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Fishing Report

CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

Anglers are beginning to find crappie in more open-lake areas, while the canals are producing mostly catches of smaller crappie and yellow perch with some keeper-sized crappie mixed in. Traditional open-lake crappie spots include Ashville Bay, Burtis Bay, Cheney Point, Lakewood Bar, Rock Island, Grass Island, Bemus Bay, Whitney Bay, Dewittville Bay and the flats off Mayville. Key on areas around green weeds and structure. Small jigs tipped with a small minnow, one-inch tube (or other small plastic) and fished under a float, works well for crappie. Look for bullhead along the shorelines, especially during low-light periods.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBS

Anglers continue to report good to excellent yellow perch action between Cattaraugus Creek and Sturgeon Point in 52-65 feet of water, with many producing limit catches. Reports indicate that small-to-moderate perch schools are slowly roaming around. The key to a limit catch is to find a school and stay on them. Live emerald shiners fished just off bottom have worked best. Anglers also report some smallmouth bass and the odd lake trout catches mixed in.

The creeks were running high to start the week, but most have dropped back into good fishing shape in time for the weekend. The exception is Cattaraugus Creek which remains a little high with a heavy stain. Without additional precipitation, the Catt could be ready in a couple days. There are still decent numbers of steelhead around, along with plenty of suckers, and some smallmouth bass are starting to show.

LAKE ONTARIO

AND TRIBS

For the Lake Ontario basin, the minimum size for browns, rainbows and Pacific salmon is 15 inches in length. Some people have been catching and keeping trout well under that size close to shore. There are certainly more regulations than just these (such as new rules in the tributaries for brown trout (one per person) and rainbow/steelhead (one per person with a minimum size of 25 inches) and it’s important to know them before you head out. Some more exciting news is that the king salmon fishing has started to turn on in Lake Ontario. Matt Tall of Wilson and Capt. Taz Morrison out of Wilson worked their lures in 30 to 80 feet of water to take some nice kings and lake trout. They caught kings to 25 pounds. Conditions change almost daily, says Tall, with things warming up so fast. They were running stickbaits and spoons mostly, working in 46 degrees surface temperature. The temperature doesn’t change much until you get out to 90 feet of water. Lake trout are eating everything in sight. James DeGirolamo of Derby reports that they were fishing anywhere from 180 to 220 feet of water straight out from Olcott. They had meat rigs and spoons work and trout and salmon hit most everything, but spoons are the way to go. Terry Swann of Wilson reports that bullheads are biting at the Wilson-Tuscarora Park boat launch and in the West Branch of 12-mile Creek. Worms and shrimp seem to be the bait of choice. A few nice perch are showing up, too. Pier action has been good for trout in both Wilson and Olcott. Spoons and spinners or live bait under a float work best.

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

The big news is that there has finally been reports of smelt being taken in the Niagara River. While Lewiston Landing (sanddocks) didn’t produce anything, they did get some at Artpark to the south and from docks to the north. The best time was after 11 p.m. Fishing in the lower river for trout continues to be good to very good depending on who you talk to. Steelhead, brown trout and lake trout are all being caught by anglers fishing from boat and shore. Water visibility was about 5-6 feet. Spinners from shore are still producing trout in the gorge. Boaters are drifting minnows, egg sacs or running plugs like Kwikies or MagLips off three-way rigs. Bass are starting to turn on as the waters warm up both in the lower and upper rivers. It was around 45 degrees this week.

UPPER NIAGARA RIVER

Emerald shiners are schooling in many harbors and marinas around the upper Niagara River, attracting yellow perch. Catches of some good-sized perch have been reported in Grand Island marinas. Emerald shiners are available for dipping at marina/harbor sites and work great for perch.

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