Happy Halloween! Never mind all the candy, time to catch some big browns, Kings, Atlantics and steelhead! Brown trout action on the Oak is coming on in somewhat normal timing now for the end of October and beginning part of November. Kings are hanging in too with plenty of action for those heavyweights if you wanted. Otherwise a nice mixed bag scenario of hook-ups on some steelhead, cohos and Atlantics too. Check out below the cool kype on the 31 inch Atlantic from the Oak that Mike D caught and released. He and other guys are getting multiple hook-ups on Atlantics.
Some rain over the past couple days amounted to about 3/4 inch. Good for maintenance flows all around and it looks like Canal feed for now may be throttled back a tad in the waterways. Look for flows in the Oak at about medium while Johnson and Sandy are about moderate. There’s a little stain to the water but for the most part flows are clear. Weather is cool and fall like with temps dropping back at night. Chance of some lake effect rain or snow that is forecast mostly south of the area thru the mid week. Slight warmup for end of week and weekend.
Fishing pressure looks to be in a bit of a lull between serious salmon guys and serious brown trout guys. Look for a perk up in the fishing pressure for the begin part of November. Salmon may be past peak but there’s still a good number of fresher fish to target and there are always late-to-the-party migrations. In the Oak yesterday, there was tougher action reported, yet most everyone will remark there are plenty of browns spotted. Pods of fish moving up the smaller area waterways too and when those migrating fish are encountered guys are having real nice action.
Agreeable weather and good water flows in the Oak with good numbers of fall run fish. Most all anglers getting hook ups on something like the peak or just past peak for Kings with brown trout action picking up. Some anglers for this part of the season are now targeting browns with action likely thru Nov and into Dec depending some upon weather and water flow conditions of course. Float guys drifting beads report some long battles with Kings after the Kings snap up drifts meant for browns. There are steelhead and Atlantic and coho’s reported too. Check out the neat Atlantic pic below and the County report for more fish pics. Kings are spawning with some fish worse for the wear but its not full on zombie patrol yet. Some fresher fish continue to arrive with Kings pretty well spread thru the one mile stretch of water below the dam. Flows are mostly clear at a med – slightly high flow. Some color to the water wouldn’t hurt and that might help with line shy fish. For now tho there’s been no significant precip and only some showers are in the near forecast with an expected warm up. Next chance at significant precip is the upcoming weekend. Chance of a significant cool down for next week. Thanks to leaf fall expect water level fluctuations due to hydropower operations. There’s been a fair amount of angling pressure with guys spread thru the waterways like the Oak and Sandy. Looks like there may be a slight lessening of fishing pressure now for this mid week period. Anglers choosing not to mix it up on the Oak are also plying 18 Mile at Olcott and Sandy. Good brown trout action reported at 18 Mile. Sandy Creek flows are mod or just shy of med and mostly clear. Some good pods of browns reported and they can spread out farther upstream if able to get past downstream pressure.
There are good flows in the Oak at something between med to slightly high. Flows are mostly clear and that consistency in flows continues to encourage good King migrations. Probably near peak for salmon action with fish spread thru the upper reaches from the dam to the downstream frog water. Flows a little higher then last year may be providing more water cover then some anglers are used to but King numbers are pretty strong. There are a few fish beginning to show signs of wear but for the most part there are not many fish with loose eggs yet. Spawning then has yet to ramp up to peak. That upcoming peak in spawning should bring on more brown trout migrations. Frog water drifts should have good water movement thanks to the good head of upstream water and relatively lower Lake levels. Fishing pressure is peaking too with the normal crowding at the dam and now fly and float guys working the fast water downstream. There are still some casting guys working the rivermouth area. Definitely hearing of more mixed bag action with brown trout hook ups coming on and some Atlantic and steelhead action too. Check out the nice brown trout David M. recently hooked on the Oak in the pic below.
