Aaron Shirley

Hi Young_One, I use a three way rig for drifting (bottom bouncing) the Niagara. Main line 10lb on spinning reel to a small black three-way swivel. Add same line for a dropper approx 10" to a slinky. I prefer a 1/2 ounce slinky or less with precision boat control, but most prefer 3/4 ounce slinky for better bottom feel. I then use typically a 6lb Maxima fluoro leader 6-8 feet in length (longer for clearer water) to a small black Gammy octopus size 8 hook. I then add a single Trigger X egg or roe bag or emerald shiner etc. If my roe bags or shiners are bigger, I use a size 6 octopus hook. For pink worms 4" and under, I use 8lb fluoro (10lb for 6" worms) leader approx 6 feet long, then use a bait needle to thread the line through the worm from the head down approx 2/3 and then through. I then add a small bead and tie on a size 6 gammy treble for bigger worms, size 8 for 4" or less. It is very important to make sure the worm is completely straight and has a natural look or you will not get many bites. Structure is along shorelines from 10' deep to 30' deep leading to points where the water current picks up. Good fishing! Aaron

Tony and I hit the Niagara after chatting about the many options that we have relatively close to home this time of year. It can be challenging to pick a place and species, there are so many! Anyway, we decided to hit the Niagara River for steelies. Tony and I had not been out in some time, so we were both chomping at the bit to get out on the water. We made a couple drifts and I missed one then hooked a tank. At first I thought it was a laker, but it quickly convinced me otherwise! In typical big steelie fashion, it went berserk and I had to be quick around the trolling motor and the rivets of the Lund. After a bit of a lengthy battle, it surfaced. I could see the 4" pink Exude worm in the mouth of a very big steelie. We nervously got the beast boatside and Tony did a standup job sliding the silvery specimen into my Frabill mesh. It was a spawned-out hen and my guess is around 13-14 pounds, and 38 inches long (rough estimate). I couldn't even get my big hand around the caudal peduncle. It was skinny, but extremely loooong! This chromer would have been really heavy before the spawn. After a couple pics, I sent her back on her way to make it out to the lake. Well, heck, I was happy as heck and couldn't care if I caught another fish for the next hour lol. Well, that held true. It was a tough bite, and after missing another fish in several drifts, we started to move around looking for fish. We did find a good pod and worked them over. We got into a bunch of average-sized steelies, mostly on single Trigger X eggs, but did get some on roe and pink worms. I didn't take many pics of my fish. Too many steelie pics on the river over the years I guess. This pussy cat decided a single Trigger X egg looked good! This was too funny. We had a good laugh at this one. Tony was getting lots o love from the white suckers... or giving love, I don't judge lol. Tony got 4 suckers on shiners, but no steelies. A bit surprising, but then again, the shiners were small and doubled up on his hook lol. Thanks again Paul for dipping us a scoop of shiners in the morning. Paul Castellano was out as well and into fish. We had an absolute blast on a beautiful sunny day fishing the Niagara. I really missed the river over the winter with all the muddy conditions, and it was great to finally get out and make some drifts with a good friend. Of course we shared some laughs and busted each other's hump, part of what makes a good trip At one point the wind and current was making a good drift a challenge, and I mentioned to Tony how my line was not in the correct position. He said "sounds like a snag to me". On cue, a second later, I got snagged up and lost everything. Bugger!!! The next drift, my chair started whistling in the wind (yes, it does that lol). Tony says "sounds like the sound of a whistle trout". On cue, a second later, I get a hit and get a small steelie. Not that this timing wasn't funny enough, but what made this especially funny, was the hits were not coming every drift. It was a slow day by Niagara standards for this time of year. Good times. Can't wait to get back out somewhere for something! Good fishing! Aaron

Mike, if you can afford this Canon, it will be worth the money. I know someone that got it and absolutely loves it. Great reviews on it as well. It has a wide angle lens and 14x optical zoom. 12mp and HD video. Impressive specs. It may be my next compact camera. There is a waterproof case specific for this camera that you can get later if you want as well for diving or taking your new camera for a swim on the Grand... This camera should give you the quality that you are looking for with photos and video. Canon SX230

