have been the “go to” set-up. You can also use some spinner baits between the island.
The smaller panfish in the bay are difficult to find, however when the water temperature gets colder, they will be easier to locate. The perch will also return to the bay from Lake Ontario.
It’s the same situation for Port Bay…the 500-acre embayment north of Wolcott.
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
Kayak fishing has been very popular at the Widewaters section of the canal. That entire section is free of the wind we see in the bays. And there is a kayak launch at the county park.
Plenty of parking spaces for the trailer make it the perfect place to launch your boat.
The variety of fish being caught makes this section exciting. Catch largemouth bass, bluegills sunfish, some pike, and crappies.
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:
Last week’s prediction that the NE winds wouldn’t change much turned out to be fake news! We had a couple of days of hard winds that brought icy water near shore and, for the most part, scattered the mature King action that had been coming on. Then, on the back side of that, as the water tried to stabilize this past weekend, most trollers reported lots of current out there as the warm and cold water was moving around. Direction of troll, speed and lure action on your spread can all become a challenge under those conditions.
Andrew C.
For this week so far, we are back to prevailing winds, on the stiff side for the beginning part of the week, with a definite cool down in the weather department. The cooler temps should usher in a fall-like feel and hopefully bring the good water back near shore. At some point here, sooner than later, we may find some Kings holding to the near shore water as they might stage up, and any changeable water conditions may not necessarily chase them. How will the staging action go this year? It’s hard to say with such changeable weather, but stay tuned and keep that boat in the water if you choose. There’s often good action long after many trollers have pulled for the season.
For the past weekend, most boaters headed offshore looking for scattered salmon and stable conditions. What they generally found was a really good steelhead bite. The Riggor Mortis boat, which has the 15th place steelhead in the Fall Loc Derby, started at the 28 line and fished spoons a few feet above the break. They set the rest of the spread deeper for Kings. The steelhead action for them came on higher riggers, sliders and dipseys.
For Len S. aboard the rec boat Teach I he started at the 29 line in about 450 fow a little east of the Oak. He was working his mooching rod/reels on downriggers about 60 ft down when a big steelhead hit. The troll was east at about 2.4 mph.
Capt. Lou B. from Get the Net Charters went out of Bald Eagle Marina to between the 26 and 27 line. “On Sunday, there was a down temp break in 400 fow. We fished the cold side of the break and found a good class of steelhead and some teenage Kings. All rods were firing with spoons, meat and flies. The best spoons were a Warrior Lures blue perch. The Cole family from OH had a great catch!”
Oswego County
The annual chinook migration has begun, with fish starting their homeward run toward the Salmon River.
Salmon River, Pulaski NY
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The first chinook have entered the lower river. Anglers who are putting in the time are being rewarded with a few hookups. Numbers remain light for now, but this is the start of the season.
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Anglers continue to find success in open water, with steelhead numbers looking very strong—an encouraging sign for the fall, winter, and spring fisheries. Productive depths have ranged from 200 to 600 feet out of Oswego. Following this week’s strong winds, the most consistent action inside the bay has been in 130 to 180 feet of water. While meat rigs are still producing, flasher-fly combinations are becoming increasingly effective.
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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.