Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Last weekend there were three fishing derbies and a tournament going on in Niagara Falls USA waters. John Van Hoff of North Tonawanda went out fishing last Sunday, the final day for the Orleans County Rotary Derby. The leader was 30 pounds, 9 ounces. Using a flasher and meat rig, he pounded the Niagara Bar all morning. With less than an hour to go in the derby, Van Hoff hit a fish that looked to be over 30 pounds. Would it beat Keith Sheffield’s king salmon … and could he make it to the Slippery Sinker inOlcott in time by the 1 p.m. cut-off? Van Hoff made it with 15 minutes to spare and the weight was 30 pounds, 12 ounces – taking over the lead and eventually winning the $4,000 Grand Prize. Other divisional winners were Robert Griffith with a 16 pound steelhead; Bill Cole with a 14 pound brown trout; and Dan DeGeorge with a 17 and a half pound lake trout. Meanwhile, two hours after Van Hoff was catching his winning salmon, Joe Oakes of Lockport was reeling in a 34 and a half pound salmon out of Wilsonthat would take over the lead in the Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby and the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey in the Salmon Division. The bar has been set as the LOC Derby continues through Labor Day and the Odyssey continues through Sunday. Speaking of the Odyssey, updates are now being put on the Fish Odyssey Facebook page due to the fact that webmaster Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors needed emergency surgery. Say a prayer. The awards for the Odyssey will be Sunday at Olcott Fire Hall on Route 78 starting at 4 p.m. Congratulations to the Just One More Cure team led by Capt. Bryan Lukehart of Pennsylvania. His ladies crew won the 2nd annual Reelin’ for a Cure event held last Friday with a score of 149 points while fishing out of Olcott. The tourney raised over $4,000 for the Breast Cancer Network of WNY.
Niagara Bar to east of Olcott
Fishing on the local front has been pretty darn good; at least when Mother Nature cooperates. Salmon can be found from theNiagara Bar to east of Olcott. Van Hoff caught a dozen mature kings on the Bar using meat on Sunday. Oakes hit his leading king between 350 and 400 feet of water out in front of Wilson using a flasher-fly – the A-Tom-Mik Stud fly – 90 feet down on his rigger. At the same time, John Shafer of Jamestown was fishing a J-plug in front of Olcott and hit a 33 pound, 7 ounce king that is first place in the salmon division. There are a lot of kings around. And if you want to target steelhead or browns, they are available, too. In the LOC Derby, George Hovak of North Tonawanda is in second with a 12 pound steelhead out of Wilson. The leader is from Point Breeze, a 16 pound, 9 ounce fish. Top brown is also from the Point, a 14 pound, 3 ounce trout. But second place is from Olcott. Both leaders came on Moonshine spoons. In the Odyssey, top lake trout is a 21 pound, 6 ounce Niagara Bar fish reeled in by Ed Klejdys of North Tonawanda. Leading walleye is an 11 pound, 6 ounce Niagara Bar fish weighed in by Anthony LaRosa of Lewiston. Big bass so far is a 5 pound smallie reeled in by Dave Muir of North Tonawanda from Lake Erie. Ken Trontel of Pennsylvania has the first place brown trout with a 13 pound, 9 ounce Olcott fish. Leading carp is 19 pounds, 12 ounces caught by Michael Boncore of Buffalo in the Niagara River. Some impressive kids catches, too.
Niagara River
Niagara River fishing has been good for bass and walleye both. Crayfish and shiners are working the best, fished off three-way rigs.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Lake Ontario report:
The wind is a factor on Lake Ontario yesterday with waves up to seven feet. Conditions have settled down overnight with a stretch of nice although cooler weather forecasted through the weekend. With these conditions anglers will likely find salmon in 70-120 feet of water but we will have to see over the next couple of days what water depths are active.
According to Capt. Andy Bliss of Chasin’ Tail Adventures:
The king salmon fishing was very good over the weekend. We saw lots of activity in 95 feet of water with flies, flies and more flies getting the job done.
According to Capt. Troy Creasy of High Adventure Sportfishing Charters:
It’s called humble pie – you’re a hero for a week straight and then the fish remind you that you are not in charge. On Monday we had a weird cross chop and weird current. Three quick shots in 5 hours and then spent the last half hour catching four nice brown trout.
Oswego River Report
The water flow has been between 1,700 and 3,000cfs over the last few days. This morning it is running at 2,600cfs. Areas all along the river are fishable. There are no salmon reported in the river as yet although it may not be much longer.
