March 2026 Reports
The up and down trib flows and resultant fishable water conditions continue to come and go. The Oak for the beginning of this week and the other area smaller trib flows for the past weekend were offering up better conditions and anglers were hooking up on steelhead and browns. Now we may be headed for another high and dirty water period thanks to rain so far today. There is the chance for more signifcant storms or rain as the rest of the weather system moves through later today/tonight.
Flows in the Oak were slightly high and stained with about 1 foot of stained visibility. Flows in the other area smaller waterways were med and slightly stained with 1 – 2 ft of visibility. Look for rising and off color flows all around in the near term. If the forecast for more rain or storms is realized for later today/tonight look for blown and dirty trib conditions all around which could include Oak overflow water again.
As the water conditions had been improving, guys were into a mix of steelhead and browns. There are probably more spring time browns around then ever which include both dropback recovering spawning fish and silver fresh Lake fish apparently on a warm water or baitfish foray. Steelhead include a mix of fresh, spawning and dropback fish. With the mix of fish anglers are finding them in all the typical spots like at the dam, overflow, downstream fast water gravel, staging holes and smaller waterways.
Fishing pressure has been lite to moderate and wouldn’t be expected to pick up much thanks to the high water conditions. Some anglers are also turning toward inland trout pursuits instead of the big salmonid action – why I dunno?!
Shoreline and nearshore Lake casting or small craft action has been good mirroring the apparent strong numbers of brown trout around. When casters or small craft guys find cooperative winds and waves and not too much dirty water coming out of the tribs they have had action on eager hungry browns with small spoons and plugs. As a bonus there is the chance for coho or dropback steelhead strikes too. For small boat trollers able to get out and onto the mudline or tasty green water pockets the action has been real good with multiple hook-ups reported. The usual suspects of shallow rigger spoons and stickbaits off the boards or just flat lining plugs can all be successful for the nearshore waters less then 20 fow. A few charters are just starting to work the waters off Point Breeze. We’ll start getting some intel soon from those that hang in local and don’t make the westward migration toward the Niagara plume.
Steelhead pens and King salmon pens are ready and assembled thanks to volunteer help. Those pens will be placed in the Oak for the pen reared fish scheduled to arrive from NYSDEC on Apr 6. Some of the Orleans stocking numbers will include 15,000 steelhead and 110,000 Kings reared in the pens for eventual release later in April. Did you know the Oak Orchard was at the forefront of pen rearing efforts across Lake Ontario in cooperation with NYSDEC some years ago? Now nearly every major port along the south shore now has their own pen rearing projects.
After rain through the past weekend and resultant high and dirty flows, trib flows all around are back on the drop. A few cold nights has helped tighten up runoff and hastened the lowering flows. Flows in the Oak are high consisting of diminished overflow water and turbine flows probably at max. Water color is dirty with less then a foot of visibility. Look for slowly diminishing flows and better visibility through the end of week if hydro managers may throttle things back. For better water color a lot of stained flows have to settle out of Lake Alice upstream. There is the chance for more precipitation or storms Thursday.
Fishing pressure is light with a few anglers still managing some steelhead hookups despite the dirty water color. Hookups are coming on egg sacks or big profile jigs or flies. Drifts or swings will need to be deep and slowed down for best chances.
Stained water and warming days mean warming water temps and no doubt some fish will be spawning mostly unseen in gravel spots. Those fish will be more revealed as water color improves. And then there’s the fair number of steelhead marooned for now in the overflow channel that a few float guys using specialized techniques should be able to get back on as visibility gets better.
The other area smaller tribs are coming back around with dropping flows and improving water color and better fishable conditions through this mid and end of week. Flows for now are slightly high with about a foot of visibility. The window to be on those smaller waterways, by the calendar anyway, is now. All spring trib action is somewhat on borrowed time! Just prior to this latest rise in flows anglers were into good steelhead action and some browns. A few suckers are now in the mix thanks to the increased flows.
Pierhead and near-shore Lake chances for brown trout is coming on when wind and waves combine for semi stained water color within range of the casting or small craft angler. Lite to med-lite spinning gear and 2/5 to 1/2 oz Cleos or Krocs or Moonshines is the classic medicine for exciting strikes. A few trailerable boats have been getting out and they are better able to find that nice green stained water just offshore when the bad brown dirty water is in close. The transition zone or mud line is a good place to start the troll. One recent angler out of the Oak worked 6 – 12 fow staying in the nice stain with small spoons on shallow riggers and stickbaits off the planer boards all taking some fish. A few charters are docked now and will be running their first trips sooner then later. Lots of open Lake action coming on for the rest of the season!
Rumors of spring arrival seem to have been slightly exaggerated! So for now there’s some cold weather back afoot with wind and some area wide snows tapering to LES. The upper Lakes LES is forecast to turn off with moderate temps returning for mid week and end of week. On the ground now is a few inches of fresh wind blown snow. With future warming temps the snow will be melting, but otherwise there is no new significant precipitation in the forecast for the rest of the week.
