Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown is gearing up for the Second Annual Steelhead Slam in the lower Niagara River and Lake Ontario tributaries on March 28. Find out details at his shop or go online at thewickedworm.com. He says that Artpark has been producing steelhead along the shore. Best baits have been beads, egg sacs (chartreuse and hot pink), and drifting jigs. Browns are still hanging down by the Coast Guard station, hitting beads, egg sacs or casting spoons. There has been some ice movement coming through the river with the break in the ice boom, but nothing has been sticking around. Water in the river has been stained, but it is cleaner above the power plant in the gorge. Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls reports he fished the Whirlpool area over the weekend and found plenty of steelhead. He lost more than he landed. Water clarity was 6 to 7 feet upstream of powerplant. He caught his fish on white and silver jigs. The ice bridge below Niagara Falls is still holding for now but it can go at any time. Be aware when fishing the gorge.
The river was turbid from recent rain and winds from the power plant down to Fort Niagara, so Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston decided to stay in Devil’s Hole for a recent trip. He saw decent action on shiners that were colored with Pautzke’s chartreuse fire brine. Natural minnows without the brine were also used, along with the Pautzke’s. The colored ones took more bites. Lake trout, brown trout, and walleye were all available on shiners fished off 3-way rigs using a 1-ounce pencil lead. Steelhead have been a bit finicky as of late according to Scipione. Brown trout eggs tied in pink netting with yellow floaters ended up producing three nice steelhead on this day. Remember that walleye season is now closed.
Capt. Roy Letcher of Newfane reports that a few brown trout have been caught off the pier in Olcott. Little Cleos and KO Wobblers will work for you. The water is muddy coming out of many of the tributaries. At Burt Dam, Ken Jackson of Sanborn reports that it’s all about the conditions at Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek. He hit the dam over the weekend and struck out. The previous weekend he hit nine browns and one steelhead using egg sacs.
Lake action is slowly starting. Troll the shoreline looking for small temperature breaks, such as water coming out of tributaries. Also look for a mudline and run your lures in and out of the edge that is created by the color difference. Use brightly colored stick baits.
The Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association will be holding its annual pen rearing gathering for salmon and trout at the Town of Newfane Marina in Olcott on March 28 starting at 9 a.m. They will be assembling the pens and placing them in the water to get ready to receive 150,000 salmon and 15,000 steelhead. The 16th Annual Niagara County Bullhead Tournament is April 10-12, kicking off at 5 p.m. on Friday. More details to come.
Finger Lakes and Western New York Fishing Report
Nick Petrou of Natural Outfitters Guide Service
We are finally back in the water after a long, cold, miserable winter! I’m thankfully able to start providing weekly fishing reports again!
This is mainly the time of year where getting the boats ready is top priority, but there has been some fishing on the side. The hot bites in the Finger Lakes region are the shallow water Atlantic Salmon fishery and the deep water Lake Trout Fishing. Both are your best bets for cold water action this time of year.
Casting for Atlantic Salmon on both Cayuga & Seneca Lakes has been a truly fun bite to get on. This is all shallow water casting on very steep shorelines where the atlantics can push bait up against. You would never think that these fish would get this shallow, but they do. It’s the closest thing to bass fishing you can get this time of the year. Top baits include Cleo spoons, kastmasters, and small swimbaits. The key is to make long drifts and find active schools of fish. Once the active school is found, anchoring or spot locking in the area will lead to great success. Last monday, my clients and I boated 26 salmon up to 6 pounds, with some bonus rainbows and lakers in the mix.
Lake trout fishing in the deep waters of Cayuga Lake is a staple in the early spring. Focus your efforts on the 100 – 250 foot depths for best success. These fish will be glued to the bottom and we have caught them as deep as 300 feet. Vertical jigging one to three ounce jigheads with three to 4 inch paddle tail swimbaits has been the best ticket for success. The key is to vary your retrieve on the way up and utilizing 2-D sonar to find groups of fish and watch them chase your bait on the way up. We had an 18 fish morning and a 34 fish morning last week with lakers to 10 pounds coming over the rail.
On the yellow perch front, it’s just the beginning. Many anglers have been probing Seneca Lake where it doesn’t freeze. On any nice day you can see 10-30 boats out there. The bite has been picky, with many schools of fish not feeding. But once you find an active school and do a little coaxing, you can find some making it into the cooler. On Cayuga Lake, which recently iced out, it has been tougher with the cold dirty water. I was able to put together 30 keepers a few days ago between nine and 15 inches. I was able to boat the biggest perch I’ve ever caught from Cayuga at 15.5” and a little under two pounds! Plenty of out of season pickerel and largemouth in the mix. Dropshotting small plastics or swimming smaller swimbaits has been the trick.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Some steelhead were caught at the Sodus Bay Channel off the pier. Bright and silver Little Cleos were catching fish, however that was one of our calm days. “Calm Days” Remember those weather patterns?
