Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report – February 11, 2021
Greater Niagara Region
It is cold out there. The temperature this morning was 12 degrees. This cold snap will stay with us for at least another week or so. The polar blast has had a serious impact on Lake Erie and what was once wide-open water as recent as last week now has 80 percent ice cover according to recent reports. What that means for lower Niagara River fishermen is that storms will not have as much of an effect on the river fishery. The storm last week blew out the river and the muddy water conditions shut things down for several days. The wind also blew in quite a bit of ice chunks so dodging small ice pieces will be an issue when boats make it back on the water or shore fishermen start casting hardware. The shore casting could start as soon as today. Mike Rzucidlo of Niagara Falls reports that there was 3 feet of visibility in the water Tuesday and he will try to head down soon to give it a go. Spinners will probably be his lure of choice, No. 4 or 5. Gary Laidman of South Wales was out with Capt. Chris Cinelli of Grand Island Wednesday and Thursday just before the storm blew in and the determining factor for how well they did was the direction of the wind. According to Laidman, they caught all the steelies on pink/yellow egg sacs off 3-way rigs. The North wind was tough on Wednesday, holding up the boat drift. Thursday was great without wind. They caught their fish mostly at Artpark and Stella drifts. Laidman caught some walleyes, too, on 3-way rigs with golden shiners but no big ones yet have been reported.