The Salmon River fell 17 degrees, and the browns are taking over

What changed this week

• The river fell 17 degrees. Morning readings ran 52°F on Saturday, 48°F on Sunday, 50°F on Monday, 48°F on Tuesday and 44°F on Wednesday. Last Wednesday morning it read 61°F.
• Rain raised the flow. Pineville dipped to 232 cfs on Monday morning and reached 298 cfs on Wednesday evening, the highest in three weeks. The dam stayed at 185 cfs, so this was rain, not a release.
• Nothing rated excellent. No section rated excellent in any of the ten postings from Saturday to Wednesday. Last week two postings did.
• The lower river came good. On Tuesday evening the lower sections rated good, estuary included, for the first time since 7 October.
• Browns are in nearly every posting. Nine of ten, up from nine of twelve last week. Atlantics showed up once, a pair of fish on Sunday evening.
• The kings are spawning. Watch where you wade and stay off the nests.
• The west-end troll bite moved in. Last week DEC had it past 400 feet of water, 50 to 100 feet down. This week it's 200 to 400 feet of water, in the top 60 feet.
• Shore fishing on the lower Niagara picked back up. DEC has decent salmon catches from shore in the gorge again.
• Sodus still has fish. Browns are taking trolled spoons near Hughes' Marina, and the pier has browns, late kings and steelhead.
• The Altmar release was extended another week. It's still 185 cfs, and the posting runs out again at 11:59pm Thursday.

The river turned cold

The Douglaston Salmon Run read 44°F at 7am on Wednesday 21 October, colder than any reading in the three weeks before it. Afternoon temperatures ran 50 to 53°F through Tuesday.

The flow moved for the first time in three weeks. Pineville read 264 cfs on Saturday morning, eased to 232 cfs by Monday morning, then rose with the rain to 260 on Tuesday, 264 on Wednesday morning and 298 cfs at 4:45pm on Wednesday. The dam read 185 cfs on every posting, as it has on every posting since 1 October.

The best ratings this week were "good," and they moved around. Saturday morning the upper sections rated good in their lower and middle parts. The middle sections rated good on Saturday evening, Sunday morning and Monday evening. Tuesday evening the lower sections rated good throughout. Wednesday morning the upper rated good, mostly on steelhead holding in pools. By Wednesday evening, with the river at 298 cfs, the ratings had dropped back to slow.

The lower river came back

We've told you to fish above the estuary for the last two weeks. This week it was more mixed. The estuary rated quiet twice, slow four times, moderate three times, and good once, on Tuesday evening. The water just upriver of it rated good on Monday evening. The middle sections are still the most consistent water, but the lower end is worth a look again.

Browns and steelhead, behind spawning kings

• Kings were in all ten postings, and many of them are now spawning.
• Steelhead were in all ten.
• Browns were in nine of ten, in every section.
• Cohos were in seven of ten.
• Atlantics showed up once, a pair in the middle sections on Sunday evening. Last week they were in three postings.

On The Water's 15 October report says the kings are on the gravel and asks anglers to watch where they walk and avoid disturbing the nests. The browns and steelhead holding behind spawning kings feed on eggs, so fish egg sacs, beads and egg patterns.

Flows and the release schedule

• Salmon River at Pineville (USGS 04250200), Thursday morning: 260 cfs, gage height 5.42 ft.
• The Altmar release is 185 cfs, posted from 6am on 1 October to 11:59pm on Thursday 22 October. As of Thursday morning, nothing was published after tonight.
• No fall whitewater releases are posted. The Lighthouse Hill schedule still ends with 5–6 September.

This is the third Thursday in a row that the posted release runs out the night the report goes out. Each time it was extended a week at the last minute. Another extension is likely, but it isn't a schedule. The release line is 1-844-430-FLOW.

The lower fly zone is still closed

DEC's 14 September action stands for a fifth week. The lower fly fishing section, from the Route 52 bridge in Altmar to the hatchery, stays closed until DEC has collected enough salmon eggs at the hatchery. There's no reopening date, and the usual step-up from 185 to 335 cfs is still on hold. This week's higher water came from rain, and it doesn't reopen the zone. Still open: the river below the Route 52 bridge, and the upper fly fishing area above the hatchery.

