Check out loc.org. The following report is courtesy of Capt. Breakfast will be offered for a $10 donation. Many thanks to the Archers Club for opening up the Fall fishing access. A good head of turbine water lending fishy water and cover for fish to be anywhere in the water course they would want to be. There were salmon porpoising around the green can and the red can. Forecast is for slowly warming up thru this week with chance of rain/snow showers mid week and precipitation again for end of week. The other area smaller tribs have med or slightly high and stained flows. Flows in the Oak are about medium and slightly stained with about 2 ft of visibility. Crabs are working off 3-way rigs, as are Ned rigs and swim baits. And, a big shout-out and congratulations to Crazy Yankee for winning this past weekends 2021 Niagara Pro Am! Another warmup is forecast thru the mid week with highs in the 40sF and another chance at rain Thursday. Ron Bierstine, NYS Reimagine the Canals Task Force Member Fishing. Slightly cooler forecast for the upcoming weekend and hopefully the serious cold is a goner! A beautiful 15 lb steelhead had hit the deck. A few more lake trout have shown up in the river to do their spawning ritual. Stephen Shen of STS guide service says: The end of the annual salmon run is coming to an end in the upper salmon river. Canal water flow managers are likely throttling back any additional Canal releases into the tribs thanks to all the precipitation. Its been a windy week on Lake Ontario off the Orleans County NYCoastline. Any future rise in flows should perk up the action for fresh fish so well hope the upcoming forecast brings that on either with rain or snow and then melt off. There could be some fresh fish migrations in the rest of the downstream river course and the other area smaller tribs anytime now thru the spring on these high water events. I have stayed busy trolling 60-105 ft near bottom with cut bait fly rigs especially on magnum wire divers. Thanks to a return to cold temps and snowy weather, trib flows retreated for the beginning part of this week. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. Expect daily water level fluctuations this time of the year because of leaf fall and wind. A nice mid week weather period now after the holiday weekend with clear and warm days forecast today and tomorrow. The Line/Lure used was Copper line, Pro Troll and Meat. Fish are still spawning in the typical areas on or near gravel. A little more precipitation from the end of the past weekend and beginning part of this week has bumped up the trib flows slightly. Fish for bass on Sodus Bay throwing-out worm rigs between the islands at the north end of the bay. All the trib flows are on the retreat from the last rain. Not a blow out but enough precipitation to bump everything up with a nice spate of water for some fresh fish migrations. Oak Orchard River begin Sept 2020. Look for Kings steaming thru the downstream fast water to the dam, from the frog water areas thru the fast water, from the lower river to the frogwater, and from the near shore big Lake O waters to the rivermouth/lower river. And lest we forget brown trout where world-class waters such as Niagara River, Oswego River, Oak Orchard Creek, Eighteenmile Creek, Sandy Creek and Maxwell Creek provide peak fishing opportunities in November and December. You can lay a rod down on the bank or net a fish or walk around a wading obstruction for safety but anglers cannot be on the Archers Club grounds on the dates not included above. Then the hit and misses kept on coming. Looks like more of the same in the near term forecast anyway. We changed the name from Orleans Outdoor to Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge going on 3 years ago! Slightly lower flows will likely reveal more browns then thought when the water was higher. Location 3.8. Flows in the smaller area waterways should continue to drop from around moderate maybe going toward low and clear. Most fish came from 50-90 down (44 degrees to 60-degree water) under 74-degree surface waters. High water drifting as long as its not blown might be the name of the game! Anglers are finding it an up year for Atlantics and cohos. Wrap around Lake Effect Snow after the storm may bring all the snow accumulations north and south about equal anyway. There are always some exceptional fish caught in the trib season, just check out the pics below and in the archives. Note to self after any kind of high water after stale conditions try more upstream then downstream. Past weekend action a little slower perhaps a result of increased fishing pressure. Required fields are marked *. Ive heard from visiting Rec boats (AKA recreational) that west of the Point in 100-200 ft of water got em steelhead and coho salmon action. Downstream frog water areas are all open with no icing conditions yet. The 2021 New York State fishing guide can be found at dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7917.html for downloading and printing at home. Theres no significant icing anywhere that we are aware of. On the west side of Shadigee just past Flat Top, they hit their first King and the further they went, the better it got. Any significant rainfall could raise flows up more with dirtier water color. Little to no fishing pressure because of the recent events, with the few anglers out enjoying action like this for early Apr 2020 steelhead in the Oak. The additional releases from the Erie Canal are triggering early Browns! Without overflow levels now, some might be inclined to call it only slightly high. Bob Songin of Reel Excitement Charters "At the Bar Recap 2021" video. Downstream slow water spots are for sure locked up and even upstream all the way to the dam is frozen except for a rivulet here and there or if you were to break something open. Flows in the Oak are staying high with some stubborn overflow water that should be receding by about today leaving just the full cranking turbine flows. This is kind of a reset (at least when it warms back up) and with a return to some more inviting flows and stained water there should be new migrations of spring fish. After