Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
Strong northeast winds over the weekend moved water around and flipped the lake, causing some turmoil in the fishing world. However, if you could locate warmer water, you could usually find fish. Finding pods of bait was another key to finding salmon.
Capt. Joe Cinelli of Grand Island reports lots of cold water rolled in with the northeast blow, driving the kings to sit in the warmer river water. Fish were high in the water column, and many salmon were taken on spoons off the riggers 30 to 40 feet down. Fish were off the Bar drop-off in 60-foot all the way out to the major break between the river water and the cold clear lake water in 300 feet. Capt. Ryan Shea of Brookdog Fishing Company called Cinelli out on a major feed offshore, and the kings slid out to the break and were hot out from 280 to 300 feet of water. Cinelli anticipates the salmon will slide back in shallow once the southwest winds set the Bar back up, as well as other areas west of Wilson. He reported lots of bait out there and he insisted that the salmon won’t leave a free lunch.
Before the blow, Capt. Dave Scipione of Scipione’s Fishing Charters reports the lake continued to deliver one of the best spring king bites of all time. Actively feeding fish could be found from 45 -50 feet of water all the way out to 300-foot. Early morning glow patterns like Dreamweaver’s Carbon 14, Raspberry Carbon, and Lazer Spook were all producing quick limit catches of spring kings. When the sun was high in the sky, he would switch out to traditional green and silvers with some glow such as DW green alewife, green jeans, Warrior rodfather, and Northeast Troller 2 face bam glow. When the lake flipped, he would need to find slight variations in temperature. Sometimes getting into 41-to-42-degree water made all the difference. This slightly warmer water outflow could be found between the red can and the Canadian line from 50 to 200 feet of water, and out deep to almost 400-foot.
Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott reports that after the lights-out fishing prior to the weekend, action slowed so many boats headed west in search of warmer waters. When they found warmer water they found fish, they did well. Brighter colored spoons seemed to work best with glow, chartreuse, white and veggie colors. Coho fishing seems to have picked up in the lake, too. Information will be limited with the Skip Hartman Pro-Am Tournament set for June 5-6. There are 51 boats signed up.
Fishing on the lower Niagara River is starting to slowly turn from trout to warm water species like smallmouth bass and silver bass. Alan Raymond with The Wicked Worm in Youngstown reports some big smallmouth bass are getting caught at Artpark, but it was a bit tough to fish there as the water is high. Some walleyes are being caught after dusk at Lewiston sand docks. Action has been good to very good for a mix of species with smallmouth and silver bass responding to jigs and stick baits while trout are keying in on live bait such as golden or emerald shiners fished off 3-way rigs. Over the weekend, steelhead were found in Devil’s Hole in decent numbers with a few lakers still mixed in. To target any of the trout species, look for the faster moving drifts with particular attention paid to the drop offs on those drifts. MagLips are a good bait to cover water and find the active drifts.
June starts a long string of fishing tournaments and derbies on Lake Ontario for both the adults and the kids. The Skip Hartman Memorial Pro-Am Salmon Tournament out of Wilson and Olcott is slated for June 5 and 6. The kickoff for tournament week is the Don Johannes Memorial 3-Fish tournament run by Capt. Mike Johannes on June 3rd. Cost is $100 per boat, and you don’t have to fish the Pro-Am to participate. Sign up until 6 a.m. on the morning of the fun contest at The Boat Doctors or Bootleggers Cove. The first kids contest will be on June 13 at the Youngstown Public Dock next to The Wicked Worm starting at 8 a.m.
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
The weekend south wind pushed the kings into 130-160fow. The browns in Wayne County are still close to shore in 30 to 40 fow.
Mag spoons are the dominate presentation with Dreamwever and Michigan Stingers excellent choices. The Natural Born Killer (NBK) from Michigan is a favorite color. The spoons are still working the best with Carbon 14, another smart choice.
Currently, we are experiencing a calmer lake with a southwest wind at 6 mph which will give the salmon a chance to stay around.
Weather predictions for the week will help charters find and stay with the king bite.
Bays
The high-water level in the bays appears to be stable, however some docks in Sodus Bay are under water. Make sure you respect any shoreline when you are fishing Port and Sodus Bays.
The news from Davenport Marina is all about the rock bass bite in Sodus Bay. Use jigs, grubs, worms, and minnows to catch the tasty fish.
The perch are still in both Sodus and Port Bays. Fish in deeper water at the north end of both bays near the channels.
The Fish and Release season for bass ends June 15th. The regs for keeping bass are 12inches 5 fish.
Erie Canal
Widewaters has some strong current from the recent rainfall, however if you fish the canal, you will not have the constant wind. Some crappies are being caught near Port Gibson Bridge. Use anything that is bright and keep the jigs small. Crappies or “Strawberry Bass” will suspend in the water column.
The canal has plenty of largemouth bass and the season for keepers is 3 weeks away.
The Erie Canal is now open and will close on 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:
More rain! And some more stained water coming out of the Oak from a good batch of rain through the previous weekend. Along with the rain and storms there were some east winds. But it looks like we are headed back to prevailing or lite winds so far this week and a couple days of warm temps. A slight cool down (seasonal) and clear skies is forecast for the rest of the week.
Look for the previous good mid-depth action for Kings and deeper laker action to hopefully set back up. With some westerly winds all the west basin Niagara plume action might start sliding east towards the Orleans County waters and bring on even more salmon bites. Some of the Oak regular trollers and captains are starting their eastward migration back to home port! Over-the-all the trolling pressure has been easily manageable (light) here at the Oak.
CJO aka Troutman of Tightlines Charters says “when the Orleans County waters roll over its time to bottom fish for big lakers. My Fort Lee, NJ crew took a 38 inch, 23 pound slob on a cowbell setup downrigged at 90 ft. Otherwise double header action has been common on Kings when west winds set up off the Oak. The gorgeous Kings are hitting a spoon program in 75 – 150 fow half way down.”
Oswego County
• Signup To Receive Weekly Fishing Reports From Oswego County
Oswego County is beginning to enter the transition period. Water temperatures are starting to homogenize, and the fish are becoming more spread out.
Lake Ontario – Oswego County
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
The Oswego River has risen again, creating a significant amount of colored water around the harbor. This has helped keep brown trout closer to the river mouth and has made them somewhat easier to target.
The most productive water depths have been 10–40 feet, with fish being taken from the surface down to 25 feet.
Salmon have been spread out for some time, but with the increased river flow there is hope they will begin to group back together.
Lake Ontario – Mexico
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Brown trout are also widely spread out in this area. To improve success, cover water and stagger baits from the surface down to 30 feet.
As is typical this time of year, the best action remains lake trout fishing in 130–160 feet of water. Start in front of the Salmon River and work north.
Request a Free Salmon River Fishing Map!
Designed to slip into your pocket, this map covers popular public and private fishing locations, as well as boat launches. The best news: it’s completely free!
Contact the Oswego County Tourism Department:
Free Oswego Fishing Guide
Click Here to Order a Free Guide
The 68-page guide includes a detailed overview of fishing opportunities on eastern Lake Ontario, Oneida Lake, the Oswego and Salmon rivers and a variety of other tributaries, as well as the more than 40,000 acres of public lands available for hunting.
Click Here to Order Free Information, or email tourism@oswegocountyny.gov