April 2025 Fishing Reports

Lake…

Open Lake trolling action has so far been all about onshore brown trout when there’s some stained and slightly warmer water to target. When there’s been no onshore stain to target, guys have been sliding out to the near-shore waters looking for Lakers or that first King bite. Smaller Atlantic salmon have been showing up too.

Winds are off and on as in a usual spring, so on the backside of the wave action is when trollers have found nice pockets of green water. Now, after some precipitation yesterday, guys will find all the tribs pumping out some stain and temp too. Yet there’s lots of cold water out there all around, but the forecast ahead is warming, and there are some 70°F days likely. The inevitable warm-up is afoot, and we look forward to the King action coming on.

In the spirit of hunting up the stain and warmer pockets, Capt. Lou B. of Get the Net Charters worked the water from Bald Eagle to the Devil's Nose and found a small patch of water with a 1.5-degree temp change. “More natural color baits were the ticket in the slightly colored water. Later, we finished the day sliding out to 60 fow and found some quality lakers suspended around 40 feet down. We ran on the faster side of trolling spoons at 3+ mph.”

Capt. Chris V. of U-Betcha Charters is waiting for the King action to come on, too. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a few Kings are caught in the near future. Find the warmest green water, and there should be silvers there. If not, there are plenty of lakers on the bottom in 60 – 90 fow.”

Trib…

Around 3/4 in of rain through yesterday has all the tribs on the rise and going off color. Flows in the Oak are back up to slightly high, with what looks like a good head of turbine water. Water color will be getting dirtier over the next day or two, even as flows may crest or begin to recede. The other smaller waterways have high and dirty flows.

Near-term forecast ahead looks clear for any major precipitation, there’s a chance of showers around the weekend. Temps are warming, and look for a couple of 70°F days ahead. Winds are off and on (breezy again today!), as has been the norm this spring. Water temps are moving into and through the 50’s F, so the cold water steelhead action is numbered.

Last lick trib chances are right now for drop backs like in the Oak or casting action for brown trout. When the waves settle after any good wind like today, and leave the semi-stained near-shore lake water means a good casting window. Even the medium-sized browns hooked up like in the picture below have been plump, pretty, and fun on lighter spin gear. Trib fishing pressure is real light, and at the piers at Point Breeze, there’s typically only a few guys spread out.

After another successful spring pen rearing of the steelhead, those fish are slated for release at dusk tomorrow. Who knows, maybe of the 15,000 fish (another 10,000 direct stocked) one will be waiting to strike your fly, bait, or lure in the Oak Orchard in a few years!

Open Lake…

Onshore, especially, and near-shore action has been good out of Point Breeze. Weather through the past end of week and weekend offered up the medium seas and semi-stained water that trollers look to target. For the last part of the weekend, the water color steadily cleared, and the action got tougher onshore, so guys started to slide out.

Look for a couple of windy and colder days here midweek, so trolling action might pause until about the end of week. Lots of mostly cold water out there, but the stained water color should be back for a while onshore after these winds. There have been mostly browns caught, with a few cohos and Atlantics too.

Sliding out deeper has been bringing on Laker hook-ups as guys search for the first Kings of the season. Not many, if any, Kings have been reported yet around the Oak Orchard waters, but check out the medium Laker in the pic below. As things move along and water temps warm, we can likely look forward to the salmon action coming on.

Cpt. Chas from Searcher Charters says, “There are lots of browns in as close as 6 – 7 fow. Stickbaits on the planer boards running Renosky baits and Rapalas have been good. Out in the stained 40 – 80 fow Spin-Doctors and Dreamweaver spoons on the downriggers and Dipseys 120 ft out on a 2.5 setting were firing.”

Tributary…

It’s the middle of Apr and still some fair steelhead chances in the Oak thanks to good flows and cool weather. Light fishing pressure, but the few anglers out are getting in their last lick, drifting chances for eager drop back steelhead and some spawning fish, and even a fresh fish here and there. Check out the hard battling dropback steelhead in the pic below.

Flows in the Oak are hanging in at about medium with 2 – 3 ft of viz. Just some rain showers lately to keep flows interesting. Look for flows to slowly drop back toward mod unless there is significant precipitation.

Chance of mixed bag precipitation or snow showers through today, with no accumulation expected here on the WNY south shore of Lake Ontario. Temps are dropping now with a couple of colder mid-week days in the forecast.

Wind is back on the scene after a few calmer days of good pier and shoreline casting chances, where some nice browns were hooked. Look for churned-up dirty water and waves in the near future. The other smaller waterways have low to mod flows and are mostly clear.

There’s been some smallmouth bass action, real good at times, reported. A few bass are likely also moving up the Oak, too.