a few decent runs, the fish was starting to cooperate That was until it got to the back of the boat. Low water, aka an average fall, short leaders, BB shot is not likely to cut it right now for presentations, especially on the Oak. Today the salmon did not disappoint us! Look for mod and mostly clear flows in the Oak and low and clear flows in the other area smaller waterways. Remember you still have to get out and fish Come experience great fishing as it takes place instead of solely relying and waiting on internet reports. Those fish should be somewhere in the system and may be spread out now farther upstream. The nuances of fish migrations is an inexact science and we cannot predict the future. The Orleans County Open (formerly known as the Oak Orchard Open) is a combined Salmon and Trout team event to showcase Lake Ontarios tournament teams and recreational anglers. to the leaders in the 1st leg of the King of the Oak Series the Condor Memorial as well as the winning teams from the feature tournament . Water color is one foot of visibility or less. Best spoon on the riggers: DW Gold Laser Spoon. Going SW or just by the nature of the LES bands having moved around, accumulations will be more in different nearby areas. Your email address will not be published. If any Canal winter time drainage is passing thru it must be tempered like Canal managers said they would do. We are in the high season for visiting fisherman so go to. Fishing pressure light and angler reports thin. No lunch will be offered and no fly fishing tourney will be held. If you catch one, please release it immediately and not harm it. It includes a county map with the designated public fishing access points and boat ramps, tackle & bait shops, marinas and popular fish species of Orleans County. Erica finds it hard to hold up nearly 20 lbs of fresh King caught at the Oak Orchard rivermouth! Civilian small boat trollers reported to be having good brown trout action so that tells me the land lubber casting chances should be good too. As of today flows were high consisting of something close to wide open turbine flows and a little bit of overflow water. Alex fished 210-240 feet of water and then deeper in 380-400-foot depths and took a mix of mature kings, two-year old salmon, and steelheads. On Saturday there were bass boats fishing on the south side next to the Port Gibson bridge. Last night at dusk I had no problem finding some Kings crashing and boiling around at the Bridges area on the Oak and even a few at Point Breeze. Small boat civilian trollers can now launch at the open NYS launch on the west side of the rivermouth! See ya out there! Before things got too blown up yesterday guys reported some AM pier action. Sign up for our FREE Fishing Reports Today! Well see how long any cold weather may last (theres been no prolonged cold spell yet) and whether this is the stretch of weather we might have typically seen in January. Flows are something like med to slightly high with 1 2 ft of visibility. Any significant precipitation will quickly raise all the trib flows up again with the chance for off color flows. Click here for the Brookfield Varick Fish Safely brochure. Up in the gorge, Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls was at Artpark on Tuesday and caught two small walleyes and eight small bass on jigs. One angler for the beginning part of this week reported good action. Look for a good water flow window possibly in the Genesee while the Niagara remains a tough pill thanks to a windy open Lake Erie. We have also been catching fish from 25-70 down. Without any persistent cold or snow or ice hanging in, these precipitation events are going to keep water color on the stained side. Since we are not getting cold temps and/or snow, hopefully we can get rain along with the warm temps to help maintain flows. This is in some contrast to earlier reports of mostly Kings kicking around on the lowering flows. May 21st is the scheduling for the canal opening. And thats after a brush with some area wide snow tonight and tomorrow that might only be a dusting this far north on the WNY Niagara Frontier. The recent changing winds, lightning and storms are not good for fishing but things did become more stable. Flows in the Oak are one click less then medium or what you might call somewhere in between moderate and medium. Same set up as the night before. The Archers Club will be open for parking 7 days/week beginning Oct 08 until Nov 11. This amount of fishing pressure in these high ish flows will put next to no pressure on the fish. Most Kings will be spawning or on zombie patrol with the occasional fresher fish. Welcome to November and better brown trout chances! Capt. Salmon will likely be found from the estuary up through town. Thanks to the abrupt cold and snow and wind all the tribs are essentially frozen in. Brown trout like this rutted out nice fish are eager strikers and you might encounter steelhead, salmon, lakers or bass. Then from there it was a slow but steady pick. The Lake Ontario Counties spring trout and salmon derby is approaching its final weekend and a new $15,000 Grand Prize leader has emerged this week as Ken Champagne of Ohio caught a 25-pound, 8-ounce Niagara Bar king salmon on a flasher-fly, besting Jeff Smith of New Brighton, Pa. who had taken the early lead on the first day of the contest May 7. In shore warm water but it didnt stop hard strikes at dawn not much left in the fight afterwards. Thanks to all who helped including NYSDEC, Ernsts Lake Breeze Marina, feeding/cleaning volunteers, Seth Green Chapter TU, Orleans County Tourism and yours truly spearheading efforts. Some LES is coming this weekend. No doubt a lot of King action came and went on the previous higher and off color flows. Stay tuned though for any future high water that could really perk things up. Light fishing pressure with just a few cars seen at the two access points. If the forecast is realized, with especially significant rain, there is the chance for high or blown trib flows. Look for flows to stay up in the near term falling back probably only to slightly high. If you stayed patient and made some drifts