Tag: #BillHilts

Niagara Musky’s CHOMPING-UP Angler Lures

Posted on by Bill Hilts

Gary Laidman of South Wales caught this 48-inch musky this week in the upper Niagara River fishing with Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island.

  • Niagara Falls USA Fishing – Walleye, Brown Trout, Musky, Carp, Lake Trout, WOW
  • Destination Niagara USA is a vacation destination for fall fishing
  • One angler caught 4 Musky on the same trip!
  • Story includes Fishing Forecast for week of Oct. 30, 2019
Dan Ettipio of Clarence with a 40-inch Upper Niagara River fish he caught this week fishing with Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island.

Will it be a trick or treat for area fishing this week?

High winds over the weekend created turbid conditions for drifters and casters.

Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls with a NYPA platform carp caught on eggs.

Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls found some decent success off the NYPA fishing platform despite 2 feet of visibility, using eggs to take steelhead and carp; colorful jigs to take salmon and walleye over the weekend. There have been a few high water issues on the NYPA platform so be aware of that.

Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls with a lower river walleye caught on a jig off the NYPA platform.

Some fish are available along Artpark from shore, both steelhead and browns. Lake trout are also being caught, but lake trout season is closed. Spinners and eggs or egg imitations like beads are catching primarily trout. Lisa Drabczyk of Creek Road Bait and Tackle reports bass are cooperating by Fort Niagara and big walleyes have been hitting along Artpark and Stella, as well as up in Devil’s Hole.

Ricardo Davila of Wheatfield with a lower Niagara River brown trout last week.

The water was clearing, but the next big wind event is set for the end of the week and will impact water conditions in the river. This could rile the water up again and affect the Niagara Musky Association’s Tim Wittek Memorial Tournament set for Sunday, Nov. 3. Musky action has been good in the upper river.

Jeff Pritchard of Lockport shows off a big musky, one of 4 he caught in the upper Niagara River, fishing with Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island on Saturday. He was drifting large shiners.

Jeff Pritchard from the Lockport area was fishing with Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island last Saturday and caught four muskies in one trip bottom bouncing with large shiners. That is an incredible day.

Ricardo Davila of Wheatfield with a lower Niagara River steelhead from last week.

Many of the tributaries flowing into Lake Ontario are murky, making for some tougher fishing. However, Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctor in Olcott reports that fish are being caught in places like 18 Mile Creek with egg sacs and beads at the top of the list for fish-catching. Reports of a fresh run of salmon moving into the creek were substantiated on Tuesday by Evarts and things were hopping at Fisherman’s Park where Burt Dam is located. Some days are better than others, though.

Lisa Cicciarelli of Lockport holds up her first-ever lake trout before it was released in the lower Niagara River. She was fishing with Capt. Arnie Jonathan of Lockport.

A few fish are being caught off the piers casting spoons, spinners or fishing eggs under a float. 12 Mile Creek (Olcott) was muddy, but as water levels drop and conditions clear, there should be some fish available.

There will be a special meeting with DEC to discuss the status of the Lake Ontario forage base on Nov. 13 at Cornell Cooperative Extension Niagara, 4487 Lake Avenue, Lockport starting at 6:30 p.m.

If you can’t make it, there will be an online presentative (or you can call in) on Nov. 14.

Check the DEC website out for more information at www.dec.ny.gov.

Bill Hilts, Jr. – Outdoor Promotions Director
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Destination Niagara USA, 10 Rainbow Blvd., Niagara Falls, NY 14303

King’s, Coho’s and Brown Trout Wacking Baits from Boat & Shore in Lower Niagara River

Posted on by Bill Hilts
  • King’s, Coho Salmon on Niagara Bar ON-THE-MOVE to Devil’s Hole
  • Browns Biting at Night from Shore
  • Rainy Weather May Cause Big Run
  • Bass & Walleye Biting in Upper Niagara/Lake Erie
Mike Rzucidlo with an October brown trout casting from shore in the Lower Niagara River.
Jon Gwara with a nice King Salmon fishing with Captain Frank Campbell.
Ricardo Davila with a King Salmon caught from shore.

Get ready for another slug of fish to arrive in the lower Niagara River and area tributaries off Lake Ontario! Both wind and rain are in the forecast and that could be the trigger to bring some more fish into area waters.
In the lower Niagara River, Capt. Frank Campbell of Niagara Region Charters called me at 9:30 a.m. to say he had limited out for his two customers. That’s six salmon in just a couple hours. Not every day is like that, but if the rains in the afternoon trigger a run, there are a bunch of fish – kings and Coho salmon – hanging out on the Niagara Bar waiting for a push from Mother Nature.
We haven’t seen good numbers of Coho salmon in the fall in a number of years. This is great news! For boaters, the Devil’s Hole area is the place to be. Pautzke-treated egg skein is the ticket for taking Pacific salmon, fished off three-way rigs.
Shore fishermen have been doing pretty well too. Ricardo Davila of Wheatfield has been tossing glow-in-the-dark spoons and spinners to take salmon early in the morning. When that sun comes up though, fishing gets a bit tougher in that Devil’s Hole area.
From shore, Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls has been using the same kind of hardware. He’ll also toss a Rat-L-Trap. Today he started catching some brown trout mixed in with his salmon in the Whirlpool area. He also reported some good bass fishing along the shoreline at Artpark.
If you enjoy fishing around the Schoellkopf Site near the Discovery Center (yes, there’s an elevator there), this new access point will be closed Oct. 11-12, next week, as they use a crane to complete some work.
Over at Olcott and 18 Mile Creek, Burt Dam has seen more fishermen than fish. Hopefully that will change soon. Some fish are being caught from boats anchored around the harbor, as well as around the piers.
Pier casters are only picking a few fish up now, but hopefully that will change, too. Spoons and spinners will work, but harbor boats are using treated egg skein and fished under a float.
Boat trollers are still pounding the mature salmon with flasher and fly or meat until they hit. Sometimes it’s tough getting them mad enough to strike, but when they do you have your hands full. If the weather cooperates, you can always run out deep off Wilson and Olcott to take a mix of salmon and trout.

