Upstate New York Fishing Report – April 19, 2018

Greater Niagara Region

Bill Hilts, Jr.

If you are looking for some sort of a fishing update, the easiest way to describe our situation right now is that it’s a mess. Mother Nature took a few weeks to play some April Fool’s chicanery by throwing up a complete smorgasbord of weather wizardry that included excessive rains, high winds, snow, ice, sleet and unseasonably cold temperatures.

Just prior to this last round of severe weather, some decent trout fishing was reported in the lower Niagara River for boat drifters and shoreline casters. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls was tossing some No. 3 spinners to take some steelhead in the Devil’s Hole area and boaters were drifting minnows on three-way rigs to take a mix of steelhead, brown trout and lake trout. There was a report of some smelt taken along Artpark two nights ago, but most of the reports are showing very limited numbers if any at all. Some of the boat captains have reported seeing large pods of baitfish showing up on their fish finders and they suspect smelt. Water temps were around 37-38 degrees as of Tuesday and it won’t be long. The big smelt celebration is May 4 at Lewiston Landing for the annual Lewiston Smelt Festival. Come on out at 5 p.m. and join in on some of the festivities. The Niagara River pen rearing project for salmon and trout will be starting up the week of April 25 and if you would like to lend a hand, give Capt. Frank Campbell a call at 716-523-0013. The project will be housed in Youngstown next to Youngstown Yacht Club. The NYPA fishing platform is still closed.

For Lake Ontario and the tributaries, no one has been able to get on the lake to work the shoreline for browns, steelhead and Coho salmon. The piers have been empty because of all of the northerly winds and every tributary is high and muddy. It should bring in any remaining steelhead attempting to spawn this spring and open up any creek mouths that have been closed because of earlier northerly winds. Bullheads should still be available around Wilson in both branches of 12 Mile Creek and when the waters start to clear, perch should be available again, too, in both Wilson and Olcott harbors and off the piers. Everything is in a holding pattern right now. Pen projects in Wilson and Olcott are underway and hopefully this weather event will not impact those numbers. The Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby has pushed its dates back to May 11-20 this year and the Wilson Harbor Invitational tournament is May 19. The Lake Ontario Pro-Am Salmon Team Tournament is June 1-2 and the Don Johannes and Pete DeAngelo 3 fish-1 fish contest is May 31. Get those contests on your fishing calendar. The weather looks clear and 50 this weekend and if things don’t change too much and the waters settle down, it could be good enough for some fishing.

If things don’t settle down you might want to consider attending the Bison City Rod and Gun Club’s annual Outdoor Gear and Flea Market on Saturday, April 21 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The club is located at 511 Ohio Street in Buffalo. There will be a full-day boating safety class at Fort Niagara from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 21. Call 390-7727 for more info or for future classes.

Oswego County

Mary Ellen Barbeau

Lake Ontario Report

Anglers are getting their boats ready and hoping this weather pattern turns around soon. It does appear as though warmer temperatures will be slowly moving in through the weekend and into early next week. When conditions allow, anglers are finding a brown trout bite trolling with stickbaits or spoons near shore.

Oswego River Report

The water flow has been running between 11,000cfs and 14,000cfs for the last few days. This afternoon it is running at 12,300cfs. This level makes fishing very difficult along the river. The extended forecast shows little rain from Sunday through Tuesday so hopefully the water level will improve.

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.

Salmon River Report:

According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
Early in the week the few anglers we spoke with had some success in the mid section of river as well as some of the smaller local tributaries. Those fishing in the upper end of the river reported having a slow day. We did have some heavy rain on Monday which caused some runoff but the visibility was not an issue. The anglers who were fly fishing had the most success dead drifting with egg patterns. The anglers who were float fishing had the best results with blue or pink egg sacs, beads and pink worms. High winds and rain are in the forecast for today with more rain and snow showers throughout the week.

According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
The weather this week has been less than pleasant for fishing with extremely gusty winds, rain and a few snow showers at times. We had a couple anglers fish the run on Monday and reported hooking into a few steelies but the strong wind drove them off the water by late morning. Yesterday there were no anglers on the Run. The weather pattern appears to be turning around as we go into the weekend. The current water flow remains at 1500cfs at the reservoir and 2020cfs at Pineville.

Oneida Lake Report:

There is not much to report from Oneida Lake. The weather has not been favorable for lake fishing with strong winds over much of the last few days. Just a reminder that walleye season closed on March 15 and will reopen on May 5.

Sandy Pond report:

The pond is quiet this time of year as we wait for improved weather conditions for open water fishing. A reminder that walleye and northern pike season closed on March 15 and will reopen on May 5.

Eastern Finger Lakes / Central New York Fishing Report

Mike Crawford of upstateguideservice.com

Anyone complaining about the winter weather we have been experiencing in Central New York is not a steelhead angler!

An inch of rain fell in some places Monday night and brought fresh fish in from the lake. Lake Ontario and Finger Lake tributaries are Fishing excellent!

A variety of baits work well on steelhead and it is more preference and personal choice than one particular bait over another.

Water temps in the Finger Lakes remain in the mid to upper 30’s and the perch bite has been off and on.Mostly off. But that will change.

While warmer air temps and more seasonal weather is overdue, the cold overcast days make for good fishing on the streams and tributaries.

Wayne County Fishing Update

Chris Kenyon

Streams

There are still steelhead in Maxwell Creek. Not sure if the latest rainfall will send them into the lake. Stream anglers are using egg sacs and beads.

Fishing the Sodus Pier has been impossible with the constant gale-force wind. Today it’s cranking and tomorrow it might be a better chance to cast the pier.

Lake Ontario

Lake conditions have been brutal, which is such a shame because the brown trout bite has been excellent. Last Tuesday was the last time the lake was flat. It’s like a broken record; Wed, blowing with 50 mph gust, Thursday still blowing. Over the weekend it was a north-east gale.

When you do get out, use stickbaits and try to find warmer water, which will be difficult because of the constant wind.

I guess the only positive point would be…mudlines should be everywhere.

Bays

Still waiting on the bullhead bite, which is late because of cold water and frigid temperatures. Bullhead will be hitting the month of May. You can fish on Bay Bridge, the southern end of Sodus Bay.

Perch fishing was productive, however not many boats have been on the bays. (Too windy)

There was a good catch of crappies at the south end of Port Bay early last week. Launch at the south ramp at fish along the west shoreline until you find the schools. Crappies are hitting bright small jigs.

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 canal is the only body of water that is not affected by the wind. You can launch at Widewaters and fish east or west without being blown around. Pan fish are the quarry.

The canal opener, when they flood the entire water way, is scheduled for May 18th.

Orleans County

Orleans County Tourism and Ron Bierstine at Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge
Thanks to sleet/ice melt-off and significant rain through Monday, all of the tributary flows are blown high and dirty. Flows in the Oak consist of lots of turbine and overflow water.

Thanks to tributary run off and strong winds through today, the near shore Lake Ontario waters are dirty.

Forecast is for cold temps with chance of precipitation Thursday. On the backside of these most recent higher flows, there should still be some steelhead action since there’s been no great warm up just yet. There is the chance for some April fresh fish migrations, especially some spirited jack steelhead or even Lake run browns.