Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
Happy Spring! Stream and river action are both strong right now and this week’s weather doesn’t look too bad as of right now, especially on Sunday. In the lower Niagara River, Ricardo Davila of Wheatfield has been doing well in the Niagara Gorge from shore casting spoons. Water has been very clear there. Hopefully we will see a little snow melt and rain to help stain that water up a bit. Still, he’s been taking some nice steelhead from shore. Boaters have more opportunity to move around and steelhead and brown trout are both producing consistently by anglers drifting shiners, egg sacs or plugs like Kwikfish or MagLips off three-way rigs. If you are looking for browns and lakers, try drifting the Niagara Bar with a shiner near the green buoy marker.
The tributaries are opening up nicely and if there’s good flow, there will be some fresh trout in there. The most popular area in Niagara Falls USA off Lake Ontario is 18 Mile Creek near Burt Dam. Egg sacs and jigs are working to produce some feisty steelhead with an occasional brown trout. Don’t forget about the piers in Wilson and Olcott, too. Those should start to turn on soon. And speaking of Wilson, the 7th Annual Wilson Bullhead contest is coming up soon, April 5-7. Make sure that’s on your fishing radar screen.
Speaking of brown trout, it appears a few boats have been trolling the shoreline out near Fort Niagara and picking up some browns in 6 to 8 feet of water. Use small stickbaits, either flatlining off the back or working the shoreline with in-line planers.
On Saturday March 23rd, there will be a Lake Ontario Fisheries Symposium sponsored by NY Sea Grant and the Lake Ontario Sportfishing Promotion Council from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Finger Lakes Mall (adjacent to Bass Pro), Auburn. Expert panels and presentations on Lake Ontario will be offered up. Register for free at ilovenyfishing.com. Also, on March 23rd, the 8th Annual Fisherman’s Paradise Flea market and Swap Meet will take place at the Alexander Firemen’s Rec Hall located at 10708 Route 98 in Alexander. Admission is just $2. Kids 12 years of age and under are free. For more information, call Joe Kugel at 440-0004 or Jim Thompson at 585-591-0168. April 1 is opening day of the inland trout and salmon season. DEC does plenty of stocking in its inland waters. Call the Randolph Hatchery stocking hotline at 358-2050 for details. Stocking will take place in Niagara Falls at Hyde Park Lake and Gill Creek, as well as Oppenheim Park Pond in Wheatfield on April 11.
The Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association will be assembling and floating the net pens for the 2019 project season starting at 9:30 a.m. on April 6. This will take place at the Town of Newfane Marina in Olcott. In addition to holding over 67,000 salmon in pens, they will also be holding 7,000 steelhead in pens to improve survival rates and imprint the fish to these waters. Remember that April 6 is also the Niagara County Federation of Conservation Clubs annual awards banquet starting at 5:30 p.m. at Cornell Cooperative Extension Niagara in Lockport. Call Dave Whitt at 754-2133 for tickets.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Oswego River Report
According to Oz Angling Tackle:
The water level was running near 12,000cfs for several days. Yesterday it dropped and is flowing at 8,330cfs this morning. Anglers had a good weekend for fishing the Oswego River. Some nice brown trout were taken along with steelhead and even a salmon was reported.
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. 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 Report:
According to the Douglaston Salmon Run:
As the sun rose yesterday so did the temperatures, near 50 for a high. Those guests who were fortunate to get into some steelhead reported working for their catch similarly to the past few days. Clear water and bright skies plagued their efforts once the sun got over the trees. That said, the overall report was a touch better than the last day or two. #10-14 stonefly wigglers continue to produce fish as did 8mm beads and the pink worm. The water flow is 750cfs through tonight.
According to Whitaker’s Sport Shop & Motel:
The weather and water have been stable over the last couple of days and it’s nice to see anglers getting out and taking advantage of the conditions. Anglers reported getting into fish in the Lower Fly Zone, Wire Hole, Ellis Cove, Trestle Pool, Pineville and the DSR. Fly anglers have had the most success dead drifting with nymphs and woolly buggers or indicator with egg patterns. The most productive patterns have been black stones, wiggles stones, steelhead stones, woolly buggers, infected pheasant tails, squirmy worms, sucker spawn, estaz eggs and glo-bugs. For those anglers who are float fishing or bottom bouncing, egg sacs in blue, pink, chart, beads and pink worms have all produced steady results.
Oneida Lake Report:
Anglers found decent ice conditions over the last few days. Some areas reportedly have 13 inches of ice but there are some pressure cracks. Temperatures reached near 50 degrees yesterday with the mid 40s today and rain likely. Friday will be windy with accumulating snow expected into Saturday morning. Conditions can change quickly this time of year so use caution. Anglers reported some perch activity but just a reminder that walleye season has ended until the first Saturday in May.
Sandy Pond Report:
Anglers are getting out on the pond. Temperatures warmed up yesterday to near 50 degrees with a high in the 40s and rain expected for today. Colder and snow, possibly several inches, are predicted for Friday into Saturday morning. Use caution as conditions can change quickly this time of year. Anglers are finding some perch but remember that walleye and northern pike seasons have ended until May.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Bierstine of Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge
Temperatures are improving for this mid-week period with highs forecast in the 30’s or 40°F. There is a chance of rain showers going to snow showers toward the end of the week. Overall it looks like a break towards more spring-like conditions. Flows are all pretty typical of springtime, higher and stained. Just what steelhead like for fresh migrations and staging to spawn. Even a tiny water temp warm-up is likely to bring some steelhead to gravel. There is still ice cover on Lake Alice and when that goes away look for warming temperatures in the Oak. Flows for now are high with about 1 – 2 ft of visibility. Flows look wide open in the turbine channel with diminished overflow water. Look for continued high-ish flows in the Oak, maybe falling back to toward just slightly high.
Reports are of some hookups at the dam. Some guys are still plying the downstream frog water that is pretty big and froggy thanks to rising big Lake O levels. All that heavy fast water in between will take careful big and deep and slow drifts or swings for hook up chances.
The other area smaller tributaries are medium to slightly high and stained with about 1 foot of visibility. For now before any new significant precipitation occurs, those flows are dropping and clearing. Look for warming water temperatures at the Oak with the window of steelhead spawning sooner then later. There’s always the chance for some drop back browns or some fresh silver browns. Any kind of high water fish could be well upstream in the system.