or swings when the good flows returned by mid Apr you could be rewarded with a hungry drop back steelhead. New for 2021: enter and weigh from your phone! At least whatever trib and near shore Lake Ontario trout action that is underway is not likely to experience a temp spike anytime soon. Light fishing pressure mostly, with a few more guys out for this weekend. One positive for the continued cold weather is trib water temps have not spiked high yet. That being said, the fish holding thermocline is yoyoing between 30 to over 100 down. The project is funded through the American Rescue Plans Act which designated a portion of federal dollars to be used to promote tourism. There was some water level fluctuations yesterday thanks to hydropower operations and when the water was down briefly a fair amount of fish were seen in the upstream areas. I have been fishing my clients from 50-150 ft. Sorry it took so long! We are surely going to have water for high and off color flows when the weather breaks toward spring. When high flows drop and/or cold flows warm and/or dirty water clears then anglers who can make good drifts or swings get in on the action. But the fish like stability and not surprises. In the Niagara River, there are some salmon still swimming around the lower river if you want to work for them, both from shore and from boat. The other area smaller waterways have mod to med flows and are slightly stained at 2+ feet of viz. Saturday afternoon we fished 150-200 in water a few miles west of Port. Stay informed with the below web page. laker on an 8 lb leader with light/med spin or levelwind gear and tell me if you still think Lakers dont fight well! It looks like some of the weather we missed out on thru the earlier winter is coming now in the later winter. Avoid surfaces that are touched often, such as doorknobs, handrails, and playground equipment. We cannot speak for the power company or interpret their site rules. In our fishing conditions tabs below we use a simple system to describe the water flows on the Oak and oftentimes other area smaller trib flows too. As the cooler weather continues, expect to see a large influx of both steelhead and brown trout moving up stream to feed on the remaining salmon eggs. Year-Round Notice: There are mandatory personal flotation device (PFD) zones on the river. Flows in the Oak are restored thru the turbine channel. The Oak benefits from 24/7 spring, summer and fall supplemental flows from the Erie Canal. Flows in the Oak are still slightly high and water color has improved with 2 ft of visibility. The expectations were high as the last trip out we had a good number of silver fish. Look for flows maintained around the slightly high/slightly stained for now. The Sportsmen Archers Club Fly Fishing Only Catch and Release Contest was held October 16, 17, 18 2019. Anchor where the current isnt strong and cast out shrimp. Other area smaller waterways are at about medium level and back on the clearing to slightly stained from the past weekend rain. Both kings and Cohos are being caught. Please check our website, at visitoswegocounty.com, for the current CFS. These numbers represent just some of the total number of salmonids (brown trout too!) 10 colors of FishUSA Stealthcore and A-TOM-MIK coppers in 150 & 200 took fish. Flows in the Oak are on the drop slightly after a bump up from the past weekends rain. And Erie Canal bolstered flows (year 2) will be contributing to the fishy equation sooner then later in multiple tribs! Look for flows to hang in or drop back another notch toward medium in the near term. Even after that thru the upcoming weekend I still wouldnt call it cold just seasonably cool and continued dry. At the Waterport Dam, its reported there are just a few fish and likely none holding in downstream fast water runs or holes. Boaters are asked to use the Oak Orchard State Marine Park on the WEST side of the River on Archbald Rd. reported that the ups & downs continue on Lady O and this past Saturday was an UP judging from young Jeremiahs smile! Spring will offer up only so many cold water chances! The gate at the top of the driveway will be closed at 2PM for no entry after that. They started in 60 feet of water trolling northwest with cut bait and the reel started screaming. Real low, low, mod, mod to med, med, slightly high, slightly high to high, high, real high, blown. Canal water is still high from our rainfall. Zane fought the fish all the way to the net, and they immediately headed into Olcott to weigh their fish at the Boat Doctors. For now after the past weekend it looks like flows are back down some in the Oak to about med or slightly high and less stained. Niagara River Laker action. Contact us for how and where to help out each spring. Oak Orchard River Salmon Fishing (Any Cat Fish at the Dam?) A small crush of people at the Waterport dam, but even by those standards really not that crowded. See you all next year! Look for calmer winds on the backside of choppy Lakeshore conditions that leave that semi stained water in range of the pier head and land lubber caster. 585-589-3100 Agreeable temps are expected today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday) with a forecasted snow storm expected Thursday. Lake Ontario Counties (LOC) Spring Trout and Salmon Derby May 7-16, 2021: 1 st of 3 LOC Derbies offering over $44,000 in cash and prizes with a grand prize of $15,000 for the largest overall Salmon caught. So when even a reasonable high and stained water window presents itself, that may be the best time to fish. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. As soon as the levels come down more trout will show up. There were briefly low flows in Sandy but my estimation is Canal feed has resumed and bumped flows back up slightly. Shorebound casters get in on the brown trout action at the break of spring thru Mar, Apr or May. At a Lake Ontario Charter Boat Association (LOCBA) meeting held at the Irondequoit Fish and Game Club, Brian Weidel of USGS spoke about the results of the 2022 Spring alewife sampling. No major accumulations beyond a few inches expected here on the WNY big Lake Ontario Plain.