Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Get ready for another slug of fish to arrive in the Niagara River and area tributaries off Lake Ontario! Both wind and rain are in the forecast and that could be the trigger to bring some more fish into area waters.
Lower Niagara River
In the lower Niagara River, Capt. Frank Campbell of Niagara Region Charters called me at 9:30 a.m. to say he had limited out for his two customers. That’s six salmon in just a couple hours. Not every day is like that, but if the rains in the afternoon trigger a run, there are a bunch of fish – kings and Coho salmon – hanging out on the Niagara Bar waiting for a push from Mother Nature. We haven’t seen good numbers of Coho salmon in the fall in a number of years. This is great news! For boaters, the Devil’s Hole area is the place to be. Pautzke-treated egg skein is the ticket for taking Pacific salmon, fished off three-way rigs. Shore fishermen have been doing pretty well, too. Ricardo Davila of Wheatfield has been tossing glow in the dark spoons and spinners to take salmon early in the morning. When that sun comes up though, fishing gets a bit tougher in that Devil’s Hole area. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls has been using the same kind of hardware. He’ll also toss a Rat-L-Trap. Today he started catching some browns mixed in with his salmon in the Whirlpool area. He also reported some good bass fishing along the shoreline at Artpark. If you enjoy fishing around the Schoellkopf Site near the Discovery Center (yes, there’s an elevator there), this new access point will be closed Oct. 11-12 next week as they use a crane to complete some work.
Olcott and 18 Mile Creek
Over at Olcott and 18 Mile Creek, Burt Dam has seen more fishermen than fish. Hopefully that will change soon. Some fish are being caught from boats anchored around the harbor, as well as around the piers. Pier casters are only picking a few fish up now, but hopefully that will change, too. Spoons and spinners will work, but harbor boats are using treated egg skein and fished under a float. Boat trollers are still pounding the mature salmon with flasher and fly or meat until they hit. Sometimes it’s tough getting them mad enough to strike, but when they do you have your hands full. If the weather cooperates, you can always run out deep off Wilson and Olcott to take a mix of salmon and trout. Capt. Alan Sauerland of Instigators Charters out of Wilson found some salmon and trout in 450-plus feet of water but he had to go deep to find the right temperatures. His riggers were from 75 to 110 feet deep, the divers were 280 and 300 feet back and he needed 500 feet of copper line to hit the fish zone with spoons and flasher-fly presentations.
Upper Niagara River
In the Upper Niagara River, bass and walleye are still the primary focus. Capt. Chris Cinelli has been hitting some nice fish at the head of the river with shiners and spinner-worm combos.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau
Lake Ontario Report
The lake fishing is winding down as the salmon move into the river. The same baits are continuing to work well in more shallow water – flies and flashers, spoons, cut bait and j-plugs.
Oswego River Report
Temperatures have been a bit cooler after the stretch of warm weather. We did receive some rain in the area last night. The flow remains consistent with 1290cfs this morning. Anglers are finding some action at the dam and from the wall. Stickbaits or using skein under a float are suggested applications along with smack beads and egg sacs. Stickbaits, smack beads and smack skein are working from the wall.
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 www.visitoswegocounty.com and click on the Fishing Report along the top bar on the home page.
Pulaski Area and Salmon River report:
According to Dave Wood of Woody’s Tackle:
The lake fishing is winding down as the salmon have moved into the river and tributaries. If you do plan to lake fish this weekend, look in 20-50 feet of water. Glow spoons are working well along with flies and flashers. The river is loaded from the estuary all the way up through Altmar. Egg sacs, floating egg sacs and flies are suggested baits.
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
A nice rain cooled things down this afternoon temperature wise, but the fishing remains hot. The report from our anglers is that while there hasn’t been a lot of fish movement in from the Estuary there are still more than enough fish to keep everybody happy, occupied, and tired at the end of the day. Still seeing mostly Kings with a few Coho in the mix. It’s been an excellent season so far and there is every indication that the great fishing will continue into the foreseeable future. Water level from the reservoir remains at 335 cfs and is currently 419 cfs at Pineville.
Oneida Lake Report:
The cooler temperatures that have moved into the area will likely spark some good fall walleye fishing. Walleye have been active in deeper water with worm harnesses and blade baits working well. Smallmouth bass are feeding on gizzard shad so look for surface feeding and yellow perch are taking small minnows.
Sandy Pond report:
Weed growth is making conditions difficult which is typical for this time of year. A few anglers are using weedless baits for bass.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
They’re still catching kings in the lake. Try 100 feet for starters and use spoons. The salmon were porpoising near the Fair Haven channel yesterday, so I’m sure there is some action at the Sodus Bay channel.
Straight out from Hughes’s Marina has also produce some late season kings. There is really nothing happening in the streams yet, although a steady rain will start the run.
Some browns were caught close to shore near Maxwell Creek.
Speaking of Hughes’ there was a 7-pound smallmouth caught using a minnow out from the marina. Check the tourism Facebook for a picture.
Bays
Sodus Bay and Port Bay have been producing perch, some reaching 12 to 13 inches. Use artificial minnows, two inches.
The perch are schooling near the points. So far, it’s been a great season for autumn perch.
The largemouths are feeding along the weedlines of Sodus, Port, and Blind Sodus Bays. Catch them with Zoom bait or spinner baits.
Don’t forget you need to wear a PFD the end of this month.
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
Canal fishing is excellent. Fishing the canal always produces the entire year. Anglers are still catching crappies near Port Gibson, which is part of the Widewaters.
Largemouth are hitting along the south side of the canal.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism
With temperatures warming back up again the migration of fish up our tributaries has slowed just a bit.
There are a good number of salmon at the dam and at the Archers Club but not as good as it is likely to get.
Reports have brown trout, steelhead/rainbow trout and even Atlantic salmon being caught in the deeper holes around the Archers Club area.
However late last week a 13-pound brown trout was caught at the Archers Club. Could this be the sign of things to come?
There are fish being taken at the jetties and from small boats right along the shoreline but just in the early morning and late evening time periods.
The “Oak” is still producing perch, bass and an occasional pike.
The Erie Canal still has good water flow and good fishing but will close to traffic on October 11th this year.
The good news is that dewatering will not take place until either late October or early November.
Then it will be a partial dewatering followed by a partial refilling to check the work being done.
The Archers Club Catch and Release Fly Fishing Derby will be held on October 18th, 19th and 20th this year which is always a great event.
The water flow at the Archers Club is the very best that I’ve seen in many years which should lead to some of the very best fishing seen in a long time.
And yet from Lake Ontario they are still doing well on trout and salmon in the 100 to150 feet of water range.
It just keeps getting better and better!