Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
The 2nd Annual Steelhead Slam was held by The Wicked Worm in Youngstown last weekend and 42 anglers competed for the top prizes. Largest steelhead was a 9.8-pound fish reeled in by Jeff McCulloch of Cheektowaga on a pink egg sac, fishing with Capt. Matt Gantress of Unreel Fishing Adventures. Gantress also placed second in the contest with an 8.62-pound steelie. Third place was Frank Pavacich of Wheatfield with an 8.06-pound fish. Brown trout winner was Kristopher Hulbert of Buffalo with an 8.6-pound fish from the lower Niagara River. Frank Nati of Buffalo repeated as the top shore fisherman for steelhead with a 7.06-pound fish.
Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston was out with customers on Saturday and they opted not to get in the contest. They ended up having a great day by focusing on drifts that kept them out of the wind. He picked through a handful of brown trout using Pautzke’s chartreuse dye on the emerald shiners. He then heading up river, doing well on brown trout in all the available drifts. He ended the day in Devil’s Hole where they hooked up with several steelhead and monster lake trout. They ran minnows off three-way rigs all day. Steelhead were caught on bubble gum/pink 8mm trout beads.
Water was clear above power plant and there was 4-foot visibility below the powerplant reports Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls. However, with all the heavy rain moving through Tuesday, look for the water to be heavily stained – especially below all power plants. Ziehm caught several steelhead on chartreuse/orange No. 4 spinners on a Sunday morning trip. With the warm rain, look for the ice bridge to start breaking up. There could be an announcement this week as to when the ice boom will be removed.
Brown trout fishing out of Wilson and Olcott has been going gangbusters, at least for the people who have been out so far. Capt. Joe Oakes of Salmonboy Sportfishing targeted browns out of Wilson in 10 to 15 feet of water with stick baits. He ran out a bit deeper into 50 to 80 feet of water with spoons and flasher-fly combos to hit some lake trout. John Van Hoff of North Tonawanda opted to fish Olcott and they ended up catching-and-releasing over 20 brown trout. His focus was 6 to 10 feet of water with stick baits like Rapalas, Bay Rats and Rebels.
Burt Dam and 18 Mile Creek have been muddy lately, but some brown trout and suckers were caught according to Karen Evarts with The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn in Olcott. Pink and black colors are working with jigs, egg sacs, and nightcrawlers. Matt Vogt of Newfane hit both Burt Dam and Keg Creek and found fish but difficult conditions. Keg was too clear. Look for these streams to be high and muddy after the most recent rain.
Trout stocking at Hyde Park Lake and Oppenheim Park Pond usually takes place the first week of April.
Finger Lakes and Western New York Fishing Report
Captain Nick Petrou Nick Petrou of Natural Outfitters Guide Service
The yellow perch fishing still remains strong. Water temps have finally crested that 40 degree mark and perch activity has increased tremendously. Cayuga lake is showing off this perch season! We have been fishing in the 5-18 foot range with a mix of small swimbaits and dropshots. Some days its lock and load fishing, others you have to do a little searching to find the right school. The key is having long leaders attached to your braid as the water is super clear where these perch are sitting. The water has gotten pretty dirty, but there are pockets of crystal clear water. If you find one of those pockets of clean water, it’s game on. I’ve had plenty of groups out and we’ve managed a 2-3 man limit every outing (that’s between 100-150 fish kept!). I anticipate the perch fishing to stay good up until the 3rd week of April here in the finger lakes.
Lake trout fishing is still solid. 100 – 250 foot depths are still loaded with fish. These fish will be glued to the bottom and varying your retrieve is crucial for bites. Vertical jigging one to three ounce jigheads with three to 4 inch paddle tail swimbaits has been the best ticket for success. Utilize 2-D sonar to find groups of fish and watch them chase your bait on the way up. The few times i’ve been out fishing for them it’s been lock and load fishing with many fish pushing that 8 pound mark.
I’ve started to probe around for crappies and bluegills in some of the smaller local lakes and it has been just OK. Some days you catch a limit, some days you don’t catch any. It’s extremely hit or miss with all the inconsistent weather. Fathead minnows fished under a slip bobber have produced the best results. On these smaller waters, the largemouth fishing has picked up. I will be starting some bass charters in the coming weeks so stay tuned. The bass fishing is about to bust wide open.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The browns are close to shore and if you don’t have a boat, cast out with Little Cleos next to the channel at Port Bay. Anywhere you can cast out into the lake will work.
Pier fishing also will catch browns and some steelhead. Just be careful as the recent rainfall is creating tremendous current.
