Weekly Fishing Report

Good news all the way around for fishing enthusiasts in Niagara Falls USA! The Greater Niagara Fishing Expo opens this week, February 19, at the Niagara Falls Convention Center, offering over 200 quality seminars and 180 vendor booths to occupy your time. Check out www.niagarafishingexpo.com for details.

On Monday, the captain trio of Joe, Chris and Connor Cinelli of Grand Island were ice-breakers quite literally as they chipped away the Lewiston launch ramp to open the lower Niagara River for boats. The Niagara River fishing will be taking off this week, from both boat and shore, as boat access was finally opened at Lewiston. Fishing was lights-out for the Cinelli family as they hit the water for the first time in many weeks, with pink egg sacs fished off a three-way rig the ticket for success.

From shore, Mike Ziehm of Niagara Falls hit the water again in the gorge and found 6 to 7 feet of water clarity in some spots. His homemade white jigs tricked walleyes, steelhead, lake trout, and brown trout into hitting. Ice wasn’t too much of an issue.

Mark Plennert of Niagara Falls lost a steelhead on his third cast but landed a second steelie and a small brown trout. Capt.

Tyler Siegmann of CGF Guide Service fished from shore off Artpark and caught a couple of steelhead on 8 mm pink beads and three on homemade soft plastics rigged on jigs.

Alan Raymond at The Wicked Worm in Youngstown had good reports of steelhead being caught from shore upriver, along with a few brown trout. Now that boats have access, look for the Niagara Bar and Coast Guard drifts to be hotspots.

Noah Radecki with The Outsiders on YouTube had a successful weekend filming from shore using a Crackhead jig under a float. Look for it on YouTube.

Tom Wilson of Lewiston, with sons Trevor and Loga,n hit the back bay in Wilson for some hard water action over the weekend and did well in 9 to 10 feet of water on big bluegills, some perch up to 11 inches, and a rock bass using wax worms and jigs in green and white, tipped with a wax worm. Ice thickness was 12-plus inches. Water clarity was good.

Matt Vogt of Newfane also fished Wilson Tuscarora hard this past weekend. He ended up catching a good number of bluegills and some perch. There was about 12 to 13 inches of ice where he fished. Fish were coming 3-4 feet off bottom to eat, and he caught over a limit of bluegill, several rock bass, 4 largemouth bass, a couple crappies, as well as some perch sprinkled in, too. He was using a jig tipped with a wax worm and some live shiners.

Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn reports that action was very good earlier in the week at Burt Dam for brown trout and steelhead. Wax worms, beads, and eggs were all working, but it has slowed down a bit.

Olcott ice fishing was doing well until the warmup, but with melting snow and rain in the forecast, the moving waters of 18 Mile Creek will make this unsafe. Don’t take chances. One person fell in on Tuesday with weakening conditions, according to reports.

Sign up for a fishing tournament or derby in Niagara Falls USA. See the full schedule of events here.