Frank Campbell
Dan Blackmore of Orford, New Hampshire caught a 31-pound, 5-ounce Chinook salmon on the first day of the Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout, Salmon and Walleye Derby August 16th and led the entire contest to win $25,500. He was fishing with his friends Matt Guay and Pat Burt of New Hampshire out of the Little Salmon River in Oswego. The lucky lure was an A-Tom-Mik “Big Fin” fly behind a Pro Troll Flasher. In the other divisions, they all came in the last week of fishing that ended Labor Day. Kristine Grager of Lyndonville was fishing with her husband Capt. Mike Grager of Get Hooked Sportfishing and they caught a 15-pound, 5-ounce brown trout fishing out of the Oak to win the category with her personal best brown on the final weekend. The top steelhead was caught out of Olcott when Dan Heyne of Ohio reeled in a 14-pound fish that was also a personal best. First place walleye came from the mouth of the Niagara River at the green buoy marker when Anthony Certo of Youngstown hauled in a personal best fish on a worm harness.
Hats off the Capt. Vince Pierleoni of Olcott and the Thrillseeker team who won the Big Boys tournament out of the Oak Orchard over the holiday weekend. The team’s strategy was to work the inside waters during very unstable weather for salmon eager to run the river there. Both days they took two of their six fish in those waters, targeting 50 to 110 feet of water. This was a salmon only tournament. Then they would move out deep to 400 to 600 feet of water and target salmon out there. Their winning catch was 11 kings and one coho salmon over the two days. They used a mix of spoons, flasher-flies and meat, with Dreamweaver Spin Doctors playing an important role in the mix.
A few kings were reported off the Olcott piers when the lake flipped, according to Trevor Luthart of Medina. Chuck Booker ½-ounce Little Gem spoons in green was a popular choice for him, catching one and missing a few others.
Lower Niagara River was the place to be for the walleye division of the LOC Derby. Eight of the top 10 fish came from the lower river and the Niagara Bar at the green can. Certo’s catch came in 24 feet of water next to the green can using a homemade worm harness he tied, bouncing bottom on a 3-way rig. Walleyes are available throughout the river and on the Niagara bar according to Capt. Joe Srouji of Angler Edge Outdoors. Trolling worm harnesses just a bit faster than the current is key for walleye. The bass bite has been good to very good and will get even better as we move into fall. Live bait like crayfish and shiners is all you need to have a successful day. For artificial lure anglers, throwing tube jigs, swim baits and Ned rigs will take bass and the occasional walleye mixed in. Matt Wilson of Lewiston did well on bass casting hard baits on Saturday in front of Fort Niagara. One bait was a KVD Red Eye Shad that also produced a big walleye in 8 feet of water. Big bass were roaming the sand flats. He would let the crankbait sink to the bottom and then crawl it back. He would use his spot lock on his trolling motor when he found a nice school of fish.
Chris Kenyon
The salmon are staging which means it will be stream fishing shortly. Some of the kings caught had fish in their stomachs, so they are still eating, which is good news.
After the northwest blow of yesterday, the temps are scattered. You can start out for Sodus and go towards the west for the troll. Work 160 to 200fow down 100 feet. The bait and kings are there, however they have been very fussy biters.
Cut bait seems to be working the best, however flasher flies have caught fish. Green is the dominant color for everything.
Close to shore from Sodus Bay to Hughes’ Marina, the browns should be an excellent choice for early morning trolling.
Some perch have been caught near the islands at the north end of Sodus Bay. This is the time of year where they enter the bays from Lake Ontario.
When the action starts use 2-inch grubs with the sinker 15 inches below the hook.
Sodus and Port Bays have some fantastic largemouth bass fishing. It’s the best time of year, and the bays are quieter with less recreational boat traffic after Labor Day.
Worm rigs are the best with crank and spinner baits also working.
The Widewaters section of the canal didn’t have Monday’s strong Northwest wind, so the entire area was fishable.
The largemouths have been netted at six-plus pounds. (no exaggeration) Fish the south side of the canal.
All the locks on the canal are open until mid-October.
Launch sites for Port Bay: Barrier bar road at the north end of West Port Bay Road and the south end DEC site. The north barrier bar road is very bumpy. Take it slow.
Bait for fishing is available on the south end of Sodus at Davenports and Bay Bridge Sport Shop.
On Port Bay Jarvis Bait Farm is open on Brown Road. The signs are on East Port Bay Road at the junction of Brown Road.
Toadz Bait is near the end of West Port Bay Road.
The following list offers a summary of the most notable fishing regulation changes resulting from the adopted rulemakings described above.
Busy times on the water as fall approaches! The open Lake Ontario action is winding down for some and the tributary action is soon to heat up! Tournaments are closing with some impressive leaderboards posted. Check out the LOC Fall Derby results here. Once again, big Kings were caught by anglers that weren’t registered in the derby! Always happens – don’t be that guy! For the Oak Orchard Big Boy Shootout congrats to Team Thrillseeker first place, Team Screamin’ Reels second place and Team Crazy Yankee third place. We’ll post KOTO results soon.
The near shore action for staging Kings is showing good potential. Now if only the water would set up stable. That’s not the case lately though as some sporty winds have kept things changeable inside. So far, for the start of this week it looks like warm water has pushed back in. Unconfirmed reports of only a handful of fish actually in the river and a patient O-dark thirty observation at the rivermouth might reveal a couple floppers. Charters today never paused near shore and didn’t start to set rods until around 100 fow and most were moving beyond that.
Capt. Chris LoPresti from Maverick Charters says “the weekend was like fishing in a washing machine – current, wind and temps were all over the place. There are some Kings beginning to stage at 80 – 100 fow. For us, the off-shore bite at the 30 – 32 line was good with steelhead, immature Kings, cohos and strangler matures. Seventy – 100 ft down with flasher flies and meat rigs took the most fish with occasional bites on a black/green glow silver spoon. Enjoy the fall everyone!”
Capt. Lou Borrelli from Get the Net Charters didn’t push his luck on Saturday with storms looming so he worked 100 – 115 fow. “We found a good pod of mature Kings between Bald Eagle and the glass house. All of our bites came in the top 50 ft. with J-plugs, meat rigs and spoons all working. See you for charter action again next year!”
Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
Fishing on the lake has picked back up after another multi directional blow this past weekend. 130-150’ of water has been the best depth. We recommend from 9-Mile-Point to just north of the Salmon River.
Flasher fly combos have been working the best; 8” and 11” flashers have been getting the job done. But plugs have also been taking a good number of fish.
The cohos have showed up along with plenty of big kings. So don’t be afraid to get some red in the mix.
Tight lines everyone!
• Click Here of the 10 day Forecast
• Click Here for the Current CFS at Pineville
Fish have been spread though out the entire river. The high-water event a couple weeks ago allowed the salmon to enter the river and travel freely. This help spread them out evenly.
Earlier this week, there were reports of big pods in the mid river around the Sportsman Pool. And a push of cohos made it through town on Tues and Wednesday. So, look for them up river soon.
Kings are starting to pile up in the estuary, so look for a push any day now.
The updated Oswego County Fishing and Hunting Guide is now available online and in print. The guide features a new cover and an expanded listing of fishing guides and charters.
The 67-page guide includes a detailed overview of fishing opportunities on eastern Lake Ontario, Oneida Lake, the Oswego and Salmon rivers and a variety of other tributaries, as well as the more than 40,000 acres of public lands available for hunting.
