Site Staff

Lake Ontario and tributaries: There’s still plenty of good fishing to be had in the tributaries off of Lake Ontario like Eighteen Mile Creek in Burt-Olcott. Because steelhead are starting to drop their eggs as part of the spawning ritual, egg sacs or egg imitations are always good baits to try and target trout. Keg

Lake Ontario: If you can find an open water, anglers are catching steelhead on egg sacs and small jigs fished under floats Oswego River: High flows limited fishing. Drift boat anglers did better on steelhead. Salmon River: Most of the fishing pressure continued to be taking place in the deeper pools in the upper river,

Seneca Lake: There are still some anglers going out of Severne in boats and getting perch in 20 to 30 feet of water. Canandaigua Lake: Lake trout are being taken jigging in deep water (100 to 160 feet). Keuka Lake: Some anglers were fishing open water on the south end and were catching lake trout

This is the time of year when anglers are in between the open water and ice fishing seasons, although some waters may still offer safe ice. We can’t in good conscience point you to the hard water now, given the rapidly changing conditions.

A few anglers have been out on the lakes and ponds, including Southards Pond and Argyle Lake, targeting trout that wintered over and have been feeding consistently as the water has warmed. There are not a lot of trout being caught, but they have been between 12 to 14 inches.  Worms, small Rapala or Yo-Zuri

Trout anglers were ready for the open water season to begin, and reports will pick up as lakes open up and fishing activity increases.

Some of the region’s trout waters were scheduled to be stocked ahead of the April 1 trout opener. We’ll have more to report as the open water season fires up.