Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Lake Ontario And Tributaries
Salmon fishing has been back to normal on the Niagara Bar when compared to how the fishing was last year. Joe Yaeger of East Amherst reported good action on the Niagara Bar drop-off around the red buoy marker, using R&R froggy glow spoons 35 feet down over the bottom. He also had good luck using a white two face stinger chip flasher with a green glow fly to take some nice kings, but nothing on the leader board for the derbies. Mark Romanack of Michigan, host of the fishing show Fishing411 was in town with Buzz Ramsey of Yakima Baits and they managed to get a couple shows in short order on the Niagara Bar. They were impressed with the size of the kings as compared with Lake Michigan and they couldn’t stop talking about the big 8 pound coho they caught and fried up later that night. MagLips were a favorite bait of the crew. Pier action continues to be good off Wilson and Olcott but the super clear water is posing a bit of a problem, especially for shoreline trollers looking for browns and cohos. Head out deeper for lake trout and salmon in the 60 to 120 foot range away from the Niagara Bar. The Lake Ontario Counties trout and salmon derby (loc.org) is near its final weekend and some pretty impressive fish have been weighed in around the lake – with the biggest coming from Niagara County of course. Leading the way in the $15,000 Grand Prize at the time of this report was a 24 pound king salmon (pictured above) hauled in by Lee Beaton of Clifton Springs, NY while trolling the Niagara Bar with a Stinger Spoon. It took the lead over the 23 pound, 14 ounce king salmon reeled in by Nicholas Glosser of Amherst while fishing with Capt. Vince Pierleoni and Team Thrillseeker. Second place in the Salmon Division right now is Ken Champagne of Chillicothe, Ohio with a 23 pound, four ounce Niagara Bar king. The funny thing is that he beat out his fishing buddy – fishing out of the same boat – Brian Marketich of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania with a 22 pound, 8 ounce salmon. Big lake trout is a 24 pound, one ounce fish caught by Casey Prisco of Matamoras, Pennsylvania while fishing out of Wilson with a Finger Lakes spoon. 18 of the top 20 lake trout come from Niagara County waters. Big brown trout is 16 pounds, 10 ounces from Point Breeze, weighed in by Michael Wichtowski of Rochester while pulling a flasher and fly combo. The big walleye was caught by Travis Parker of Glen Park and comes from Henderson Harbor, 12 pounds, 13 ounces on Husky Jerk, but some 12 pounders were caught in the Niagara River this past week and they weren’t in the derby. The derby ends at 1 pm so if you are going fishing in Lake Ontario before then, be sure to sign up in advance. Speaking of signing up in advance, it’s still not too late to sign up for the Lake Ontario Pro-Am Salmon Team Tournaments set for May 30-31 and June 6-7. Teams can sign up for the trophy and the classic divisions at lakeontarioproam.net. Recreational Open teams, and expanded part of the Pro-Am tournament, have a much more relaxed schedule and those are all one day events with more than 100 percent cash payback. Best two scores qualify for the Recreational Open Cup, a friendly competition for the best three fish each day. And speaking of best three fish, don’t forget about the Don Johannes and Pete DeAngelo Memorial three fish contests on May 29 and June 5, the day before the Pro-Am weekends. It’s a great warm up for the tournaments but you don’t have to be in the tournaments to compete in these fun events. Sign up at Bootleggers Cove Marina, the Gas Shack in Wilson, or The Slippery Sinker in Olcott. Tip of the week comes from Joe Greco, Ron Panella and John Bartoni of Binghamton. If you stop in to a weigh station on the water like Youngstown Harbor, make sure you tie your boat up when you weigh the fish in!
Lower Niagara River
There’s been a mixed bag of trout and smallmouth bass with a few walleye thrown in for good measure the past week. An early report of smelt last week caused some excitement but it was short-lived as smelt runs disappeared. Some are still hopeful that they will show up any day and Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island believes that there are pods of smelt stacked up in some of the slack water areas, but that is speculation. In the meantime, Devil’s Hole and Stella were good drifts for steelies using either minnows or egg sacs. Lake trout are also being caught along with the occasional brown trout. Walleye fishing has been good at night around the Lewiston Landing area with jigs. Shore fishermen in the gorge are picking up some trout, too, on egg sacs, egg imitations like trout beads and spoons or spinners. Smallmouth bass fishing – which is all catch and release this time of year – has been going bonkers down at the mouth around Fort Niagara. Tubes are the way to go according to Capt. Bruce Blakelock of Lewiston, but some fish have been caught on spinnerbaits, jerk baits and other artificial lures. If you are targeting bass in a catch and release area you cannot use live bait.
