Western New York
Lake Erie and tributaries: Cattaraugus Creek is currently running a little high at last look. Steelhead catches had previously been reported all the way up to the Springville Dam, so it’s a good bet when conditions improve – and they may have by now. All other Erie tributaries had lower flows and clear conditions. There have been relatively light numbers of steelhead in the small to medium creeks so far. Look for improved fishing with any bump in flow.
There were still plenty of walleye available from Sturgeon Point to the Pennsylvania line. Target walleye in 60-90 feet of water with stickbaits or worm harnesses run within 40 feet of the bottom. Anglers have been catching fair numbers of yellow perch off Cattaraugus Creek at depths around 60 feet.
Niagara River: The upper river is a good smallmouth bass fishing option in the fall as waters cool and bass go on the feed. Also, conditions on the river are often more manageable than the open lake in the fall, and boat launches remain open late into the fall. Target feeding bass outside weed edges by drifting bottom bouncing rigs with live shiners, crayfish or plastics.
Anglers were still catching decent numbers of king salmon up in the gorge, along with increasing numbers of trout. Target king salmon by drifting the Devil’s Hole by boat or from shore at Devil’s Hole and Whirlpool state parks. Cured salmon skein is the top salmon bait for drifters, and shore anglers connect by casting large spoons and spinners or by drifting skein under a float. Steelhead generally show in good numbers at those spots, but are also available along Artpark State Park. Egg sacs, egg pattern flies, shiners or jigs with plastics fished under a float or casting medium-sized spoons and spinners are good trout offerings. Lake trout season was closed in the lower river as of Oct. 1. Incidentally caught lakers should be quickly returned to the water.
Lake Ontario and tributaries, harbors and piers: Anglers reported the first decent push of king salmon up to the dam on Eighteenmile Creek. There were fair numbers of steelhead and brown trout around as well and those numbers should increase. Oak Orchard Creek had moderate flow and clear water at last look. Anglers were catching a decent mix of king salmon and steelhead, with the occasional brown trout or coho salmon mixed in. Smaller streams remained low, clear and sparsely populated with trout and salmon.
Chautauqua Lake: Walleye fishing has slowed a little. In the north basin, better recent action has been off weedlines early and late in the day. South basin anglers were catching some walleye along the deepest part of the lake. Bass have been biting well recently. Target largemouth bass around docks and other structure, and smallmouth bass outside weedlines. Fall is a top time to target muskellunge on Chautauqua Lake. Key on areas from the weedline out to 20 feet of water by trolling with large stickbaits or by casting stickbaits and large muskie spinners.
Surplus broodstock trout stocking: DEC’s Randolph Fish Hatchery has begun the fall stockings of broodstock. Redhouse, Quaker and New Albion lakes were stocked on Oct. 16 with a mix of brown trout and rainbow trout. On Oct. 19, Case Lake was stocked with brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout, Harwood Lake was stocked with brook trout and brown trout. Call the Randolph Hatchery stocking hotline for updates (716) 358-2050.
Orleans County: Ron Bierstine of Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge reports good action on The Oak. Brown trout numbers have picked up and some steelhead have been reported every day, too. Salmon numbers were still strongest at or nearer the dam. Kings in smaller numbers were still migrating from downstream and that will probably be the case from here out, with fish trickling in over a prolonged period. There are not a lot of dying or zombie fish yet so there are still plenty on the “run” ahead. Look for kings well into November.
Central New York
Lake Ontario: The lake fishing is pretty much done for the season as salmon are staging off river mouths or have now entered the tributaries.
On top of that, the focus is now on deer season, with cooler weather and some good deer movement reported by the region’s bowhunters.
One good spot to keep track of what’s happening in the deer woods is the New York Antler Outdoors Facebook site. There are plenty of pics from successful hunters.
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Oswego River: More salmon, and increasing numbers of brown trout and steelhead have made their way into the river and were being taken on skein or egg-imitating baits off the wall and by the dam. Water temps are cooling now and the fishing has been superb this fall.
Salmon River: Salmon were spread throughout the river, with the upper stretches seeing a lot of the fishing pressure and where most of the spawning activity is taking place. Good baits have been egg-imitating flies and plastics, or streamers. Brown trout should be seen in greater numbers now.
Oneida Lake: The fall shore walleye bite has picked up with the arrival of cooler weather. Some anglers were getting a few from shore just before and after dark. Yellow perch fishing has been good in 10 to 15 feet of water for anglers using small minnows.
Sodus Bay and Irondequoit Bay: Bass fishing remained good in both bays for anglers tossing plastics, spinnerbaits or topwaters over or in the weedbeds. Yellow perch action was starting to pick up.
