Fishing line: Warming to the task
Continued summer warmth has heated up both warm-water fisheries and kept schools tight for Great Lakes trout and salmon slamming.
Pleasant intervals between fast-moving storm fronts have given anglers shots at hefty boxes (coolers or live wells) of Lake Erie walleye and Lake Ontario trout and salmon.
Lake Erie
Horace Greeley's "Go west young man" dictate applies to all walleye and perch anglers out of Dunkirk Harbor and Cattaraugus Creek.
A solid school of walleyes west of Dunkirk Harbor has kept boaters busy with down rigs and Dipsy Diver-type devices along 70- to 90-foot depths off Van Buren Point to the Portland/Brocton Shoals area.
Entrants in the Cabala's Masters Walleye Circuit and trollers out for a limit-count batch of nice 'eyes run worm harnesses and minnow-type baits at mid depths during change-of-light (morning and evening) hours and close to bottom when sunlight hits directly on the water. Bait school presence varies and 'eye schools move constantly, but walleye from many year classes now are in session west of Dunkirk.
Yellow perch prospects improve just west of the Catt, says Rick Miller at Miller's Bait & Tackle in Irving. Waters have settled out from earlier storms, but warm days and nights have kept the trout out of the creek. But boaters out of Cattaraugus Creek can head west for a fair number of walleye feeding close to bottom off the point at St. Columbans.
Perch seekers can travel even less to reach fair-to-good numbers of fish off Silver Creek in 70-foot depths. These schools stay on the move, but a program of drop-off and feeding flats checks can often produce fair numbers of ringbacks. Quite often, perch move well off bottom when bait schools pass. On the sonar screen they sometimes look more like bass or small walleye than those most-preferred perch.
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario Derby results show Western New York waters highly productive for lake trout, rainbow trout with fair numbers in the salmon and brown trout divisions.
Boaters out of Wilson, Olcott, and Oak Orchard have all headed to deeper water for a good mix of salmonids. Both Derby entrants and recreational runners hit into some nice coho salmon moving along with other salmon and trout.
Trollers try to hold lures at 40- to 60-foot depths over 350-400 feet some 12 miles from shore. "We're expecting them to move closer to shore in a week or so and we will have another good three or four (boat fishing) weeks with them," Capt. Bob Cinelli of Bob Cinelli Sportfishing said after a good day out of Olcott Harbor. His limit catches came on a variety of rigs and terminal tackle.
Spoons have been the main menu on down rigs and Spin Doctors on lead core or copper. They get down 40-60 feet for most feeding species.
Shore and near-shore anglers have been having fun with a smallmouth run at Wilson Harbor, Olcott Harbor, and the Oak Orchard Creek mouth. Bass can be reached from piers.
Wilson and Olcott have seen good numbers of northern pike moving on hefty panfish schools in both harbors. Olcott has a fair number of crappie, as do Wilson back waters.
Chautauqua Lake
Warmer waters pushed walleye deeper in the north and south basins, but perch schools prefer 10- to 15-foot weed-edge skirts lakewide.
Trollers go mainly with worm harnesses for walleye in 35- to 40-foot depths in the North Basin; south basin deeps, rarely reaching 19 feet, produce prize 'eyes at mid-lake sites. Action is best at sunrise and sunset, but overcast days with slightly choppy surfaces can turn on the walleye works.
All kinds of conditions please perch at Chautauqua. Boaters have moved slightly deeper but rarely have to drop to 15-foot depths to run into ringbacks. Deeper, less-weedy outskirts of weed masses often can be dead at times and then see a turn-on from bigger biters. Expect most perch to be in the 7- to 9-inch range.
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