Buffalo NY Fishing Report – Observations from 04/06 – 04/12/2026
Here’s our latest Buffalo NY fishing report: I was pleasantly surprised to pull off four trips this past week. The weather was gorgeous for the most part, but the fishing demanded a ton of bouncing around to keep everyone on good action. Big water was the theme — and will stay the theme for a bit. The Lake Erie ice boom is still intact, the Niagara is still cold, and we’re running about a week behind a “normal” spring. With that boom holding, that delay will stick around a little longer. No matter — the big water is producing when the conditions line up, and getting that dialed has been my focus lately.
Days on the water: 4
Who we fished with: friends/clients
Where we fished: Lower Niagara, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie
What we caught: lake trout, brown trout, walleye, atlantic salmon
Tactics: drifting live bait, trolling stick baits and spoons
Detailed Reporting/Daily Observations
4/06/2026 – Unexpected Ice Flows
Fished the Lower Niagara with Brian, his father, Tony, and his son, Russel. We started early and went upstream to Devils Hole – with the intent of starting high and going low – putting in work all the way down to Lake Ontario. Well, when we got into Devils hole, we met a steady flow of bowling ball chunks of ice. Remember my report from last week where I found that new trail on the Lower and hiked it – took pictures too – and it looked beautiful? A lot changed overnight.
It’s kind of weird though – there was a trickle of ice on the upper the day prior, but nothing I found alarming. Bottom line though – what was coming downstream made fishing in Devils impossible. We took off downstream quickly to beat the flow and fished every drift once with no bites. The only drift that was productive was the furthest downstream. When we set up, we were the only ones there and in turn, did very well in a short period. It’s amazing what can happen when the fish are left alone and there’s little to no pressure.
About 4 hours into the day, the ice showed up where we were fishing, forcing us to look for another open space. By this point, the wind shifted to the north, blowing upstream and spreading the ice throughout the river. We poked around in a couple spots trying to get a good drift, to no avail.
We dealt with adversity, had a good time, “bonded as men” (3 generations of Brian’s family), and managed to land some good ones. 
4/07/2026 – Day Off
Big NW wind, ice flows, and the expectation that the ice boom would be pulled (it wasn’t BTW) caused me to reschedule my trip.
4/08/2026 – Whispering and Assassinating
The Whisperer and the Silent Assassin are always down for an exploratory mission — for good reason. They aren’t always successful (mostly they are), but we always learn something. I pitched a mission to Barcelona to see if we could get into some lake trout and maybe a steelhead. It didn’t take any convincing.
Why drive all the way to Barcelona for lakers? Last fall was the first time I tried it — thanks to my buddy Han Mann — and I was impressed with the size. On average, Lake Erie lake trout are far bigger than the ones in Lake Ontario, so I wanted to see if we could find some giants.
Wilson and Olcott are about 30 minutes closer to home, but I was concerned about mud. Fishing lakers in deep water when it’s stained is a fool’s errand, and I figured last week’s flood water had to be pooling up in front of those Lake O harbors.
When we pulled into Barcelona, there was one car in the lot — an old guy in a pickup, smoking a cigar, staring at the lake. Perfect. We headed out and started where I found them last fall, but all we could find there was bait. Then the Whisperer, in all his aged wisdom, suggested we try another area known as a fall spawning spot for lake trout.
We found them there and stayed on a consistent bite until unexpected NE winds started knocking us around.
You might wonder why there are no pictures of the Whisperer here. If it ain’t walleyes, he doesn’t reel them in. He was more than comfortable sitting on his perch calling out rods as they went off and making the Assassin reel them in. 
04/09/2026 – Cancellation – Would’ve Been Good Too
The clients I had booked on this day ended up canceling the week prior and I didn’t have anyone to back fill the date. It ended up being a gorgeous day. Stayed off the water but a few of my colleagues who fished Lake O did well.
04/10/2026 – Recon with Riverborn
Fished Lake Ontario out of my buddy Mike Trifiletti’s boat (Riverborn Fishing Company). He’s breaking in his new Warrior 208 and like me, wanted to get some reps in on Lake O. We started deep and got into a fairly consistent bite for lake trout. We spent a lot of time combing different depths to determine what held the most fish. Every year it seems to change. This year, it was a little shallower than expected.
