2014 Trout season strong

The trout season is going very well with lots of steelhead being caught up river.  The fall water temps dropped quickly in Nov and a few good blow outs brought alot of steelhead into the river.  One trip in particular after almost two weeks of heavily stained water comes to mind.  My guys hooked almost 60 steelhead landing close to 50 of them!
  The bar is also fishing very well with big numbers of lakers being caught with bonus browns mixed in.
  We all hate the big winds and dirty water but they are a necessary evil which continually bring fresh runs of trout into the system.

Fall fishing

Summer flew past. As it usually does. I enjoy summer fishing but look forward to the fall bite.  The fish start schooling up and become very aggressive.
  So far this year has been no exception. The fish seem to be everywhere. Whatever technique you enjoy is producing fish from 4-50 feet of water. My go to presentations have been dropshots, jerk baits and jigging spoons. Swimming swimbaits has also been productive at times as well.
  The trout season is starting to set up. Reports of lakers and bows on the lower Niagara.  I look forward to fishing the lower and getting away from the wind!
  Here are some nice fish from this fall.

Ontario opening season

Wow, I cant believe its already July.  Where did the spring go?  The season has progressed so fast.  Its been such as strange year.  The brutal winter had me believing that the spring was going to be delayed and the bass where going to be shallow longer, but that's not the case.  This spring has been warmer than normal, boy mother nature has a way of correcting itself.  The weed growth is way behind, so are the seagulls.  I don't see any young birds flying around. They coincide with the top water bite.  Always around trying to pick  up your bait.  Not the case this year.  The water temps have already hit 70.  They were in the mid sixties 4 days ago!
  I still managed to get in some good top water fishing though. I normally reserve opening day for my brother and I, however this year he went to Ireland for his wife Maria's 50th birthday.  Boy, did he miss an opener.  I took out Gord Lee, a local guy from Welland.  His two daughters were kind enough to get him a gift certificate for fathers day.  Gord had fishing with a guide on his bucket list.  I am sure glad I got to take him out.  Hes a great guy and allot of fun to fish with. It was just him and I.  We put an unbelievable hurt on the fish.  We must have landed over 60 fish in 5 hours on top water and plastics.  We hit the mother load, saw some terns feeding, an old saltwater trick.  The bass were chasing bait to the surface and the terns gave them away.  We hooked a fish on almost every cast! Here is what Gord had to say about our trip.

 "thanks again for the greatest fishing experience ever and the great pictures you sent me. I will treasure these for the rest of my life and look forward to seeing you next year. Gord Lee

  Now there is a happy customer.  I told Gord he was one lucky guy, his timing was perfect,  with the date, weather and the fish!

Here are a couple of pictures of Gord and some other happy Niagara Sportfishing clients.
 

First trip was a success

My first smallmouth trip was with Steve and Bob from West Virginia.  These guys have been with me for over 8 years.  There are usually three of them but Mike couldn't make it this year.  I dont know why, but it seems every time these guys come up I get blown off the water at least one day.  This year was no exception, they fished two days, the first day was spectacular.  Very little to no wind.
  There was still ice flowing into the river from the lake so I had to take a safe route behind the break walls through the Buffalo harbor.  We found some smallmouth shallow and crushed them on jerk baits.  Both guys never really got into a good jerk bait bite before so they really had a blast.  To top it off, the fish were all very big.  We managed a few over 5 and one over 6.  I picked up Bobs rod and caught the six when Bob decided to eat in the middle of a great bite.  Those WV boys are way to mellow.
  Day two was the opposite, very strong SW winds.  The jerk bait bite was not happening so we dragged tubes and jigged blade baits.  We needed both drift socks out to slow us down.  What was amazing about this day was the walleye bite.  They were on fire.  We hooked over 15 walleye on one drift with the biggest being 11 lbs.  Its not uncommon to catch the odd walleye this time of year, but I have never seen it like this in my 20 years of guiding.  I suppose the cold water has them stacked up still.  They haven't even spawned yet.  We retreated behind the breakwalls around 1230 as the winds were getting too strong.  If we would have stayed we would have hooked over 50 walleye I bet.  We poked around in some back waters picking up largemouth and a bowfin which Steve caught on a rattle trap!  .  Enjoy the pics.


















 

Thank God thats over and smallmouth season is here!

Well, that seemed like the longest winter in history.  I finally made it out on Erie to fish smallmouth.  The ice boom is almost completely out, there is still sporadic ice flows in the river due to the wind blowing fields of ice out into the lake.  They will either melt or make their way down river.   Dennis from Fishin Niagara was at the a launch this morning and took this amazing pictures as we left.  One for the wall!
  I ran over with my good friend Rob and we immediately got into some nice jerk bait fish up shallow.  Rob got one that was touching 6 lbs and we got a few over 5 on jerk baits. Most fish came after long pauses.  Big smallmouth on jerk baits is so much fun.  We also hit some fish on dropshots and blade baits. I hope to be posting a few pictures of some big smallies in the next few weeks as I start guiding.

Wow was that ever a long winter!

I am so glad that winter is finally breaking.  That's the longest winter I can remember in years.  I barely got out since mid December.  I have had a few trips in the last couple of weeks and although the fishing isn't on fire like it was in the fall, its still very good especially for big fish.  The water is very cold and will be for awhile, 32 degrees today.  A good minnow bite is developing and fish are still taking spawn sacks and yarn as well.
  With all the ice on Erie and this prolonged winter, the trout fishing will be good right into May and probably middle of June.  I really don't think I will be small-mouth fishing on the NY side til early May.  The last few years I had been getting out early April.
Here are a few pictures of some of the bigger trout my clients caught in the last couple of weeks.