September 2025 Fishing Reports
There’s still some nice summer-like weather hanging on even if it is the beginning of fall! Temps are warm and it’s even trying to rain, but so far only minimal precip. Next chance at showers is late Tue or early Wed and better chance at area wide rain on Thu. Somewhat of an in-between time frame for trout and salmon action here in Orleans County. You could choose end of the season open Lake trolling or upstream action in the tribs. Anglers on both fronts are scoring some action, with plenty of good tributary action yet ahead.
Small boat trollers and casters and jiggers in the Lake are working the 20 fow plus or minus range. Waves have been pretty agreeable lately although a little chop and color is almost always better then flat and clear. East winds have calmed lately. Look for more and more guys to be working those near shore waters now over the next month or so. Latest reports after the staging fish were fond of moving in and out is that they are back. Anglers report good sonar marks and crashing fish in the low light periods. Casters at Point Breeze are typically getting a few hook-ups at dawn or dusk. Young anglers can stay active by casting away and might have the biggest fish yet of their career on the end of their line with a salmon! Other trollers can still head off shore for trout action or immature Kings.
In the tribs we are lucky to have Erie Canal feed which is good for about 20 extra cfs in Oak and Sandy and almost 40 more cfs in Johnson. You can bet salmon especially and likely some browns or Atlantics are feeling that push of water and making some migrations. We did hear of some water level fluctuations at Waterport dam yesterday. More and more King numbers should be building in the Oak like at the dam and eventually holding in the downstream fast water stretches. Check out the big King from the Oak in the pic below. Anglers have seen a few browns already in the Oak and I’d bet money some of them are impersonating Atlantics! At the Bridges area on the Oak/Marsh there are crashing fish most evenings. Plenty of legit ways to get those crashing fish to bite, check out the Captains Cove, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge, Route 18 Tackle or Woody’s Bait for fishing advice!
The St. Mary’s Archers Club 2025 public access fall season parking will be from Oct. 10 through Nov. 11. Parking is $10, with gates opening at 4-5 a.m. and closing at 4 p.m. A lunch will also be served this year. For updates, visit the Sportsman’s Archery Club of St Mary’s Inc Facebook page.
Well, there sure is some keen weather for the end of the open Lake season. Summer and warm weather are hanging on, along with dry conditions. Winds have been mostly calm, too, with maybe just some light to medium lake breezes. The forecast for the remainder of this week and the weekend is more of the same: warm and dry, with just the slight chance of showers for the weekend.
Lake waters haven’t had any serious winds in days, and for now, there are no significant winds in the near forecast. So look for clear water conditions. There’s been some good staging salmon action in the 40 – 60 + fow range. You would usually presume with each day ahead that action would slide to more shallow waters nearer the Oak Orchard Rivermouth, but this bluebird weather seems to be stalling that. The charters still running and what’s left as mostly a rec boat contingent are not making any serious wall passes through, and they continue to ply that near shore water that gives the bottom-hugging Kings at least some cover of water over their head. Not to say a few fish on any given evening or morning or nighttime foray don’t venture closer, but for now it's looking like the bulk of the mature salmon are choosing a Lake life (what’s left anyway!) instead of a trib life.
Capt. Dan J. from Escape to the Oak Charters over the past weekend fished inside from 40 – 100 fow for stagers. “We had a good J-plug and flasher fly bite. Later, we went offshore and found a good class of steelhead from the 28 out to the 32 line.”
The same bluebird weather keeping the Kings belly rubbing out in the open Lake hasn’t perked much up yet for trib action. Sure, there are a few salmon and trout at the Waterport dam on any given day, as a few fish move through the Rivercourse - likely mostly at night. There are no great concentration of pooled up Kings anywhere that we’ve heard of, but a few fish are reported crashing around what’s still a weedy proposition in the last of the fast water areas at the bottom of the Park Ave Fishing Trail. Casters are working the piers each evening and morning, and there have been a few fish caught on and off there. Always great fun for those hard striking, hard battling light line Kings at Point Breeze! Lots more good action is likely to come for salmon and trout, especially as the weather may cool and get wetter. Erie Canal enhanced water feed is slated to commence on September 18 in the major use WNY tribs, so that could be a catalyst to get the ball rolling for more migrations. Look for more calendar-specific water release info as that becomes available for the fall and early winter timeframe.
On Saturday, September 13, Orleans County Tourism joined forces with the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District to take part in the annual shoreline clean-up. Volunteers focused their efforts around the Waterport Dam and Park Avenue Extension, removing litter and debris to help protect the local waterways and maintain a clean, safe and welcoming environment.
