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Fishing Report

CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

Fishing on Chautauqua Lake has been a tale of the north verses the south. This past week’s lake-effect snow has made the northern basin pretty much unfishable, while southern basin anglers have been doing well from shore on crappie and perch. This weekend weather should stabilize and allow walleye anglers last-minute open-water action on rocky points. Catch-and-release bass action should be good in the same areas. It’s important to remember to use artificial baits and release bass directly back into the lake.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBUTARIES

Even with past week’s storms passing through, anglers have continued to see good steelhead action on the Lake Erie tributaries, with quality reports coming from Canadaway, Silver, Walnut and Eighteenmile creeks. Cattaraugus Creek had been running high, but has dropped back into great fishing shape just in time for the weekend. All other creeks are in good shape and conditions range from low and clear to moderate with good color. With freezing temperatures forecasted for the next week, expect fishing to get a bit more challenging on the smaller creeks due to lower flows and icy conditions. When fishing winter conditions, it is best to keep drifted offerings slow and low for steelhead that are more lethargic and hugging the bottom. It is also good to concentrate efforts during the warmest part of the day. Tributary steelhead commonly take flies such as egg imitations, nymphs, streamers and wooly buggers. Drift anglers do well with egg sacs, beads and jigs with grubs fished under a float

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

This past week saw the Niagara Region averaging 15 degrees with a wind chill in the single digits. It is cold. The high winds last week led to terrible conditions in the Niagara River. As of midweek, though, shore casters were using egg sacs to take some nice steelhead in the gorge area with 3 feet of visibility. Other baits worthy of consideration are spinners, trout beads and even wobble baits like Kwikfish or MagLips. Boaters should be able to get out this weekend if the weather cooperates. Egg sacs, those same wobbling baits and beads will all work from a three-way rig as you drift from Devil’s Hole down to the Niagara Bar — not one big drift but a series of smaller drifts. Before the water muddied up, they were doing pretty good on brown trout around the Coast Guard drift and out on the Niagara Bar. Lake trout season is open on the Canadian side of the river. It opens in New York on Jan. 1.

LAKE ONTARIO

AND TRIBUTARIES

In the Lake Ontario tributaries, a late run of Coho salmon have been surprising anglers with black marabou jigs tipped with a wax worm working well. Egg sacs or egg imitations have been working on steelhead and browns in places like Eighteenmile Creek at Burt Dam, as well as some of the streams to the east. At Burt, the flow has been low and slow with stained conditions. It’s more of a waiting game, but you can do well if you put your time in. Jigs fished under a float is being more of a staple.

UPPER NIAGARA RIVER

Upper river waters are murky but fishable. Anglers have been catching yellow perch in various harbors/marinas and at City of Buffalo shore sites. Expect many throwbacks for every keeper. Live emerald shiners work well for perch and are currently available for dipping at Broderick Park. Muskellunge anglers need to remember that the season closed on the upper river after Nov. 30.

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