Finger Lakes/Southern Tier
The Finger Lakes Regional Youth Deer Hunt was held Oct. 6-8, with this year’s base of operations at the Seneca County Training Center in Romulus, Seneca County. The actual hunt took place at the former Seneca Army Depot – now Deer Haven Park LLC.
Every youngster wishing to partake in the hunt had to attend the mandatory pre-hunt lunch and training session where safety, conservation, and hunter ethics were emphasized. They were accompanied by environmental conservation officers an adult mentor during the entire event.
During the Saturday lunch and training session the 14 youngsters and their mentors were treated to a licensed tracking dog handling demonstration by Dave Schillinger of Western New York Deer Search; firearms marksmanship training by ECOs Josh Crain and Kevin Thomas; and a discussion of ‘Hunting Ethics’ and firearm safety by ECO Lt. Matt Lochner and ECO Crain. The ECOs then presented each youth hunter with appropriate hunting gear, including a gun case, calls, shooting sticks, hunting chairs, blaze orange hats, field dressing knives and equipment for the upcoming hunt. One lucky youth hunter was also chosen at random to win a 6.5 Creedmor Mossberg Patriot bolt action rifle and Vortex scope, which was donated of O.F. Mossberg and Sons.
The youth deer hunters hunted Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and afternoon, and Monday morning. Over the course of the weekend, the youth hunters harvested seven whitetails and missed a few as well.
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Adirondacks
There isn’t enough fishing going on right now to get any kind of handle on what might be happening on the water. It’s deer season and that is taking center stage, as is customary in early November.
For updates on what’s happening in the deer – and bear – woods, go to NYON contributing writer Dan Ladd’s www.adkhunter.com site.
Cayuga Lake: Not many anglers out on the lake, but some lake trout were being taken in 75 to 120 feet of water vertical jigging. Trollers were getting fish 70 to 95 feet down.
Owasco Lake: Lake trout are being taken in 65 to 90 feet of water by anglers vertical jigging. Some smallmouths were hitting near shore in 10 to 20 feet of water.
Otisco Lake: Look for largemouth bass in the weedbeds on the north end and around Lader Point. Good baits have been Texas-rigged creature baits and tube baits. Also on the north end and along the causeway, try chatterbaits, spinnerbaits or large topwaters for tiger muskies in 10 to 15 feet of water.
Chenango, Tioughnioga and Susquehanna rivers: It’s been a frustrating fall for anglers who have seen the rivers blown out by heavy rains. As a result, there’s still nothing to report.
The Cannonhole Launch on the Susquehanna River is open following repair work.
Long Island/NYC
The breezy conditions during this report period provided only a few windows of opportunity for boats to run offshore. Those that ran to the 20-fathom line were rewarded with excellent shark fishing, with large thresher sharks making a strong showing. Vinny Radziul tagged and released an estimated 350-pound plus thresher near the Oregon Wreck and rounded out the day with two small makos. Other anglers reported similar catches, with most makos under 100 pounds, along with a few brown sharks of similar size. There were still turtles and plenty of whales offshore.
Anglers working The Canyons caught a few yellowfin tuna, but the bite was mostly false albacore, skipjacks and mahi. There were no reports of bigeye or bluefin tuna this report period. The Viking Fleet out of Montauk Point reported excellent tilefish catches on their extended overnight trips.
The sea bass and porgy fishing out of Montauk was outstanding, with limits of porgies to 3 pounds and limits of humpback sea bass to 4.5 pounds common. A few pollock to 10 pounds were mixed in with the porgies and sea bass in Block Island Sound. Anglers fishing the artificial reefs along the South Shore have been reporting good sea bass and porgy fishing, with a few blackfish in the mix. On many boat trips out of Montauk Point anglers were making combo trips where they were targeting blackfish using crabs, and porgies and sea bass using clams, when the tides are slow and switching over to stripers when the tide is running hard. Most of the stripers are between 15 and 20 pounds, with the larger blackfish ranging between 6 and 11 pounds.
Anglers targeting sea bass in the South Shore bays found plenty of short sea bass as well as a few blowfish and triggerfish near the inlet rocks and bridge abutments.
Excellent blackfish action was reported in the extreme western Sound around New Rochelle and points west as well as in New York Bight. White, fiddler and green crabs were all productive. Anglers also reported doing very well fishing crabs on a jig. The best fishing in the Sound was found among the rock piles in 15 to 20 feet of water. There were sea bass mixed in with the blackfish, as well as a few porgies.
The weakfish fishing in the Great South Bay off Ocean Beach and in West Channel was good, with most weakfish between 2 and 3 pounds, with a few reported about 5 pounds. The best fishing was at first light when the boat traffic was minimal.
