Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report – May 27, 2021 The 36
th Annual Niagara County Pro-Am Salmon Team Tournament is ready to be held out of Wilson and Olcott June 4 and 5 for both professional and amateur teams. For the pros, it is the first 12 tournament-legal fish to weigh in each day with scoring based on 10 points per fish and a point per pound. For the Amateur Division, 5 tournament legal fish may be brought to the scales at Krull Park in Olcott each day. Teams can register up to May 31 without a late fee. Go to lakeontarioproam.net or call Penny Hartman at 628-2361. Don’t forget about the Don Johannes/Pete DeAngelo Memorial 3-fish, 1-fish contest on June 3, the perfect warm up for the Pro-Am. You don’t have to be fishing in the Pro-Am to compete in this fun contest, but you must be registered by 7 a.m. the morning of the contest. Weigh in will take place at Clark’s Park in Wilson starting at 3 p.m. For more info call Mike Johannes at 523-1727. Speaking of
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
Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report – May 13 , 2021
Frank Campbell The Lake Ontario Counties spring trout and salmon derby is approaching its final weekend and a new $15,000 Grand Prize leader has emerged this week as Ken Champagne of Ohio caught a 25-pound, 8-ounce Niagara Bar king salmon on a flasher-fly, besting Jeff Smith of New Brighton, Pa. who had taken the early lead on the first day of the contest May 7. Smith’s was a 24-pound, 15-ounce Olcott king salmon he caught on a Carbon-14 magnum spoon.
Jeff Smith of New Brighton, Pa. was the early leader in the spring LOC Derby with this 24-pound, 15-ounce Olcott salmon.
Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report – May 6 , 2021
Frank Campbell The Lake Ontario Counties spring trout and salmon derby is underway as of May 7 and runs through May 16 with a grand prize of $15,000 for the biggest salmon. All told nearly $45,000 in cash prizes are up for grabs. Check out loc.org for details. In the meantime, the 30 miles of Niagara County shoreline has been producing some big early season salmon. Capt. Mike Mongan of Grand Island pulled a 26-pound king a few miles east of Olcott while Capt. Bob Stevens of Medina hauled in a 26-pound king west of Wilson. It looks like the fishing action should be perfect for all the contests coming up. Also, this weekend is the Salmon Slam and the $1K a Day contests set for May 8-14, precursors to the Wilson Harbor Invitational tournament set for May 15-16. Check out the Facebook page for the WHI for more details.
Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report – April 29 , 2021
Frank Campbell With the opening of the state’s wild turkey season taking place of Saturday, along with the opening of walleye, northern pike, pickerel, and tiger musky seasons, it will be a tough decision on what to do. Do not forget to throw in that salmon fishing is starting to take off along the Niagara County shoreline for its annual spring salmon fever and it is near impossible. Oh yeah, trout are still in the Niagara River and the bass are starting to turn on. Make your choices wisely.
Mike Rzucidlo on left and Mike Ziehm with a lake trout double.