Buffalo NY Fishing Report – Observations from 08/17 – 08/23/2026
Here’s our latest Buffalo NY fishing report: This was one of those weeks where I somehow managed to fish but spent an unfortunate amount of time dealing with everything required to make fishing possible. Between trailer hubs, truck brakes, thunderstorms, and small craft advisories, maintenance and weather kept me off the water more than I would’ve liked. The time I did spend on the water was worthwhile, though—from a deep-water chrome hunt out of Barcelona that turned into another easy walleye limit, to an Upper Niagara tour for a visiting angler from the UK, and a father who endured an absolutely miserable bout of seasickness so his son could keep catching fish. Not exactly the busiest week on the water, but definitely one with plenty of stories.
Days on the water: 4
Who we fished with: friends/clients
Where we fished: Lake Erie,Upper Niagara
What we caught: walleye, smallmouth bass, freshwater drum
Tactics: trolling worm harnesses, casting finesse baits, drifting live bait
Detailed Reporting/Daily Observations
08/17/2026 – “You’re a Good Dad, Trevor”
Fished Lake Erie out of Hanover, NY with new clients Trevor, Matt, and Trevor’s son, Brody. Northwest winds kicked in earlier—and stronger—than expected. It wasn’t huge out there, but it was a washing machine. The northwest wind was colliding with southwest rollers left over from the day before. When the wind makes a quick change and waves from the new direction collide with waves from the previous direction at a 90-degree angle, things can get messy.
The boat was listing side to side and front to back. It’s an unsettling motion and almost guaranteed to trigger seasickness if you’re susceptible to it. About 30 minutes into the trip, Trevor looked at me and said, “Ryan, random question: What do you do if you have to throw up?” My heart sank.
The vomiting began shortly afterward—and didn’t stop. Brody and Matt were doing fine, although Brody did throw up once before recovering completely. Trevor, however, was in rough shape. Still, with his son catching fish and having a good time, he told me he’d battle through.
Thankfully, the fish cooperated at a rapid rate, and we were able to catch our limit and get back to land so Trevor could finally recover. That’s a good father—willing to endure a whole lot of misery so his son could catch some fish.
08/18/2026 – Checking in on the Lower
Fished a half-day trip on the Lower Niagara with Brian and his son, Issac. It was a grind in nearly every zone except for one. We caught a lot of bass, although all but a couple were small. Issac is new to fishing, and while he enjoyed fighting them, he wasn’t particularly interested in holding them for photos.
I struggle with situations like this. I’ve had a few kids lately who don’t want to hold the fish they catch. I’m very happy their parents are getting them out on the water, but, in my mind, holding a fish is part of the fishing experience. So, when a kid refuses, I always wonder what they’re there for.
I usually try to encourage them by showing them how I handle the fish and explaining that there’s nothing to worry about. At the same time, every kid (and parent) has his or her own pace. There’s a balance between encouraging them to step outside their comfort zone and turning the experience into something stressful.
Issac made some progress. Hopefully, I’ll see him again and we can work on it a little more.
08/19/2026 – Maintenance Day
I’ve mentioned before that this is the “Year of the Trailer.” This is my 11th year chartering, and up until this season, I’d never had an issue with a boat trailer. I’ll be honest—when buddies had problems with theirs, I often found myself thinking, What the hell are they doing to those things? Well…I get it now. I’ve had issue after issue with mine this year, and it’s been incredibly frustrating.
It’s weird to think about, but rarely is the boat itself—the actual fishing platform—the problem. The greatest vulnerabilities are the main engine, the trolling motor, and the trailer. They all carry nearly equal weight when it comes to your ability to fish. If one of those things goes down, you ain’t fishing.
Anyway, when I pulled the boat out of the water the day prior, I noticed grease bubbling out around 3 of the hubs. Clearly, that wasn’t normal. So, I called Dr. Trailer in Tonawanda, and he was able to get me in right away.
It turns out the manufacturer had overfilled the hubs with grease. For context, all the hubs were newly replaced during the work I had done back in mid-June.
I’m not going to get technical about what happened next—because, as many of you now know, I tend to break things when I have tools in my hands. All I know is that Dr. Trailer inspected everything, installed new caps, and called me to let me know the trailer was good to go.
Another crisis avoided – but I lost a day of fishing. It would’ve been a tough session dodging thunderstorms anyway.
08/20/2026 – Whispering and Assassinating
Fished Lake Erie out of Barcelona, NY with the Whisperer and the Silent Assassin. The plan was to find some steelhead first, then finish the day by getting our limit of ‘eyes.
Why Barcelona? It’s the New York launch closest to deep water. My hypothesis was that if we were going to find steelhead, we’d have to go deep—really deep. Over 130 feet, where there would be plenty of cold water for them to hold. So, that’s where we went.
After a couple of hours of fishing, we caught plenty of lake trout and a few walleyes, but no steelhead. Eventually, we gave up the chrome chase and converted to gold. Rod-in-hand game. We caught our limit with ease.
