Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Bass fishing on the lower Niagara River has been a roll coaster ride with fishing exceptional one day and tough the next under similar conditions. The downriver areas have been producing some nice catches of both quality and quantity. Drifting crayfish and minnows off three-way rigs has been productive targeting drop offs. Artificial baits have also been taking fish by targeting suspended bass with minnow baits on light jig heads. Those same minnow baits have worked off dropshot set-ups as well. Walleye fishing has also been hit or miss with patterns and areas changing daily. Salmon have started to show in better numbers as evidenced by numerous kings splashing around the surface throughout the river. Best option to target kings is three-way rigs outfitted with MagLip plugs while drifting from a boat, just fast enough to give the lure action. Shoreline casters will have their best opportunities throwing hardware like spinners and spoons. There have been some fish taken off the NYPA platform. The best action right now is during low light conditions.
Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls reports he made it into the gorge over the weekend, and he caught his second king of the season on No. 4 chartreuse spinner. He also caught five walleyes. The big push of salmon hasn’t happened yet. Ziehm feels that by the end of the week, a good push of salmon will arrive. There are plenty of brown trout around and a few steelhead have also shown up. We need rain to drop the water temperature and add a little stain to the water to really trigger fishing.
Capt. Dave Scipione of Scipione’s Fishing Charters hit the lower river with Sammy Musolino from Sammy’s Pizzeria in Niagara Falls and his worker Dan Neri. They did well on walleyes on the Stella Niagara drift, catching a limit within an hour. The most productive harness was No. 5 gold Colorado blades with orange beads. On Monday, the target was smallmouth bass. Starting out at the Coast Guard drift, he was greeted with several bass ranging up to 5 pounds. Crayfish were the ticket with some fish biting on golden shiners. When action slowed, they ran to Devil’s Hole where he managed several nice walleyes and a few smallmouth bass on smaller No. 3 gold blade harnesses fished on 3-way rigs.
Out in the lake, Capt. Matt Yablonsky of Wet Net Sportfishing tried his luck on the Niagara Bar for big salmon. They caught a few kings and lake trout before heading offshore where the bite was better. Target the preferred temperature of 49-to-55-degree water. He found that 60 to 65 feet down with standard size spoons. Capt. Mike Johannes with On the Rocks Charters found the lake had flipped again his last time out. He also ran offshore and found fish between the 24 and 26 lines. It was mostly steelhead and some 2-year-old kings. He was catching salmon on my 93 and 103-foot riggers. They were eating Moonshine Half-burnt bread and Carbon 14. Most of the steelhead came on a 58 rigger with Moonshine bad toad pattern. His 150 high diver was working as well. With the lake temperatures coming back to normal it should be worth trying inside or on the bar for stage kings again. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston also hit the lake and found fish in 350 feet of water, 45 to 60 feet down for steelhead and immature kings. Hot spoons were DW green glow frog, Northeast Troller’s Confused Carlson and Warrior’s green glow alewife.
Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn in Olcott reports that pier fishing has been slow to get started with the lack of precipitation. A few perch and pike in Olcott, while Wilson has been doing better with perch. Pier head trolling for salmon and brown trout has also been slower with the limited rain. It’s been mostly a spoon bite, but a few kings have been taken on meat and flasher/fly.
The New York Power Authority’s 40th Annual Wildlife Festival is slated for Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the family festivities is free. It will be held at the Power Vista located at 5777 Lewiston Road, Lewiston. Many of the same exhibitors and presenters are back including the Niagara River Anglers Association’s fishing pond. The event is co-sponsored by the Niagara County Federation of Conservation Clubs. The Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Awards ceremony will be there at 4 p.m.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
It’s “stager fishing” reported from charters fishing Wayne County waters. The matures are in 50 to 100fow straight out from Maxwell Creek.
For the late season bite you can also fish near Hughes’ Marina. The staging kings have preferred cut bait and flasher flies. Spoons are not working.
Water temps from Rochester are 68.7 degrees.
Bays
The largemouth bass are still being caught in Sodus Bay. Use your favorite rig. Senko is still the ultimate set-up. You can also use top water bait early in the morning. The bays are really calm as many recreational boats have been pulled for the season.
Port Bay has some small perch action near the channel or off the points. Every season they leave the bays and enter Lake Ontario. This time of year, they return and stay in the bays to spawn in the spring.