The WNY south shore of Lake Ontario escaped any major thunderstorms that started this latest change in the weather this week and for now all the trib flows are dropping back. A night or two of temps in the teens will definitely drop and clear water flows. Flows in the Oak are slightly high with one ft+ of viz. Flows consist of a strong head of turbine water one notch or so below max. There is diminished overflow water. Look for turbine flows to continue to slowly drop and clear through this week.
Drifting opportunities are real good up and down the whole rivercourse and some good steelhead have been hooked up by anglers plying the higher water. At last check water temps had gone into the low 40’s F and no doubt there’s been some spawning going on under the cover of the high and dirty water. Fishing pressure has been pretty light and with improving weather conditions look for a few more guys out on the water. Egg sacks, big jigs, egg pattern flies and swung flies have all been effective for pinners and spin and fly anglers.
The other area smaller waterways like Johnson and Sandy have med flows and slightly stained water color. The water level window about now is probably the best yet of the spring season. The most recent cold temps could shock those waterways some – putting off what has been a real good bite for browns and some steelhead. A fair number of last spring’s new strain of stocked browns could be showing a “new” behavior of limited spring runs evidenced by plenty of small and mid size silver fish being encountered. Look for continuing dropping and clearing flows there for now.
Near-shore open Lake small boat or casting action has been on hold thanks to lots of wind over the past week and now the icing cold. Look for that overdue action to kick back off as wind and waves and temps and skies moderate more spring-like!
There’s a good slightly high and stained water window in the Oak and area smaller tribs on the back side of previous higher flows from warm temps, rain and snowmelt. Looks like the WNY south shore of Lake Ontario is pushing toward spring now. Warmer days, more direct sunlight and precipitation mean it's spring steelhead time! Oh, no doubt we’ll have some cool days ahead too, but that just helps prolong the cool water tributary window for steelhead action and the remaining or fresh run brown trout.
Flows in the Oak are slightly high and stained with about 1 foot of visibility. There’s a strong head of turbine flows, probably at or near max and overflow levels have diminished. Previous higher and dirtier flows may have retreated somewhat quicker than expected. Look for turbine flows to stay up even as water color may clear up some in the near term. Chance of passing rain today, Tue, and more again tomorrow, Wed. Any significant precipitation could quickly raise flows back up again with dirty water color and overflow water. Snowpack is gone now and so runoff will be more direct with a chance for dirtier water color. Somewhat of a cool down in temperatures is expected for the end of the week.
Light to mod fishing pressure on the Oak is reported with fresh fish action. Even thru the higher and challenging flows of the past weekend, anglers were into some nice steelhead. Look for good drifting chances up and down the water course now when flows are more drift and swing friendly and before any high water may return. Ice cover is gone from Lake Alice so trib water temps could be on the rise thru the higher 30’s or into the 40’s F. Some primed steelhead are likely to stage or spawn despite what the “book” says about higher spawning temps. With up and down weather so too will be the spawning activity. Plenty of redds can be worked unseen in higher and dirtier flows. Success for anglers on the Oak has been with jigs and bait like at the dam, egg sacks throughout the waterway and big dead drifted egg fly patterns or swung flies.
The other area smaller tribs are open through their whole stream courses at med to slightly high flows and stained water color. Look for the same high water window there now for fresh fish chances before any new precipitation might raise water flows again. Just a few anglers are spread thru those waterways finding some steelhead to the west and mostly browns and a few steelhead to the east. Near-shore big Lake casting or trolling action can be at hand too when there’s cooperative wind, waves and slightly stained water color at hand. In most cases, boat ramps and launches are clear of ice or plowed snow, but launch docks are still some weeks away from installation. For trollers its still primarily a small tin boat pursuit with bigger Charters still in prep and shake down mode.
We are on the tail end of a couple of days of cold temps with the forecast ahead calling for warmer and wetter weather at least through the weekend and beginning part of next week. Temps are expected to be the warmest yet of the season, and notable will be the nighttime temps, likely to stay above freezing. There is a chance for off and on precipitation also for the end of the week of +/- 0.50 inches. This forecast is likely to raise all the trib flows up, opening them up from the winter-time ice through the end of this week or the weekend. Flows may go higher, blown and dirty, depending upon the rate of run-off of the remaining snowpack and rain received. Overflow levels in the Oak could be on the rise.
For now flows in the Oak are slightly high, consisting of a good head of turbine water with about 2 – 3 ft of viz. Flows are real nice for migrations and good drifting and swinging chances up and down the waterway. Fishing pressure has been about mod and may pick up with warmer temps forecast. With higher flows, the waterways can take on more angling pressure (even still, which will not approach fall-time fishing pressure).
Steelhead action for fly, float and spin anglers able to get a drift or swing down and slowed in these higher flows has been good. There are some hard-fighting fresh fish with an occasional 30+ inch fish encountered. Not all the big ones or even the “smaller” hard battlers are landed!
The other area smaller waterways are for now at about med and slightly stained flows with icing conditions in some spots. Look for those waterways to shortly be on the rise with more stained water color. Ice and debris could be moving out of all the waterways, and fresh steelhead could be moving upstream. We’d expect the forecasted warm-up to be the event that moves the trib action into a springtime mode where steelhead are sooner or later moving toward spawning activity as the days turn longer and water temps rise.
