Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report-August 18, 2022

Greater Niagara Region

Frank Campbell

At the top of the fishing calendar, the big one – the Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby – will be underway this Friday and running through Labor Day. The Grand Prize for the largest salmon is $25,000! All told, over $68,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs. Check out loc.org for details. The Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby will also start on Friday and will continue through August 28th. Adult anglers will be reeling in over $10,000 in cash prizes for 7 different species categories including smallmouth bass, carp, walleye, brown trout, lake trout, steelhead, and salmon. Kids can fish for free in a special youth division, also with 7 different species groupings. As a bonus, catch a state record fish for one of the derby species and win an additional $5,000 – even the kids! Everything is through the Fishing Chaos smartphone app, and you can sign up through the fishodyssey.net website or Facebook page. Good luck to the ladies competing in the Reelin’ for a Cure tournament on Friday, too, out of Wilson and Olcott, raising money for cancer support groups.

Waters are trying to settle back down after some more wind events on Lake Ontario. Cold water was in tight to shore again. Capt. Rich Brant of North Tonawanda reported some good brown trout action west of Wilson while he was practicing with his all-women’s team set to compete in the Reelin’ for a Cure contest. While targeting 50 feet depths using spoons, they had one fish hit 35 feet down on a Michigan Stinger Pickle Seed Spoon 50 feet behind the downrigger ball. The lucky lady grabbing the rod was Brant’s stepmom, Francine Alberson of Tonawanda. She ended up reeling in the fish of a lifetime, a 27-pound brown trout. They caught eight other browns, but nothing of that magnitude. Too bad the derbies weren’t going on. Remember you must be in them to win them. John Van Hoff of North Tonawanda was fishing much deeper out of Wilson, hitting the 34 North line. Taking his cousin Denise Young of Tonawanda, she managed to catch her first salmon, a 24 pounder. They caught a mix of kings and steelhead 30 to 60 feet down, all on spoons. Out of Olcott, Capt. Jim Gordon of Appleton reports that the best steady bite has been out deep to the 26 to 34 North line all down the lake, again in the top 60 feet of water. It has been a mixed bag of big Cohos, steelies, and kings. Best colors have been orange, and silver NK spoons on sliders; Carbon 14, and Waddlers on the bottom. Run your riggers 30, 50, and 60 feet down, just as Van Hoff did.

In the lower Niagara River, Matt Wilson of Wheatfield continues to catch limits of walleyes on copper blades and gold stamped blades. Most of his fish came off the mouth of the river on the Bar. He was using a 3-way rig with a 1-ounce pencil weight to maintain contact with the bottom, using the current for movement, but when north winds started, using his trolling motor to provide enough speed to keep the blades moving. Best depths were from 15-foot to 45-foot depths. When you marked the fish on your electronics, the fish stayed put so you could drift back over them. He did not see many walleyes in the river. Bass fishing has been staying steady, too, according to Wilson. He says not to underestimate using blade baits, which took a few of the bigger fish over the weekend. Upper river action continues to be good for smallmouth bass and occasional walleyes.  Crayfish is the bait of choice, working the east river waters and around Strawberry Island to bounce bottom with 3-way rigs. Ned rigs, swim baits and tubes will also work.

Oswego County

• It’s still early, but anglers are starting to catch kings on Salmon River
• The kings continue to invade ‘The Bay’ (Mexico).
• Check out “The Awakening Angler’s Fishing Report videos,” on Oneida Lake
• Order a free fishing guide

Salmon River – Oswego

Click Here of the 10 day Forecast

THE RUMORS ARE TRUE! The first salmon have made their way up the river!

But don’t be too eager to come early unless you’re ready to hunt for them. With high temps and low water flows a big push is still weeks away. But we are inching closer. So get those rods ready and stay tuned to the County Fishing Report.

Lake Ontario Report – Mexico, NY

Click Here of the 10 day Forecast

Lake Ontario – Oswego

Click Here of the 10 day Forecast

Wayne County Fishing Update

Chris Kenyon

Lake Ontario

The lake rolled over last night leaving cold water everywhere. Charter boats were fishing in 40 fow because of that inversion process.
The browns were hitting at that depth using flasher flies and spoons. It was almost like trolling in May.

There have been a few kings hooked, however they are starting to stage which means you need to make them angry because during staging process, food is not on their mind.