Use yellow and white 2-inch rubber with a tail. Put some fresh spikes on the hook.
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
The largemouths have been caught at Widewaters. Fish the south side of the canal where the weed growth gives the bass cover.
There are also plenty of panfish along the canal. You can catch bluegills, sunfish, and some crappies in the Widewaters section.
There are some other good locations for angling at Swift Landing County Park in Palmyra.
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:
Well, there sure is some keen weather for the end of the open Lake season. Summer and warm weather are hanging on, along with dry conditions. Winds have been mostly calm, too, with maybe just some light to medium lake breezes. The forecast for the remainder of this week and the weekend is more of the same: warm and dry, with just the slight chance of showers for the weekend.
Lake waters haven’t had any serious winds in days, and for now, there are no significant winds in the near forecast. So look for clear water conditions. There’s been some good staging salmon action in the 40 – 60 + fow range. You would usually presume with each day ahead that action would slide to more shallow waters nearer the Oak Orchard Rivermouth, but this bluebird weather seems to be stalling that. The charters still running and what’s left as mostly a rec boat contingent are not making any serious wall passes through, and they continue to ply that near shore water that gives the bottom-hugging Kings at least some cover of water over their head. Not to say a few fish on any given evening or morning or nighttime foray don’t venture closer, but for now it’s looking like the bulk of the mature salmon are choosing a Lake life (what’s left anyway!) instead of a trib life.
Capt. Dan J. from Escape to the Oak Charters over the past weekend fished inside from 40 – 100 fow for stagers. “We had a good J-plug and flasher fly bite. Later, we went offshore and found a good class of steelhead from the 28 out to the 32 line.”
The same bluebird weather keeping the Kings belly rubbing out in the open Lake hasn’t perked much up yet for trib action. Sure, there are a few salmon and trout at the Waterport dam on any given day, as a few fish move through the Rivercourse – likely mostly at night. There are no great concentration of pooled up Kings anywhere that we’ve heard of, but a few fish are reported crashing around what’s still a weedy proposition in the last of the fast water areas at the bottom of the Park Ave Fishing Trail. Casters are working the piers each evening and morning, and there have been a few fish caught on and off there. Always great fun for those hard striking, hard battling light line Kings at Point Breeze! Lots more good action is likely to come for salmon and trout, especially as the weather may cool and get wetter. Erie Canal enhanced water feed is slated to commence on September 18 in the major use WNY tribs, so that could be a catalyst to get the ball rolling for more migrations. Look for more calendar-specific water release info as that becomes available for the fall and early winter timeframe.
On Saturday, September 13, Orleans County Tourism joined forces with the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District to take part in the annual shoreline clean-up. Volunteers focused their efforts around the Waterport Dam and Park Avenue Extension, removing litter and debris to help protect the local waterways and maintain a clean, safe and welcoming environment.
The St. Mary’s Archers Club 2025 public access fall season parking will be from Oct. 10 through Nov. 11. Parking is $10, with gates opening at 4-5 a.m. and closing at 4 p.m. A lunch will also be served this year. For updates, visit the Sportsman’s Archery Club of St Mary’s Inc Facebook page.
Oswego County
The pleasant weather has made for comfortable days on the water, but it has not encouraged salmon to move into the rivers.
Salmon River, Pulaski NY
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
In recent days, several small pushes of fresh fish have entered the river. However, with low water levels, these fish are not progressing quickly. The best opportunities are from town through the Route 81 stretch. Under low-water conditions, focus on choke points, deep slots, and the fastest runs, where fish tend to hold.
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Fishing conditions on eastern Lake Ontario continue to shift daily as persistent winds push warm water into the region, driving salmon deeper. When conditions allow, flasher/fly combinations have been most effective, while meat rigs are still producing early in the day. It’s also the right time of year to run plugs—J-plugs, deep divers, and Silver Horde patterns have all been producing fish.
Oswego River, City of Oswego
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A small number of salmon have been reported near the falls in Oswego. Conditions are still developing, and we’ll continue to provide updates as the run progresses.
Please Consider the Following Year-Round Notice: There are mandatory personal flotation device (PFD) zones on the river. The Oswego Fire Department offers loaner life jackets at no charge through its “Loaner for Life” program. For more information contact the fire station at 35 E. Cayuga St. by calling 315-343-2161. Click here for the current water flow.
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.