RiggerRob

P.M. sent. Ask again a week before your trip.

Rainbow setting up west of Credit in 150' of water, 35' down. Few Salmon are around pods of alewife. Just have to wait for some northerly winds.

Got my pass this year in late April. Next year, if you run the early bird special again that gives you a $20 discount.....I will be one of the first fishermen to enter on-line.

Try changing out your end swivel on the dipsy. Could be a faulty swivel. Make sure you use the extra large one when replacing it. Check for binding in the front and rear holes of the spinny. If the movement is not free and smooth, you can countersink the holes so all movement is free and easy. A small round file will also do the job. If you are using too light of a fluorocarbon line for your fly line, this will definetly cause a haywire twist when using cutbait. I have not had this happen to a fly yet, only cutbait.

Only 6 outings, too much wind n' rain. Best salmon so far is 21lbs9oz near the bar. Currently fish around 60' of water in the morn and head to 150' as the sun comes up. North shore starts in June for me but July rocks. Water was 50 degrees coming out of the Niagara this week, usually it is 60. What a strange spring.

Out of Port Dalhousie - fishing the Bar - 10

I have only heard a few reports out that way. Water is still cold and fishing is only slow pickings right now. Middle of June it usually starts to heat up until the end of July.

Have not been there yet this year. Paid $12 bucks last year to launch. Launch is a single slip with most using right side in and left side out. It is not bad launching the boat. The only problem I had was loading the boat single handedly on a windy day with the winds coming across Hamilton Harbor. Fish are to the right in the spring and to the left in summer/fall. Big Browns coming out of there until the water hits 60 degrees. Most people fish for Salmon to the left from the Brown Apt's to the Point.

Good there is only "1" Friday the Thirteenth this year...........Heal quick, them salmon are waitin' for ya!

20 to 60 feet of water.........colorful stickbaits, J-13's for salmon, J-11's for others....good luck

I checked NOAA's website and there is still a bit of ice packed at the mouth of the river. I fish the Niagara River and the mouth of Niagara-On-The-Lake. It is almost impossible to fish with the cold ice coming down. Would be nice for some more warm rain to help dissipate the ice before completely removing the ice boom.

WFN is also running a Canadian contest. The top 3 towns in each category advance to the finals for a chance at $25,000. I fish Western Lake Ontario. Port Dalhousie, which is part of the overall KOTL, has entered St. Catharines. The following is a link to vote for your favorite town in Central Canada. St. Catharines(Port Dalhousie) is currently in 11th spot and needs some help. You can vote every 6 hours for the next 19 days. http://www.wfnfishingtown.ca/leaderboard.php?region=CC Thx, Rigger!

2 years back, the fly bite was great. Even pink n' white boneflies were catching fish. Usually the first fly in spring is a woolybugger. The fish are slow, shy and on bottom in the streams when water goes from 39 to 43 degrees. If you are in an area that has baitfish, like a power plant, generating station or underground waterfed stream, flies in a streamer pattern work well as the fish will be in a feeding mood at some time of the day. What I have noticed over the years is that one certain color will be the most predominant over all others and each year this color can change. Make sure you bring a variety of colors until you find the hottest. Some years, even a simple black & white or white color is the ticket while other years it is a little fluorescent chartreuse added to the mix. On the slow days, try something that you would never put out unless it was on your friends pole, lol . . . . .

Attach line in fly you made and connect it to a thin tube/bamboo stick. Draw it through water in your test tank(sink, tub, fish tank). You will see the shape it becomes with water pressure. You have the shape right now. If you add fine mylar, you will notice more action on the endtrails of the fly. Certain mylar's have a stiffer body to them. After you tie a bunch, you will notice which mylar is stronger. You can affect the fish shape a little by putting the stiffer mylars on the inside or outside of the fly or even trimming strands off. An example of a stiff mylar is Yellow Mirage, Blue Mirage and Trans. Green Crinkle to name a few. I add small amounts of fine-cut to regular cut mylar. Green, Aqua, U.V. Yellow and Mirage is deadly. Silicone tends to decrease the flies shape. You have to trim silicone both in length and amount to get the best wave. Crinkle cuts have a higher reflective property in water and dance a lot. The fish will tell you what color and dance they like each day. The fun is catching them on something that you have created yourself..........

