Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Capt. Matt Gantress of Unreel Fishing Adventures reports he hit the water in the lower Niagara River three days starting on Friday until everything blew up this week. On Friday, the water finally got back to being fishable from boats and he managed to catch some beautiful steelhead in Devil’s Hole using float fishing jigs and bouncing egg sacs off three-way rigs. As water continued to improve, Gantress did best on Saturday at Artpark, bottom bouncing egg sacs and beads. On Sunday, the conditions were perfect as he bottom-bounced Artpark for the day using egg sacs and beads, catching some nice sized steelhead along the way.
Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island also took advantage of great water conditions on Sunday and reported that fishing was fantastic in the lower river using egg sacs. As we’ve been saying with all the wind over the past month, you must be prepared to move quickly when a bite window opens with clearing conditions. After all the wind and rain of late, we will probably end up with a river mess heading into the weekend. Water is muddy right now.
Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports that on calm days some guys were catching lake trout upriver in Devil’s Hole from shore. A few brown trout are being caught by the Coast Guard drift. We are still at the mercy of the weather on the river, with most guys waiting for some hard water to fish on (but not in the river). Not many reports of a steelhead bite in the river yet that is more consistent.
For Lake Ontario and tributaries, Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn in Olcott reports that Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek continue to be the place to fish, especially for brown trout with the occasional steelhead. Beads, egg sacs, and wax worms are the go-to enticements. Water was high and muddy on Monday after the recent rains. Ice action in Wilson was put on hold after the most recent weather buffet. Cold weather is in the forecast for the remainder of this week and into the weekend so it could be safe soon. Don’t take any unnecessary chances.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Nothing happening with the streams today. The Northwest wind is blowing with a consistent 20mph and then a good ole gust of 35 to 40mph to wake you up. We had an inch of rain before the snow, so that might make a decent flow in Maxwell Creek and Salmon Creek later this week.
Bays
Good news …bad news for ice fishing. Let’s start with the positive. The wind has been horrible; however it has blown the snow off the bays, which will make safe ice faster. Snow on top off ice hinders the thickness. Snow is an insulator.
The bad news is the ice on the bays is not thick enough for fishing. It’s three to four inches in the eastern cove north of Davenports. There is four inches of ice at LeRoy Island, however the northern section is open water.
Because of our recent rainfall the flow from bay tributaries has created weak sections of ice.
We need calm days, low temperatures, and less snow to ensure a safe season.
When we start the safe season, you can park at Davenport’s Marina on the south end of Sodus. See Don at the bait shop for information.
Erie Canal
Widewaters is frozen, however ice thickness varies. Make sure you “spud” your way to the center. There was nobody ice fishing Widewaters this past weekend.
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:
Lately, there has been some changeable weather and resultant changes in water conditions. Just after Christmas, there was some snow for the area that mostly melted after some rain and a quick warm-up. We are left now on the backside of that with dropping temps and windy conditions. The temp drop is more like a deep freeze again, with a chance of LES and windy conditions expected through the New Year.
LES accumulations are expected to be worse SW of here with the typical Lake Erie bands and east of here off that end of Lake Ontario. Flows in all the waterways are up from the last rain and melt-off. Smaller area tribs, especially will be retreating quickly thanks to the onset of cold temps.
Flows in the Oak will likely hang on and up a little longer. For now flows in the Oak are high with what was a little bit of overflow water and a strong head of turbine water. Overflow levels should retreat leaving the heavy turbine flows that will get stained through today. Look for high and stained flows with 1 – 2 ft of viz hanging in through about this week before dropping back toward med or slightly high.
There are anglers out there on the Oak finding good driftable water up and down the watercourse. Hook-ups were on some browns in the previous lower flows and a few steelhead now in the higher flows. Dec/Jan high water is a bit uncommon so we’ll have to wait and see if there’s any fresh steelhead which would be more typical of Feb/Mar higher flows. Either way, the nice flows will freshen up any dour fish there and likely move some of the frogwater steelhead upstream.
Other area smaller waterways, are high and dirty and retreating. As they are coming back into fishable conditions, they may as quickly be icing back up. Downstream reaches never really did open back up from the previous rain and short warm-up.