Fishing continues to be good on both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Toss in the Niagara River as a backup if the winds are too strong, and you have a perfect fishing scenario for Western New York anglers.
Lake Erie and tributaries
Barcelona continues to be a hot fishing spot, reports Capt. Ryan O’Neill of Buffalo Wings Sportfishing. There is a mega school a few miles long that has been sitting there for the last three to four weeks. O’Neill says most of the fish are in 55 to 60 feet of water. There is a batch of fish at 70 feet as well. He has been running 3-ounce in-line weights with No. 5 Colorado blade crawler harnesses, targeting fish 30 to 50 feet down. He also uses bottom bouncers when he sees them hugging tight to the bottom. Three- and four-man limits have become the norm before 10 a.m. Buffalo hasn’t seen a wave of migrant fish yet. However, there are a few pockets of resident fish bouncing around the rocky structure, eating gobies from Waverly to Seneca and Myers in 35 to 45 feet of water. Limits are available if you put in a full day bouncing the bottom from spot to spot. Capt. Dave Adrian West of Aquatech Charters reports success out of Dunkirk in 72 feet of water. He was running divers back 115 feet with copper worm harnesses at 2.4 to 2.6 mph for speed due to a strong westerly current. Fish were stacked at the bottom and very aggressive and active. Shub Stevens with Catt. Creek Bait and Tackle reports the walleye bite is good in 75 to 85 feet of water. Bright greens and yellows are hot colors. Worm harnesses are working well. Stevens says the hottest lure in his Irving shop has been the Eyemax harness called Bumble Bee. Perch can be found around 60 to 70 feet of water. Bass fishing has been inconsistent for Matt Wilson of Lewiston. He has been targeting smallmouth bass in 24 to 41 feet of water, using drop shot rigs with Maxscent flat worms in gobilashi pattern and Ned rigs in Crush City BLT pattern.
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Niagara River
Wilson went to the lower river on Saturday and put a beat down on bass to 2½ pounds. Walleye anglers should have no problem catching fish on the bar, which were stacked in big numbers from 18 feet to 36 feet. Walleye action was good for Capt. Joe Marra of Niagara Rainbow Charters as he skippered a father-son team of Paul Ellingson of Indiana and his son Logan. Early morning action was the best as Marra used his trolling motor to spin the blades with his worm harnesses, fished off three-way rigs in the Devil’s Hole area. After more than a dozen fish, when the bite slowed, they headed to the lake to the green buoy marker and caught a couple more walleyes.
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Lisa Winch of North Tonawanda with a 10-pound Lake Ontario brown trout.
Lake Ontario and tributaries
Mark and Jake Romanack with Fishing 411 TV were in the area to shoot two episodes for the 2025 season and reported that action on Lake Ontario for salmon and steelhead was exceptional this week out of Olcott. They trolled Wolverine Tackle Magnum Silver Streak spoons on downriggers, diving planers and 10 color lead core setups. Top spoons included Michael Jackson, green alewife and black raspberry. They experienced excellent fishing north of Olcott in 100 to 280 feet of water. Most of the fish were mature kings, but a good number of coho salmon and steelhead were in the mix. The best fishing was 40-60 feet down. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston hit the Niagara Bar with his son Dylan. They hit salmon working over 125 to 250 feet of water, 65 feet down. They caught eight coho salmon before the first big king. Dylan caught a personal-best 18-pound salmon. The best spoon was green UV alewife. It took 10 of the 15 fish they caught. Other noteworthy spoons included green jeans and burnt toast. Capt. John Oravec of Tight Lines Charters has been limiting out on kings at the Oak. His best set up has been a flasher/fly on a wire diver. A stud fly behind a chartreuse and green nuclear 8-inch paddle was hot for “Troutman.”
Chautauqua Lake
Walleye has slowed down, but there are fish in the weeds on the south basin, reports Capt. Mike Sperry with Chautauqua Reel Outdoors. Most of the pondweed is gone, so searching for healthy weeds is key. There are some fish in open water on both basins. Trolling Hot-n-Tots and Flicker Shad’s close to bottom on the south basin and 20 feet down over 30 feet water on the north basin is working. Musky fishing has been average the last couple of weeks. Casting jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and bucktail jigs near remaining weeds is working. Trolling Leo Mojoes, Llungen 22 Longs and Tuff Shads are best.
Finger Lakes
Cayuga Lake: The annual algae bloom in underway, reports Capt. John Gaulke with Finger Lakes Angling Zone. Visibility varies with 2 to 3 feet of clarity on average. Lake trout fishing continues to be good. Brown and rainbow trout are being taken. The thermocline is well established with fish generally in 65 to 120 feet of water, depending on where you’re fishing and the direction of the wind. Nick Petrou with Doc’s Tackle in Honeoye reports that largemouth fishing is on the upswing with anglers reporting bass scattered in the north end of the lake in weeds and on docks in 8 to 15 feet of water. Lake trout fishing has improved, especially for jiggers. They are set up in their summer patterns from 30 to 100 feet of water. Petrou and a small crew boated 16 lakers up to 14 pounds, all jigging with swimbaits off the bottom around bait schools.
Seneca Lake: Lake trout action is generally good to excellent in July, according to Gaulke.
Owasco Lake: This lake fished well last week. Gaulke had lakers from end to end of the lake and caught a nice rainbow trout, too. Fish in 50 to 100 feet of water.
Honeoye Lake: Bluegill fishing has remained steady, according to Petrou. The fish have been set up on the outside weed edge in 12 to 15 feet of water on nightcrawlers, spikes, waxworms and various small Powerbait soft plastics. A few crappies and perch have been mixed with bluegill. Walleye anglers are reporting a slow pick of fish along the outside weed line either trolling bottom bouncers with worm harnesses or casting chatterbaits and swimbaits. Bass anglers said that the action has remained steady with most of the fish being flipped out of the weeds with heavy tackle and Texas-rigged soft plastics or on topwater in the early mornings and evenings.
Conesus Lake: Northern pike fishing has remained good in the deeper depths with live pike shiners, insists Petrou. Anglers trolling deep diving plugs along the outside weed edge have had some success as well. During the day, largemouth bass have been reported in the thick weed beds and the smallmouth bass are deep around the bait. Anglers trolling for pike have caught numerous smallmouth. Topwater baits have produced well at night and in the early morning/evening hours.
Hemlock and Canadice lakes: The largemouth bite has been decent on the north and south ends of the lake while the trout have been coming off points adjacent to deeper water. Live shiners for all species have resulted in the best success.