Big Catch: Plenty of Places in Niagara Co

Fishermen line up at Burt Dam in Olcott to catch salmon. James Neiss

Plenty of places in Niagara County to make the Big Catch BY BENJAMIN JOE

Fishing in Niagara County is the worst kept secret in the freshwater world.

Years have passed and tourists come and go, casting lines for trout, salmon and bass in holes like Burt Dam of Newfane and off boats in the Lower Niagara River in Lewiston. For many, memories have been built off the activity, parents and children taking advantage of a chilly morning to throw some bait on hooks and wait with each other for that first bite.

For Frank Campbell, the story of fishing has been the story of his life. The newly appointed sportfishing coordinator for Niagara County, Campbell took over the job from Bill Hilts who said that if you want to talk fishing, Campbell is the one you should talk to.

“I’ve been in the fishing industry for the past 30 years being a charter captain,” Campbell said. “I go to Lake Ontario, Lewiston, Youngstown. Sometimes into Lake Erie and pretty much everywhere in Western New York.”

Campbell talked about “allowing residents to become ambassadors” for his favorite past time. He said he wanted the fishing news on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

“That’s one of the things I’ve been tasked with is making everyone aware of what we have as far as fishing and the economic impact,” he said. “But also for when they have relatives come into town, or family members or friends. That fishing is an alternative. They can spend their time doing something outdoors, something that’s pretty COVID friendly and a pretty good opportunity to spend some quality time with each other.”

Campbell’s team calculated that $31 million a year was spent on fishing prior to the COVID-19 epidemic by visitors to the area and he’s while he doesn’t know the exact number of pole-lugging tourists that equates to, he’s confident that this year the county will be seeing at least that amount of tourism capital.

“What we put into it, we get a heck of a lot out of it, when it comes to people coming out here and fishing and enjoying fishing. … There’s a lot of people who compete in a LOC (Lake Ontario Counties) derby, which is coming up,” Campbell said. “Niagara County really shines during that derby. People are very, very likely to come here and spend their time and spend their dollars fishing, trying to capture that top prize which is $15,000 for the derby. It’s a pretty big impact if you look along the shoreline. Hotels, motels, campgrounds are chock full with fishermen come about the first week of May. “

“It’s well known that Niagara County is the place to be in the spring for spring salmon, but we also have excellent bass fishing, walleye fishing, trout fishing. It’s the mecca of freshwater sportfishing.”

Campbell promotes the fishing industry in Niagara County on a national scale, talking to TV show producers and writers from fishing magazines, but before getting his own boat, he was an average teenager.

“I’ve been fishing my whole life, but I started to get more involved in the fishery when I was in high school. I worked for a tackle shop called Mark’s Tackle which was in Niagara Falls,” he said. “I worked one or two days a week, part-time, and met some charter captains who were actually going on the Lake, trolling during the summer, so I took a job as a first mate for a couple years. After that I got my license. I was 21, I finished up school, got my degree, then I went fishing.”

Campbell said interested parties can

check out the website at niagarafallsusa. com for more information. He estimates there are 40 charter captains listed on the online resource, and its broken into specialized areas.

“If you’re a charter captain out of Olcott it will say, ‘This is the area I’m fishing,’ ” Campbell said. “It’s one stop shopping and its updated and accurate, and probably one of the easiest ways to find out information about fishing in Niagara.”

Campbell also said there is cooperative community of fishers in Niagara County. If a captain is booked the week of a visitor’s trip, they’ll often find another captain on another boat who can facilitate the experience.

“A lot of the times, they’ll pad you off to someone, so you’re not left hanging,” he said. “Ultimately, I think all the captains realize that it’s important to take care of people and customer service is important and the best part of customer service is letting people have a good experience. Even if you’re booked you want them to go out with somebody and have a good time.”

Key places to sink a floater?

“Right now, you can’t go wrong in Niagara County waters,” Campbell said. “The biggest problem most guys have in the day is deciding what to catch. Right now we have good steelhead fishing, bass fishing, lake trout fishing in the Lower Niagara River. If you go out on the Niagara Bar the salmon are starting to come out. They’re catching lake trout, they’re catching king salmon. If you go into the creek, at 18 Mile Creek, there’s bass in the creek, there’s left over steelheads, there’s pike showing up. It’s not a matter of where you go, it’s what you want to catch. … It’s why people feel we have the best freshwater fishing in the country.”

Campbell also recommends fishing enthusiasts to check out online fishing communities.

“The Lower Niagara River Fishing, to Western New York Fishing, there’s a lot of information,” he said. “Or your local tackle shop are more than willing to give you information. They want you to go out and have a successful outing, even if it’s by yourself, and come back and see them again. They’re more than happy to accommodate requests for information.”

“And quite simply, you can just show up down on the river, or down on 18 Mile Creek and people will give you hints,” he said. “They’ll give you tips to make you successful.”

A family fishes from a pier in Olcott Harbor at the mouth of 18 Mile Creek. James Neiss