CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

Chautauqua has begun to break up as of this reporting. Lower-basin shore anglers are beginning to find ice-off crappie in the channel and mouth of creeks. Few if any boaters have started their season off.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBS

All Lake Erie tributaries were blown out on Monday and were running high and muddy through Wednesday. Silver, Walnut and Canadaway are in great shape today. Chautauqua Creek is slightly high, but fishable. Eighteenmile, Buffalo and Cayuga creeks are still a bit high, but should be options at some point this weekend. Look for a push of spring-run steelhead to have moved in on the latest high-water event. Spring-run steelhead hit a variety of baits, including egg sacs, egg flies, trout beads, jigs with grubs or twister tails, minnows, worms, streamer patterns and bugger patterns.

LAKE ONTARIO

AND TRIBS

With the lack of ice in some harbors and the early removal of the Niagara Ice boom, anglers may start trolling along the shoreline for brown trout any day now. Early spring brown trout action is typically good at depths of 8-20 feet of water, especially near stream/harbor mouths, in slightly murky waters (not muddy) and in areas with slightly higher water temperature. Trolling with small-to-medium-sized stickbaits or spoons run 75-100 feet behind planer boards is the top tactic. Spring casting at pier sites can also be productive for brown trout, as long as there is greenish water within casting range. Spoons and spinners are a good bet. As far as the Lake Ontario tributaries, all streams have rainbows and browns now, according to Roy Letcher of Newfane. Eggs, wax worms, and crawlers are all working. There was already a report of a couple bullhead caught in the Wilson/Olcott area.

Mark your calendars for April 3-5 for the eighth annual Niagara County Bullhead Tournament out of the Wilson Conservation Club. More details to come. Letcher also noted that boats are getting browns along the shoreline out in the lake; piers are showing a few browns, too, on plugs, spoons, and spinners. Live bait under a bobber will also work.

NIAGARA RIVER

A mix of wind and rain continues to muddy the water up in the Niagara River and make fishing difficult from both boat and shore. Shore anglers have been tossing spinners or drifting egg sacs or beads to take trout along the shoreline. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls caught a beautiful 12-pound brown trout along Artpark using a No. 4 spinner this week, an impressive catch for sure. Boaters have been encountering tough conditions. Running bright baits with sound or movement could be the ticket, such as MagLips or Kwikfish.

Water clarity was about 2-3 feet at last report. Capt. Frank Campbell of Lewiston was hitting some lake trout on Pautzke-dyed minnows in chartreuse on Wednesday morning. He’s been averaging about 6-8 fish a trip, mostly a mixed bag of trout and the occasional walleye.