The St. Mary’s Archers Club 2025 public access fall season parking will be from Oct. 10 through Nov. 11. Parking is $10, with gates opening at 4-5 a.m. and closing at 4 p.m. A lunch will also be served this year. For updates, visit the Sportsman’s Archery Club of St Mary’s Inc Facebook page.
For this near end of the trolling season, there’s been some big Kings boated for sure. Last week's report highlighted the Fall LOC Derby Grand Prize, an Orleans County fish caught by Amy LoPresti, weighing 33.03 pounds. Not to be out shadowed was the third and final leg of the KOTO held on Aug 31. There were some good catches of real nice Kings that were exhibiting staging looks and behavior in the 100 fow or so range. Almost all boaters remarked of good-looking sonar screens recording lots of suspected bottom-hugging staging fish.
For the KOTO event, team Richmond VI Dave Wolinski took first place. Team Rod Benders Gerald Slack took second place. Team Silver Streak Zach Baker took third place and it was the Richmond VI team that came out on top for the KOTO season. Congrats to all the winners and Oak Orchard bragging rights!
Big Fish of the Day for the final leg of the KOTO came aboard the Silver Streak and Capt Katia R. and Zach B. Todd S. was the lucky angler who reeled in the 26 lb plus solid King. No doubt, Todd will be back for more trophy King action!
The Rod Benders husband and wife team of Capt. Gerry S. and Terah had a good-looking box of Kings for the KOTO. They found their best action in near-shore waters just west of the harbor. “We fished 120 fow west of the harbor with white flashers and green flies. Number 3 J-plugs and the Route 18 Tackle gold geezer spoon were good.” They were happy they stayed on those fish while others went farther offshore. Their strategy played out well for second place in the KOTO.
Trolling traffic looks to have fallen off some now after the Labor Day holiday. Some of the biggest yet of the season and near shore staging action for angry Kings is still ahead of us, though! Tributary action is coming on slowly, with so far a few early fish reported at the Waterport dam. There’s been some off and on casting action at Point Breeze, with at least a couple of salmon landed in the low-light periods on glow hardware. There are a few small boat trollers, casters and jiggers working the 20 – 40 fow range. The near-term forecast for about a week ahead is warmer and dry, so look for tributary migrations to be stalled unless there are some significant onshore cooling lake breezes.
The Archers Club parking for the fall season will be Oct 10 – Nov 11 and a lunch will be served this year!
Once again, Orleans County and the Oak proved why it’s the “Home of the King!” There’s lots of big salmon action to report on in both the Fall LOC Derby and the final leg of the KOTO. This week’s report will highlight Orleans County’s grand prize LOC Derby salmon, and next week, we’ll cover more big Kings that came in for the final leg of the KOTO. Stay tuned! And don’t forget all these same trophy salmon and trout in the big Lake are soon to make great tributary action this fall, winter and spring!
Aboard the Maverick on the last morning of the fall LOC Derby, the huge 33.03 lb grand prize LOC Derby King was reeled in by Amy LoPresti. Amy is the daughter-in-law of Capt. Chris LoPresti and when the big fish hit the deck, all aboard the boat looked at each other in surprise because they knew they had a legit derby contender - if not winner. The big King took 20 minutes to come to the net and was hooked 60 ft down over 150 fow somewhere between the pump house and out front of the Oak. It took a Hawks custom snowflake spoon.
The catch was something of a family effort for sure. The captain's son, Chris Jr, might take some of the credit because he kept insisting they get in the LOC Derby. So with a one-day derby pass in hand, they all went fishing – and the rest is history, as they say! Not a bad return on a one-day ticket. The other lesson here is that you “gotta be in it to win it,” and if you’re fishing during derby time, then get that ticket! It proved to be a smart move by the LoPresti family!
Also worthy of mention is another big King from Orleans County, Oak Orchard waters, that placed 4th in the fall LOC Derby. Vernon T. got the dandy silver King aboard Fish in the Box Charters with Capt. Tim H. on a Leonard Fly.
Lately, some of (but not all) of the best big fish action has been for likely staging salmon in 80 – 120 fow. Most trollers report a good amount of bottom-hugging marks in that zone. Other boaters are still working offshore waters for mixed bag action on mature & teenage Kings and a good steelhead bite. The weather ahead looks warming through about mid and end of week. Precipitation is forecast for the end of the week with another cool down on the heels of that weather change. Cooling temps and/or precip will help coax staging Kings closer near-shore and the soon to be at hand fall tributary action.
