New York Oct. 1: Niagara kings are in, Olcott piers and Burt Dam are moving fish

The lower Niagara king run is on. On The Water’s Oct. 1, 2026, upstate and western New York report says east and northeast winds flipped Lake Erie and sent mid-50s water down the river. Frank Campbell told the sheet that boaters in Devil’s Hole were getting double-digit hookups drifting treated egg skein on three-way rigs, with more fish on deep-diving stickbaits. Shore anglers were casting spoons, spinners, and crankbaits. Capt. Kyle Kokanovich of Rust Belt Sportfishing went four for five on mature kings Sunday on egg skein. Mike Ziehm, fishing the gorge, landed kings and walleye on No. 4 white and chartreuse spinners and said the river is in the mid-50s.

Olcott and Burt Dam are in the same report. Karen Evarts of The Boat Doctors and Tackle Barn said the northeast wind brought fish back; the rocky beach at the foot of Jackson Street was a spot for kings and browns on spoons, and northern pike were biting in Olcott Harbor. Burt Dam had kings, browns, and steelhead, which she tied in part to Erie Canal releases. At the dam, egg sacs, beads, jigs, and skein were all working, with the color changing daily. In the upper river, Jeff Pippard of Niagara Outdoors in North Tonawanda called the smallmouth bite very good on leeches and golden shiners.

Farther east, the same report says Oswego River numbers are up, including fish at the dam, and reminds anglers the brown trout limit on that river is one inside a three-fish combined limit that may include only one steelhead or rainbow. It also says the Salmon River has had steady pushes, with kings outside the mouth in 15–30 feet. The lower fly-fishing stretch closure already on this desk is a separate rule. Read that closure before you fish Pulaski. Oswego has mandatory life-jacket zones; the fire department’s Loaner for Life program is at 35 E. Cayuga St., 315-343-2161.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: On The Water — Upstate and Western New York Fishing Report, October 1, 2026.