Upper Niagara River
Water temperatures were still a bit cool earlier in the week. Wally Marshall of Anna, Texas – better known as Mr. Crappie around panfishing circles – was in town to sample the local fishing this week as part of a local media event. Marshall worked the cuts and canals around Grand Island on Monday and found the water to be a little chilly still at 46 degrees. He would have liked to have seen 8 to 10 degrees warmer for catching crappie. He did managed to catch a pile of largemouth using one of his signature baits – a “shadpole” fishing under a float about 3 feet. The bass were gobbling them up. Over in Buffalo Boat Harbor, he found areas that were holding good numbers of crappie, but the water temperatures were keeping them down a bit. He really believed that those fish would be turning on very soon – especially at dusk and into the night around the docks and finger piers. Another spot that looked good was around Strawberry island.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Oswego River
According to Larry Muroski of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop:
The water level has been fairly steady over the last day or so. This morning it is running at 5,380cfs. Anglers are reporting a decent walleye bite on nightcrawlers, leeches, and stickbaits. Bullhead are hitting worms and leeches at Ox Creek and 3-Mile Creek.
Lake Ontario
According to Capt. Andy Bliss of Chasin’ Tail Adventures:
Lake temperatures continue to climb so brown trout fishing has been tough. Some kings have started to show out of Oswego. Lake trout have been the one species that has been readily available. They are being taken from 115-150′ near the bottom.
According to Capt. Kevin Davis of Catch the Drift:
The shoreline water has been crystal clear making the brown trout bite tough. There has been a very good lake trout bite. Many nibbles and many landed. We could really use our colored water back. Midweek we fished in the heavy fog. You couldn’t even see the shoreline in 8 foot of water. We had several attachments fishing for brown trout and many fishing for lakers.
The bridge to Leto Island is closed, and there are Mandatory Personal Flotation Device (PFD) zones on the Oswego River below the Varick Dam. For more information, view the Oswego County Tourism web site at www.visitoswegocounty.com and look for the fishing report under fishing and hunting. The Oswego Fire Department offers loaner life jackets at no charge through its “Loaner For Life” program. For more information contact the fire station, 35 E. Cayuga St., at 315-343-2161.
Salmon River
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
Wednesday was another bright sunny day with the temperature reaching into the 70’s. With the low water and sunny conditions the water temperature is warming up fast and the fish are dropping back quickly. The best action has been first thing in the morning and late in the day when the bright sun is not on the water. The drop backs are scattered throughout the river and have been holding in the faster water as they head back to the lake. If you plan on fishing the Upper or Lower Fly Zones be aware of the regulation changes that started on May 1st. For those anglers who are fly fishing swinging streamers has produced the best results. For the anglers who are bottom bouncing or float fishing, blue egg sacs, pink worms and steelhead beads have all produced results.
Oneida Lake
Walleye season opened on Saturday and anglers were finding success in shallow water using nightcrawlers and stickbaits. Anglers also found a bass bite in 5-10 feet of water but remember these are on a catch and release basis until the season opens. Bullhead are active along the shoreline with nightcrawlers and leeches suggested bait.
Sandy Pond
According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
There isn’t a lot of activity this time of year on the pond but anglers are finding a crappie bite with small minnows under a float.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
The catch was on the slow side over the weekend. If you are an Entomologist fishing on the lake would suit you fine. The bugs are everywhere and like black flies, the only cure is wind.
Anyway… the bite has been slow. Look for the browns close to shore between Bear Creek and Port Bay.
The current report from Popeye (Fair Haven area) sums-up the current situation.
The weather pattern we have been in the past week and a half with gentle southerly winds pushes the warmer water off shore. If we get a NW we may see these fish back on shore again. Get out early these fish will be active on top. As the sun comes up they are moving down. 2 to 3 color cores with spoons worked well. Carmel dolphin was my best for steelies and diehard for lakers and kings. riggers varied from 30 to 50 down with spoons and sliders on the corners. Center rigger and dipseys were white / green dot in the am, chrome green dot once the sun came up with A-Tom-Mik Hammer flies. 70-120 on the center rigger and 120 to 180 on the dipseys. The fish were all over from 100′ on out found no end.
The best action in Wayne County has been towards the western region of the county. Use the ‘ole’ stick bait/spoon combination.
Bays
Not much is happening in the bays. The bullhead has been the major targeted fish. You can catch them in slow moving shallow water. Bay Bridge is always the hot-spot. Use leeches.
Erie Canal
Kayak anglers were fishing near the Clyde ramp. They are catching blue gills and sunnies. Fishing from the smaller water crafts is becoming very popular.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops. www.waynecountytourism.com.
They have a brand new Wayne County Fishing Brochure. This publication features where to go, what to use, and what to catch. Call our office for a free fishing packet, including the new brochure. 1-800-527-6510. We also have a new publication on Great Lakes fishing.