Fishing Line /By Will Elliott
Lake Erie
The walleye fireworks have been going off well before the Fourth of July.
Southtowns Walleye Tourney entrants keyed mainly on Barcelona Harbor for the bigger ’eyes during that contest, but ports eastward continue to increase in number and size of walleyes.
Boaters out of Cattaraugus Creek have been heading west toward Dunkirk Harbor and setting suspended rigs 20 to 40 feet down over 60-to 80-foot depths for walleyes headed east and feeding well off bottom. Downrigs will take a few fish, but side-diver rigs with worm-harness terminal tackle tops all takers so far this season.
Black and purple spinner blades do well at first light and evening hours; watermelon, with either a silver or copper back, gets the most mentions for the mid-day sun.
Perch patrollers have headed deeper but still cluster most between Cattaraugus Creek and Evangola State Park. Schools of emerald shiners — the most popular live bait species — have out to deeper water and fishermen can no longer rely on dipping bait at launch sites. But those fatheads and smaller golden shiners can connect when ring-backs run rampant. Opinions vary widely on successes with salted emeralds, but they can work at times and would be worth a try each time out.
Trollers say they’re seeing more anchored perch anglers; perchers say they’re seeing more walleye trollers. Both species hold at virtually the same depths, perch near 50-to 70-foot bottoms and walleye suspended some 20 to 40 feet down over those same depths.
Bass bust up baits — live or artificial — closer to shore, working rock structures at mid-20s to mid-30-foot depths along the Hamburg and Evans shoreline. When winds kick up too much for the open-water bass bite, casters can move inside the Buffalo Harbor breakwaters at and around the North and South Gap currents.
Niagara River
Upper river pike still move in and around the Strawberry Island estuary. Lower river suspended moss can be a problem, but vertical jigs get through the goo and often can be big on smallies.
Lake Ontario
“We have all kinds of fish. All we need now are the fishermen,” said Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctor in Olcott Harbor. Evarts gets good reports of smaller king salmon — 2-year-olds up to 15 pounds — hitting on spoons directly off the harbor at depths of 85 to 125 feet.
Shore casters in all harbors have seen good largemouth and great smallmouth bass numbers in recent heat. Wilson Harbor offers the better northern pike bite.
Fin-tastic photos
Anglers with good photos of great catches can have their trophy shots displayed on the Fishing Page of the News’ Web site (buffalonews.com/fishing). New photos will be added as they are received. To get your photo published, e-mail it along with a brief description of the catch, including the name and home (city, town or village) of the angler, the location of the catch and how the fish was caught to the e-mail address listed below.
