Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report- July 13, 2023
Greater Niagara Region
Frank Campbell
The popular Lake Up Niagara fishing event put on by local radio station WLVL and Niagara’s Choice Federal Credit Union went off without a hitch yesterday and everyone enjoyed a nice day on the water with plenty of salmon and trout being caught. Big fish for the day was Matt O’Byrne of Lockport with a 22-pound salmon that stretched 37-1/2 inches in length, caught aboard Capt. Anthony Ellis’s 31-foot Aqua Sport named Redemption, focusing his efforts off Olcott in 150 to 270 feet of water with meat rigs and spoons. Also participating in the fishing fun were Capt. Tom Pearse of Reel Adventure Sportfishing and Capt. Tim Sylvester with Tough Duty Sportfishing.
Sylvester reports that kings and Coho salmon have been available from 140 to 350 feet of water with meat rigs and magnum spoons being the most effective. When you encounter tough conditions, stick to your program and be patient. Best spoons have been anything green and/or black with a ladderback. Carbon 14 spoons have been good, too.
Fishing out of Wilson, Capt. Mike Johannes of On the Rocks Charters reports that action has been good at all depths lately off his home port. Guys are catching mature salmon in 150 to 250 feet of water and then 400 feet of water has been good, too. He tested the waters 8 to 10 miles northwest of Wilson on Sunday and caught a 6-man limit, mostly on magnum spoons such as the Moonshine bad toad and road toad. A couple of fish came on high divers and flies. The water is constantly moving. He noted that the fish move with the water.
In the Niagara River, Matt Wilson of Lewiston did some scouting for walleyes and caught a few fish, but the bigger numbers were not around yet in the lower river. He switched gears to catch bass and, despite the moss problem, still managed to catch 20-plus smallmouth using drop shot rigs and tubes. He caught 15 more out in the lake under rough conditions. The upper Niagara River around Strawberry Island has been good for smallmouth bass reports Capt. Connor Cinelli of Grand Island. There have been numerous bass for catching and the best live baits have been on shiners and crabs. Moss is a problem there, too.
The Lake Ontario Counties Trout, Salmon and Walleye Summer Derby is nearing its mid-way point and the current leader is a 28-pound, 11-ounce king salmon reeled in by Cameron Hasner of Greece, NY. He caught the fish out of Point Breeze in Orleans County. All fish species categories are within reach. The leading steelhead and brown trout are both out of Point Breeze; the leading laker and the leading walleye are both out of the eastern basin of the lake. Check out loc.org for leaderboard details.
Wayne County Fishing Update
Chris Kenyon
Lake Ontario
Salmon fishing has been excellent from Hughes’ Marina east to Port Bay. They are hitting between 200 to 500 fow down around 45 to 60 feet.
Everything seems to be working. Charter captains are using meat rigs, flasher flies, and spoons. Use your ladderback spoons.
Surface water temps off Rochester are now 74 degrees. We had a brief east wind over the weekend, however today the lake is calm.
Don’t forget the LOC Summer Derby started Saturday, July 1st and continues through July 30th.
Bays
There was a bass tournament on Sodus Bay on Sunday with the boats scattered. They were fishing close to docks, by the channel and at the south end of the bay.
The Texas rig is the favorite for many bass anglers. Using a Senko worm is great for larger bass. If you fish at dusk, try any top-water bait.
Port Bay has some perch at the channel and bluegills near the south end of the bay. You can launch at the south DEC site (new ramp) off West Port Bay Road or the north DEC at the barrier road. There is also a kayak launch at the north ramp.
Erie Canal
The recent rainfall has made the canal current fast. And more tribs are dumping water into the Erie.
Widewaters wasn’t too bad because of the width and length. Your best bet is to launch at that Wayne County Park.
The bass are huge at Widewaters.
Bait for fishing is available on the south end of Sodus at Davenports and Bay Bridge Sport Shop.
On Port Bay Jarvis Bait Farm is open on Brown Road. The signs are on East Port Bay Road at the junction of Brown Road.
Toadz Bait is near the end of West Port Bay Road.
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);and
- 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: and
- The statewide minimum size limit for crappie has been increased from nine inches to ten inches.
Orleans County
Orleans County Sportfishing Coordinator Ron Bierstine:
For the waters off the Oak at Point Breeze there’s been a good stretch of agreeable conditions and the charters and rec anglers are all getting out there. For the past weekend most all anglers got into some fish including good numbers of Kings, some steelhead, and now a few browns showing up in the mix too. The action has been close at hand – generally within 200 fow. Some boaters may be running farther out or going more east or west, but for the frugal minded troller there’s been plenty of near port action! After a hot and humid mid week period, the forecast is a bit more unsettled thru the end of week or into the weekend with chance of rain or showers.
Mark L. fishing out of the Orleans County Marine Park had good weekend action in the 125 – 185 fow range. He ran rigs as deep as 100 ft down and caught Kings up to 20 lbs. With Teresa K. working the rods they went 3 for 4 Friday and 4 for 4 Saturday on short trips. Flasher/flies were working in white/green and a carbon 14 rasberry spoon. Mark says there’s “a great class of hungry fish at the Oak.”
Captain Oravec, aka Troutman, has been hovering on a “major raft of salmon staging in 150 – 200 fow off the Oak” and getting his clients into multiple fish days with Kings, Lakers and brown trout. “Spoon presentation 59 – 89 ft down and flasher/flies are working. One forty – 190 ft diver set ups too.” A touch of NE winds turned on some brown trout action on the ledge and that’s hopefully a good sign for those fish that pulled a slight Houdini this past later spring.
Kings, steelhead, lakers, brown trout! And some Atlantics lately too. A nice mix of fish for the summer time troller!
• The LOC Derby is in full swing and runs from July 1st to the 30th. Follow them on Facebook. View the current leaderboard here.
Oswego County
Lake Ontario – Oswego
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Salmon can be found from 100-500’. The best plan of attack has been to set up shallow and head out at a NW heading. When you find fish level off at that depth.
Copper has been very productive lately; 300-450’ sections have been best. Overall, 43–54-degree water has been the part of the water column to concentrate on.
- Flasher fly combos: White Green Dot/ Green Glo, Green/Green and Valium/B-Flies.
- Meat rigs: White Green Dot, Valium/Steel Gator, Lance/Glow Warship.
- Spoons: Green Mamba, Angry Bird, and Oscar.
Lake Ontario – Mexico, NY
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
July might be the best month to come fish Lake Ontario. The boats targeting kings have been finding more and more kings head towards the Salmon River.
But if you’re looking for a LOC Derby lake trout, the county line has been productive producing a few 20+ pound fish! Plus, the browns are starting to set up nicely on their typical summer holding areas.
Tight Lines everyone!
Free Oswego Fishing Guide
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The 68-page guide includes a detailed overview of fishing opportunities on eastern Lake Ontario, Oneida Lake, the Oswego and Salmon rivers and a variety of other tributaries, as well as the more than 40,000 acres of public lands available for hunting.
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