Nice! Did awesome 2 weeks ago. One of the best days I’ve had in weeks. Got a lot of fresh ones. All drifting, which I normally suck at. Definitely getting the hang of it.
This last weekend wasn’t very productive. Water was very low. Not much action at all.
Where was all of that snow 2 weeks ago?
Southtowns. It wasn’t that much. Just enough to cover.
Went out this weekend with my girl. we stayed at a hotel in Syracuse. We hit the Salmon River on saturday and got nothing. The water was raging pretty good, so we packed it in, went shopping, and watched Star Wars. Then this morning we headed home and stopped at a small tributary called Maxwell Creek. I lost the first 2 but then landed this big male, probably 8lbs. Was 27".
This is proof positive of how the DEC stocking program works. This fish had its right pectoral fin clipped. That’s how you can distinguish a stocked fish versus a native fish. It was probably released 3 years ago into a tiny tributary as a 10-12" stocker. It made it through the onslaught of retards that keep limits of stocker fish in April, and made its way out into the lake. Then it gorged itself for 2 years and put on some serious size.
That’s awesome it got the chance to grow. Do you ever have people ask you to keep your fish? Many times I’ve had someone ask me if it’s a female. I just say no and throw it back quickly. Looks like this weekend should be decent conditions.
You’re like me. I won’t give away 99% of my fish. The only time I will are under certain circumstances. Like if I caught a decayed King Salmon that was all spawned out and someone wanted it for their smoker, I’d let them have it since the fish would be dead in a few days anyways. But a steelhead or a brown, fuck that!
Today I ventured down to Devil’s Hole. It’s a motherf**ker of a walk on the way back up. I forgot how brutal of a climb it is. I saw a lot of boats which is usually a good thing. I tried eggs on the bottom, and then under a float and got nada. I walked further down and switched to a kwikfish and the first cast I landed a gorgeous hen probably 8-9lbs. One of the hardest fights I’ve had in a long time. I lost a total of 5 lures though, that’s the breaks for fishing at the lower.
Those are floating, no? Do you add some weight so you can cast them? Nice fish, that’s a pig!
Yes they float. I remove the first treble hook so it only has the trailing treble. These are 100% legal to use in any trib whether they be Ontario or Erie tribs. I see so many guys chucking huge spinners in Ontario tribs with trebles which is illegal. The only LEGAL way to use a treble in an Ontario trib is on a floating lure or an artificial fly. That day I didn’t add any weight at all. The fish hit maybe 10 feet from shore. Usually I fish them on a 3-way rig with a big pencil weight. When I have them rigged like that I can cast them 100+ feet out. I’ll let them sink for 4-5 seconds and then I’ll retrieve them. I usually lose a few of them though. It gets expensive when you lose the swivel, the weight and the lure. Like $7-$8 a pop. I’ve been stocking up on them since I deplete the local stock of them from every sporting goods store, lol. Right now I have about 75 of them. Here’s a few:
Haha damn! And I thought I had a lot of gear. Looks like fishing is done for a bit, at least at 18. It’s full of ice.
I’m headed out tomorrow to the lower Niagara. It was dirty today. When this happens the fish will be very close to shore. That makes for a good day usually. I was going to go today, but it was 17 degrees out. I hate when the guides freeze up. Tomorrow should be at least 10 degrees warmer.
updates? according to the cast adventures Facebook it looked pretty blown
It was bad lol. Still very dirty. Plus I got stuck in a white-out when I left. I did see a number of fish surfacing close to shore, but 500 casts later I still got nothing. That’s how it goes some days. I typically do a lot better when it clears up.
I’ve been very successful at the Lower Niagara river lately with drifting float and jigs+beads. I go pretty much every week except when the weather is really bad. I just started this season and still got a lot to learn. Hopefully can get out with you guys sometimes to pick your brain a little.
Where else do you go? I rarely go to the Lower. I only go there because most everything else is frozen over or blown out. I’m at about 50% with my catch rate at the Lower, and I never get more than 2 or 3.
I fish the stretch from Devil’s Hole to the power plant. Sometimes I go to Art Park. Just got home from the Power plant. Between my friend and I, we caught total 5 steelies and a Laker.
How was the water visibility today? I plan on going tomorrow but am afraid it will be a waste if the water is too murky.
The water visibility is average. Not too muddy and not too clear. If it doesn’t rain that much tonight, then it should be ok tomorrow. I kinda like a little muddy visibility so the fish can comes closer to shore.
Do you use a pin or spinning gear?
Spinning gear 
I’m not there with the Pin yet. I’m researching about Center Pin whenever I got some free time. But I will make the jump next season. It’s like driving an automatic car then switching to a stick shift
Are you guys in any facebook fishing pages? There are a few local ones that I’m on. I’m partial to “Fishing Nerds”, it seems to be the most active and they voted me the “Fishing Nerd of the Year” title.
It’s a good group to be in if you need to know water conditions/clarity before heading out.
There is a nice outdoor expo going on this weekend at the Niagara Falls. It’s always full. Some nice deals on gear in there.
