{"id":246,"date":"2021-08-25T10:45:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T10:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outdoorsniagara.com\/?p=246"},"modified":"2022-08-16T18:30:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T18:30:46","slug":"fishingtips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outdoorsniagara.com\/fishingtips\/","title":{"rendered":"Niagara River Fishing Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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\nPremier Outdoors Website”
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\n“Most informative and up to date outdoors website on the planet”
\ninfo on how to replace fishing rod tips<\/a>
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\n<\/span>Back to Outdoors Niagara Home<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Lower Niagara River Fishing Tips<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0For
\nNewbies <\/span>[And tough guys too]<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Back
\nto “Niagara River Winter Steelhead”<\/span><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Pick the Right Gear – Attention Steelheaders!<\/span>
\n<\/span>Bill Hilts Jr.<\/b>Beginning of winter in Niagara<\/b>. First and foremost, you
\nhave to be dressed for the part. Layers of clothing are the way to
\ngo, keeping that warmth in as much as possible. There are days when
\nyou can be overdressed, so being able to take off some of those
\nclothes can be just as important. And no matter how cold it can get
\n\u2013 remember that water flowing down through is pegged at 32 degrees \u2013
\nwhen you are catching fish, it just doesn\u2019t seem to feel all that
\ncold.Thanks to a new law<\/b> that was enacted in 2009, all boaters (21
\nfeet or less) are now required to wear a personal flotation device
\nfrom November 1 through May 1 \u2013 unless you are on a charter boat.
\nCharter vessels are exempt from this new legislation. That said,
\nit\u2019s still not a bad idea either way.<\/b> We do recommend fishing with a
\ncharter person your first time or two on the river to learn the
\nropes. Capt. Frank
\nCampbell <\/a>actually provides survival suits for his customers as
\nan added precaution \u2013 and to help keep his clients warm. It\u2019s food
\nfor thought. If you are uncomfortable, you won\u2019t have a good \u201ctotal
\nexperience.\u201d His personal touches keep his customers coming back
\nyear after year.For the fishing end of things, Campbell has some personal
\npreferences that all contribute to his success. For example, his
\nchoice of rod allows him to catch more fish<\/a>. \u201cI use a Quantum Tour
\nEdition seven and a half foot medium action rod with a soft tip.
\nI\u2019ve found that the fish will like to hang on to a bait for a period
\nof time and the soft rod tip will help keep the fish available to
\ncustomers longer. A stiffer tip will let the fish feel the
\nresistance sooner, causing them to let go of the bait offering,
\nwhatever that may be \u2013 such as egg sacks, single eggs, egg
\nimitations like yarn balls, or live bait like minnows. More on that
\na bit later. The rod also has slightly larger guides that will not
\nfreeze up as quickly in the cold.The next most important component is the reel. Campbell\u2019s
\npersonal preference is a Quantum Energy baitcasting reel, outfitted
\nwith eight pound test Cajun fluorocarbon line. \u201cI use fluorocarbon
\nline for the visibility factor, especially when the water is clear,\u201d
\ninsists Campbell. \u201cI also don\u2019t get as much line stretch, so it
\nhelps with the hook set<\/a>. And when the water becomes super clear,
\nI\u2019ll drop my leader off the three-way down to six pound test and
\neven extend the leader a foot or two.A three-way rig is the tried and true method for taking these
\ntrout in the winter. Using a three-way swivel, they will extend a
\nleader off the trailing eye<\/a> five to seven feet back before they
\nattach the bait. Off the bottom eye is a foot of leader with some
\ntype of a weight attached<\/a>. For rain fishing<\/a>, Campbell prefers
\nstarting out with a one ounce pencil lead. If the water is really
\nclear and he needs to get the bait away from the boat, he\u2019ll trim
\nthat lead down \u2013 sometimes in half \u2013 to get the presentation
\nrequired to catch fish<\/a>. He may have to add weight if he\u2019s fishing in
\ndeeper water, again another consideration when facing clear
\nconditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the winter, when the ice bridge forms below Niagara Falls and
\nLake Erie has frozen over, water clarity becomes an issue,\u201d says
\nCampbell, who also serves as co-chairman of the Niagara Tourism and
\nConvention Corporation\u2019s Board of Directors. \u201cWe have to adapt to
\nthose clear conditions by downsizing our bait, lightening up our
\nline and fishing a bit deeper water. My hook size<\/a> could be as small
\nas a No. 12, down from the normal No. 6 or 8 that I will use. Last
\nyear, one of my best baits when the water was clear was a single
\nsalmon egg treated with Pautzke natural cure*.<\/a><\/b> It gave the egg a nice
\norange tint to it and I would put that single egg into a sack. It
\nseemed to make a difference for me.\u201d Knowing what the fish want on
\nany given day seems to be an intuition that Campbell has. Then
\nagain, being on the water almost every single day doesn\u2019t hurt
\neither. \u201cKeep a good supply of different baits on your boat,\u201d
\nreflects Campbell, \u201cfrom minnows and yarn balls to egg sacks and Kwikfish. I can\u2019t be caught without something that will work on any
\ngiven day.\u201d<\/p>\n

