Niagara River 3/3/07

[Diversion]

Fished the Niagara River today. The Steelies were very active, saw many fish caught. We took our fish on both eggs and blue/silver kwikfish.

[Rich D]

Nice job Adam, keep those pics coming. until this ice is gone, that is the type of things we need to get us through till spring.

Rich

[Erbyjoe]

Adam I have a 19 foot 1800 fisherman Lund with trolling motor on the front would this boat be ok fishing the river?I would love to fish it some time but wouldn't have a clue on how to do it.

[Diversion]

Rich, here are a few more pics from today. Same technique as yesterday, drift fishing kwikfish off a three-way rig.

Erby, your boat would be perfect for this fishing. I run a small tracker 17' in the winter. Today we fished out of my friend's 15', the key is to have a bow mount trolling motor so you can drift properly. All you need is a rod with a main line of about 10lb test to a three way swivel, run 6lb dropper about a foot to a pencil sinker, then a 6' leader of fluorocarbon to either a minnow, egg sac, kwikfish etc. and drift fish with the current, maintaining your angle with the trolling motor.

[Erbyjoe]

Adam I would love to do something like that.maybe next year I can arange something like that what is the best time of the year to do the river I would be coming from mass It's a long drive but wow nice fish you got so it would be an awsome trip.thanks for the info.

[Diversion]

Erin,

I think the best time to fish the river would be either in late october - november or like now, in early march. It all depends on the weather and the ice on Erie. Since this winter was so warm, Erie was ice free up until January, so whenever it was windy, the river was all muddy. It was muddy from november up to january so that makes for tough fishing. Right now, with the ice on Erie, the water doesn't get as messed up from the winds, so it is clear.

[gokudl3]

Adam , those are some nice fish for sure , you and reeldial are really smacking them . I was up there on sunday and wednsday , will be going friday too . Sunday was very windy and i had trouble getting good drifts at times managed one 9 pound brown on a minnow , also used kwikfish and eggs , I was at artpark wathcing reeldial smack em . Wednsday whe i got there the bait shop was closed so i used kwikfish mostly , got one ten pound bow and lost another . I was using a K-7 greenscale with red nose , what size do you use ? K-5 , i think K-7 is to big . Friday i hope to have minnows and hope to get more than one fish

Doug

[Diversion]

Doug,

I use either K8 or K9, those days I was using a K9 size, silver body/blue fishscale. That wind was strong both Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully this weekend will be better.

[Guest ReelDiel]

Doug,

you should have introduced yourself. What boat were you in. If you were drifting by us there was no way to pull a kwikfish on that part of the drift unless you went bow down and cranked your trolling motor.

Normally I tie up 2 poles one with a kwik and one with a hook.

If you start artpark way up u can use your kwik for most off the drift even on NW windy days. One you hit the eddie by the 2nd waterfall and stairs switch to your minnow. A couple other tricks are:

Unless your pulling a kwikie you want to chase your line with the trolling motor to keep your bait almost vertical to the boat this gives the best presentation with a kwikie i like a 30 angle not much more or you lose some feeling i think. I always start deep and work the drift in as close as possible. If you see fish on the finder, lots of em. Dont leave that spot they will turn on. IF you do leave dont leave for long. For steelhead try to go were there is the least boat traffic. When we ewere on artpark we were hooking one a drift, when all the boats 4-5 moved in we were going 2-3 drifts w/ nothing. People dont know the drifts and start motors and such right on the sweet spot. Shuts the fish off. We left that day to get more bait, went to devils hole for 4 drifts came back and all the boats were gone and we hooked 4 and caught 3 on the first drift back through. Steelhead are ultra spooky and have great sight. Use flurocarbon. Hope this helps. One of my friends may be out 3/9 with my boat i'll let ya know how he makes out.

[Mick]

With the warmer weather this weekend hopefully the ice/snow on the lake will move out so that you guys can get out on the bar. It won't be long now. good luck-Mick

[gokudl3]

Thanks alot guys , i have a sixteen foot starcraft w/ 25 horse merc. . Sunday you guys were in really close and seemed to be hardly moving , i went pass you a couple times , once i got pretty close . I didnt realize it was you until i got home and read your post and reconized someone in the picture (guy with greyish goatee). im not sure which guy u were . I am still pretty new to the niagara , been there with my boat three times and im getting the hang of it , i really appreciate all the help you guys just gave me , thanks . oh and sorry about spelling your screenname reeldial , duh .

I will post my result from friday , good luck to you all .

See ya

Doug

[Mick]

I have yet to have the fun of fishing the river but I hear of the reports from my friend weekly. One of these years I'll get the chance to brave the cold. The scenery is awesome, and the fishing is from what I hear world class. I have to put toooo much time into my land job at this time of the year to find time to get out there. Lakers and (hopefully) spring Kings on the bar. Send them east to Golden hill and I'll see ya at the spring LOC awards - Mick

[Billy V]

I've been reading this thread since it started, and I just wanted to chime in and say that running the river like you guys do looks like a TON of fun! Way to go, and thanks for helping those of us who aren't fishing yet to get through the winter! Great pics!!

[Diversion]

Bill,

It is a ton of fun, EXCEPT for when you have to run back up the river to the boat launch, INTO THE WIND, that part is not fun. Other than that, its a blast.

[Billy V]

That's always been on my fishing "to-do" list....someday....

[ray koziatek]

Pick me up on the way or we could take my tub then if we didnt catch a fish on the first pass we could salvage the trip on the bar (oh yea im walking carefully no surgery still a lot of swelling kinda hard to stay off being self employed (heating) and all hour service calls.i think fishing would be good theropy :?

[mikejonestkd]

Thanks for sharing the pics!!!!! I am starting to get restless and need to get out of the office and on the water.....

[Erbyjoe]

Billy I told Yankee he could jump on the boat next feb/march and you know your more than welcome also.We could easily fish 4 from my boat I think :? Don't you think :?: If not we can take turns on the driffs any way we could work something out

[Billy V]

Erin,

I'm sure we could fit four of us on your boat. I'd definitely be interested!!!! Please keep me in the loop as you begin to make plans.

[Mick]

Most off all the drifting ice/snow went further out away from shore today at the Oak. It really looked neat as the day went on. the river is still totally froze up but there is open water between the ramps and the breakwall. The town had the great Idea of piling all the snow up in front of the launch ramps so it will be a while before that melts. It won't be long now.40-50 degree temps next week should start the melting. -Mick

[gokudl3]

Went 2 for 3 today both caught on quickfish . Here are pics from last couple trips . Got one in artpark and one at stella , lost another at stella .

[gokudl3]

Today went 5 for 6 . Four on minnows one on Kwikie . Was pretty windy and rainy early got better though . Had a blast , time to take a break , four trips from hamlin in one week , took its toll but was well worth it .

Doug

[emtystringer]

i'll be fishing the river on the 3/19,3/20,3/21 not sure about sunday , but if any of you are at Lewiston launch maybe we can introduce our selves. i will be fishing out of a 19' sea nymph with 2 other guys.hope to meet some of you.