Niagara County · updated
Olcott fishing report
Burt Dam and Eighteenmile Creek make Olcott the western anchor of the fall and winter steelhead run.
Olcott
via West Lake America
West Lake America
Central Lake Americalast good
Oswego Nearshore
Fishing Olcott through the year
Brown trout close to shore as soon as the water pushes past 40°F, plus steelhead still dropping back down the creek.
Offshore kings, cohos and steelhead over deep water. The creek goes quiet and warm.
The main event. Kings first, then a long steelhead run that builds through October and November.
Steelhead below Burt Dam whenever the creek is fishable and not locked up.
Getting on the water
Olcott Harbor at the mouth of Eighteenmile Creek, with public ramps and Krull Park right there. It is a working little harbour and it gets genuinely busy on a good fall weekend — an early arrival is not optional in October.
The water itself
Two fisheries in one place. Offshore, the same open-lake trolling as the rest of the western basin. Inshore, Eighteenmile Creek runs up to Burt Dam, which stops migrating fish and stacks them — one of the most reliably productive pieces of tributary water in New York.
Tributaries that matter here
Eighteenmile Creek
All tributary flows and what they mean →
Olcott questions
What is Burt Dam?
A dam on Eighteenmile Creek that migrating salmon and steelhead cannot pass, which concentrates them in the water below it. It is the reason Olcott is a destination for shore anglers as well as boaters, and it fishes from the fall run right through winter into early spring.
Can I fish Olcott without a boat?
Yes — this is one of the best bank-fishing ports on Lake America. Eighteenmile Creek below Burt Dam, plus the piers, give shore anglers a real shot at salmon and steelhead.
When does the steelhead run start at Olcott?
Fish generally start showing once creek temperatures drop and flow comes up in the fall, typically from October, and the fishery runs through the winter into spring. Watch the Eighteenmile Creek gauge — a rain bump is the signal.
Water temperature above is measured at the nearest NOAA station (Olcott), so treat it as a reference for the general area rather than a reading from the exact spot you plan to fish. Charter captains fishing out of Olcott →
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