The west end: the troll bite moved in

DEC's Lake Erie and Western New York hotline for 16 to 23 October has trollers on a consistent king and steelhead bite in 200 to 400 feet of water, on spoons and flasher-flies in the top 60 feet. Last week it was past 400 feet and 50 to 100 feet down, so the runs are shorter and the spreads shallower. On The Water's 15 October report has Capt. Mike Johannes of On the Rocks Charters taking seven steelhead off Wilson in 200 feet of water on spoons. A few charters are still fishing the lake, and On The Water says the weather has been the biggest problem.

DEC says king fishing is in full swing on the western tributaries, with most of the fish and anglers on the creeks getting Erie Canal water: Eighteenmile, Oak Orchard, Johnson and Sandy. Water is good on those four, and most other small creeks have little or none. Eighteenmile has lots of kings and browns, with the odd coho and steelhead. Oak Orchard has good numbers of kings with some browns. Salmon numbers are building on Johnson Creek, and Sandy Creek has a fair mix of kings and browns. Drift egg sacs, trout beads and jigs.

The Olcott, Oak Orchard and Genesee piers are catching kings and browns on large glow spoons, spinners and stickbaits. DEC says treated skein under a float can work on calmer nights.

The lower Niagara: good from boats and from shore

DEC has solid numbers of kings in the lower river, with fresh fish still moving in. The Devil's Hole drift is the top option for boats, with controlled drifts on three-way rigs and cured skein. Shore anglers in the gorge report decent salmon catches on spoons, spinners, deep-diving stickbaits and skein. Last week clear water had slowed the shore fishing.

Smallmouth are plentiful and very cooperative in all the lower-river drifts and on the Niagara Bar. Live shiners on drop-shots or three-way rigs are best, and emerald shiner plastics are working too. Walleye are still in most drifts, and trout are moving up. Perch are taking live minnows at the sand docks in Lewiston.

In the upper river, smallmouth fishing is still excellent outside the weed edges in 10 to 20 feet, on live shiners. Shore walleye along Unity Island are hit and miss.

Olcott and Oak Orchard

At Olcott, On The Water has salmon and trout in Eighteenmile Creek and at Burt Dam on orange and chartreuse beads, egg sacs and black-and-white jigs. Off the piers, J13 Rapalas and Little Cleo spoons have been hot. Last week it was blue and red spoons.

Oak Orchard is fishing as a brown trout river as much as a salmon river. The Oak Orchard stream report for 20 October has "as many or more brown trout hook ups as salmon at times," and says the brown action started early this October and is still picking up. Salmon fishing is good. Many of the kings are still moving upstream rather than spawning, and there are a few steelhead, with Atlantics on some days. On The Water names firetiger plugs for kings, and dark nymphs for browns downstream toward the Archers. Flows are just under slightly high with plenty of turbine water, and should drop toward medium if the dry weather holds. Weekends are crowded, and midweek is quieter.

Sodus Bay

Sodus has more going on than we said last week. On The Water's 15 October report has browns taking spoons and bright stickbaits trolled near Hughes' Marina. Off the Sodus Point pier, anglers are catching browns, late kings and steelhead in the channel on heavy, bright red and silver spoons, cast on a 10-foot rod.

Inside the bay, bass are hitting swimbaits, Senko rigs and spinnerbaits around the weed beds and docks. At Port Bay, perch are taking live minnows or a 2-inch white grub with a chartreuse tail. The creeks have no water. Maxwell Creek had no flow, and it needs a good soaking rain before browns can run it. You can keep bass until 30 November.

The Oswego River

The Oswego rose after the rain, to a daily average of 1,850 cfs on Saturday, and has dropped back fast. It read 672 cfs at Lock 7 on Thursday morning, down from 1,050 cfs last week. Expect it to keep changing day to day.

On The Water's 15 October report has salmon at the dam in good numbers, with trout downstream of the kings. Fish the high wall with floats, beads or jigs and the low wall with deep-diving plugs. DEC's Central New York hotline still has browns below the dam, behind the hotel and along the wall, but its figures are from 6 October.

Two standing notes. You can't use Leto Island to reach the dam, so go in from the west (Brookfield) side. And some stretches of the river require a life jacket.