Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Niagara River reports

[Spiel]

Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Niagara River reports;

 

05/22/08

Fishing Line

Will Elliott / buffalonews.com

 

 

Nasty weather — cold rain and high winds — have dampened spring fishing runs. Night trollers have had few chances to get on the water and into good post-spawning ’eyes.

 

Day-side trollers have started seeing fair numbers of walleye on runs around Myers Reef.

 

Perch continue to do their yo-yo cruises into shallows followed with runs to deeper waters. A depth of 54 feet seems to be a deep-side holding ground for ring backs on the run.

 

For the few boaters who could get out this past week, Evangola has become the hot spot once again. A few patchy schools of perch appear in spurts around the Catt; on rare occasions perch move into the creek. But the bread-and-butter, bucket-catch numbers remain out deep.

 

Bass anglers have begun moving in closer to work shoreline rock structures, despite the recent chill. Both bottom-bumping jigs and live bait work well on bass. With bass chubs, try to set the hook as quickly as possible to keep the hook as close as possible to the lip for easier catch and release.

 

Niagara River

 

Perch schools have moved in closer at both the Ferry Street and Ontario Street launch sites, but it takes a bit more work to find keeper-sized pike.

 

Bass have moved up current in the lower river, but drifters can still hook into a few steelies and a fair number of lake trout as waters warm. When things get rough — winds and wave activity — Buffalo Harbor breakwaters around the gaps offer good protection from the elements and nice fish activity. When bait movement and water color are right, anglers may hook into everything from bluegills to sturgeon, but the bass population dominates those rock structures along the walls.

 

Lower-river water temperatures average 47 degrees, which hold steelhead and lake trout in areas that should be bass and walleye hangouts right now. Drifters can see a mix of trout and bass on just about every pass at Artpark, Lewiston-Queenston and down to the forts at the mouth.

 

Lake Ontario

 

Nasty winds, often from the north, have pushed bait schools and pursuing trout and salmon in and away from shore. A few smaller Chinook can be found around the Niagara Bar, but boaters in search of sizable salmon have been heading to trolling sites off Olcott Harbor.

 

Trout stocking

 

Randolph Hatchery staffers have stocked trout in the following waterways in time for outings this weekend: Ischua Creek, Franklinville, 3,100 yearling brown trout; Cattaraugus Creek, Java, 1,700 yearling brown trout; Oatka Creek, Warsaw, 1,100 yearling brown trout; and East Koy Creek, Gainesville, 3,300 yearling brown trout.