GO TO THE PAUTZKE BAITS PAGE
\nTO SEE THE VIDEOS ON EGG CURING AND PICTURES OF CATCHING FISH IN
\nDEVILS HOLE AREA<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Niagara River Tips and Tactics Continued …….<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Presenting your fish offerings in a way that\u2019s appealing to
\nthe fish is critical for consistent success. <\/b>\u201cYou have to figure
\nout what the fish want based on the conditions \u2013 be it clear water
\nor wind direction,\u201d says Capt. Frank Campbell of Niagara Region
\nCharters and Kayak fishing<\/a>. \u201cOften it\u2019s both. Boat control is essential for catching
\nfish.\u201d Boat control is one of the biggest \u201csecrets\u201d to catching fish<\/a>
\nwhen drifting the Niagara River for trout \u2013 how fast you drift, what
\nit\u2019s doing to your bait, whether your boat needs to be turned
\nsideways or into the current, to name but a few. One of the hot
\nlures on the river is a Kwikfish. Similar to a flatfish, these
\nbanana-type baits give a wobbling motion that trigger trout to hit.
\nLast year, with quite a bit of wind from the south or southwest,
\nthose baits were on fire for all trout \u2013 steelhead, browns and lake
\ntrout. Wind from these directions will push you down the river and
\ngive these baits the motion required to make them most effective.
\nHowever, every one of the boats (Campbell operates a 21-foot deep V
\naluminum Lund boat, the preferred choice on the Niagara) that fish
\nthese waters for hire have a bow-mount trolling motor. If a
\nnortherly wind is holding you up, you can always pull yourself along
\nand increase your speed to adjust and make just about any bait work
\nfor you.<\/p>\n

Best sizes for Kwikfish are K-8 and K-9. Top colors are silver,
\nsilver-blue, silver-green, silver-pink, silver-chartreuse and gold,
\nagain depending on the conditions of the water. Most of the guides
\nwill remove the set of treble hooks on the belly of the lure,
\nespecially if catch and release is practiced. And like the other
\nbaits, a three-way rig is used with a slightly shorter leader.
\nMaintaining contact with the bottom is important to keep your
\nofferings in the prime fish zone on all accounts.<\/p>\n

When wind isn\u2019t as much of a factor, the trolling motor can be
\nused to keep your boat sideways. Egg presentations are normally the
\nsame speed as the current or slightly faster, so keeping your line
\nperpendicular to the bottom can be a factor \u2013 but not always. \u201cStay
\naway from the pack of boats and find active fish on your own,\u201d says
\nCampbell. \u201cIf you can find active fish, you can stay on them all day
\nand not be bothered by anyone else. And you can find fish throughout
\nthe river, from Lewiston all the way down to the mouth on the
\nNiagara Bar and all points in between. Because this is a shared
\nresource with the Province of Ontario, having a Canadian fishing
\nlicense is a bonus, opening up new waters when the conditions
\nrequire flexibility. However, you can get away with just a New York
\nlicense just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

So just how good is the Niagara? Like with any kind of fishing,
\nthere are no guarantees. On the Niagara, an average day for Campbell
\nis to expect at least double digit hook-ups. You won\u2019t catch that
\nmany every time out, but you should have that opportunity all things
\nconsidered. There are days when you can catch two or three times
\nthat. The average size for a steelhead trout is six to eight pounds,
\nbut Campbell sees a good number of fish over 10 pounds. His biggest
\nsteelhead to date was a 22 pound lunker. Brown trout average four to
\nsix pounds and his biggest fish to date was a 30 pound monster. Lake
\ntrout average eight to ten pounds and his biggest so far has been a
\n35 pound behemoth.<\/p>\n

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Hope this guideline helps the ones just
\ngetting started!<\/span><\/b>This article with the following tips may help some
\nfishermen and yet there are others that use their own methods quite
\nsuccessfully. This is meant as a general guideline to help<\/a> \u201cnewbies\u201d
\nget started. The riggings here have proved to be quite successful with
\nmany seasoned Niagara River fishermen. There are more tips on this page
\nso be sure to read them all! There are other articles and pages on this
\nwebsite that offer some great inside information on fishing the Mighty
\nNiagara. Lines and leaders depend on whom you
\nare asking. Most everyone fishes something similar.For Chinook [Kings] a good
\ngeneralization would be 14 to 17 pound line from your rod, and some even
\nuse 20# line. Remember the heavier the line, the more water resistance
\nand more weight required. Leader off the 3-way swivel to the bait would
\nrun 8 to 9 feet depending on the length of your fishing rod and if you
\nare using egg sacks or skein. That will allow your bait to move freely
\nand more natural. If using the favorite hard bait like
\nKwikfish lures<\/b>,<\/a>
\nshorten up on the leader maybe to 5 to 7 feet. The leader line weight
\nshould be 14-15# or less depending on your rod length etc. clear mono,
\nor a lot of river fishermen are using the new, thinner, stronger fluorocarbon
\nlines. The line off your drop pencil sinker should be 8 to 10 inches and
\n8 or 10 pound test mono so you can break off easily in case of a snag.
\nSinker weight varies with the wind and the current.
\nGenerally start around 1 to 1 1\/2 ounce, Pencil sinker. Pencil sinkers can be cut
\nto size the way you want with a pair of side cutters or most needle-nose
\npliers have a cutter on them.Tips on Steelhead, Lakers, Browns, etc.<\/b>Basically, rigging the same way you would for Kings will provide
\nsuper results but DO lower your line poundage tests on your rod line,
\n[suggest 8-10#] leader line [6-8#] and your drop sinker leader [6-8#]
\naccordingly. Pencil sinkers can start at 1 ounce or less. In all cases,
\nmake sure you are either on the bottom or just inches above it.
\nNiagara River Winter Steelhead offers some of the most fabulous steelie
\nfishing in the United States.Pay Attention:<\/b><\/p>\n