Western New York Fishing Hotline
July 3 to July 10, 2009
Saturday, June 20th was the statewide opening day for both bass and muskellunge. A 5 fish daily creel limit and 12" minimum size goes into effect for bass anglers fishing on Lake Ontario, the Lower Niagara River and most other inland lakes in Western New York. Muskellunge creel limits are 1 fish per day, with a 48" minimum size for Lake Ontario and Lower Niagara River.
Lake Ontario and Tributaries
There has been low angler effort and reports over the past week for Lake Ontario. Anglers who have been out are catching a mixed bag of trout and salmon. A good bet for chinook salmon is to concentrate efforts in 100-250 feet of water (fow). Run flasher and fly combos or spoons in the top 80 feet. Spoons run in the top 50 fow have produced some steelhead and coho salmon catches inside 150 fow.
Harbor sites are a good bet for anglers chasing warmwater species. Olcott Harbor anglers report good catches of yellow perch and bass. Wilson Harbor anglers are catching crappie, perch, bluegill and bass.
Lower Niagara River
Filamentous algae or "moss" is a problem for anglers fishing the lower river, keeping your gear clean can be a chore. Despite the moss, anglers can have productive days fishing for smallmouth bass with crayfish, minnows or leeches. There is also a fair amount of hefty muskellunge that cruise the lower end of the river, sometimes in knee-high shallows.
The expanded lower parking lot has been completed for the Niagara Power Project's fishing platform. Additional spaces were added to accommodate both anglers with or without physical disabilities.
Honeoye Lake
Largemouth bass catches have been good in the shallow areas inside of the weeds and in open pockets within the weeds. Surface lures, nightcrawlers and bass shiners are working well for largemouth. Walleye catches are better toward evening in 16-18 fow along weedlines. Drifting with jigs and leeches or jigs and nightcrawlers are good bets. Weeds are making it tough to troll, but anglers are still picking up a few walleye by trolling slowly with worm harnesses. There are plenty of bluegill and pumpkinseed to be had by fishing in 10-14 fow with hair jigs tipped with spikes or wax worms.
Conesus Lake
Late afternoon to evening is a good time to target northern pike along weedlines. Anchoring outside of the weedline and fishing with large golden shiners under a float works well. Trollers have also had success on stickbaits and rattle traps.
Canadice Lake
Shore anglers are catching bass and trout on bass shiners and night crawlers. The drop-off is so close to shore that anglers have a good chance to catch both. Trollers are picking up trout on Krocodile, Sutton and Little Cleo (sizes 3&4) spoons in deeper areas.
Inland Trout Streams
Due to heavy rainfall, most streams in the region are high and muddy. The smaller creeks should settle out quickly without additional rain, but the larger waters like the Genesee River and Cattaraugus Creek will take longer to settle. When waters do clear, Upper Cattaraugus Creek and Ischua Creek should still be great bets for brook trout. In early June, Cattaraugus Creek was stocked with 7,500 yearling brook trout and Ischua Creek was stocked with 4,000 yearling brook trout.
Trout Stocking 2009
Many of the area's streams and lakes are stocked each spring (March through May) with thousands of yearling brown, rainbow and brook trout. In addition to the traditional stocking of yearling trout, many waters also receive generous numbers of two-year old brown trout that average 14 inches in length. All of the region's trout stocking waters have now been stocked, though select waters will receive a second stocking during May. For a complete list of stocked waters by county and number of trout stocked, view the Spring 2009 Trout Stocking pages. Public Fishing Rights Maps are available for many stocked trout streams and wild trout streams in the region.
If you need more fishing information or would like to contribute to the fishing report, please call or e-mail Mike Todd (716-851-7010; mttodd@gw.dec.state.ny.us). Good Luck Fishing!
The fishing hotline can also be heard at (716) 855-FISH.
