Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
There are no shortage of reports this week. Fishing has been good to great in the Lower Niagara River, depending on a few factors, reports Capt. Dave Scipione of Scipione’s Charters. Number one is boat pressure. Number two is strong winds on Lake Erie, causing the water in the river to be muddied. There are loads of fish in the system, so it’s hard to have an actual “bad” day. Recently, Scipione has seen more steelhead showing up in Artpark as the water continues to cool. The best baits have been 8mm or 10mm orange or chartreuse beads and brown trout egg sacs tied with pink or yellow mesh.
The same holds true for just about every drift down to the mouth of the Niagara. When the wind cooperates, the Niagara Bar fishing has been hot. Brown trout, walleye, and incidental lake trout catches are what’s most common as of late. Drifting golden shiners on 3-way rigs and pulling K9 Kwikfish in silver/chartreuse or gold; MagLip 3.0 plugs in lemonhead or grinch have been top producers. Lake trout season reopens on Monday, Dec. 1. Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports it was a very active weekend for fishing. Not so many reports of bass but tons of trout being caught. Brown trout are being caught along the Coast Guard drift, and at Youngstown’s north end public dock. Some guys are doing well for rainbows up in Artpark if they can find a spot. They mainly use beads and medium-sized shiners.
Capt. Tyler Siegmann of CGF Guide Service reports there is a good steelhead bite going on. Beads were the ticket along Artpark and Stella drifts. He managed 24 steelhead over the 3 days of boat fishing and had multiple hook ups that spit the hook. Water was near perfect stain but by Sunday there was about 5-6 feet of visibility. It looks like some heavy west/southwest winds in the forecast this week so we could have stained water by the weekend. Capt. Connor Cinelli of Grand Island was on the lower river on Monday and started his morning at the Coast Guard station with yellow sacs fished off a three-way rig. He did well on brown trout. On the Niagara Bar, he was using plugs – K9 Kwikfish and MagLips – again off three-way rigs to take a mixed bag of fish. Steelhead numbers have been steadily increasing throughout the river with those chromes responding well to egg sacs and beads. Chartreuse and pink are the top colors. Brown Trout are also being taken on the same presentations as steelhead and the good news is both those species are being taken on the same drifts, so the fishing is setting up nicely. Gorge action from shore has been good, too. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls reports he picked up a half-dozen trout his last time out, casting his homemade No. 4 spinners. Water was low and visibility at the time was 6 to 8 feet. Most of the fish hit 3 to 5 feet from shore. That will probably all change with the Thanksgiving storm.
There have been good reports on the upper river for walleye according to Bruce Kowalski with TAAR Outdoors in Lake View. The bite has been decent after dark at places like the foot of Ferry Street for guys casting swim baits and other plastics on ¾-ounce or 1-ounce jigs.
Matt Vogt and Isaiah Clark of Newfane had a banner day on 18 Mile Creek near Burt Dam over the weekend. They connected with over a dozen brown trout, with a good mix of males and females. All were caught and released. The water had a nice green tinge to it, and it proved to be perfect for their hair jigs. Ken Jackson of Sanborn has been doing well on beads in natural colors in the same waters, as well as white jigs fished under a float.
The NYPA fishing facilities – which include the fishing platform in Devil’s Hole, the Lewiston reservoir, and the upper river water intake section – will all close for the season on Sunday, Nov. 30. They will reopen around April 1 when the weather improves.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
An angler was casting from the Port Bay channel today, using bright heavy spoons. The wind was starting to crank from the south which made the outlet flow with bay water. Steelhead and browns will use this flow just like a stream. It’s the same situation at the Sodus Bay outlet.
Salmon Creek in Pultneyville is open to the lake. The lake water is low, however there is still a good flow. Use egg sacs to catch steelhead and browns.
Lake effect snow is predicted for this holiday weekend; however, we are used to that scenario. If we get predicted precipitation (wet snow or rain) the streams will open to the lake.
Bays
Today the south wind made boat fishing a challenge. A Port Bay angler did find some perch fishing deeper holes.
If we do have safe conditions for boats on the bays, make sure you stay safe.
The perch in Sodus Bay have also been in 30 fow. Use your regular rig with a sinker 12 inches below the hook with spikes at the tip of any 2-inch rubber with a tail.
Make sure your spikes are fresh. Perch will ignore old spikes. Spikes are “Maggots” for your information.
Remember you must wear your life jacket (PFD) from November 1st until May 1st.
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. The lower water level will make Margaretta difficult as the dock is not a floater. Launch at Bay Bridge where you can get in your boat without a “ladder.”
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.
DEC docks have been pulled so use caution when you launch. Be careful with a south end launch as the water level is extremely low. Don’t destroy your props.
*Hopefully, we will have a great ice fishing season like last year. The weekly fishing updates will be reporting the thickness of safe ice during this winter. Spray some silicone on the bottom of your sled and get your shanty ready for some Wayne County perch.
Erie Canal
You can still launch at Widewaters county park and go after all sorts of panfish. When we get ice don’t forget the Widewaters area, which will have safe ice during the season.
The canal is currently closed for recreational boat traffic.
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.
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:
We are coming off a nice stretch of weather with warm temperatures and mostly clear. The fishing pressure that had picked up over the past weekend seems lighter so far this week. Looking ahead, thanks to holiday schedules and the forecast, we can expect continued lighter fishing pressure.
The forecast for midweek is turning colder, with a chance of showers later today and Wednesday, then transitioning to a chance of lake-effect snow (LES) Wednesday night into Thursday. Strong winds, likely triggering an advisory, are expected both days. For now, LES seems the more typical variety for accumulations southwest of here off Lake Erie, but as winds shift west or northwest through later Thursday or into Friday, there’s a chance for accumulations here on the WNY south shore of Lake Ontario.
Flows all around are dropping and clearing. The next chance for any rising flows without natural precipitation or snowmelt will likely be with the final canal drainage through the first part of December. Flows in the Oak are moderate to medium and mostly clear. Still, these are decent fishable flows, and when hydropower operations temporarily lower flows, there’s usually a humbling number of fish still revealed!
Anglers are still into brown trout and now seeing a few more steelhead. Atlantic salmon action is now more spread out, but hook-ups can still be expected. There are still some gamey, not “zombied-up” Kings at the dam. Most anglers are downsizing presentations, using small, subtle egg patterns and nymphs. Deeper slack water can still be productive for streamer action, and there are reports of good numbers of fish in downstream lower river areas.
Smaller tributaries, like Johnson, are at moderate levels, while Sandy is low. Anglers are having on-and-off action with careful wading and light-line drifts. Many of the browns in Sandy likely haven’t all retreated, they’re just hunkered down in pools and slots, taking advantage of water cover.