Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report – May 20, 2021
Frank Campbell
Finnan Murphy of Pittsford won the spring LOC Derby with this 26-pound, 10-ounce Niagara Bar king salmon. He caught it the last morning of the contest. Young 12-year-old Finnan Murphy of Pittsford was on cloud 9 last Sunday, May 16, the final day of the Lake Ontario Counties (LOC) Spring Trout and Salmon Derby. At 9:30 a.m., he hooked up with the biggest salmon of his young life while fishing out of Wilson, with Capt. Kip Mammano of RochesterSportfishing.com, Finnan’s father Shane, and two other father-son couples as part of an annual trip on this Great Lake. Thirty minutes later, they netted the winning 26-pound, 10-ounce salmon. Murphy won the Grand Prize, a check for $15,000! He beat out 76-year-old Walt Zebker of Grand Island with a 25-pound, 12-ounce king he reeled in fishing with Capt. Mike Mongan of Grand Island on the Niagara Bar. No matter how old you are, you still have a chance at catching a
Outdoornews
May 13, 2021
Season Dates
Note: Please check DEC’s new Freshwater Fishing regulations guide for more special regulations by county and waterbody as well as new trout stream categories.
May 31: Spring gobbler season closes.
May 29: Statewide muskellunge season opens (except Great Lakes).
June 12: Lake Champlain bass season opens
June 19: Statewide bass season opens. Muskellunge, Tiger Muskellunge seasons open in Lake Erie, Niagara River and Lake Ontario.
Banquets/Fundraisers
Note: Many events remain canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus situation. Also, man groups are holding online/virtual events.
June 5: DU Leatherstocking Chapter Banquet, 4:30 p.m., Mt. Vision Fireman’s Field. For more info call George Decker, 607-432-5243.
Dale Bowman
It’s a beautiful thing.
The regular season will open April 3, the early catch-and-release season on March 20.
UPDATED: The opener for the five Forest Preserves of Cook County sites have a delayed opener, click here to read.
Cook County sites includes Axehead, Belleau, Green, Horsetail, Sag Quarry East and Wolf Lake; in DuPage, Silver, Pickerel and Grove; in Kankakee, Bird Park Quarry and Rock Creek; in Kendall, Big Lake; In Lake, Sand; in McHenry, Piscasaw Creek and Atwood; in Will, Milliken.
Here is the word from the IDNR:
Illinois Spring Trout Fishing Season Opens April 3
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The 2021 Illinois Spring Trout Fishing Season will open Saturday, April 3 at 57 ponds, lakes and streams throughout the state.
Outdoornews
February 1, 2021
Feb. 13-14: Free fishing days in New York.
Feb. 15: Bobcat hunting and trapping seasons close in Northern Zone and southeastern N.Y.
Feb. 15: Trapping seasons close for raccoon, red and gray fox, skunk, coyote, opossum coyote and weasel statewide (except Regions 1 and 2); mink and muskrat trapping seasons close in western N.Y.
Feb. 24: Canada goose season closes in western Long Island.
Feb. 25: Trapping seasons close for mink, muskrat, raccoon, red and gray fox, skunk, coyote, opossum coyote and weasel in Regions 1 and 2 (Long Island).
Feb. 28: Ruffed grouse season closes in most of state; cottontail rabbit season closes in the Southern Zone; varying hare season closes in southeastern N.Y.; bobwhite quail season closes in Orange and Putnam counties; squirrel season closes.