Not too much has changed, according to Lisa Drabczyk of Creek Road Bait and Tackle. The NYPA fishing platform is producing a mixed bag of fish, including smallmouth bass, white bass and sheepshead when water levels do not shut down the fishing area. Call NYPA at 286-6662 to check the status before heading down. Bass and gar pike are available from shore in the gorge area along Artpark. Boaters have been picking up some bass and walleye along Stella Niagara and at the Coast Guard station. For bass, use crayfish or minnows, but be prepared to catch some sheepshead, too. Ned rigs, tubes and drop shot setups are also taking some fish, but action was a bit slower this past week. Above Niagara Falls in the upper river, some bass and walleye are being caught along with some big sheepshead. Ned rigs for bass and worm harnesses for walleye. Remember, no matter where you are fishing on the river, avoid Canadian waters. The border is closed, even if you have a Canadian fishing license.
Brian Gregson of Gasport with the Totally Hooked team won both LOTSA big-fish contests with a 25.46-pound king salmon, but they caught plenty of other fish in the process. The team ran west of Wilson from Olcott and worked their way east with the wind. Staying in 200 to 220 feet of water, they caught the top fish on a Mountain Dew Spin Doctor with a meat rig outfitted with N & D meat. It was set on a dipsy 180 feet back on a No. 1 setting. However, flasher-fly took most of the fish they caught on Saturday. Another hot program was using fixed sliders 10 feet above the downrigger ball set at 80 and 90 feet. The best spoon was a green gator. Steve O’Lay of Ransomville and the Copper Steel team won the LOTSA 223 contest and the secret to their success was staying in 275 to 300 feet of water and fishing deep, 80 to 125 feet down. They trolled with the wind from west of Wilson to east of Olcott. Most of the fish were caught using spin doctor and fly combos (best one was a Pro-Am A-Tom-Mik fly with a 10-inch UV DW spin doc) off one of two 400-foot copper rods that they had set out. Their biggest fish was caught on a RV Flounder Pounder Moonshine spoon on the 400 copper. The second biggest fish came on a King Fisher meat rig set 125 feet down on the rigger. They caught 26 salmon during the day, not counting shaker salmon (small ones). Dick Schrantz of the Fredonia area fished with his son, Brian, and grandson, Luke, concentrating on the Niagara Bar. Not much boat traffic, but they did catch fish up to 22.5 pounds and lost a few other big ones. Spoons seemed to work best with a magnum fire tiger and a magnum NK antifreeze spoon off divers set back 180 to 205. There were numerous smaller shaker salmon that were caught and released. The countdown is on for the Summer Lake Ontario Counties that ends at 1 p.m. Sunday. There were two new grand prize leaders caught over the weekend. First it was a 29-9 king caught by Brandon Weiland of Pine City while fishing out of the Oak. Then it was Don Stacknick of Dalton, Pa., with a 30-6 king caught out of Fair Haven. In the Brown Trout Division, the first-place fish is still a 20-1 Rochester fish reeled in by Mark Skirvin of Henrietta. The lake trout leader is new as of Tuesday with a 23-3 fish was caught off Oswego by Richard DuBois of Pulaski. Top walleye is still an 11-15 Henderson harbor fish caught by Matt Plumpton of Watertown.
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