If Maxwell Creek begins to become clear search for rainbows in the small quiet pools on the south side of Lake Road.
The Browns are at the mouths of creeks that enter Lake Ontario. It’s springtime fishing.
Bays
The ice is gone for 2026; however, the relentless wind and four inches of new snow will keep the boats off the open water.
With any respite on the horizon, this is a suitable time to list launch sites for calmer water…which will be coming soon…I promise.
- For the Lake Ontario embayments these are locations for launching your boat.
- Sodus Bay has always been lax for sites to launch. Currently, you can use the Coast Guard Station ramp until Memorial Day. Margaretta Road has a fixed dock that is a tough one to reach with low water. The parking spaces for trailers are excellent.
At the south end of Sodus use Bay Bridge Sport Shop. - The shallow water of East Bay can be reached with kayak and canoes with soft surface launches at Slaght and East Bay Road.
- Port Bay has two DEC launch sites. The south ramp is off West Port Bay Road, and the northern site is at the channel at the Barrier Bar Road. There is plenty of room for boat trailers.
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal has boat launches in Savannah, Lyons, Newark, and Macedon. Widewaters is a county park with a boat and kayak launch with plenty of parking for trailers.
There is an excellent DEC site that lists all the boating launch areas in Wayne County: dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/boating/launch-sites/wayne-county
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.
Orleans County
Orleans County Sportfishing Coordinator Ron Bierstine:
Rumors of spring arrival seem to have been slightly exaggerated! So for now there’s some cold weather back afoot with wind and some area wide snows tapering to LES. The upper Lakes LES is forecast to turn off with moderate temps returning for mid week and end of week. On the ground now is a few inches of fresh wind blown snow. With future warming temps the snow will be melting, but otherwise there is no new significant precipitation in the forecast for the rest of the week.
The WNY south shore of Lake Ontario escaped any major thunderstorms that started this latest change in the weather this week and for now all the trib flows are dropping back. A night or two of temps in the teens will definitely drop and clear water flows. Flows in the Oak are slightly high with one ft+ of viz. Flows consist of a strong head of turbine water one notch or so below max. There is diminished overflow water. Look for turbine flows to continue to slowly drop and clear through this week.
Drifting opportunities are real good up and down the whole rivercourse and some good steelhead have been hooked up by anglers plying the higher water. At last check water temps had gone into the low 40’s F and no doubt there’s been some spawning going on under the cover of the high and dirty water. Fishing pressure has been pretty light and with improving weather conditions look for a few more guys out on the water. Egg sacks, big jigs, egg pattern flies and swung flies have all been effective for pinners and spin and fly anglers.
The other area smaller waterways like Johnson and Sandy have med flows and slightly stained water color. The water level window about now is probably the best yet of the spring season. The most recent cold temps could shock those waterways some – putting off what has been a real good bite for browns and some steelhead. A fair number of last spring’s new strain of stocked browns could be showing a “new” behavior of limited spring runs evidenced by plenty of small and mid size silver fish being encountered. Look for continuing dropping and clearing flows there for now.
Near-shore open Lake small boat or casting action has been on hold thanks to lots of wind over the past week and now the icing cold. Look for that overdue action to kick back off as wind and waves and temps and skies moderate more spring-like!
Oswego County
Fishing has been good, but conditions have been erratic. Temperatures have swung 40° within 24 hours, and the area has seen heavy rain followed by significant snowfall.
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Salmon River, Pulaski NY
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Fishing continues to be good, though conditions vary day to day. Water levels are higher than normal, and the river is very murky, which is unusual.
- Strategy: Fish the slower edges and use bright-colored baits.
- Egg sacs: Pink and chartreuse have been most effective.
- Beads: 12–14 mm sizes in Muskegon Madness, Buster, and Cheese have all been productive.
- Flies: Use your largest, brightest flies to attract attention in the dirty water.
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Oswego River
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High, murky water upstream continues to challenge most anglers.
- Best areas: Focus downriver behind the hotels, where higher flows push fish to slower edges.
- Effective tactics: Bright-colored swims, baits, and jigs have been key.
- Regulations: Walleye season is now closed; any bycatch must be released immediately.
Cold Weather Reminder:
With temperatures forecast to fall below 10 degrees, fish gills and eyes can freeze quickly when exposed to the air. If photos are desired, keep fish in the water as long as possible and limit air exposure to only a few seconds.
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.
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