You could book a charter and fish with the pro’s who know where the browns are along the shoreline in Wayne County. The list of charters is on the Wayne County web page.
The Pen Rearing project is ready to “Rock and Roll” for 2026. The 90,000 kings will be coming to Sodus Point April 13th. The fish will be placed in pens behind Krenzer Marine. Stop down and watch the fingerlings leave the hatchery trucks… swimming to a vacation home before being released in Lake Ontario.
Streams
Recent rainfall has left the streams muddy and with more precipitation predicted, the flow will be too great for angling. As of today…concentrate brown trout angling out in Lake Ontario.
Bays
Port Bay was calm today after early morning storms. The few who were fishing were catching perch in 20 fow using 2-inch chartreuse grubs with yellow tails. Use perch eyes on the hooks to catch some “thumpers.”
At Sodus Bay, the perch are in 30 fow near the islands and out from Shaker Heights Road.
Erie Canal
Tomorrow is April 1st so if you are not down in Naples catching rainbow trout, you can try your luck for crappies at Widewaters. They are suspended near the Port Gibson bridge. Actually, they taste better than trout.
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. On 1298 Route 104 is Ontario Country Max and 625 E Main St. is Palmyra Country Max.
Orleans County
Orleans County Sportfishing Coordinator Ron Bierstine:
The up and down trib flows and resultant fishable water conditions continue to come and go. The Oak for the beginning of this week and the other area smaller trib flows for the past weekend were offering up better conditions and anglers were hooking up on steelhead and browns. Now we may be headed for another high and dirty water period thanks to rain so far today. There is the chance for more signifcant storms or rain as the rest of the weather system moves through later today/tonight.
Flows in the Oak were slightly high and stained with about 1 foot of stained visibility. Flows in the other area smaller waterways were med and slightly stained with 1 – 2 ft of visibility. Look for rising and off color flows all around in the near term. If the forecast for more rain or storms is realized for later today/tonight look for blown and dirty trib conditions all around which could include Oak overflow water again.
As the water conditions had been improving, guys were into a mix of steelhead and browns. There are probably more spring time browns around then ever which include both dropback recovering spawning fish and silver fresh Lake fish apparently on a warm water or baitfish foray. Steelhead include a mix of fresh, spawning and dropback fish. With the mix of fish anglers are finding them in all the typical spots like at the dam, overflow, downstream fast water gravel, staging holes and smaller waterways.
Fishing pressure has been lite to moderate and wouldn’t be expected to pick up much thanks to the high water conditions. Some anglers are also turning toward inland trout pursuits instead of the big salmonid action – why I dunno?!
Shoreline and nearshore Lake casting or small craft action has been good mirroring the apparent strong numbers of brown trout around. When casters or small craft guys find cooperative winds and waves and not too much dirty water coming out of the tribs they have had action on eager hungry browns with small spoons and plugs. As a bonus there is the chance for coho or dropback steelhead strikes too. For small boat trollers able to get out and onto the mudline or tasty green water pockets the action has been real good with multiple hook-ups reported. The usual suspects of shallow rigger spoons and stickbaits off the boards or just flat lining plugs can all be successful for the nearshore waters less then 20 fow. A few charters are just starting to work the waters off Point Breeze. We’ll start getting some intel soon from those that hang in local and don’t make the westward migration toward the Niagara plume.
Steelhead pens and King salmon pens are ready and assembled thanks to volunteer help. Those pens will be placed in the Oak for the pen reared fish scheduled to arrive from NYSDEC on Apr 6. Some of the Orleans stocking numbers will include 15,000 steelhead and 110,000 Kings reared in the pens for eventual release later in April. Did you know the Oak Orchard was at the forefront of pen rearing efforts across Lake Ontario in cooperation with NYSDEC some years ago? Now nearly every major port along the south shore now has their own pen rearing projects.
Oswego County
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Salmon River, Pulaski NY
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April in Oswego means the steelhead spawn is in full swing. Expect a mix of fresh fish, spawning fish, and dropbacks distributed throughout the river. As water temperatures begin to rise, smolt activity will increase. Anglers should consider using more beads and pink worms to target actively feeding fish while helping to avoid injury to juvenile fish.
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Lake Ontario – Oswego County
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Lake Ontario is gradually warming, and brown trout are moving into the shallows to feed after a long winter. Productive fishing can be found along much of the southern shoreline in Oswego County. Launches in Mexico, Oswego, and the Salmon River all provide good access to active water. Trolling long lines with spoons and stickbaits has been effective for generating strikes.
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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