Mild winters or short duration cold weather lasting into spring is generally considered good for alewife survival, and hopefully a so far mild winter will bode well for alewife. To the east look for a quicker turn for lower and clearer flows and doable drifts then to the west. Keys to our success can be credited to ATOMMIK flies behind Stinger Flashers, specifically pigpen, scumline, Marvs fatty, and white Bikini. She bought him the trip to repay him for taking her fishing when she was young. Sunday was a special day. For the Oak, this latest spate of water should bring on the bulk of the King action with some spawning underway no doubt under the cover of the higher and dirtier water flows. Theres been on and off good action like at the Archers Club and some Kings continue to drop back from the dam. Colder temps could bring back some icing conditions esp in the smaller waterways if lower flows prevail. According to Capt. The best spinner/fly set up is DW Gator Flasher Spindoctor with an A-TOM-IK BAM fly. Upstream fast water areas should be pretty well open, and there is likely barely any fishing pressure. This up and down would be mostly unnoticed under ice cover anyway, except for on the Oak. Click here for the Brookfield Varick Fish Safely brochure. Some crimson males and brighter hens are what anglers are finding nearer the dam and also in the overflow channel. For now after the past weekend it looks like flows are back down some in the Oak to about med or slightly high and less stained. Salmon are stacked up in Olcott Harbor and spinners are working for shore casters. Any significant precipitation or melt off or runoff could bring all the trib flows right back high and off color again. The fishing has been challenging not least due to the warm weather we had last week. More importantly he shares his expertise on what lures have been successful for him and his crew. The current leader is now a 32-pound, 4-ounce fish reeled in by Zane Smith of New Brighton, PA while fishing out of Olcott this week. Fishing the surface to 30 ft down on orange spoons. The Sportsmen Archers Club Fly Fishing Only Catch and Release Contest was held October 16, 17, 18 2019. Forecast thru this week remaining after today is for warm temps in the 40sF. Recent precipitation for now probably not enough to keep flows any higher then low-ish when Canal water is ended. So conditions real nice, especially considering how dry summer was and how some of this fall has been so far. We will be searching for a high quality (resolution) photograph in a few months to promote lake fishing in Orleans County. There were bottled up Kings at the mouth of Johnson Creek that now should be spread up thru the waterway. Salmon Fishing at Waterport Dam Daily Update Oak Orchard River survivalbracelet Kits 2.79K subscribers Subscribe 2.2K views 2 years ago Salmon fishing at Waterport dam on Oakorchard river. Flows are moderate to medium and slightly stained at least where you might be able to find a slot with open flows to drift. The other area smaller tribs have good looking med and slightly stained flows for now and likewise should be dropping back toward mod or lower and clearer. More of the up and down temps that weve been experiencing so far this winter. And we predict even more mixed-up conditions for the next few days. Look for dropping back steelhead from the dam, a few spawning fish and a chance for fresh fish trickling in. Fishable flows we have now in Johnson, Oak and Sandy largely a result of bolstered Erie Canal flows. Pitch a retrieve and wait for the hard jolt! No obvious staged up concentration of staged up fish like at the Bridges. Look for flows maintained around the slightly high/slightly stained for now. Boat angling easily the least expensive bargain for big salmonid angling chances where you get to feel the strike and experience an honest battle without heavier trolling gear. The project is funded through the American Rescue Plans Act which designated a portion of federal dollars to be used to promote tourism. That amount of rain would definitely be a good thing. It looks like some of the weather we missed out on thru the earlier winter is coming now in the later winter. And thats after a brush with some area wide snow tonight and tomorrow that might only be a dusting this far north on the WNY Niagara Frontier. laker on an 8 lb leader with light/med spin or levelwind gear and tell me if you still think Lakers dont fight well! Most fishing pressure has been to the east but even now that has started to ease up some. As we hit 515 FOW the 85 rigger fires with a Warrior Lures Blue Jeans (on the 10 ft cheater). Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge The charter fleet has had king salmon action in 100-120 FOW using chrome glow flasher fly combinations down to 60 ft. Even though I wouldnt look for turbine flows to change much in the near term, once the water temps begin to rise even a little the drift chances should improve and more fresh fish will hopefully be evidenced all around. Thats on the ground now and will make for the next spate of water when that melts. Capt. Theres been on and off good action like at the Archers Club and some Kings continue to drop back from the dam. The additional releases from the Erie Canal are triggering early Browns! Call Steve Haak at 225-0229 for more info. Or for the fall stay at our new well appointed private ground floor lodge (Garage Lodge) located just 6 miles east on Route 18. And that is part of the formula for steelhead hookups being on the water after a spate of water. If theres significant rain ahead of or instead of the ice/snow, then trib flows could be on the rise and going off color. Good casting chances for light/med spinning spoon or plug chuckers from the foot brigade. Where I looked anyway it looks like most if not all the icing is gone away, so not expecting any significant upstream fast water sections to be iced in. Internet bragging seems a lot less prevelant then it was a few years ago, and our reports tend to be even keeled not reporting fish numbers great enough that they would be jumping in your waders even if they were! Tough time of the year for any serious drying out since everything will wind up essentially as runoff. Rain has been slow and steady so look for smaller area trib flows to go high and dirty probably stopping short of blown. Savvy trib anglers anticipate good hook-up chances on the backside of high flows when reasonable weather and water conditions coincide! Water temps on Port Bay are in the high 70s and autumn is the time fish start gobbling food. Bob Songins At the Oak report this past week, the mature salmon are both off shore (31-33) and in-shore (80-150). PDF Oak Orchard Creek Update - canals.ny.gov We encourage all anglers and users to follow the site rules for access and fishing on the Brookfield Power Company lands. Thru the past weekend we heard of guys getting steelhead hookups nearer the dam including a few good fish. No doubt well have concentrations of Kings into November. Hike some different water spots on the smaller tribs and you should find some brown trout action with a steelhead or two thrown in. Flows are plenty high enough to hide fish and encourage fresh fish migrations. A brown or two mixed in. The Port Bay pier (small) is at the end of West Port Bay Road and the Sodus Bay pier (long) are places to cast out heavy spoons. With no real winter to come out of and trib and open lake water temps all on the warmer side, who knows for sure how the steelhead gods will play things out over the next couple months?! No major chill down seen in the near term forecast and there is some rain or showers going over to snow showers forecast for Thursday and Friday. A little more rivermouth action now. At the Oak Billboard on the NYS Thruway. The river is still very dangerous to wade at 10k+, so be careful! When flows are reduced temporarily, it reveals pretty good numbers of fish. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. Its unclear if these lower flows will hang on, more then likely with temps rebounding thru this mid week that flows will rebound some with a little more stain. All the trib flows are on the retreat from the last rain. This weekend there is a scheduled white-water release, that plus the cooler temperatures should attract a better push. Flows are up and already back on the retreat all around, with dirty water color. Look for mod and mostly clear flows in the Oak and low and clear flows in the other area smaller waterways. Water color is real nice at slightly stained 2 ft of visibility so drift chances for now are the best theyve been so far this late winter/early spring period. Cool if not coldish temps forecast thru this week with rain showers. The following report is courtesy of Captain Andy Bliss of Cold Steel Sportfishing. Captain Ron runs a roomy 33-foot Flybridge Sport Fisherman with a 12-foot beam. After fishing at the Point both the Black North Inn and the new Gilligans Galley (Ernst) are serving up terrific meals either sit down or to go! Either way waiting for the mythical lower and clearer conditions for steelhead action may lead to lost chances. Still some steelhead action hanging on in the Oak thanks to a return to good high flows without any real spike in water temps yet. Click on the different category headings to find out more. Thru this weekend flows are prob more agreeable for better drifts but the water color is worse so there could be tougher action. Oak Orchard Oct 2020. Moonshine Carbon 14 was our best today on a 70 rigger, and green Bam!! We went past 300 