Western New York is blessed with some unbelievable fishing opportunities. With Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Niagara River and numerous inland lakes, sometimes it’s difficult to decide where to go and what to target.
One waterway that seems to always fly under the angling radar is the Erie Canal.
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Bailey Eigbrett of Cheektowaga with a chunky kayak bass he caught on the Erie Canal.
In 2025, the canal will celebrate a historic milestone. It will be the 200th anniversary of the continuous operation of “Clinton’s Big Ditch,” a man-made marvel in its day that focused initially on commercial transportation operations. Since then, it has become a different kind of outdoor wonder. The Erie Canal is a recreational byway that transects New York State from Buffalo to Albany for 363 miles, with special attention on historical tourism, boating and, yes, even fishing.
When Gov. DeWitt Clinton proposed building the Erie Canal in the early 1800s, it was designed to be 4 feet deep by 40 feet wide. He was ridiculed at the time, and it was called “Clinton’s Folly.” However, within a decade, the canal’s success moved quickly into a second phase, enlarging it to 7 feet deep and 70 feet wide. Clinton’s vision was a boon to commercial transportation and resulted in the expansion of many canal towns along the route.
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By the turn of the century, and thanks to new technology, the canal was expanded again to help create a perfect combination of man-made canal and several natural waterways of the state. Present-day dimensions put the canal anywhere from 12 feet to 23 feet deep, from 120 to 200 feet wide, and 310-foot locks. There are 35 locks on the canal – all to navigate through an elevation of about 571 feet across the Empire State.
Today, the state’s canal system includes connections through seven rivers and five lakes. Additional canals from the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, through the Oswego River, and the Cayuga-Seneca Canal into the Finger Lakes brought the total canal system to 524 miles long. It opened a new world for people in smaller crafts for activities such as fishing, kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding on the water.
This year, the state’s canal system opened May 17. This is when locks and lift bridges are manned to accommodate traffic flow through the system. Water is drained out of the canal from December to May in certain sections to allow for maintenance to take place in certain areas, such as at the locks.
It is important to note that canal water is partially drained (and refilled) to allow for a unique water release program in the western section of the canal every autumn. The water is released into several Lake Ontario tributaries (Eighteen Mile Creek, Johnson Creek, Oak Orchard River and Sandy Creek) at specific intervals to help trigger fall salmon and trout runs from Lake Ontario. It is a huge financial benefit to the lakeshore communities that rely on sportfishing as a tourism tool for catching fishermen.
Even though much of the canal has been dewatered, there are plenty of canal sections you can migrate through year-round via boat or fish from shore should you want to get a line wet. One section that I am intimately familiar with is from the upper Niagara River to Pendleton at Feigle Road where there is a gate in place to hold back water. In the springtime, some of the best places to fish are around the various streams or creeks that flow into the canal.
Conditions continue to be good for anglers on both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
One of the largest creeks flowing into the canal is Tonawanda Creek in Pendleton. This is a perfect congregation point for bait fish, which makes it a natural spot for predator fish like bass, pike, walleye (yes, walleye), carp and other popular fish species.
Another favorite area is Ransom Creek in Amherst where it flows into the Erie Canal system. I grew up fishing at that spot many years on opening day of pike season and caught some respectable fish casting spoons and spinnerbaits. Fishing a large chub under a bobber also worked when I just felt like relaxing.
Early season scouting before the water starts to fill back in east of the Feigle Road gate around May 1 is a good time to travel along the de-watered section of the canal to inspect areas as to where you might want to target when the water returns. It will show you much of the bottom structure, including drop-offs, cuts and inlets. Make a mental note where these fish congregation points are located.
Beau Canzoneri of Sanborn is an avid kayak fisherman, competing on a national level in the Hobie Kayak Fishing Series. He placed 18th out of 153 anglers in the first tournament of 2024 at the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida. One of his favorite spots to fish is the western section of the Erie Canal, for several reasons.
“There is a good variety of species to target, and numbers of fish can keep you busy,” Canzoneri said. “What I like to do is use something like Google Earth to identify a short stretch of the canal, from access point to access point, and work that stretch slowly along the banks on either side. I will start fishing upstream by casting rattle baits or crankbaits along riprap ahead of me.”
If he doesn’t have a vehicle waiting at the next access point, he will finesse-fish his way back on the opposite side using jigs or soft plastics. Docks make for great structure in the canal, too. Most of his fishing will take place in 3 to 6 feet of water along the shoreline, but it does drop off quickly.
He also recommends this body of water for beginners.
“If you are just getting started, there isn’t anything better than the canal,” Canzoneri said. “There are virtually no wakes from boat traffic (the land cut sections are not more than 5-10 mph), there is not much current, and there’s lots of access. You do not need to be an experienced kayaker to catch fish there.”
If you are looking for a place to go fishing, from the shore, in a small boat or in a kayak or canoe, turn to the Erie Canal to get started. You will learn that there are certain spots that hold more fish than others. It is at that point you will start to unveil the secrets of this underrated body of water. I know because I have fished it all my life, but never more than I did in 2023 and 2024.
For more information on the canal check out canals.ny.gov.