Lake water temperature will change day to day, and we could be fishing in 300 fow again.

The LOC Fall Derby starts this Friday, August 19th and runs until Labor Day. Make sure you sign-up for this one. The Grand Prize will put a whooping $25,000 in your pocket. All the info is on loc.org

Lake Ontario tributary regulations:

Three fish in combination and not to include more than one Rainbow Trout (or Steelhead) and One Brown Trout.

Bays

Largemouths are hitting in all the Wayne County bays. Fish the weedlines using Senko worm rigs. Try to plan your trips during the week as Port and Sodus Bays will have all kinds of recreational boats buzzing around. It’s tough fishing on weekends, unless you are early.

Launch sites for Port Bay are at the south end from West Port Bay Road and the northern barrier bar ramp.

Sodus Bay has sites at Margaretta Road and at Bay Bridge Sport Shop at the south end of the bay.

Erie Canal

The canal has been the hot spot for bass, panfish, catfish and northern pike. Launch sites are opened in ever village along Rout 31. Clyde, Lyons, Newark, Palmyra, and Macedon all have ramps to launch boats.

Clyde has the pike, while the big cats are in the pools near Palmyra. The largemouth bass are being caught near Widewaters in Newark.

Keep informed from the NYS Canal web for changes and restrictions with canal waters. Keep informed about 2022 canal hours.

There are no tolls or fees for recreational use of the Canal system this year.

Notable Freshwater Fishing Regulation Changes

The following list offers a summary of the most notable fishing regulation changes resulting from the adopted rulemakings described above.

• New statewide regulation for rainbow trout, brown trout, and splake in lakes and ponds. The season will now be open year-round, with a five-fish daily limit, any size, with a “no more than two longer than 12 inches” harvest rule.
• Statewide Atlantic salmon regulations will now allow for a year-round open season.
• Ice fishing is permitted on all waters in New York unless specifically prohibited with the exception of Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Warren, and Washington counties where previous rules remain.
• New specific dates replaced floating dates for statewide season openers to include:
  • May 1 – Walleye, Northern Pike, Pickerel, and Tiger Muskellunge.
  • June 1 – Muskellunge. (Note that in 2022, DEC will allow for the fishing of muskellunge beginning the last Saturday in May to accommodate previously planned fishing trips)
  • June 15 – Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass.
• A five-fish daily walleye limit in Oneida Lake.
• A new regulation to limit the growth of the walleye population in Skaneateles Lake. No daily possession limit; 12-inch minimum size limit, open year-round.
• The statewide sunfish daily harvest limit has been reduced from 50 to 25 fish
• The statewide minimum size limit for crappie has been increased from nine inches to ten inches.

Orleans County

Captain Lou Borrelli of Get the Net Fishing Charters provided this week’s report.

Yesterday we had the privilege of participating in the Operation Injured Soldiers annual fishing event. This event run by Paul Nau brings in veterans to enjoy a day of fishing on Lake Ontario. It is a great way to give back to the men and women who have served our country.

We had the repeat pleasure of having Shawn and Kim on our boat. With expectations high we started the morning with an amazing sunrise as we ran 9 miles off-shore. The bite was heavy for the first 4 hours then as the wind changed directions, it started to slow. Mostly kings were caught with a couple decent steelhead. We worked 29-31 north. All spoon bite with one spinny/fly. Riggers were parked at 70-75. The MVP yesterday was a 10 color core with Warrior Lures Sport Fishing Products “Super Jordo” xl spoon. This might be the most productive spoon for us this year. With all the large bait around sometimes Kings want a snack. They definitely wanted a snack yesterday. It was a great morning on the water with great people and a fantastic event. Can’t wait until next year.

Youth Fishing Derby by the Albion Sportsmen Assoc.

After a 2 year absence, the annual Youth Fishing Derby was held this past weekend at the Albion Sportsmen Association on Kietel Rd, Albion, on the Erie Canal. Open to kids 16 and younger, this year’s derby had 63 participants fishing for large-mouth bass, crappy, bluegills and bullheads and winning prizes such as fishing poles, tackle boxes and tackle. It was a great event to expose kids to fishing and pay tribute to Danny Spierdowis, who loved the outdoors, especially fishing in the former Peck quarries at the Sportsmen’s Association. Danny was killed in a car accident in 1990 at the age of 19. Read more about the derby and their organizers on the Orleans Hub.