Niagara Region

[Spiel]

May 21, 2009

Will Elliott / www.buffalonews.com

Lake Erie

 

Boaters have neither enough lines nor time to get to all the hot bites warming up on the eastern end of Lake Erie.

 

When waves and weather allow, perch packs gather around near-Buffalo shoals (mainly Seneca Shoal and Meyers Reef) at depths of 30-40 feet, off Sturgeon Point at 45-55 feet, and off Cattaraugus Creek at 50-55 feet. Minnows work at all locations. “Sometimes the salted emeralds work better than live bait,” said Rick Miller at Miller’s Bait & Tackle in Irving.

 

Drifters work larger minnows or goby-colored jigs (tails and tubes) along rocky drop-offs at depths anywhere from 10 feet out to 30 feet for smallmouth. Good bites occur along both sides of the Buffalo Harbor breakwaters and along reefs from Donnelly’s Wall to Sturgeon Point. The Hamburg shoreline gets much attention.

 

Walleye have set their sights on bait-fish well after dark. Trollers work the Buffalo/ Hamburg shoreline and shoal edges west of Dunkirk Harbor well into the early- morning hours. Mixed sizes of minnow- type baits (try the Nos. 7 or 9 as well as the 13 and 18 Rapalas).

 

Lake Ontario

 

The salmon run is king east of the Niagara Bar in deeper water. Following successes during the Lake Ontario Counties (LOC) Derby, trollers have dropped spoons down close to bottom in 100-150 feet for more kings than lake trout.

 

Spoons, Spin Doctor and fly rigs account for good numbers and sizes of salmon, with the occasional coho hitting rigs. At both Olcott and Oak Orchard, the hot depth settings have been 40-70 feet.

 

Closer to shore, the Niagara Bar has seen a nice run of coho salmon, with a few lingering lake trout hitting off the deeper edges. While salmon and trout fishing, many a drifter has hit into huge smallmouth bass. Bass season opens June 20, but incidental catches of bruiser bass have come into Village Hardware, said proprietor Nick Custodi. One angler weighted a mid-20-inch smallie that reached 7.5-pounds on a hand-held scale.

 

Along shore, the perch run continues to be fun. Wilson Harbor and Oak Orchard Creek have seen a good number of northern pike, but Olcott Harbor has been a perch paradise this past week.

 

Shore casters at Olcott use either worms or fathead minnows from the pier or boat, said Wes Walker at Slippery Sinker Bait & Tackle. Water temperatures have risen well above spawning, but the bigger female perch continue to hold in shallow bays and along creek mouths.