I do not know the names of all the flies. I make my own and use these. Dark green early in the day or deep but can be used all day. Light Green after early morn. Light Blue Glow anytime, anywhere. Very Light colors (see through) in the daytime and higher in the water column in clear water. The smelt/alewife looking one in the Spring. I like glow in all flies with some kind of U.V., fine material and some silicone. Atomic 8" spinny in dark colors with dark flies and light color spinnies with light flies. White on white in the fall.

Hey Billy. Are you going to be trying the low speed Saltist or the highspeed Saltist. I would like to see your comments on these after you land a few hundred in the Spring. I am currently using the Tekota 600LC's and they work great. I only wish I could reel them Shaker's in a little faster here so I could get my line out sooner again for a big Salmon. Rob!

I find the hard part about fishing with light tackle and trying for browns is that there is always a big laker or coho sitting in the same spot and ......wham......another stickbait donated. Vince is bang on with 10lb being the lightest mainline you could go and 15 the heaviest. If you can find a line you like and have confidence in, I would say you could land most with a good 12lb test, but you have to play the fish out more. Fluorocarbon mainline is smaller in diameter so make sure you buy the next lb strength up or even 2up if you go with that as a mainline. I just use coplymer here. For leader line, I like the 0x Frog stuff. It stands up pretty good. I join the 2 lines together with a good barrel swivel. Rob!

The bows that return there could be fall spawners. I catch fall spawners that return every October in the same spots. Some smaller streams are also fed by fresh underwater streams, but these never dry up and don't fluctuate temps alot. Rob!

Was waiting for the 1st pic of a 4yr old. Got my blood flowing again. Keep up the good work and posts. Just love them pics here. Rob!

I troll for Salmon alot around the "Can". When it is slow, I have even brought my Float reel and tried it on the Lakers from the Fort down to the drop-off. Yes, I'm the one you come and see if I am okay with my riggers on the boat and just sitting there catching fish floating around. With a float reel, you have a totally different feeling fighting a fish. It seems you are in more contact with the fish and have control of what happens. Until you actually give a float/drifting reel a try, you will not know this feeliing of truly fishing. Give it a shot someday, you will be surpised. I was....Rob!

I have one mooching rod in my arsenal. I really like the bend in the rod on hits and fighting fish. After about 10 years of using it, there are 2 signs of wear of tear. The ferrule connection between the 2 pieces loosens up and the top piece has to be slipped further down. The eye on the bottom piece closest to the ferrule is showing wears marks. These are the only 2 things you would have to keep an eye on after catching many, many fish.

I made a couple 5 to 6 inch flies last year and found that you don't get as many hits. The baitfish tend to be smaller so you are trying to immitate their size. As with bigger baits, you do get bigger fish. It is a give and take proposition here. More hits or bigger fish. I settled with 4 to 5 inch flies with silicone legs added and only one glow rubber bead added between the two hooks. Since you are making your own flies, you should also make your own glow twinkies for your meat rigs. This works great. Good Luck, Rob!

Have learned you get what you pay for. This sounds like a great deal to me. I have 3 Daiwa Heartland rods and they are working fine for dipsy's. The new LC47's are alot better than the old one's. Black Dipsy's and Green Glow flies are the ticket. Don't forget the same glows in spoons and meat. They all have their time. Enjoy, Rob!

ArtPark. Google their smelt festival. The festival is scheduled when the smelts are just about finished. Other than that, you are just gonna miss the ice fishing for them.

I would keep the 27's for Rainbow's and Coho's fishing up high in the water column. You could also use them for Brown's in the shallows using mono. With Salmon, more line = more fish. This will be my 2nd full year here fishing for Salmon. Have not yet tried copper but dipsey's on wire and Heartlands/Twili is fun. You gonna need a bigger reel to hold all that line. 1,000 feet of wire and 150' of backing adds up fast. Good Luck, Rob!