CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

Anglers continue to report a good walleye bite along weed edges in 10-15 feet of water, in both basins. Trolling with stickbaits has worked well, however, jigging along edges or in pockets within the weeds is also productive. Yellow perch are also available along weed edges and readily hit small minnows. Look for largemouth bass around docks and weed beds. Bass fishing was by catch and release only, artificial lures only, until the regular season opened today.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBS

The walleye night bite is tapering off as daytime anglers are seeing more consistent walleye catches. Anglers out of Buffalo are doing well by bottom bouncing in 30-40 feet of water off the windmills, including some limit catches. Out of Cattaraugus Creek and to the west, trollers are catching walleye in 50-55 feet of water. Off Barcelona, anglers are marking lots of fish in 30-60 feet of water, but fishing has been slow with boats averaging 2-3 walleye. Sturgeon Point Marina has been dredged and is now open for launching.

Yellow perch fishing has been decent to good off Cattaraugus Creek, with some limit catches reported. Live emerald shiners, fathead minnows and salted emeralds fished at the bottom has worked well in 52-55 feet of water. There are still smallmouth bass in all of the Lake Erie tributaries, with better numbers in the larger streams. Cattaraugus Creek is the best option when in fishable condition.

LAKE ONTARIO AND TRIBS

Fishing is picking up out of Olcott, according to Capt. Joe Oakes of Salmonboy Sportfishing, as there is a lot of bait gathering between 180 and 350 feet of water. All the wind the last few days has been pushing the fish around either to the west or east of Olcott, but keep searching until you start marking bait. Once you find the bait, you will find the salmon and steelhead. The bite has been between 40 and 100 feet down with a mix of spoons and flasher-fly combos. Also, this year the mature salmon are big. Oakes has been getting several kings in that 23- to25-pound range every week. This is great news with the Summer Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby set to start on June 27. The month-long derby will be held with over $32,000 in cash prizes up for grabs.

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

Fishing will be a bit tougher for the Saturday opening of the regular bass season and the Great Lakes muskellunge and tiger muskie seasons due to the dreaded Niagara River moss that is flowing down through the system. One thing that could help is that live bait will once again be an option in places like the lower Niagara River for bass. Lisa Drabczyk with Creek Road Bait and Tackle in Lewiston sends word that it has been more of a mixed bag of fish in the river including white bass, rock bass, smallmouth bass and sheepshead leading the way. A few straggler trout have been caught, but most of those cold-water fish have left the system and returned to Lake Ontario. Remember to stay out of Canadian waters, especially in the upper Niagara River where most of the west river falls across the international line.