It felt good to fish out of Barci again. The last couple of years, the Whisperer and I made our first walleye pilgrimage of the season out of there in early June. This year, the walleyes moved in close to Buffalo early, so we never made the trip.
It ended up being a downright enjoyable session. Despite some big-ish waves, the bite was consistent, the air was cool enough that I wore a jacket for most of the day, and the wind kept the bugs away.
Relaxing fishing, good company, and a box full of gold.
08/21/2026 – Another Unplanned Maintenance Day
After dropping off the Whisperer and the Assassin the day before, I started hearing a harsh grinding noise coming from the front wheels of my truck.
Going back to my earlier commentary about maintenance, I forgot to mention one pretty important piece of the equation: the truck. I guess it’s obvious, but it’s often understated. If you want to get the boat on the water, the truck is just as important as everything else.
When you’re trying to maximize your time on the water, maintenance of all these big assets becomes a significant part of the operation. You can schedule preventative maintenance (and I do)—oil changes, recommended outboard service, the 1,000-hour service, and so on—but that means setting aside days when you could otherwise be chartering and earning.
Then there’s the stuff you can’t schedule. Flat tires—I’ve already had one this year, on the trailer of course—and deteriorating brakes just pop up, especially when you’re running as many trips as I do.
Fortunately, Certified Auto Brokers, where I buy my vehicles, was able to get me in quickly. Although I had the truck’s brakes replaced last year, I spent close to nine months towing the boat while the trailer’s brakes weren’t functional. That put a lot of additional stress on the truck brakes.
So…yet another charter canceled because of emergent maintenance.
At this point, I can’t think of much else that could go wrong this year. Other than an accident on the water or on the road—which, admittedly, probably shouldn’t even have been said out loud.
Lately, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about boat and vehicle depreciation curves overlaid with maintenance costs throughout the ownership cycle. Non-sexy business operations stuff, but important nonetheless.
I’ll publish my conclusions at the end of the year.
08/22/2026 – Returning the Favor
Fished the Upper Niagara with Jaime—my wife’s cousin’s daughter’s fiancé. You get all that?
He was in town for my wife’s sister’s daughter’s wedding. In short, my niece. A large contingent from the UK came over for the ceremony, and Jaime was among them.
My wife, daughter, and I visited my wife’s family in the UK in the summer of ’24, and that’s when I first met Jaime. He’s an angler, and when he found out I wanted to fish while we were there, he was stoked to help me chalk up the UK. So, naturally, he put me on carp.
This time, it was my turn to return the favor. With a bass tournament making Buffalo off-limits and a tight timeline—we had to be at the wedding by 3:00 PM—I decided to give Jaime the grand tour of the Upper Niagara. We hit some reliable zones, explored a few new ones, and caught fish throughout the morning.
It wasn’t on fire, but that hardly mattered. Jaime’s mind was blown.
8/23/2026 – Weather Day
Scattered thunderstorms and a small craft advisory forced me to reschedule my trip.
Seasonal Assessment/General Observations
This was one of those weeks when, despite somehow managing to get on the water four days, I feel like I barely fished at all.
Not much has changed with the walleyes since my last report. They’re still loaded up in water deeper than the mid-60s, and the fishing remains excellent.
The bass continue to feed well too. The results from the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open on Lake Erie certainly showed that. I’m not particularly thrilled, however, that most—if not all—of the bigger fish appeared to be caught in water deeper than 50 feet. I can’t help but wonder how many of them survived.
It’s also been noticeably cooler lately. Hoodies or jackets have become part of my early-morning routine, and I’m a huge fan of the temperature drop. It looks like there’s more of that coming this week. Summer may not be over yet, but you can definitely feel the shift.
Buffalo NY Fishing Report – Forecast for 08/24/2026 – 08/30/2026
This week looks more like fall than summer. Day-time highs will be cool – staying below the mid-70s with lows in the 50s. If the forecast holds, rain and big wind/waves will make the front part of the week difficult to get on the lake(s). However, the back half of the week looks wonderful.
I’m booked daily, but I might miss a day due to weather – hopefully not. Walleyes on Erie will continue to be the main focus but I’ll do a little bassing out there too. I’ll check in on the Lower and Upper at least once.
Stay tuned!
FINAL REMINDER
This is the last time I’ll annoy you with this notice. If you haven’t booked your fall trip yet, now’s the time to get in touch.
I only have a couple days open in September, and it’s one of my favorite months of the year. The crowds begin to thin out, the weather is often outstanding, and both the walleye and smallmouth bass fishing can be exceptional.
I don’t have much left in October, only a couple days at the end of the month —another fantastic month for walleyes and smallmouth. On top of that, there’s a chance to target fall-run king salmon and giant Lake Erie lake trout.
Finally, I have a handful of openings in November, which coincides with the peak of the fall trout spawning run. No matter which month you choose, fall offers some of the best fishing of the year and plenty of opportunities to get after it.
Stay healthy, my friends. Mentally and physically,
Ryan