Other area smaller waterways like Johnson and Sandy both up in flows over the past few days thanks to an additional push of Canal feed. For anglers looking to spread out away from the Oak pressure there are reports of better action now on those waterways and the bump up in flows should drive upstream migrations of Kings and browns. Look for agreeable weather thru the mid week, cool temps at night and warming up near 60 F for the day. No significant precipitation in the near forecast, next chance of rain and/or cooler temps are for this weekend.
Thru the past weekend, there was some area rain that made a minimal bump up in the area smaller tribs. For now, most of the lake effect rain is SW of the area as is often the case with the lake effect snow. Chance that it may bring just some showers here to the Niagara Frontier today and then clearing for the mid week. Next chance of meaningful precipitation is end of the week and beginning of the upcoming weekend with a forecasted area wide rain. Cool temps continue with a slight bump up for end of week. By fall fish migrations standards, the weather is pretty agreeable (cool and gloomy) for upstream migrations of more earnest Kings. Sure, more rain for a bigger rise in flows and to move out summer weeds and debris would be welcome especially for the smaller tribs. We’ll see if that comes with this weekend’s forecast. Expect daily water level fluctuations in the Oak thanks to hydropower operations, especially on windy days thanks to leaf fall.
There are good to strong numbers of Kings in the Oak from the dam to the downstream frog water. You can see the attractive med Canal contributing flow drawing in green salmon up the Oak like in the pic below from Mark D of PA. Lower river and rivermouth action may have slowed some with anglers reporting less obvious fish movement lately. Look for the latest Kings to move from Lake Ontario and thru the lower river spots without lingering. Browns are mixed in with the salmon hookups in the Oak and a few steelhead and Atlantics too. Once lighter drift guys start targeting those fish there’ll likely be more hookups especially later thru October and into Nov/Dec.
Mostly green, darker green or fresher salmon are in the mix and some fish now setting up in a spawning mode thanks to cooling trib waters. Despite the other area smaller waterways, lower flows salmon are losing their patience and in some cases steaming up anyway. They are spreading out some thru the fair flows in Sandy and even pods of Kings and browns are being seen moving up on Johnson. Reports of Kings and browns at 18 Mile in Olcott too and the last precipitation may have made a bump up in Genesee flows to maybe make a little easier for what was some good action in fairly technical low water drifts and plug action. Normal holiday weekend uptick in the fishing pressure like at the dam most recently, and some of those anglers hanging in at the Oak so far for this week.
Wow what a stretch of weather we are in and forecast to last thru about the end of this week. Its exceptionally warm, mostly bright skies and continued dry. This end of summer and start of fall has turned into something like a moderate drought. A week or so ago I think the NE Lakebreezes were counteracting the bluebird weather and so salmon migrations were still good. It could be that about now the warm and dry and bright weather has caught up with the fishing action and so migrations could be in a bit of a stall right now. Even with that in mind though there are good if not strong numbers of Kings reported like in the Oak. I laid eyes on the actual flows below the Waterport dam and they are really nice at about a med level. Clear water color as you would expect after no precip in weeks. There doesn’t seem to be an exceptional amount of fishing pressure in any one particular spot. Even at the dam there’s only been days here and there where its been real crowded. That may change as we approach the upcoming holiday weekend but we’ll have to wait and see. For now guys are scoring their hookups like there at the dam and then again farther downstream in the lower flat, frog water with mostly float techniques. In between in the fast water stretches like around the Archer’s club there’s been less intel but that nice flow I observed is real inviting for good dead drift and swing presentations. Reminder – all the water, even at the Archer’s Club, is open to fish with access from either the Waterport dam parking or Park Ave Ext. Fishing Trail parking. The weather is forecast to change abruptly with cooler temps and rain or showers starting about Friday. That should perk up the fishing action more like typical fall conditions and with any wind/wave action that should also make for good water color/cover on the nearshore big Lake for more salmon migrations. Some browns and steelhead and Atlantics already reported in the catches so for this early in the season that’s an excellent sign for things yet to come thru Oct, Nov, Dec!