The Fishfinder out of Captree State Park ran night striped bass trips this report period, with anglers catching stripers up to 15 pounds while drifting live eels in Fire Island Inlet. The best bite was during the late evenings when the boat traffic slowed down and the fish become less spooky. During the day, anglers reported a few stripers caught while drifting clams in the inlets. Anglers casting swimmers after dark in Shinnecock Bay reported good to excellent fishing, with most stripers around the keeper mark. Anglers casting bucktails and plastic baits or fishing clam bellies along the marsh banks near Jones Inlets as well as the West Bars of Jones and Fire Island inlets reported a good pick of stripers to 15 pounds.
The snappers are largely gone, but the few that are around are a foot or so long. The number of bluefish showing up in the striper catches as well as the catches of anglers fishing the ocean, either by boat or in the surf is increasing, but is still very spotty. The crabbing was spotty, so most crabbers have put away their traps for the season.
The surf fishing has significantly improved with anglers fishing west of Shinnecock Inlet, along the South Shore and west of Port Jefferson on the North Shore reporting stripers from the single digits to around 20 pounds. A few green bonito were also reported by anglers fishing teasers or small tins during the day. The best striper fishing was reported by anglers casting swimmers after dark. Overall, the surf fishing off Montauk Point has been very hit or miss with no real pattern developed yet.
Anglers targeting sea bass, porgies and blackfish along the North Shore beaches using clams and worms reported good mixed bag fishing. The key was to keep moving along the beach until the fish were found.
The freshwater fishing remained good, with most of the catch consisting of largemouth bass, sunfish and yellow perch. Small swimmers, spoons and plastic baits caught most of the largemouths, with worms and grubs accounting for most of the sunfish and yellow perch.
Guy Zummo
flyfishguy@optonline.net
Capital District
Not hearing much from anglers now, likely because attention has turned to the hunting seasons. And it will likely remain that way until we see some safe ice for the hard-water angling crowd.
Southeastern New York
Hudson River: Bass fishing in the fall really starts to pick up on the Hudson. Big smallmouth bass show up on shallow points and flats, and popular baits include spinnerbaits and shallow-diving crankbaits. Also, don’t be surprised if you catch some small striped bass at these locations. Largemouth bass make their annual move to the larger tributaries. Anglers who can methodically pick apart the structure have a chance at catching some really nice largemouth. Popular baits include Senkos and weedless jigs.
Stream trout fishing: While most streams closed to fishing Oct. 15, there are some that have an extended or all-year season:
• Wappingers Creek downstream of dam in Pleasant Valley (open all year).
• Ramapo River (open all year).
• East Branch Croton River from Diverting Reservoir to East Branch Reservoir (open all year)
• Esopus Creek (season closes Nov. 30)
Bass fishing: Fishing in the fall months can offer some really good action as bass start to feed aggressively before winter. Big bass can be found in most waterbodies in the region, here are some good locations to try: Ashokan Reservoir, Rondout Reservoir, Chodikee Lake, Rondout Creek, Wallkill River, Onteora Lake, Toronto Reservoir, Swinging Bridge Reservoir, Round Lake, Greenwood Lake, Sylvan Lake, Stissing Pond, Middle Branch Reservoir, Croton Falls Reservoir, White Pond, Muscoot Reservoir and New Croton Reservoir.
Walleye fishing: Top waters include East Branch Croton River, Swinging Bridge Reservoir, Rio Reservoir, Wallkill River (New Paltz Section) and Greenwood Lake. Also, starting Titicus Reservoir has been part of a 5-year experimental walleye stocking program that began in 2014.
New York City reservoir fishing: NYC Department of Environmental Protection reservoirs continue to produce some great catches for all species. For boating and shoreline access permits contact the NYC DEP. Some of the top waters include Ashokan, Cross River, Muscoot, Croton Falls, Titicus, West Branch, Rondout and Neversink reservoirs.
Catskills
Remember some parts of the region’s popular rivers are closed for the season, and the Neversink is closed now. Make sure to check the regulations before heading out –there are a lot of exceptions.
Weather has turned colder and there has even been a trace of snow. All rivers were receding slowly and the freestones were wadeable at last check. Hatches are Olives, Caddis and Isonychias but streamers and nymphs have been productive. A hopper-dropper rig with a small pheasant tail is a good choice. It’s been a year of high water, which has been good for the fish. Hatches are in the afternoons and are fairly dependable.
Thousand Islands
St. Lawrence River: Muskie hunters are on the prowl, and the bass bite has been good of late when conditions brought anglers out on the water.
Black Lake: It’s a bluegill, crappie and bass game right now, but many anglers have put the boat away and grabbed the rifle for deer season.
The post New York Outdoor News Fishing Report – Nov. 2, 2018 appeared first on Outdoornews.
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