Fishing Beat: Plenty of tournaments on tap as National Fishing and Boating Week continues (2024)

National Fishing and Boating Week continues with a host of fishing-related events this weekend, including several kids fishing contests and clinics, the Orleans County Open Trout and Salmon Tournament, the Southtowns Walleye Association’s popular walleye derby, and the Catt. Creek Bait and Tackle catfish tournament.

Lake Erie and tributaries

In the WNY Walleye Classic out of Dunkirk, the team Catch the Best set the pace with a tournament-limit six-fish catch of 31.15 pounds. The team of Chuck Pohlman of Florida, Tim Duffy of West Seneca and Tom Kinmartin of Elma worked the waters west of Van Buren in 35 to 50 feet of water. Team Deez Nuts, led by Dave Thompson, who identified a motor problem that forced them to miss Big Fish Friday, used divers with harnesses as well as three to five colors of lead core line rigged with black/silver Long A Bombers and Goby Mooneyes to take more than 30 fish. Big Fish Friday winner was Team Extreme (Chris McKeever of Leon, Tyler Burroughs of Gowanda, Scott Godziak of Forestville and Joe Pustalka of Otto) with a 9.74-pound walleye. They caught it west of Van Buren Point in 45 feet of water with a Kilam Custom Bait. Matt Wilson of Lewiston did well on walleye and bass out of Buffalo. For walleye action, the big ticket item was an antifreeze colored worm harness in 34 to 44 feet of water, using 4-ounce weights 80 to 100 feet back. Wilson found bass to be on the move to deeper waters. His big baits of the week were Ned rigs, drop shot setups and swimbaits. He caught several fish over 5 pounds, including a spawned-out female that went 6.7 pounds. Waneka and Hamburg Beach were showing signs of bigger fish. The new Z-man Gobyz bait in goby color was great. There is a kids fishing clinic at Tifft Nature Preserve on Saturday. Preregister by calling 716-533-4070.

The Southtowns Walleye derby deadline is fast approaching. Your only options to register are to attend the Southtowns Walleye from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday or visit the clubhouse at 5895 Southwestern Blvd., Hamburg, from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday. The new Western New York Walleye group will meet Thursday at the Knights of Columbus in Hamburg starting at 6:30 p.m. They will be meeting the first Thursday of the month moving forward. The Catt. Creek Bait and Tackle Catfish Tournament is set to begin on Saturday and the deadline to register is 10 a.m. Saturday morning. According to Shub Stevens with the Catt. Creek shop in Irving, the catfish are biting good. Shrimp on a bottom rig is one method that is working. Yellow perch are being found around 50-65 feet of water off Cattaraugus Creek. He says it’s tough to get them to bite but boats are catching them with golden shiners. Walleyes are being caught in 30-45 feet of water off the Catt. Bottom bouncing is working well. Hot blade colors are green and perch patterns.

Niagara River

In the Niagara River, every report usually begins with how bad the moss is for this time of year. Capt. Frank Campbell of Lewiston reports walleyes and smallmouth bass are available, but you really must work for them. Tommy Holycross of Wheatfield continues to catch lake trout despite the moss problem at the NYPA Fishing Platform. Smallmouth bass and white bass are around in good numbers. Moss is heavy, so Holycross was drifting minnows and jigs.

Lake Ontario and tributaries

The Screamer Team led by Dave Antenori of Pennsylvania came up with a 12-fish tournament box – the tournament limit for the day – to score 270 points and jump from 10th place to first place to win over $20,000 for the Professional Division of the Lake Ontario Pro-Am. Their total was 471 points based on 10 points per fish and a point per pound. They beat out Capt. Pete Alex of Vision Quest Charters by less than five points. In the Amateur Division, the Mutiny team scored nearly 260 points for two days of fishing. Capt. Roy Letcher of Newfane reports that action has been good out deep and closer to shore. For numbers of fish, his winning team ran 13 miles out to target colder water that produced smaller fish, all on spoons. The next day, they fished the warm water inside to target bigger fish with a mix of meat, spoons and flasher/fly rigs. Letcher says put your baits 45 to 70 feet below the surface over 150 to 250 feet of water. The next tournament is the Orleans County Open this weekend. Capt. Dave Scipione of Lewiston hit the lake Tuesday and fished 185 to 250 feet of water right in front of Wilson to find good amounts of bait and hungry fish. Salmon candy/bull frog flasher with atomic meat and green glow frog spoons were the hot baits. On Saturday, the Pendleton Lions Club will host a kids fishing derby at West Canal Marine Park from 9 a.m. to noon. The third annual Free Kids Fishing Derby will be held at Wilson Tuscarora State Park from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for kids in eighth grade and under.

Chautauqua Lake

The musky opener was tough last weekend according to Capt. Mike Sperry of Chautauqua Reel Outdoors. He managed one fish casting Saturday morning. It came on a glide bait. Water is still clear, which makes it difficult. It should pick up as the visibility decreases. The walleye fishing was good last week while jigging in weed pockets. There were bigger fish in the weeds. Expect an open-water trolling bite in the south basin to start earlier this year. Try running Hot-n-Tots and Flicker Minnows off lead core line when that bite gets rolling. Worm harnesses off bottom bouncers will produce as well.

Finger Lakes

Cayuga Lake: Lake trout fishing has been good from Ithaca up to the north end crescent (the end of the deeper, cold-water zone) according to Capt. John Gaulke with Finger Lakes Angling Zone. Rainbow trout also can be caught throughout these areas. Depths vary but fish can be as shallow as 30 feet as well as right out over the middle of the lake. Gaulke says we still appear to be a few weeks away from the thermocline setting up, but it will be interesting to see when that happens given the warmer spring. A few browns are coming from the lower portions of Cayuga. Largemouth bass fishing is good on the north end of the lake reports Gaulke. Largemouth bass are spawning in the southern portions. Smallmouth bass fishing has been slow, and many may have already spawned. Some pickerel are being taken on the north end of the lake. Yellow perch have been common in mid- and lower-lake areas. Perch fishing continues to impress on Cayuga Lake with many of these post-spawn perch running over 12 inches long.

Seneca Lake: Expect continued good to very good lake trout fishing here, primarily from Long Point north to Geneva says Gaulke.

Owasco Lake: This lake should continue to produce good lake trout fishing with some bonus rainbows and browns, reports Gaulke.

Oneida Lake: Walleye action was good this week according to Torrey Pfeifer of Wild Eyes Charters. Fishing near Frenchman’s Island, he worked 11 to 13 feet of water to take six legal walleyes and several shorts using jigs, casting harnesses, and jerk baits in and around weeds. Also helping to keep the action brisk were numerous pickerel and quite a few slab sunfish and bluegill for anyone using the casting harnesses tipped with crawlers.