The weather so far this spring has been a bit of a challenge. It's made for some tough conditions to get out there, both in the tributaries and the open Lake. Lately, the open Lake chances have been tough as trollers are dealing with strong winds and cold temperatures. Not sure those boating chances will be changing for the better just yet this week, according to the forecast. So use good caution and heed marine forecasts for any big Lake forays this spring. When trollers have had reasonable conditions to get out there, the near-shore action for browns, Lakers and cohos has been good.

For now, because the latest weather is prolonging the trib action, we’ll stay focused on that. Determined anglers are having success, especially in the Oak. Check out the big old warrior steelhead pic below, is that enough motivation to get out there!? And how about the nice big male steelhead in the pic below from one of the area's smaller tributaries? Those big fish chances from small waterways are out there in the springtime, especially this cold water spring!

So even though we’ve been dealing with cold, wind and precipitation at times, those same conditions are keeping water temps from spiking. Steelhead, in particular, are hanging around like in the Oak, and even ahead in the near-term forecast, there’s no great warm-up afoot. Guys and gals should be able to have good steelhead chances right through April.

Today and through mid-week, it's cold! Look for high temps in the 30s F and dropping back into the 20s F at night. Gusty winds today and snow showers off and on. There’s been no accumulation. Temps should moderate for end of week and begin part of the weekend with more rain or mixed precipitation chances. Then, for the end of the weekend, temps may be seasonal with highs around 50 F. Through the past weekend, we definitely did not get all the precipitation that was forecast, so all the trib flows are dropping and clearing from previous higher and dirtier flows. These cold temps right now will for sure hasten the dropping and clearing all around.

Flows in the Oak are slightly high and dirty, with about 1 ft of visibility. Flows consist of a good head of turbine water and diminished overflow. Flows in the other area, smaller waterways, are about medium and stained with 1 – 2 ft of stained visibility. Look for spawning steelhead in the middle to lower reaches gravel sections of the Oak and adjacent holes. There are more steelhead again that shot up the overflow channel from the latest rise in flows. While water temps are cool and the fish are fairly hardy would be a good time for anglers to release any fish caught there back into the turbine channel.

Fishing pressure is real light, and the latest intel from the smaller area waterways is sparse. Look for some drop back steelhead flushing out on the last rise in flows and the chance for some fresh run browns. No reason to think that fresh steelhead couldn’t still be pushing up the Oak thanks to the high, dirty and cold flows.

For the non-trout and salmon crowd, it's also bullhead time. There have been good catches for those made to be deep-fried catfish. All the latest high and dirty tributary flows are probably something like a bullhead late to the party notice. Live baits and nighttime action usually prove best. On the heels of the bullhead action and any clearing water color, it should be perch time. Rivermouth and estuary areas usually prove best with small minnows or jigs. Patience helps here as schools of perch move in and out of the Lake.

The Point Breeze East Side County launch docks and transient docks are open for the season, and the Lake Alice boat launch docks have been installed. Anglers now have good early-season access to both the open lake and inland waters. The pen-reared salmon and steelhead delivered by the NYSDEC about a week ago are doing well in the pens at Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina. In two to three weeks, after more growth and hopeful imprinting, the fingerlings will be released. Many thanks to all involved in projects that improve the Orleans County trout and salmon fishery and beyond!

There’s been just enough rain through the end of the past weekend to bump up tributary flows all around slightly. There’s a chance of storms or soaking rains this midweek through Thursday that could bring flows up higher and dirtier. Another cool day today with a northwest lake breeze, and then the forecast ahead shows a warming or more seasonal temperature trend.

Flows in the Oak are up from low to moderate but still mostly clear. Light fishing pressure with just a handful of cars noted at the access points. Some anglers are making drifts and swings for spawning fish and having success by being patient in the fast-water gravel stretches. You can get hook-ups in the holes too, but it will take working through some suckers or fishing the drift above the suckers.

Jay Peck says, “Stay back and look carefully for fish before wading too far. He hunts up his targets by working upstream and has been averaging about a half dozen hook-ups in an outing.” Check out his latest catch pic below. Sucker numbers are not overwhelming, and fish are still being hooked up at the dam. Higher future flows that stay cool will prolong the action and likely draw fresh April fish in too.

The other area small tributaries, have moderate to medium flows with slightly stained visibility. Those flows are back on the drop, but could be back quickly on the rise with more precipitation.

On the big lake, it’s been somewhat challenging to hit the wind and weather windows for reasonable conditions. Charter guys are getting out on shakedown trips, and small boat civilians have started to drop in, too. Lots of cold water out there, but the nearshore stained warmer pockets are where most action will be for browns.

Captain B. Stevens from Sunrise II Sportfishing fished yesterday before the weather turned for the worse. “We had a fantastic morning on browns west from the bluff to just past Green Harbor. There was great water color in 7-10 feet of water. Best action was on firetiger stickbaits, and Chinook divers with spoons worked great too.” Check out the nice brown trout pic below that was just one of their many hook-ups.