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CHAUTAUQUA LAKE
Outside weed edge bite continues to produce for walleye anglers, but the northern basin is best. The hours near dawn and dusk are best, as high sun and boat traffic tend to make for tough fishing. Trolling or drifting worm harnesses is a good bet, but also expect catches of white perch, white bass and yellow perch, including some jumbos. Walleye will also hit trolled stickbaits and casted jigs. During the day, look for walleye in cooler, deeper water. Largemouth bass are holding in shallower areas along weedlines, in pockets within the weeds and around docks. Live shiners, weedless rigged plastics, wacky rigs and topwater lures are good largemouth bass offerings. Target smallmouth bass along deeper weedline edges, drop-offs and points. Tube jigs, Ned jigs or a drop-shot rig with crayfish, shiners or plastics work well.
LAKE ERIE AND TRIBS
As generally happens, old fishing tales are correct, including "west wind best for walleye," though there has been an uptick in catches off Buffalo. Limit catches were the norm west of Barcelona Harbor in 50-100 feet of water at mid-week. Worm harnesses, stickbaits and spoons were all productive. Good action was also reported west of Dunkirk Harbor in 50-70 feet of water. A decent number of Dunkirk boats limited out on Wednesday, and all others returned to port with at least a couple walleye. Dunkirk and Barcelona anglers also report steelhead and white bass catches mixed in. Anglers are marking lots of fish off Cattaraugus Creek, but slow biters have made for tough fishing. Walleye fishing has improved off Buffalo, with decent to good catches coming along the international line at depths over 45 feet. Walleye are both suspended and hugging the bottom.
Smallmouth bass fishing has been more consistent at depths of 25-35 feet of water around reefs/shoals, rock piles and drop-offs. Bass are also available in the gaps and deep outside edges of Buffalo Harbor breakwalls. Ned rigs, jigs with swimbaits, tube jigs, live minnows and crayfish are good bass offerings
LAKE ONTARIO AND TRIBS
After the storms and high winds blew through the tail end of last week. Brian Gregson of Gasport with the Totally Hooked team won both LOTSA big-fish contests with a 25.46-pound king salmon, but they caught plenty of other fish in the process for the one-day event. Also on the team were his wife, Jill, his brother, Adam, and the team anchor, 77-year-old father-in-law, Don Tranter of Grand Island. The team ran west of Wilson from Olcott and worked their way east with the wind. Staying in 200 to 220 feet of water, they caught the top fish on a Mountain Dew Spin Doctor with a meat rig outfitted with N & D meat. It was set on a dipsy 180 feet back on a No. 1 setting. However, flasher-fly took most of the fish they caught on Saturday.
Another hot program was using fixed sliders 10 feet above the downrigger ball set at 80 and 90 feet. The best spoon was a green gator. Steve O'Lay of Ransomville and the Copper Steel team (Calvin Dufour of Gasport and his son Jason from Virginia) won the LOTSA 223 contest and the secret to their success was staying in 275 to 300 feet of water and fishing deep, 80 to 125 feet down. They trolled with the wind from west of Wilson to east of Olcott. Most of the fish were caught using spin doctor and fly combos (the best one was a Pro-Am A-Tom-Mik fly with a 10-inch UV DW spin doc) off one of two 400-foot copper rods that they had set out. Their biggest fish was caught on a RV Flounder Pounder Moonshine spoon on the 400 copper. The second biggest fish came on a KingFisher meat rig set 125 feet down on the rigger. They caught 26 salmon during the day, not counting shaker salmon (small ones). Dick Schrantz of the Fredonia area fished with his son Brian and grandson Luke, concentrating on the Niagara Bar. Not much boat traffic, but they did catch fish up to 22.5 pounds and lost a few other big ones. Spoons seemed to work best with a magnum fire tiger and a magnum NK antifreeze spoon off divers set back 180 to 205. There were numerous smaller shaker salmon that were caught and released. The countdown is starting for the Summer Lake Ontario Counties (LOC) that ends Sunday at 1 p.m. There were two new Grand Prize leaders caught over the weekend. First it was a 29-pound, 9-ounce king caught by Brandon Weiland of Pine City while fishing out of the Oak. Then it was Don Stacknick of Dalton, Pennsylvania with a 30-pound, 6-ounce king caught out of Fair Haven. In the Brown Trout Division, the first-place fish is still a 20-pound, 1-ounce Rochester fish reeled in by Mark Skirvin of Henrietta. The lake trout leader is new as of Tuesday with a 23-pound, 3-ounce fish, caught off Oswego by Richard DuBois of Pulaski. Top walleye is still an 11-pound, 15-ounce Henderson harbor fish caught by Matt Plumpton of Watertown.
LOWER NIAGARA RIVER
Not too much has changed with the Niagara River fishing action, according to Lisa Drabczyk of Creek Road Bait and Tackle. The NYPA fishing platform is still producing a mixed bag of fish, including smallmouth bass, white bass, and sheepshead when the water levels do not shut the fishing area down. Call NYPA at 286-6662 to check status before heading down. Bass and gar pike are available from shore in the gorge area along Artpark. Boaters have been picking up some bass and walleye along Stella Niagara and at the Coast Guard station. For bass, use crayfish or minnows, but be prepared to catch some sheepshead, too. Ned rigs, tubes and drop shot set-ups are also taking some fish, but action was a bit slower this past week. Above Niagara Falls in the upper river, some bass and walleye are being caught along with some big sheepshead. Ned rigs for bass and worm harnesses for walleye. Remember, no matter where you are fishing on the river, avoid Canadian waters. The border is closed, even if you have a Canadian fishing license.