Fishing Line
Boating anglers along the Lake Ontario shoreline see high creek and river waters as a prelude to early king salmon runs into feeder streams.
Inland lakes continue to produce good panfish numbers.
Lake Erie
Walleye numbers have been down, and perch are on hold. Bass keep boaters busy from Barcelona to Buffalo.
DEC creel reports have it dead on; walleye catches and angler hours spent on the water dipped in July, but drifters working shoals and pockets at and just off the head of the Niagara River often hit into ’eye schools in session.
Perch schools have headed deeper, with 72 the most popular depth as a starting point off Cattaraugus Creek. Nearer the creek, a mud line off the Catt and damaged boats and docks along the inside of the breakwater make it difficult to think fish-finding.
Cattaraugus Creek waters remained high early Tuesday morning, but boat-trailer access at Hidden Harbor will be reopened this afternoon. The state launch could be open by the weekend; Town of Hanover ramp operators could not be reached for an access update.
Smallmouth bass offer the best shot at both fish sizes and numbers. Structures east of Cattaraugus Creek and near Eighteen Mile Creek need a few days to settle mud-line staining, but 20-to 25-foot depths along Buffalo Harbor breakwaters hold scads of smallies right now.
Jigs, chubs, and casting spoons all interest biting bass, but soft-shelled crayfish do the most damage when it comes to getting hits. Rigs that get “crabs” down and just off the bottom (to avoid round goby predation) work best for bite numbers.
Lunker Laker
Lake Erie fishermen have seen setbacks for fish numbers taken in open-water areas, but lake trout schools, some in the pack with spectacular sizes, have been feeding heavily in deeper waters west of Dunkirk Harbor in depths of more than 100 feet.
Anthony Becket of Portland, Ore., hooked into one of those large lakers while on a charter trip with Capt. Paul Dreher of Small Fortune Charters. Becket’s fish weighed in officially at 40.25 pounds, which places it as second heaviest lake trout caught in New York State.
Details of this catch will be given in an Outdoors Page column Sunday.
Lake Ontario
Bass keep shore and near-shore anglers busy along Ontario waters. The Niagara Bar has been consistent for smallmouths, and shore casters are having fun at both Wilson and Olcott Harbors.
Trollers still head out far enough to get over 350-foot depth and troll northward to find good schools of trout and salmon. The better odds start about seven miles out, says Charter Captain Bob Cinelli.
One king earlier this week just missed 30 pounds, and one steelie just busted 15 pounds on the scale.
The flasher-and-fly rig works well. Wes Walker at Slipper Sinker Bait & Tackle in Olcott still prescribes Spin Doctor rigs for the assortment of salmonids moving off Olcott Harbor.
For spoon patterns, green with either copper or orange decorations can be colorful.
Inland lakes
Chautauqua Lake: Prior to the weekend
deluge, anglers enjoyed good runs of musky, smallmouth bass and perch, and fair numbers of largemouth bass and walleye.
Weekend planners watch waters in both basins. The shallow south basin shows a greater stain, but deeper waters in the north basin (Long Point to Mayville) could clear by Saturday. Clarity has less effect on yellow perch, which go for minnows along 5-to 15- foot depths lakewide.
Seneca Lake: The big perch and bluegill
run slowed along 20-to 35-foot drop-offs but bass keep boaters busy from Geneva to Watkins Glen.
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