CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

Fall is a top time to target muskellunge on Chautauqua Lake. Key on areas from the weedline out to 20 feet of water by trolling with large stickbaits or by casting stickbaits and large musky spinners. Walleye are still biting well in the north basin in 15-30 feet of water. Trolling and vertical jigging programs have both recently worked well.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBUTARIES

Anglers are still catching good numbers of walleye off Cattaraugus Creek and to the west. Target walleye in 70-90 feet of water with worm harnesses or stickbaits run between 60 feet down and the bottom. There have been some decent yellow perch catches off Cattaraugus Creek and slightly to the west in 50-60 feet of water. Emerald shiners or other small to medium sized minnows fished just off the bottom work well.

Rainstorms bumped up flows on the Lake Erie tributaries to higher levels on both Tuesday and Thursday. These flow surges should have triggered the first significant influx of steelhead into the streams. Creeks have been dropping back fast and all streams, except Cattaraugus Creek, are options this weekend. Moderate flows will likely give way to slightly lower flows. The exception is the Catt, which is currently at about 1,600 cubic feet per second.

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

Lower Niagara River fishing has been good to very good for salmon in the Devil’s Hole area for boaters drifting globs of treated egg skein and fished with a three-way rig. Shore casters are also placing skein under a float to pick fish up, but spoons, spinners and rattlebaits will also produce fish. Glow-in-the dark Booker Lil Gem spoons are working for kings under low light conditions from shore and salmon are being caught all the way up to the whirlpool.

LAKE ONTARIO

With the heavy rains and cooler temperatures this week, salmon action has taken off in Olcott on the piers and is now starting up 18 Mile Creek at Burt Dam, according to Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott. Pier fishing for kings, as well as the occasional Coho, brown and steelhead, was good off the east pier over the weekend, but switched over to the west pier earlier this week. Casting spoons and spinners is one option, fishing egg skein under a float is another. Small boat trollers are working the harbor with J13 Rapalas in firetiger or blue-silver. Those color patterns are also working for spoons and spinners being tossed off the piers. Up the creek, egg skein or egg sacs are both working for salmon. So is natural color 8 mm beads fished under a float for trout like browns and steelhead. They are not found in any large numbers yet, but action can be good. Over in Wilson, the pier at the foot of Route 425 is producing a few salmon and trout. In the harbor, the perch action has been decent. There are still some pike hanging around, too.