Captain Chris Cinelli with another nice walleye rom the Upper Niagara River / Lake Erie.

Capt. Alan Sauerland of Instigators Charters out of Wilson found some salmon and trout in 450-plus feet of water, but he had to go deep to find the right temperatures. His riggers were from 75 to 110 feet deep, the divers were 280 and 300 feet back and he needed 500 feet of copper line to hit the fish zone with spoons and flasher-fly presentations.
In the Upper Niagara River, bass and walleye are still the primary focus. Capt. Chris Cinelli has been hitting some nice fish at the head of the river with shiners and spinner-worm combos.
Bill Hilts, Jr., Director, Outdoor Promotions
Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation, 10 Rainbow Blvd., Niagara Falls, NY USA 14303
p: 716.282.8992 x.303| 1.877 FALLS US, f:716.285.0809
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Sportfishing has a $30 million annual economic impact in Niagara USA!

 

Niagara River/Lake Ontario Fish are NOT SOCIAL Distancing, THEY”RE ON THE BITE!

Posted on by Bill Hilts

NIAGARA USA King Salmon bite BEGINS!

  • Shore fishing is VERY GOOD…spoons and spinners…bring a camera!
  • Niagara Falls USA Fishing Forecast for April 8, 2020, from Destination Niagara USA
  • Boat fishing is good for Kings, Lakers, Steelhead, the Big Bass are just starting up
Stephanie Pierleoni of Newfane went fishing with her husband, Capt. Vince Pierleoni, out of Olcott this week and reeled in this king salmon.

Social distancing is critical when it comes to fishing, both onshore and in a boat.

COVID-19 continues to expand across the state and slowing that curve is important and we are moving forward. We are fortunate in that our boat launch ramps are still open, and we have plenty of shore fishing options available to us. Please stay safe out there and use your head to limit the spread.

With hatchery fish stocking taking place both in the Great Lakes waters and inland waters, please take note that there are special distinctions between both areas. The Great Lakes waters include lakes Erie and Ontario and the tributaries up to the first impassible barrier (such as a dam). Trout and salmon that are stocked as fingerlings and yearlings follow a certain protocol – put, grow and take. They are not meant to be taken immediately after they are stocked in places like the Wilson or Olcott harbors.

Nancy Colavecchia of Niagara Falls caught her biggest bass ever in the upper Niagara River this week.

For the Lake Ontario basin, the minimum size for browns, rainbows, and Pacific salmon is 15 inches in length. Some people have been catching and keeping trout well under that size close to shore. There are certainly more regulations than just these (such as new rules in the tributaries for brown trout (1 per person) and rainbow/steelhead (1 per person with a minimum size of 25 inches) and it’s important to know them before you head out.

The big news is that there have finally been reports of smelt being taken in the lower Niagara River. While Lewiston Landing (the sand docks) didn’t produce anything, they did get some at Artpark, to the south, and from docks to the north. The best time was after 11 p.m.

Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls with a dandy lower river brown trout he caught from shore using a No. 4 spinner.

Fishing in the lower river for trout continues to be good to very good depending on who you talk to. Steelhead, brown trout and lake trout are all being caught by anglers fishing from boat and shore. Water visibility is about 5-6 feet.  Spinners from shore are still producing trout in the gorge. Boaters are drifting minnows, egg sacs or running plugs like Kwikies or MagLips off three-way rigs. Bass are starting to turn on as the waters warm up both in the lower and upper rivers. It was around 45 degrees this week.  

Matt Tall of Wilson caught this 23-pound king salmon fishing with Capt. Tyler Morrison out of Wilson this week.

Some more exciting news is that the king salmon fishing has started to turn on in Lake Ontario.

Matt Tall of Wilson and Capt. Taz Morrison out of Wilson worked their lures in 30 to 80 feet of water to take some nice kings and lake trout. They caught kings to 25 pounds. Conditions change almost daily, says Tall, with things warming up so fast. They were running stickbaits and spoons mostly, working in 46 degrees surface temperature. The temperature doesn’t change much until you get out to 90 feet of water.

Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls caught this big steelhead in the lower Niagara River this week from shore in the gorge area.

Lake trout are eating everything in sight. James DeGirolamo of Derby reports that they were fishing anywhere from 180 to 220 feet of water straight out from Olcott. They had meat rigs and spoons working, with trout and salmon hitting most everything, but spoons are the way to go.

Capt. Tyler Morrison of West End Charters shows off a 25-pound king salmon he caught this week out of Wilson.

Terry Swann of Wilson reports that bullheads are biting at the Wilson-Tuscarora Park boat launch and in the West Branch of 12-mile Creek. Worms and shrimp seem to be the bait of choice.

A few nice perch are showing up too. Pier action has been good for trout in both Wilson and Olcott. Spoons and spinners or live bait under a float work best.

Tributary action has slowed a bit and with the rains from last night and more is forecasted through Friday. It will probably muddy things up and create higher flows.

Stay safe out there.

Bill Hilts, Jr. – Outdoor Promotions Director

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Destination Niagara USA
10 Rainbow Blvd.
Niagara Falls, NY 14303
p: 1-877 FALLS US | 716-282-8992 x. 303