but found the 250-300 was better. We recommend wearing cleats and to always be careful crossing. Some Lake Effect Snow showers has amounted to a few more inches of fluffy accumulation on top of the 1-2 ft previous snow. One warm water 40-50F hook-up is worth a half dozen 32 point something F hook ups! The better reports I hear are from guys that have some Kings migrate past them or hold and they get some drifts to them. To view the final results, visit the LOC Derby website. See more info on their. Fridays big east wind iced the inside waters where mature kings were being caught from 120 feet of water and in prior to the wind. A fair number of Kings are loitering in downstream areas on the Oak with skein drifters still into them up at least until yesterday. Other area smaller waterways are at about medium level and back on the clearing to slightly stained from the past weekend rain. Im not hearing a lot from the other area smaller waterways but you can bet patient anglers could find some drop back action or a few fresh browns or steelhead in the lower reaches. We are surely going to have water for high and off color flows when the weather breaks toward spring. Still hanging on to warm (hot) weather but theres a change afoot in the forecast with chance of significant rain mid week and a cool down. Water flows and trout and salmon migrations are looking good thanks to bolstered Erie Canal feed to the Oak and other waterways. The Olcott pier project is completed for land lubbers there to get back out there or the Oak Orchard piers. As quickly as flows were restored in the Oak over the past weekend the fishing likewise perked up again with some steelhead hooked and a few knarly Kings clinging to a hopeful life. At least its good to see organizers and attendees efforts at getting back to a normal pre-Covid scene. Anglers are toughing it out for a few bites daily on browns or steelhead. It was all spoon and meat bite Saturday. Flows in the Oak are slowly on the retreat from higher and dirtier flows. We ended the morning with all steelhead and a memory that will last forever., Courtesy of Lou Borrelli of Get the Net Fishing Charter, 9/4/21. Theres still good numbers of fish higher in the Oak watercourse nearer the dam. There seems to be a stalemate between the open Lake temps and the trib water temps thanks to the relatively mild winter. Amazing how when the vegetation awakens and the runoff equation changes. Even without any significant new precipitation, look for flows in the Oak to stay up thanks to strong swamp headwater supplies. Some anglers are spread out like in the other tribs east and west. Release schedule for fall 2022 to be released soon. A couple Lake Ontario newbies became addicted this past weekend. The other area smaller tribs have med or slightly high and stained flows. Flows in the Oak look slightly high consisting of all turbine water with maybe 6 inches of viz. Required fields are marked *. Pier head foot soldiers may want to at least occasionally do an about face from lakeside casting at times to check the scene in the channel. Click here for the Brookfield Varick Fish Safely brochure. Either way theres still a good head of turbine flow thats full bore or close to full bore and the water color is slowly getting better. Any significant rainfall could raise flows up more with dirtier water color. Well probably continue to see a drawn out salmon run. Theres not a lot of fish spawning or even many zombies yet so that tells you things are progressing slowly. A good head of turbine water lending fishy water and cover for fish to be anywhere in the water course they would want to be. Both father and daughter were smiling away as they were side by side working the fish to the boat. stocked in Orleans County waters annually. My anglers have been relaying positive feedback from restaurants from the Point thru Albion and Medina. LOC Fall Salmon Derby Aug 20th September 6th Best bass spots are downriver around Joseph Davis State Park and Youngstown near Fort Niagara. This Jan timeframe is historically a bit of an in-between time frame so any action is a bonus after the fall runs and before later winter/early spring steelhead. They fished way off shore on the Pirate Queen with Captain Tom Wolfe. No serious icing yet and all the downstream frog water is open. Our Cannon Downriggers parked at 30 & 40 with spoons back 30 were our hottest setups. Chance of rain and colder temps and windy conditions for the end of the week but back to relatively mild temps again by the weekend. Register now and see your name at the top of the list! Darker and some old moldy salmon are still around. Oak Orchard "Big Boy" Tournaments-- 2021 dates Check the drift, slow the swing and/or put a longer leader on with some more shot if you want to get in the zone.