Don't forget about the Bass Pro Shops Classic this weekend! They have some great deals and seminars. Free parking and no entry fee either. I am getting my gear ready for a seminar for both Saturday and Sunday, and there are other great seminars from other anglers as well. I can't believe the deal on the 4 Stroke Mercury 9.9hp engine. Unreal. I am thinking of upgrading my 4hp 4 stroke to the 9.9 at that price! There are also great deals on stickbaits and goodies as well. Hope to see you there! Aaron

I had a good friend Glen and his buddy Fraser out to troll walleye on the Bay of Quinte on the Saturday of the Family Day weekend. I was excited to get back there after the success from a week and a half ago! We hatched plans and headed up for what we thought would be an incredible day of fishing that the guys wouldn't forget. Well, Mother Nature had other plans, and although the guys may not forget the trip, it will not be for numbers of big walleye lol. We arrived early in the morning to see the launch ramp in Bath was wide open to launch. That was a bit of a worry on a long trip, but it was good. We were greated by a beautiful morning without any wind at all. After we launched and started heading down the reach, the boat was breaking through a skim layer of ice that had built up. Some of the ice as a bit thicker in some areas, but we took our time and the heavy ProV had no issues breaking through the ice. When we got closer to the zone we wanted to fish, we noticed the ice from the ferry down the reach past Keith's Shoal has frozen over pretty well. Not enough to feel safe walking on, but we couldn't break through ice that think in the Lund. This was not good, as we couldn't fish more toward the ferry like we wanted. We then realized that due to the skim ice in the entire reach, we wouldn't be able to troll and employ planer boards! Luckily we took some jigging rods, and we broke up the ice with the Lund and jigged. We didn't mark anything and didn't get any hits in the first hour or so. Things were not lookin' good! Then, the wind started up a slight bit. It wasn't enough to break up the skim ice, and we reluctantly prayed for stronger winds so that we could troll. Another short while and Mother Nature answered the call with enough wind to break up the skim ice. We eventually began to troll the reach with 4 planer boards rigged with mono and Husky Jerks. It was simple to keep it to 4 rods in the challenging conditions, especially since a snow storm had moved in! We trolled the shorelines on both sides and across the reach. I tried a new 15lb high vis Maxima mono line for the first time for planer boards, and I love it! I can see the line and boards so much better in overcast conditions, and snow storms lol We even trolled dangerously close to the ice edge a lot with our outside board. We were not alone out there, the gulls were hanging out on the ice edge. We even saw another boat come out to play just after we were able to start trolling. It was a very wet and cold snowy day, and we went through several pairs of gloves. Thankfully we took plenty to keep warm and dry. The trolling bite was mega slow. We started moving around the reach a bit and trying new areas. Still nothing. Finally, later in the day our outside rod loads up while trolling close to the ice edge. Fraser grabs the rod and starts reeling. Unsure if we had a fish or not as we picked up a lot of debris, I asked Fraser if it was a fish. He did not know. I asked if there was weight to the rod? Fraser replied yeah it feels a bit heavy but no fighting or head shakes. He still wasn't sure if it was a fish. I asked how much weight, a little or a lot. He said quite a bit, so I knew it was a fish. I coached him a bit on what to do, as I had forgotten my net! I took one for the team and dipped my hand into the icy cold waters to grab his new PB walleye Fraser was stoked, this fish absolutely crushed his PB by about double! His previous PB was under 6 pounds. Hit on the outside board on a gold and black Husky Jerk in 100 feet of water. That warmed the young guy up a bit! Unfortunately, we didn't get another hit all day despite our efforts. It was still a great winter trolling adventure with challenges that made things interesting. Good company made the trip even better. Ya can't kill it every time you hit the water... or ice lol. We talked to another boat at the ramp that got skunked, so we were happy to get that one bite! What a difference one bite can make. Now Fraser has a new PB and a story to tell Good fishing! Aaron

Good suggestions here. Your Humminbird is a good unit for ice fishing. Just get the iceducer and case and your golden. I never understood why some people spend big bucks on a flasher they only use for 2 months a year when they have a good sonar with GPS and charts on their boat they can use. I wouldn't want to step on the ice without a good sonar. Way more fun and productive!

Nice fish. Well done. Good thing you can fish on weekdays lol I haven't been on Simcoe once this winter for the reasons you stated. I'm stuck fishing weekends and not interested in that zoo!

