Outdoors Niagara exclusive |
|
Outdoors Niagara exclusive |
A Great
Niagara River Fishing Story
Part
1
By Mark Daul
Niagara Falls ~
The "Thundering Waters"
Part
1
Volumes have been
written about the Niagara River and the marvels of Niagara Falls itself have
excited the admiration and won encomiums from the worlds great masterminds in
the fields of literature, science and art for generations past. It would be idle
here to attempt a new description. Earliest writings were from Father Louis
Hennepin who in 1683 wrote his account of the first European sighting of the
Falls, and in his writings "New Discovery" published in 1697.
It was the Iroquois
that first named the river "Ongiara" or "Onguiaahra" and was
generally referred to as "The Strait." The Indian names appeared on
maps as early as 1641. The French named the river "Niagara" in a
failed attempt to pronounce Ongiara or Onguiaahra.
The Niagara River
connects two of the Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario and is the drainage outlet for
the four upper Great Lakes. The river flows in a northerly direction of about 35
miles. [56 km] With the 190 foot [58 m] drop at the crest of the Falls, and in
order to accommodate early trade and shipping, because the Falls was a natural
blockade, the first Welland Canal was built around 1825 and opened in 1829.
Beginning in 1913 construction was started on a bigger and newer canal and it
was opened in 1932. The river constitutes part of the International boundary
between the United States and Canada.
Most people reading
this page came through the Outdoors Niagara web site or
a search engine of some kind and the reason being
the interest in fishing but a little background on the Niagara River is always
interesting. Not to disappoint anyone, lets start with the fishing from the
bottom up. Meaning start on the Lower Niagara River which is below the
"Thundering Waters" of Niagara Falls. If its fishing excitement you
want tied in with beauty and serenity, this is the place. It is really rare
where you can fish an area where it is so populated and yet feel the freedom of
wide open spaces.
We’ll start with the Winter fishery starting in November and continuing well into March. Steelhead fishing in the Lower Niagara is proclaimed to be the greatest Steelhead fishing in the entire world. 17-20 pound steelhead are not an unusual catch in winter.
The
five Great Lakes and the Niagara River
