Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
The Niagara Falls USA area shined during the annual gathering of outdoor media and manufacturers during the first week of May, as well as during the Spring LOC Derby that concluded on Sunday.
For the Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby held May 1-10, the biggest fish was caught in Niagara County waters by Joe Yaeger of East Amherst fishing with his brother Paul from Grand Island – good for the $15,000 Grand Prize, a $1,000 LOTSA prize and a $500 fish of the day prize. They were trolling the Niagara Bar on May 7th when a 24-pound 5-ounce salmon chomped down on a Dark Hero Salmon Candy spoon.
For the annual outdoor media event held every spring, the smallmouth bass cooperated throughout the river system from Devil’s Hole all the way out to the Niagara Bar. Top baits were Spro McStick 110+1 jerk baits and RKcrawler crankbaits. The key spots were 10-15 feet of water and pauses in the retrieve triggered most strikes.
Speaking of the Niagara Bar, it has been the place to be this past week for a variety of species including king salmon, coho salmon, lake trout, brown trout, and the occasional walleye. The best presentation was MagLips off 3-way rigs fished on the bottom in 20-35 feet of water. Alternative options include jigs, stick baits, and jigging spoons. The nice thing about the area is that the fish are spread out feeding on smelt so the boats can target a mile or so behind the drop off.
Capt. Dave Scipione of Scipione’s Fishing Charters has been hitting the lake out of Wilson and reports excellent fishing for salmon and trout. There are plenty of 2-year-old king salmon around with some mature salmon and lake trout in the mix. Warrior, DW, and Northeast Troller magnum spoons are all working well, with carbon 14, raspberry carbon, Rodfather, Michael Jackson, and green alewife doing the most damage. He has been putting some meat on the deep riggers 85 to 125 feet down over 115 to 185 feet of water. He cautions boaters to be extra careful when handling these fish if you are releasing them. This is the future of our fisheries.
Karen Evarts at the Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn in Olcott reports outstanding fishing there, too, for both salmon and trout. Everything seems to be working – blacks, greens, veggie colors, golds, and glow patterns. Coho salmon have been hitting orange 6-inch flasher and peanut flies. She has been getting good yellow perch reports off Golden Hill State Park.
In the lower Niagara River, Capt. Joe Srouji of Angler Edge Outdoors reports that the cooler spring kept the shallow water salmon and trout fishing around a little longer. Trolling MagLips and drifting live bait off the river mouth is a great way to catch these fish on light tackle. The lower river is still producing brown trout, steelhead and lake trout but that bite has slowed a bit. Smallmouth bass have shown up and are cooperating. Targeting bass this time of year is catch and release only, artificial lures only.
Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports all the warm water fish are starting to turn on. Black bass are being caught all along the shoreline. Using anything from tubes to finesse baits, some guys are catching walleye as a bi-catch, as well as some steelhead still upriver near Artpark. For boaters, the Niagara Bar has been on fire for salmon, lakers, and walleye. Trolling or vertical jigging have been doing the trick.
From shore in the gorge, Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls has been catching walleyes, white bass, smallmouth bass, sheepshead, and a beautiful steelhead using his bucktail jigs and blue No. 4 spinners. Water is super clear. Fellow caster Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls hit the water over the weekend, and he found high water conditions with 6 feet of visibility. He enjoyed a good bite using small jigs on his ultralight gear.
Upper river action has also been good to very good. Steve Brzuszkiewicz of Marilla has hit the upper section a few times to chase walleyes with stick baits, but it has been difficult to keep the bass off his line. He ended up catching his walleyes by shortening his line by 10 feet or raise the lure a bit off the bottom. The foot of Ferry Street has also been a good spot for walleyes from shore using swim baits on a heavy jig.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
2026 LOC DERBY DATES
*Summer-June 27th-July 26th
*Fall-Aug 21st-Sept 7th
Get in on the action and win your share of the $140,150 in Cash Prizes in the 2026 LOC Event loc.org
If you enjoy fishing for lakers, kings, and browns, this has been the best fishing in years. Add some Atlantics, cohos, and steelhead to the mix, and no where else in the universe can you experience the excitement. How about doubles and triples at the stern of the boat. Yes indeed!
The browns have moved into deeper water and are now being caught in 50 to 60 FOW.