Notice: The bridge to Leto Island is closed, and there are mandatory personal flotation device (PFD) zones on the river. For more information, visit our website at visitoswegocounty.com and click on the Fishing Report along the top bar on the home page.
Pulaski Area and Salmon River report:
According to Fat Nancy’s Tackle Shop:
The fishing from Oswego to the Salmon River up to Sandy Pond has been very good from 95 to 130 feet of water up through Tuesday. Wednesday’s high winds likely moved the fish around and we will have to see over the next day or so what water depth they will settle into. The best setups have been a Hammer Time E-chip with a white meat rig or a green dot UV Spin Doctor with an ultra-green glow fly. The carbon 14 UV spoon has also been productive.
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
A number of anglers fished the run yesterday with the same high expectations that I had. The conditions were right. Hard west wind, cooler overnight temperatures, heavy rain (causing a nice little bump in the water level with a little color) but, the fish didn’t get the message and other than one or two salmon being spotted, they didn’t show. This morning is a perfect August morning, cool and in the 50’s. We have an early report of about a dozen kings working their way through the middle section of the run. The water flow is running at 185cfs.
Notice: The Salmon River Fish Hatchery building continues to be closed due to construction. The grounds, including picnic area and fish ladder, are still open dawn to dusk. You can reach the hatchery at 315-298-5051, Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.
Oneida Lake Report:
Although the fishing is a little tougher this time of year on the lake, walleye are being taken in deep water trolling worm harnesses or blade baits. Yellow perch are taking minnows. Anglers are finding some bass as they follow gizzard shad.
Sandy Pond report:
According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
Conditions on the pond have become more difficult with the heavy weed growth which is typical at this time of year. Persistent anglers who adapt to these conditions will find some Northern pike and bass.
Eastern Finger Lakes / Central New York Fishing Report
Mike Crawford of upstateguideservice.com
A long spell of blue sky and sunshine, interrupted by rain and clouds only a bit, has been the weather pattern here in Central New York. Looks like it may become the norm for September. But who knows.
The late summer fishing is very good throughout the region…as predicted. High water for most of the summer translates into good angling for late summer early Autumn.
The trollers are killing trout en masse on the Eastern Finger Lakes. Like they always do.
Thing with trolling on small lakes is that the mortality rate is high. Downrigging is high-impact on young trout. Big trout too.
Light tackle anglers, like myself, have been enjoying bass and panfish in the shallow margins of the lakes.
Each summer season I enjoy the company of vacationing families and young children learning how to fish on my boat.
With rod in hand, they learn how to feel a bite and set the hook, then land the fish.
Kids pick up on it quick! and Mom’s and Dad’s glow with delight.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
There were a lot of derbies and tournaments going on this weekend with some fantastic catches brought to the scales.
The King of the Oak Tournament was postponed on Saturday due to a small craft advisory on Lake Ontario and was held instead on Sunday.
For the second leg in a row Captain Tom Boddy and crew of Screamin’ Reels Charters amassed a fantastic catch with three salmon weighing in at 73.13 Pounds.
Right behind Tom Was Capt. Rick Hajecki of Yankee Troller and in 3rd place was Capt. Bob Songin of Reel Excitement Charters.
The final leg of this Tournament will be held on September 3rd and will determine who gets the coveted title of “King of the Oak” for next year.
Sunday was also the end of the Orleans County Rotary Derby and this year it was a nail biter right to the end.
With a very short time left John Vanhoff of North Tonawanda landed a 30-pound 12-ounce salmon to knock Keith Sheffield’s 30-pound 9-ounce salmon out of the grand prize winner’s spot by just 3 ounces.
That put Keith in the first-place spot for the salmon division.
In the steelhead/rainbow trout division, Robert Griffith of Copley, Ohio brought in a 15-pound 14-ounce beauty to take first place, first place brown trout was taken by Bill Cole of Albion with a 14-pound 3-ounce beauty and the big lake trout was caught by Dan DE George of Rochester with a monster 17-pound 10-ounce fish.
It’s interesting to note that two of the participants that made it to the leader board are young gentlemen, Jason Grager in 2nd place with a 12-pound 12-ounce brown trout and in 3rd place in the lake trout division was Braydon Gambell with a 14-pound 9-ounce beauty.
Just goes to show that the youth of today are into the great outdoors and especially fishing.
