Freshwater Variety in Lewiston, NY (Fishing Report)

by Jimmy Fee

Last week, I had the chance to fish some new waters with the folks from Abu Garcia, Mustad Hooks, Seaguar Fluorocarbon and Buck Knives. We were based in Lewiston, NY, which is a great jumping off point to both the trout, salmon and steelhead-filled Niagara River and the big-gut bronzebacks of Lake Erie.

Day 1, I fished with Jeff Pierce of Mustad Hooks and Gerry Benedicto of Seaguar Fluorocarbon. Our target, initially, was the Niagara Bar at the mouth of the river where coho salmon and lake trout had recently been feeding.

The cohos were willing, snapping at curly tail jigs worked right under the surface in 70 feet of water. The salmon ranged from 3 to 7 pounds, and put up quite the fight on the light Abu Garcia Villain 7-foot freshwater rods.
The cohos, much like bluefish, didn't stop fighting even after we got them into the boat, making for some failed grin-and-grab photo attempts.
As the waves picked up and the coho bite dropped off, we tucked into the lower Niagara River and threw jerkbaits to eager smallmouth bass. Here's Gerry with a good-sized smallie.
Jeff - who lives in Upstate New York and fishes the Niagara quite a bit - kept saying all day, in the river, you never know what's going to hit next. In the early afternoon, he proved his point by catching this obese 12-pound brown that struck a jerkbait fished for smallies.

Day 2 brought a change of venue as I fished Lake Erie with Mark Davis and Ray Lynch, looking for big smallmouths.

Invasive species have had a big impact on how you target Lake Erie smallies. For one, the exceptionally clear water, thanks to the zebra mussels, makes long fluorocarbon leaders or castable fluorocarbon lines, like Seaguar Tatsu, mandatory. Also the invasive round gobies are one of the main parts of an Erie smallmouth's diet, so large tubes like the Berkley Havoc Smash Tube in dark colors dragged along the bottom draw the most hits.
With the abundant forage, the Erie smallmouths were all very plump, and the average size we caught was close to 4 pounds.
Once again, it was a surprise species that was the catch of the day. Ray Lynch poses here with an 8-pound walleye that was mixed in with the big smallmouths.
The good times didn't end after we got off the water. Being so close to the home of the Buffalo Wing, it would have been a crime not to eat as many as possible while I was up there. I picked up this little feast from Duff's in Buffalo on my ride home.

6 on “Freshwater Variety in Lewiston, NY (Fishing Report)”

    1. Jimmy Fee

      You aren’t kidding. Jeff said he’s caught them almost twice that size. What a cool place.

  2. Elcy Dunwoody

    Fished out of Lewiston last year had a blast .We plan on coming up 2 week of May is when we fished last year and we were planning same trip do you think fish are turning on Early We were told 2 week was best time to come ??????

  3. Thomas

    I just found this sight and really like it. Was wanting to go up this fall when the coho start hitting wher going to go to Lewiston. When is a good time to go up there. From Pittsburgh. Thanks

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