Feeling confident that we could make something happen out deep, we went in shallow to target brown trout. That action was ridiculous. Nothing huge but we lost count on how many fish we landed. He and I have done many scouting missions during transition periods that turned up nothing – the only lesson learned was where the fish aren’t. This trip was fun – we learned where they are.
I took the long way home so I could drive along the upper Niagara. I had been checking out the Lake Erie ice boom camera all day and noticed that, although the boom was still intact, the harbor was hemorrhaging ice downstream. My drive along the river revealed the impact – bank to bank ice throughout east river. 
4/11/2026 – Never Give Up
Fished Lake Erie out of Barcelona, NY with Ryan, Chan, and Brad. Ryan lives in Westfield, which is right down the road from Barcelona, so I figured I’d save them the 2-hour drive to Lake O.
I set up in the same area where we caught fish earlier in the week and landed one right away. However, after that, it was a grind. We’d land a fish, drop a fish, and go long stretches without a bite. When this happens, I get in my head BIG TIME. The notion of quitting and cutting my losses often creeps up – but I work my ass off to bury those thoughts. In this situation, it paid off.
On a hunch, I returned to where we caught a couple fish earlier in the day and fished MUCH shallower – and chaos ensued. We went from heads down and grinding to having a riot. I’m sure we all slept well that night – I know I did. Good times! 
4/12/2026 – Back out with Matt and Nat
Fished Lake Ontario out of Olcott, NY with long time friends/clients Matt and Natalie. We usually fish bass in the spring around this time but the lingering ice boom/continued presence of ice on the Upper Niagara sent us to Lake Ontario. It’d been a few years since we fished out there together, so they were stoked to give it a go.
Unfortunately, when we left 18-mile creek and got into the lake, all the stained water I fished there a couple days prior was gone. The whole shoreline for miles was gin clear – very suboptimal for shoreline brown trout fishing. We picked up a handful of small ones/good eaters and a nice Atlantic salmon within the first hour, then things got really grindy. So, we decided to go deep for lakers. Again, we picked up a couple nice ones right away but followed that up with more of a grind.
Wanting to end strong, we slid back to the browns in front of 18‑Mile — right as the east wind kicked up. We had 4–5 more bites in shallow, but everything came unbuttoned.
Tough session, but the conversation never stopped, and as always, time on the water with those two was solid.
Seasonal Assessment/General Observations
This past week involved a lot of bouncing around, trying to find a bite that was more entertaining than what’s been happening in the Lower Niagara. I was also preparing for the inevitable removal of the ice boom, which will shut down river access for at least a week.
When I drove to Barcelona on Wednesday, I took Route 5 past Hamburg — there’s still a lot of ice out there. Enough that, without a big wind to push it out, it’ll take more than a week to clear. As of this writing, the ice boom is still intact. That might come as a surprise to you if you’ve seen all the ice flowing down the upper Niagara the past few days. However, all that ice is coming out of the harbor – not the lake. The fact we still have this much ice around is all the more motivation for me to make sure I have a solid Lake Ontario program ready to carry me through the clearing period.
Once the ice finally flushes out — I’m betting somewhere in the mid 20s of April — the action around the Buffalo Niagara Region is going to explode. Smallmouth bass will turn on, kings will start showing up, and hopefully the Lake Ontario bar will see an influx of predators. Until then, it’s going to be a stretch of big‑water missions. Thankfully, they’ve been very entertaining lately.
Buffalo NY Fishing Report – Forecast for 04/13/2026 – 04/21/2026
Next week looks like another dicey one. Rain and huge wind will plague the region for the front part of the week. Unfortunately, that’ll likely delay the removal of the ice boom yet another week. If we’re lucky, some of that huge wind will bust open the boom and send ice raging down steam. I doubt it though – it’s held tight through worse this year.
I’m optimistic all the wind in the beginning part of the week will rebuild some stain on the Lake Ontario shoreline and get that brown trout bite fired up. That’ll be the main program as you can always hug the shoreline when the wind gets big on Lake O. The Lower Niagara might be a backup – but it’s not something I can count on with all that wind and ice around. In other words, once again, there will be a lot of last minute calls.
The end of the week looks OK – less rain and more mild winds. I’m hopeful I’ll get in a few trips over the weekend.
Stay healthy, my friends. Mentally and physically,
Ryan