Buffalo NY Fishing Report – Observations from 07/01/2024 – 07/07/2024
Here’s our latest Buffalo NY fishing report: I don’t know about you, but this heat is getting old lol. I know, I know – summer just started and many of you are likely stoked about all the warm weather lately. Still, I’m getting a little crispy out there frying like bacon in the sun. Putting the brutal heat aside, the excellent bite we’ve had lately more than makes up for the less-than-ideal environmental conditions. Besides, I know a couple of Polish engineers that would be happy to develop an onboard A/C system (totally kidding – I mean, they would work on it, but I don’t want something like that taking up space). Keep reading for more details.
Days on the water: 6
Who we fished with: friends/clients
Where we fished: Lake Erie, Lower Niagara
What we caught: smallmouth bass, walleye, freshwater drum, channel catfish
Tactics: trolling worm harnesses, drifting bait,
Episode 89 of Two Angles on Angling: After taking a week off due to Jordan’s trip to the St Lawrence region, he and I catch up. First, we discuss what we’ve seen on our local waters – from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. We follow that up with an angling forecast for next week. We spend the back half of the podcast discussing Jordan’s trip. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/two-angles-on-angling
Detailed Reporting/Daily Observations
07/01/2024 – Fished Lake Erie for walleyes out of Buffalo, NY with new clients – LJ and his son Tanner. Tanner had never caught a walleye so that was our mission. These guys were a blast – great students who immediately went to work after I taught them what to do. We caught walleyes. It wasn’t fast and furious but they left with a couple of freezer bags full of walleyes. 
07/02/2024 – Fished a double on Lake Erie out of Buffalo, NY. On the morning trip, I fished with Anthony and Anthony Jr. We started with walleyes. It was slow. We picked up a few, but after grinding for a couple hours, we decided to fish for smallmouth bass. We caught them…and many drum. 
For the second trip, I fished with Rob and Bobby from NC – both in town visiting family. Rob is a former Marine so we got along immediately. His son, Bobby, was an awesome angler who fishes often down in NC. The boys wanted to catch smallmouth bass and drum…and that they did. 
07/03/2024 – Fished Lake Erie out of Barcelona, NY with Chris and Jay. There was a big SW wind blowing that made fishing out of Buffalo a no-go. Barcelona is fairly sheltered from SW winds, so it was the best choice. I had been doing very well out of there for a couple weeks. That wasn’t the case on this day. I covered a lot of water and fish were few and far between. There were some around, and we boated a handful, but it was nowhere close to as good as it was a few days prior. 
07/04/2024 – 4th of July. Took the day off.
07/05/2024 – Fished a half day on Lake Erie for walleyes out of the Catt with Randy and Kristen. When these 2 are on the boat, good times are guaranteed. I decided on the Catt because of my slowish session a couple days prior out of Barcelona and thought the fish might have migrated in that direction.
It was my first time launching there (great location btw), so I was excited to see what was going to happen. When I got out into the lake, I stopped to graph around in 55′ and was stoked to see A LOT of fish around. We got to work, but only managed a couple of of that first zone. So, I moved out to deeper water where I was able to find more fish. Still, the bite was picky…and we dropped a bunch too. 
07/07/2024 – Mike Trifiletti, Peter Goretti, and I took a group of 9 anglers out for a half day trip on the lower Niagara. A big SW was blowing so we opted to fish the lower to shelter us from the wind. The bite was slow, but we managed a warm water slam with some quality fish. Algae and weeds were a problem, but not terrible. 
07/07/2024 – Fished Lake Erie with Luke, Ron, and Jake. The walleye bite was slow, so we converted to bass fishing. We caught them…and some GIANT drum.
Seasonal Assessment/General Observations
On the Conditions
I’m pretty sure the sun cooked off a fair amount of brain cells this past week. The heat zaps any hope of creativity from my mind, but I’ll give it my best shot. Here it goes…
Walleye
For a couple weeks now, I have been following fish from Barcelona to the Catt. As I mentioned above in the notes about my outing on 7/3/2024, I think the bulk of that school of fish that was hanging out in the zone between Barcelona and the PA line moved toward the Catt.
There were MANY fish from 55’ out to 75’ when I poked around the Catt on 7/5. Although the bite was a bit of a grind, I think a full day spent out there will produce limits. If you decide to fish that area, be prepared to canvas the entire water column.
I tried fishing for walleyes out of Buffalo a couple times this past week working the line all the way to Seneca. None of those sessions were noteworthy. I marked a lot of fish, landed a bunch of drum, and very few walleyes. There’s plenty of bait around and water temperatures are within the historical mean so it’s only a matter of time before a big school makes its way over to Buffalo…but it ain’t here yet.
Smallmouth Bass
I poked around Erie a couple of times for smallmouth this past week. They’re on just about every rock pile on our side of the lake. I’ve been fishing shallow water – less than 40’ – to avoid mortality. Live crawfish and goby or langostino imitation baits were the go-to throughout the week. Oh yeah, you’re going to catch dozens of drum too.
Buffalo NY Fishing Report – Forecast for 07/08/2024 – 07/14/2024
Forecast Commentary
The forecast for this upcoming week looks good. Other than some heavy rain that’s supposed to hit the area Wednesday, every day will be a pleasant one for fishing. Every day will be fishable with the wind being calm throughout. Temperatures look like they’ll be mild compared to what we’ve been experiencing lately with highs in the upper 70s/low 80s.
I’m booked the entire week. The plan is to fish walleyes out of the Catt or Buffalo, with a side of bass fishing for those that don’t want to grind out a full day trolling ‘eyes. Time to put in work, folks! Looking forward to seeing you out there!
Stay healthy my friends – mentally and physically,
Ryan