CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

The walleye bite is still going strong. Trolling along weedlines at night has been productive in both basins. During the day, anglers are catching modest numbers of walleye along weedlines and at depths around 20 feet on vertical presentations. The crappie bite has been tapering off. Anglers are seeing good yellow perch catches around the north basin on small minnows.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBS

The walleye night bite seems to get better with each passing night, but there have been some good catches during the day, too. Popular nighttime spots include Shorehaven Reef, Bournes Beach, Green Hills, Van Buren Bay, Evans Bar, off Hamburg and near the mouth of Smokes Creek. Trolling minnow-type stickbaits at around 2 mph over rocky areas in 8-15 feet of water is a typical program. The shoals are also worth a shot during the day. The other spawning shoals are good bets, too. Anglers are also starting to pick up daytime walleye by bottom bouncing in 30 plus feet of water off the windmills. Anglers report scattered yellow perch schools between Cattaraugus Creek and Sturgeon Point and there have been some limit catches for those who have found (and stayed on) a foraging pod of perch. Fifty-five feet of water out of Sturgeon Point and 60 feet of water off Evangola State Park are good starting points.

The harbors at Barcelona, Dunkirk and Buffalo are currently hot spots for smallmouth bass. A DEC electrofishing survey along the inner and outer breakwalls and shorelines in Buffalo Harbor showed lots of smallmouth bass all over. There were also decent numbers of northern pike along the outside of Buffalo Harbor State Park breakwall (especially at the southwest corner). Decent numbers of walleye were observed on the lake side of the outer breakwall gaps.

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

Lower river trout and bass action continues to be good for boaters. Using three-way rigs, bounce bottom with minnows to take steelhead or lake trout. Lakers up to 17 pounds were reported this past week. Bass are hitting swimbaits and tubes. White and silver jigs will work off the NYPA fishing platform for trout and bass. Silver bass were hitting along Artpark from shore. The Lewiston Landing area is still producing walleye at night on plastics. During the day, bass and sheepshead have been hitting zoom swimbaits according to Gianni Etopio of Youngstown.

UPPER NIAGARA RIVER

In the upper river, some big rudds have been hitting jigs, bass are all over the place and some walleye were hitting around Unity Island. For smallmouth bass, use tubes or swimbaits around Strawberry or Motor islands. At the head of the river, bass were being cooperative there, too.

LAKE ONTARIO AND TRIBS

Lake Ontario waters off Niagara County is the place to be, as king salmon action has truly been incredible this past week. From Olcott to the Niagara Bar anglers report steady salmon and trout action. Some boats have picked up double digit catches of king salmon in the 8-20 pound range. Depths of 60-150 feet have been productive with kings coming anywhere from 30 to 90 feet down. Lake trout are seemingly everywhere and there have been plenty of coho salmon mixed in, especially west of Wilson. Kings have been crushing large spoons, but flasher-fly and meat rigs also work well. Brown trout are still available inside 30 feet of water by trolling with medium-sized spoons and stickbaits.