Ron Bierstine has wrapped up his stream fishing reports for the season. Meanwhile, we'll be tapping into our charter captains for updates.
Captain Bob Songin from Reel Excitement Charters gives an impressive report from yesterday, April 25th as he trolled west to the Bar in Niagara County. On their way to Wilson Harbor, he reports that they started catching browns and cohoes just shy of Shadigee in 7-10 FOW. On the west side of Shadigee just past Flat Top, they hit their first King and the further they went, the better it got. Consistently doubles & triples all throughout the area, in 7-10 FOW, then followed along the green water (as opposed to the murky brown water). View his full report, "From at the Oak to the Bar" at https://www.facebook.com/robert.songin.9/videos/412662933560159
Starting this weekend, they will be fishing at the Bar chasing Kings then return to the Oak around Memorial Day as the Kings migrate east.
This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
Another cold snap: cold temps today with highs around 40°F. Windy too, with rain showers but at least no snow from the latest storm here on the WNY Lake Ontario Plain. We got some rain last night but not enough to effect any great change in trib flows. Think something like flows going from low to not so low. We'll be back to more seasonable temps for mid and end of week with a chance of showers Thursday. Warmer temps near 70°F are in the forecast for the weekend.
One positive for the continued cold weather is trib water temps have not spiked high yet. So with light angling pressure in the Oak, a few drop backs, spawners and fresh fish have been encountered in the low and clear flows. One angler for the beginning part of this week reported good action. The lower flows will concentrate the available fish in a few good lies or gravel spots. I'm not hearing a lot from the other area smaller waterways but you can bet patient anglers could find some drop back action or a few fresh browns or steelhead in the lower reaches. There are miles of water for fish to be dropping back from compared to about only a short mile of Oak water. On the backside of this latest cold weather and accompanying wind, the land lubber casters and small boat trollers and small boat casters should be able to get back on those near shore brown trout in semi stained water while the cooler water and bait hangs around.
This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
Some rain on the order of a 1/4 inch fell last night but not a big change in trib flows. Amazing how when the vegetation awakens and the runoff equation changes. Warm temps are forecast today and tomorrow and seasonable thru the beginning part of the weekend. There's a chance of rain or storms later tomorrow and, you guessed it – another significant cool down for the end of the weekend or start of next week! At least whatever trib and near shore Lake Ontario trout action that is underway is not likely to experience a temp spike anytime soon.
Flows in the Oak are moderate and mostly clear. Thin reports from anglers, so far, the beginning part of the week but thru the past weekend guys were still into a few fish. Look for dropping back steelhead from the dam, a few spawning fish and a chance for fresh fish trickling in. Other area smaller tribs have low to moderate flows possibly getting a little bit of stain from the most recent precipitation. Since 1/4 inch of rain did not do much it looks like 1/2 inch or more of rain in a storm or otherwise would be needed to effect any positive change in flows. 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. Look for cooperative wind and wave action now and thru mid week with chance for higher wind forecast at the end of the week and subsequent tougher dirtier water chances.
Picture of the Week, 4/8/22:
Mike Grager from Get Hooked Sportfishing provided us with this week's picture of the week from April 8th. First time fishing on Lake Ontario, Meagan Hardner caught this lake trout on spoons trolled within 10 feet of the bottom, in 50-60 feet of water straight out of Oak Orchard. "We had tried for brown trout in close, but they didn’t cooperate for us, so I moved out deeper to try to find some lake trout."
This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
Here we go on a nice warm up again for more seasonal spring like temps this week. Then forecast is cooler again in the 40's° for the upcoming weekend. Warmer temps here tempered some by cooling lake breezes. Chance of rain showers hit and miss thru the end part of the week. Some rain now on the frontside of this latest warm up wouldn't be a bad thing to bring the trib flows back up and add some color to the water. The next spate of water could bring in the fresh spring steelhead looking for warmer water. One warm water 40-50°F hook-up is worth a half dozen 32 point something F hook ups! For now flows in the Oak are something like a notch less then medium and going clear. No big concentration of fish in any one spot that we know of, except for the stranded for now overflow fish. Those fish deserve a chance to immigrate back out to the Lake if caught and released back into the turbine channel. Through the past weekend and beginning part of this week, guys reported a few hook-ups by either working the holes, the dam, or swinging spawning staging spots. Look for more fish going to gravel on the no doubt water temp warm up this week. Look for some hook-ups by covering that different water and putting in a few hours. A brown or two mixed in.
Other area smaller tribs are dropping back toward low and clear and warming thru this week. A spate of water there too might drop back fish to downstream spots where guys are drifting and also bring on the last of the fresh run fish. Suckers here and there will entertain you, depending upon your pouty lips perspective and more and more bass will be in the mix too. 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. Small boat civilian trollers can now launch at the open NYS launch on the west side of the rivermouth!
We received 10,000 steelhead and 113,500 salmon from the DEC today as part of the Pen Rearing Project to keep the lake stocked. Thank you to the DEC, the volunteers and especially Ernst's Lake Breeze Marina for the use of their boat slips/docks this Spring. See the photo below.