Lake Trout and kings are in 90 FOW and are hitting Mag spoons off the riggers and divers.
Lots of bait has been marked at the bottom in 100 FOW.
Joe Yaeger took Grand Prize honors with his 24.05 King Salmon in the LOC Spring Derby. He received a trophy and a check for $15,000. Congratulations to Mr. Yaeger.
Bays
Stay safe and respect shoreline cottages as we are experiencing high water. Docks are becoming submerged so pay attention when you cast for the largemouths. Bass season opens Jun15th, however there is fish and release season.
The pike are hitting in Sodus Bay. They have been next to LeRoy Island and in shallow water next to the other islands in Sodus. Live bait works the best, however they will hit the ‘tried and true’ Eppinger Dardevle.
The perch have been in 30 FOW near the channels at Port and Sodus Bays. They are hitting the 2-inch grubs with a yellow tail; the same bait used in the winter.
Erie Canal
The kayak anglers have launched at Widewaters. They are fishing the shoreline for crappies. The fish and release largemouths can be caught along the southern shoreline of Widewaters.
Some pike are being caught near Casey Park in Lyons.
The Erie Canal will open Friday, May 15th and will run through October 14th.
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:
Spring time weather is slow to warm here in Orleans County but good fishing is helping anglers forget about the cool temps! Most any troller you talk to that hasn’t made the westward migration toward the Niagara plume has been having good mixed bag action. Kudos to all the anglers hanging in here on the Orleans County waters who are taking advantage of willing biters and over-the-all light fishing pressure.
Cool weather is expected through the week and begin part of the weekend. In the forecast is the chance for +/- 0.50 inches of rain on Wednesday. Seems like every few days there’s some more rain and the higher Lake levels are showing that. Tributaries continue to run higher and with stained flows more often then not. There’s the likelihood of warmer temps for the end of the weekend and through next week.
One veteran small boat troller recently found fish in 70 – 80 fow and in an evening hooked up on about 10 Kings and 2 lakers. They didn’t even target any browns. The bites were 25 – 50 feet down on riggers, 5 color leadcore and divers out 80 ft and 100 ft. The Kings were 10 – 12 pounds with one around 16 pounds. Spoons were best both mags and standard. The water temps they found were 47 F in 50 fow and 49 F on top. They marked fish deeper on bottom that they figured were lakers.
One charter staying in home port said the fishing at the Oak is great! Capt. Mike L. of Intimidator Charters says “there are plenty of active Kings with a few browns and lakers in the mix. Fishing is in anywhere 50 – 250 fow at about 40 – 150 ft down. Best baits have been mag spoons in glo.”
Capt. Gerry S. from Rod Benders Charters has been catching salmon from 50 – 100 fow both east and west of the Oak harbor. “It’s been mostly a spoon bite running UV frog, snowflake and raspberry carbon.”
Oswego County
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Fishing remains great out of Oswego, but Mexico is a little more challenging.
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
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Brown trout fishing has become a little tougher as of late, but it is still very good overall. Fish have spread out more and are now being found from 10 to 30 feet down. Anglers are still catching fish on surface lines, but targeting deeper water has also produced great catches.
If you decide to slide out to the 20- to 30-plus-foot range, downriggers run close to bottom and 2-5 color leadcores have both been productive. Slide divers have also been effective.
Not much has changed with bait selection. Stingers and Stingray-sized spoons in various black and gold, black and silver, and chartreuse patterns have been producing best.
Water conditions have become very generic, so the best course of action has been to cover water and circle back once you locate activity.
The salmon bite has also slowed down as Oswego River levels have dropped, taking away some of the warmer, colored surface water. That water had been helping block the sun and keeping kings more condensed and active throughout the day. It also attracted baitfish, which helped hold kings in the area.
Lately, however, that bite has slowed considerably. Anglers finding the most success have started targeting fish deeper in the water column.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
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Brown trout fishing in the bay has been tough. Many anglers have recently been trolling all the way from Mexico Bay to the harbor mouth of Oswego in search of fish.
When in doubt, get the lake trout rigs out. Head north into 120-150 feet of water and you should find large schools of lake trout.
There are a lot of new-color Hammerhead bells on the market right now, so it may be worth trying something different that the fish have not seen before.
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