CHAUTAUQUA LAKE

If you are still looking for walleye, the northern basin is going to be your best bet. The deeper the better, keeping on the outside of the weed line. Trolling or bottom bouncing with worm harnesses, and casting jigs has been productive. Smallmouth are being taken in deeper water off Lakewood and Warners Bar on crawfish or leech style baits. Muskellunge are also showing along weedlines. Target muskie by casting large 6- to 8-inch stickbaits and jerkbaits along weedlines or casting and retrieving over the top edges of weed beds.

LAKE ERIE AND TRIBS

Boats heading west out of Dunkirk are still doing best in 50-70 or 55-65 feet of water. Renosky stickbaits are still all everybody is talking about, but you have to run them from 30 feet down and to the bottom. Trollers out of Barcelona continue to do well and are still picking up modest numbers of walleye in 50-60 feet of water on gear run between 20 feet down and the bottom.

Smallmouth bass fishing has been relatively slow, but there have been some better reports in 25-35 feet of water. The key is to find rocky bottom structure such as reefs, rock piles and drop-offs. Ned rigs, jigs with swimbaits, tube jigs, live minnows and crayfish are good bass offering

LAKE ONTARIO AND TRIBS

The Lake Ontario Counties (LOC) Trout and Salmon Summer Derby still has a couple weeks of fishing action to go, ending on July 26 at 1 p.m.

The current Grand Prize leader is still a 29-pound, 8-ounce salmon caught out by Dustin Presutti of Montour Falls in Wayne County. In the Brown Trout Division, the first-place fish is still a 20-pound, 1-ounce Rochester fish reeled in my Mark Skirvin of Henrietta. There is a new lake trout leader, a 22-pound, 8-ounce fish from the waters off Oswego, caught by Tom Rebyak of New Jersey. There are finally some walleyes entered, too. Top fish is an 11-pound, 15-ounce Henderson harbor fish caught by Matt Plumpton of Watertown. Check out the board at www.loc.org. If you are going fishing in Lake Ontario, make sure you register for the LOC. Dan Wood and his wife, Missy, from eastern New York were fishing in the lake off the Salmon River and caught a 33-pound, 1-ounce salmon with Reel Addicted Charters. No, they were not in the derby. It was still a beautiful fish, caught on N&D cut bait in an A-Tom-Mik meat rig behind a Pro Troll flasher.

There are some big fish around here, too. A 33-pound, 6-ounce fish, caught by James Keenan, was reeled in off Port Dalhousie in the St. Catharines Game and Fish contest. Fish do not have to worry about crossing the border. On the local front, the lake fishing is really starting to take off for mid-summer action, just in time for the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association’s Club Tournaments. Friday was the Curt Meddaugh Memorial Contest for Big Fish overall, followed by the LOTSA King Salmon Tournament for Big Fish on today. There is a special contest for the two days combined, too. Information has been tough to come by in the lake, too, but according to Scott Palmer at The Boat Doctors, the fishing has been good to particularly good off Olcott in 80 to 250 feet of water, 50 to 80 feet down. Meat and flasher-fly has been working best for mature kings, but you can also catch salmon and trout on spoons. Similar reports were coming out of Wilson, too. Just general information this week to keep things interesting.

LOWER NIAGARA RIVER

In the Niagara River, bass action has been good off the NYPA fishing platform, when it is open. You need to keep posted on when it is open because of the high-water level fluctuations. Call 286-6662 for updates. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls hit the NYPA pier Monday morning and was only able to fish an hour, but managed to catch three species – smallmouth bass, sheepshead, and white bass. Then it was off to another favorite spot for gar pike. Using his homemade rope flies with an 1/8-ounce weight to get it down 2-3 feet (and no hook because of all the teeth in the gar snout), he caught several of the fish along the shoreline. From the boat, walleyes have been hitting on the Stella drift using a 3-way rig with a worm harness. There are some off the mouth of the river near the green buoy marker. Bass have also been hitting off the clay banks and off the Coast Guard station, according to Lisa Drabczyk at Creek Road Bait and Tackle. Use Ned rigs or drop shot set-ups. Crayfish will also work off three-way rigs. Remember that the Canadian border is off limits and that order has been extended through Aug. 21. Upper river bass action continues to be good at the head of the river and at the head of Grand Island.