Fishing Beat: Action heating up on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario (2024)

There are a few walleye contests coming up on Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario salmon are beginning to stage off “home” ports where they were stocked. A few salmon were caught off the Olcott piers over the weekend.

Lake Erie and tributaries

Media mavens Ken (The Outdoors Rambler) Perrotte of Virginia and Dave (Forrest Fisher) Barus of Florida hit the water over the weekend with Capt. Jim Plinzke of Fishunter Charters to score on a good catch of walleye. They had to work a bit harder for their fish between 85 and 98 feet of water from Brockton to Van Buren. However, thunderstorms chased them off the lake when they were just one fish away from their limit. The strike zone was from 20 to 70 feet down. For the most part, Plinzke fished worm harnesses off the riggers, stickbaits on Slide Divers with 20-foot leads, and four and five colors of lead core line on Ninja boards. The best sticks were Yaleye’s in watermelon and blue, as well as chartreuse. Worm harness colors in copper and dolphin, as well as oil slick crushed ice, caught the fish for them. Shub Stevens with Catt. Creek Bait and Tackle in Irving reports that the bite is very good out of Cattaraugus Creek, right now. The best depth and approach is 50 to 55 feet of water and bottom bouncing. Bigger walleye are being caught around 80 to 90 feet of water. Worm harnesses are working well, and yellows and greens are hot colors. Yellow perch can be caught in decent numbers if you can find them. Try 45 to 55 feet of water using golden shiners. Steve Brzuszkiewicz of Marilla confirmed the perch report with a report of his own. He found some walleye around 50-foot off the Catt and perch at the 70-foot mark, using 1-ounce Thundermist Stingnose jigs tipped with dead minnow pieces. He caught 22 perch and a couple walleye for a nice start to his season. Bruce Kowalski with TAAR Outdoors in Lake View reports there have been some schools of perch off the Catt in 55 feet of water near Evans Bar and near Pinehurst flats in 50 feet of water. Walleye remain in good numbers between the Catt and Dunkirk. In the Capt. Bob’s Outdoors August contest, top white (silver) bass was Chris Weaver, 8, of Buffalo, with a 17-1/2-inch fish from Lake Erie. Kathy Muir of North Tonawanda entered the top rock bass from Tonawanda Creek at 9 inches. Mike Boncore of Buffalo caught the top bowfin that measured 27-1/2 inches long from the Niagara River. Capt. Bob’s next free derby starts Friday – white bass and northern pike.

Niagara River

Capt. Joe Srouji of Angler Edge Outdoors reports that walleye are available throughout the lower Niagara River and on the Niagara bar. 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 better as we move into fall. Live bait, such as 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. The lower Niagara River and Niagara Bar 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. Anthony Certo of Youngstown caught his winning walleye next to the green can using a homemade worm harness. Matt Wilson of Lewiston did well on bass, casting hard baits 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 and cast to them.

Lake Ontario and tributaries

Capt. Vince Pierleoni of Olcott and the Thrillseeker team won the Big Boys tournament out of 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 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 Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout, Salmon and Walleye Derby that ended Monday, Dan Blackmore of Orford, N.H., caught a 31-pound, 5-ounce Chinook salmon during the opening day on Aug. 16, and led the entire 18-day contest to win $25,500. He was fishing with friends Matt Guay and Pat Burt, both of New Hampshire, out of the Little Salmon River in Oswego. Find out the entire story of his catch, along with the divisional winners for brown trout, steelhead and walleye this Sunday in The Buffalo News. A few kings were reported off the Olcott piers when the lake flipped slightly from a northeast breeze, according to Trevor Luthart of Medina. Chuck Booker, with half-ounce Little Gem spoons in green, was a popular choice for him, catching one and missing a few others.

Chautauqua Lake

Walleye are picking up some on Chautauqua, according to Capt. Mike Sperry with Chautauqua Reel Outdoors. Jigging in weed pockets and on the weed edges is working. Using a jig and twister tail, Vibes and CC spoons is a good plan. It is tedious, at times, and you will be picking weeds off, but it works. Lots of yellow perch can be found in the weeds, as well. The deep-water jigging bite on the north basin hasn’t kicked in yet. Fish are scattered right now, but will be more congregated as the water cools down, Sperry says. For those who don’t care to jig, there are fish in open water on both basins. Trolling Hot-n-Tots, Flicker Shad’s and Walleye Divers is working. Getting lures close to the bottom works on the south basin. Sperry reports trolling through schools of bait in 25 to 35 feet of water on the north basin is working well.

Finger Lakes

Cayuga Lake: Lake trout jigging was warm and cold for Capt. John Gaulke with Finger Lakes Angling Zone over the past week. Cold fronts followed by high pressure made for some difficult fishing, at times, although the overall bite was still pretty good. Fish from 90 feet to 130 feet for best results. Various colored jigs are working well for Gaulke – white, black and chartreuse have all been decent. Rainbows remain in the mix along with some browns and salmon, depending on where you’re fishing.

Owasco Lake: This lake has continued to provide good fishing for jiggers targeting lake trout, rainbow trout and bonus smallmouth bass, Gaulke reports. Depths of 80 to 100 feet of water were productive over the past week.

No reports from Seneca Lake, Skaneateles Lake or Keuka Lake this past week. Expect the fishing to be like what was reported over the previous two weeks.