CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

Anglers are still finding walleye along weedlines out to 20 feet of water and around the deeper holes. Trolling with worm harnesses and stickbaits or bottom bounding with worm harnesses works well off weed lines and vertical jigging works well around the deeper holes. Casting large stickbaits around weedlines is a good bet for muskellunge. Now is a good time to take a young or new angler fishing on Chautauqua Lake as bass, sunfish and yellow perch are readily available from docks and shore.

LAKE ERIE & TRIBUTARIES

All Lake Erie tributaries and creeks are high and still rising. The last of the bass are still hanging around. Channel catfish are available in the lower section of Cattaraugus Creek. Nightcrawlers, chicken livers or raw shrimp fished on the bottom works well, especially at night. The deeper holes down low in the other creeks may hold catfish as well.

So far the 19-inch the walleye bite has generally been very good, which you would expect from a lake with such a robust population. However, walleye action has been quite slow during past few days. Anglers report plenty of suspected walleye marks, but have had to work hard to put a few in the cooler. The bite will no doubt pick back up sooner or later. Prior to the slowdown, anglers were catching good numbers of walleye in 50-60 feet of water from Sturgeon Point to west of Dunkirk. Off Barcelona, good catches came from depths of 50-70 feet. From Sturgeon to the Pennsylvania line, stickbaits and worm harnesses run 30-50 feet down is a good bet. Buffalo-area anglers target walleye off the windmills in 30-45 feet of water, outside of the breakwall gaps and at depths of 20-35 feet of water off the breakwalls. In addition to traditional trolling, slow trolling or drifting (1 mph or less) with a bottom bouncing rig with worm harness is a productive technique.

Yellow perch fishing remains spotty with light angler effort. Some modest catches have come from depths of 50-60 feet off Cattaraugus Creek. Smallmouth bass fishing is tapering off in the harbors as post-spawn bass return to the lake. In the open lake, anglers can target smallmouth bass in 15-35 feet of water from Buffalo to Barcelona. The key is to find rocky bottom structure like reefs, rock piles and drop-offs. Tube jigs, jigs with twister tails, deep diving stickbaits, live minnows and crayfish are all good bass baits. A drop-shot rig with tubes or live bait works well when fishing deeper waters.

LAKE ONTARIO

& TRIBUTARIES

Capt. Alan Sauerland with Instigator Charters has been fishing 55 to 75 feet down over 160 feet of water straight out from his home port of Wilson. Magnum spoons are the ticket with the best ones being Moonshine Geezer and Warrior pink spoiler or green spoiler patterns. They caught 25 salmon during this catch-and-release trip. Capt. Vince Pierleoni of Thrillseeker reports similar success out of Olcott, 60 to 80 feet down over 60 to 250 feet of water, also with Dreamweaver magnum and super slim spoons at the top of his list. Joe Oakes of Wilson was fishing out of Olcott this week and wanted to try and get his 300- and 400-foot copper lines a bit deeper so he put on a J-plug for the heck of it. Capt. Hank Condes of Wilson (Blade Runner Charters) said it best as he spoke to a group of front-line tourism folks this week in Wilson Harbor. “June isn’t the transition month that it used to be.” The push is on to let everyone know that Lake Ontario is open for business … and that the fishing is great, even in June.

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

In the Niagara River, the dreaded moss is slowly starting to arrive on the scene as the river hit the 60-degree mark this week. In the lower Niagara River, there were still some steelhead around. Bass and walleye were cooperating, giving a nice mixed bag to anglers. Live bait like minnows fished off three-way rigs is a popular approach but bouncing bottom with a Strike King Zero cut down has been working for bass up to 5-1/2 pounds this past week. Swim baits and tubes will still work if the moss isn’t too bad. High water levels are making fishing tricky in the Devil’s Hole area and the NYPA fishing platform is under water. The speed limit is still in effect along the New York shoreline so run the middle of the river and take it easy. Upper river action for bass and walleye has also been decent, especially at the head of Strawberry Island. Worm harnesses, minnows, swim baits and tubes are all good baits to use. Make sure you mark your calendar for the Erie Canal Fishing Derby set for July 3-14.