Greater Niagara Region
Bill Hilts, Jr.
The fishing action in the Niagara River is finally turning back around again with the favorable weather conditions this week. Capt. Frank Campbell of Lewiston caught 4 trout in 2 hours of fishing on Tuesday, despite marginal conditions due to the stained water. When it switches over, action should be good from both boat and shore.
Capt. John Oravec with Troutman reported that he had action all day last Thursday and Friday. Thursday the action was on 29-inch to 34-inch lake trout. He did well on the Niagara Bar in 27-feet with live bait fished off three-way rigs. Friday it was brown trout and steelhead in the river. He also caught a big 12-1/2-pound brown on Friday with an emerald shiner.
The weekend winds messed things up again. From the shore in the gorge area, Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls was hitting some nice steelhead using No. 4 spinners. Joel Juhasz of Lancaster is the leader in the Capt. Bob’s Outdoors Winter Contest for the Steelhead Division with a 31.5-inch lower river fish caught on a pink egg sac. In the upper Niagara River, lake trout and walleye were cooperating for anglers using jigs or live bait. California Joe Pavalonis of Buffalo is once again atop the leaderboard in the Capt. Bob’s Outdoors Winter Contest with a 17-3/4-inch upper river rudd taken on a crappie jig. He also caught a northern pike that is also the leader while fishing for rudd, a 31-.5-inch fish from the upper river on a crappie jig.
In the Lake Ontario tributaries, conditions have been a bit rough according to Greg Schloerb of Amherst. Water was high and stained this past weekend. Fishing has been slow but there are fish available. He did manage to catch both browns and steelhead using jigs tipped with wax worms, catching all his fish this past weekend. Meanwhile, Scott Feltrinelli of Ontario Fly Outfitters found a few steelhead in small tributaries on Monday. Conditions were good in the smaller streams. High water has been dropping and clearing after this most recent melt off. Feltrinelli’s fish took a large brown and orange streamer fly. Many medium creeks were also fishing well. Bigger creeks should be clearing and fishing decent should be available over the next few days.
For your calendar, mark the Birds on the Niagara Festival for Feb. 14-15. Check out the schedule at birdsontheniagara.org. Also, the Niagara River Anglers will hold its steelhead contest on Feb. 22. Sign up at the Lewiston launch ramp the morning of the event (sunrise to 2 p.m.) or at Creek Road Bait and Tackle in Lewiston.
Oswego County
Mary Ellen Barbeau of the Oswego County Department of Community Development, Tourism and Planning.
Oswego River Report
With the heavy rain we had on Saturday the river level has jumped to about 16,000 CFS. It has dropped back to 13,500 CFS. This high flow makes it difficult to fish. Trout and walleye fishing should be productive in the lower river. Driftboats have been seen working the waters with some nice ones coming to the net.
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:
Several guests joined us yesterday to take advantage of the low winter flows and moderate temperatures. That said, the fish still played ‘tough to get’ for our guests. All the anglers that we spoke to had similar results 0/1, 2/2, 0/0, 2/3 etc. Egg patterns or beads were again the bait of choice but fish were also hooked on egg sacs and a swung fly. Anglers were likely dealing with slush this morning as the temperature dropped to near 10 degrees overnight. The current water flow is 350 CFS and 561 CFS at Pineville.
We currently only have a few inches of snow on the ground which is well below normal for this time of year. During the week things have been pretty quiet with not as many anglers as on the weekends. Anglers have been getting into a mix of both fresh fish as well as colored up fish in the upper and lower end of the river. For those anglers who are fly fishing the most productive patterns have been wiggle stones, steelhead hammer, rusher nymphs, hare’s ear, stoneflies, small woolly buggers and estaz eggs. For those anglers who are float fishing, pink and blue egg sacs have produced the best results.
Oneida Lake Report:
Although we have had some colder temperatures this week, many areas still do not have safe ice at this point. Nighttime lows were in the teens last night and again tonight with the highs only in the upper 20s. This should be helpful but we will have to see how things set up by the weekend.
Sandy Pond Report:
According to Greene Point Marina:
Temperatures have been very favorable the last couple of days for ice making. Anglers were reporting 5 ½ inches of ice on Wednesday and with temperatures in the teens overnight and again tonight, additional ice is forming. This should set us up for some good fishing for the weekend.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Streams
Water flows in Maxwell Creek are excellent because of the latest snow and rain. Steelhead are hitting egg sacs in the faster water and under bobbers on the north side of Lake Road. The north side has slower water right to the mouth.
A few steelhead were caught in Salmon Creek in Pultneyville. Access is limited, however there are some areas to fish.
Bay Bridge Sport Shop at the south end of Sodus Bay has everything you need for stream angling.
Bays
There is ice on all the bays, however it is starting to melt with the warmer temps and recent rain. Currently, the south end of Sodus has 5 to 6 inches and Port Bay has approximately the same.
Because this is a weekly report, ice conditions can change in a day. Always use caution, especially with the mild winter we are experiencing. Safe ice today is no guarantee for tomorrow.
The perch are hitting off the points in Port Bay. They have been scattered, however if you drill a productive hole which gives you 12-inch fish…stick with it.
Use smaller jigs and tip them with spikes and keep your line light.
Some pike are being caught near LeRoy Island on the east side of Sodus Bay. Pike minnows are working. The season for pike runs through March 15th. Eighteen inches and five fish are the regs.
If you need tackle and bait Bay Bridge Sport Shop and Davenports at the south end of Sodus Bay are always opened. They both have live bait if you like fishing with small minnows.
Check out the rest of the Wayne County Tourism web page for the locations and hours of local bait and tackle shops.
Erie Canal
No one is fishing the canal. You can try near the locks from the shore. There is open water west of Newark if you want to do some casting.
Orleans County
Orleans County Tourism and Capt. John Oravec, Tight Lines Charters
There was rain this past weekend with a little bit of snow and melt-off this week. The forecast for the rest of the week is highs in the 30’s°F and dropping back at night. There is a chance for area wide snow this weekend with not much accumulation expected here on the Western New York Lake Ontario plain. Flows in the Oak are high and stained with about 1 foot of visibility. Overflow levels are diminished and turbine flows look close to wide open. Anglers should look toward flows remaining up and stained, especially with the continued pattern of up and down weather. There is plenty of water in the upper watershed swamps, so flows are likely to drop and clear only slowly and probably remain at least medium or closer to slightly high in the near short term. There is a lot of good water to encourage fresh steelhead migrations and February is typically a good month for movement.
So far this week, it looks like light fishing pressure with a few big fish hooked near the dam. There are no reports at this time from downstream drifters. The other area smaller tributaries have slightly high to high and dirty flows. The higher flows are making for a mix of some open and still iced-in drifts. Flows should drop and clear in the smaller waterways especially if colder weather prevails. The Catch 22 is that colder weather drops the flows but brings on ice while warmer weather tends to keep some drifts open and fishable but with high and dirty flows.