This report is getting too long so I’ll cover the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey and the Fall LOC Derby in my next report.
On Lake Ontario, after a rocky start fishing has settled in to an area around the 25.5 to 27 lines with some great catches of both chinook and Coho salmon along with very large steelhead thrown into the mix.
On Lake Alice, around the Waterport Bridge, catches of Bluegill are good but a lot of smaller fish in the mix.
Please remember that those smaller fish are the future catches so put them back to grow into next year’s catch.
Bass fishing on Lake Alice remains good to very good in the upper reaches.
On the lower stretches of the “Oak” a good mixed bag of the warm water species is being taken.
One gentleman I know of says that Gar pike fishing in this area are just about the best anywhere.
It won’t be long before the perch fishing starts up again on the lower stretches of the “Oak” and that will be followed by some of the best tributary fishing to be fond anywhere.
Bays
Largemouth bass fishing has been hot on Sodus Bay. Just fish the weedlines, throwing out any rig you have. There have been some smallmouths caught near the Sodus channel using minnows.
Crappies have been suspended near the south end of Sodus. Fish the edge of the heavy weedline and use bright-small jigs tipped with spikes. The crappies are down three feet over eight feet of water.
The heavy weeds between LeRoy and Newark Island have been the perfect habitat for pike. Fish the four to five-foot water using pike minnows or troll with spoons. Use weedless lures.
The no wake conditions remain on all Wayne County bays, so that will make getting to your preferred location very difficult.
It sounds like a broken record however, the speed on the bays is still idle. It’s a Wayne County Emergency condition.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops. waynecountytourism.com.
Erie Canal
The warm canal waters are producing some nice cat fish near Palmyra, while the bass fishing is excellent in the Widewaters section. Fish from the shore if you don’t have a boat.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism
There were a lot of derbies and tournaments going on this weekend with some fantastic catches brought to the scales.
The King of the Oak Tournament was postponed on Saturday due to a small craft advisory on Lake Ontario and was held instead on Sunday.
For the second leg in a row Captain Tom Boddy and crew of Screamin’ Reels Charters amassed a fantastic catch with three salmon weighing in at 73.13 Pounds.
Right behind Tom Was Capt. Rick Hajecki of Yankee Troller and in 3rd place was Capt. Bob Songin of Reel Excitement Charters.
The final leg of this Tournament will be held on September 3rd and will determine who gets the coveted title of “King of the Oak” for next year.
Sunday was also the end of the Orleans County Rotary Derby and this year it was a nail biter right to the end.
With a very short time left John Vanhoff of North Tonawanda landed a 30-pound 12-ounce salmon to knock Keith Sheffield’s 30-pound 9-ounce salmon out of the grand prize winner’s spot by just 3 ounces.
That put Keith in the first-place spot for the salmon division.
In the steelhead/rainbow trout division, Robert Griffith of Copley, Ohio brought in a 15-pound 14-ounce beauty to take first place, first place brown trout was taken by Bill Cole of Albion with a 14-pound 3-ounce beauty and the big lake trout was caught by Dan DE George of Rochester with a monster 17-pound 10-ounce fish.
It’s interesting to note that two of the participants that made it to the leader board are young gentlemen, Jason Grager in 2nd place with a 12-pound 12-ounce brown trout and in 3rd place in the lake trout division was Braydon Gambell with a 14-pound 9-ounce beauty.
Just goes to show that the youth of today are into the great outdoors and especially fishing.
This report is getting too long so I’ll cover the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey and the Fall LOC Derby in my next report.
On Lake Ontario, after a rocky start fishing has settled in to an area around the 25.5 to 27 lines with some great catches of both chinook and Coho salmon along with very large steelhead thrown into the mix.
On Lake Alice, around the Waterport Bridge, catches of Bluegill are good but a lot of smaller fish in the mix.
Please remember that those smaller fish are the future catches so put them back to grow into next year’s catch.
Bass fishing on Lake Alice remains good to very good in the upper reaches.
On the lower stretches of the “Oak” a good mixed bag of the warm water species is being taken.
One gentleman I know of says that Gar pike fishing in this area are just about the best anywhere.
It won’t be long before the perch fishing starts up again on the lower stretches of the “Oak” and that will be followed by some of the best tributary fishing to be fond anywhere.
PLEASE,I NEED FISHING REPORTS:WEATHER,SON ,NOON,PRESURE.THANK YOU.LAZAR