Oh, I think Nash is a pipe dream. I am curious to see if Burke will pull a rabbit out of a hat with a blockbuster trade, but I have my doubts about this trade deadline.

The Leafs will just make the playoffs this year in 8th place. They will then go on to pull off the biggest playoff hockey upset in recent times by beating the Rangers in game 7. They will then go on to win the Stanley Cup. Okay you can stop laughing now lol. Seriously, the Leafs are a little better than the past handful of years and should finish the regular season just in or out of a playoff spot, hopefully in for once! They should get a bit better over the next couple of years and be a better team to watch. The team still needs work, but at least they are more pleasurable to watch this year overall. The biggest problem the team has this year is inconsistency. It's been a roller coaster ride for fans.

Sorry, can't provide pics from my blackberry. I rarely have time to boot up a pc these days. The spoons can be viewed online with a Google search. I've done well with silver, gold, half n half, green tapen red tape and chart tape. I'm sure other colours work as well. Yes, jigging Rapalas can be very hard to beat for walleye at times. I remeber showing up at the dunville dam years ago and hammering walleye on jigging Raps while the traditional spoons were quiet. The Canadian Tire in Dunville was sold out of jigging Raps by the afternoon that day lol. They definitely are a staple for icing walleye. I forgot to mention, I've done well with Mepps Little Wolf and Cyclops spoons for walleye in glo pink and glo green as well. Have a great finish to your ice season!

Small Williams Ice Jig spoon and Mr.Champ are both tried tested and true walleye spoons for ice fishing as well. There are many more that work, but these are old walleye favs.

Good stuff Josh! Congrats. Great to see

That looks like an awesome time Mike! Almost getting spooled by a nice grouper, then getting spooled an hour later, that must have been a rush! You must have hit a good window with the tides or something, cool! Ah, don't worry about the line and lure, I have more of those somewhere and I hardly used them. Glad to see you get some enjoyement with those saltwater Rapalas... While it lasted lol

Nice fish Greg. I think you are a bit too optimistic about the main basin of Simcoe though! Be safe.

Unreal Ben! Every time I look at those giant fish in your photos I feel like moving to NW Ontario lol well done and great pics!

Very nice chrome Bill. Like you, I'm not interested in the Kemp circus lol. Planning to hit a trib this weekend myself.

River mouths and piers are a good place to fish now. Casting spoons, cranks and spinners can get bites. Roe bags, nightcrawlers and emerald shiners can work well under a float or with a slip sinker off bottom. Bucktail jigs can work as well as flies. There are many different ways to catch them, you just have to figure out what is working when you try it. Good luck and hope you tie into some winter trout!

Very nice! I hope to get out for some chrome this weekend. What a winter, that's awesome

Thanks for all the comments everyone. It was a great time and I'd love to get back before the season closes at the end of this month. Not sure if the launch will be ok after this cold snap though. Too bad we missed you David. It was really windy out Wed! We needed two trolling bags off each side on the front cleats to keep the big Lund stable, that must have been very hard to troll in a smaller boat, especially if you didn't employ trolling bags. EC1, we didn't film on this trip, just take photos, althouth Iceguy did take some video on his camcorder. Thanks for the compliment. The next episode is on casting for spring gators, and I got a giant on film (the one in my OFC report from last spring) To note, Mike Miller said they had some great footage trolling Quinte eyes when we were there, and they got a 14 and 15 pound walleye on film! That should be a good show. Good fishing! Aaron

Okay, before you think you'll see walleyes in G-Strings, this isn't an "R" rated fishing report, feel free to allow your kids to view lol. I talked to a buddy Gavin (Gman) early last week, and when he told me that he had been trolling the Bay of Quinte this winter during this mild weather, I was all ears With Simcoe open water and the Niagara constant mud, I was looking for alternatives this unusually tropic winter lol. We made plans with Rob (Iceguy) to get out for two days of trolling, and Gavin's buddy Larry (Lunge Larry) would join us the first day. I hooked up the ProV, picked Gavin and Rob up en route in the morning and we met up with Larry in Napanee. We set out for the only open launch that was ice-free in Bath, and saw Mike Miller and the Angler and Hunter film crew gearing up to launch and film a show as well. We chatted with them for a bit, good guys. We had a very long and warm but rough ride across the gap into Adolphus Reach. We set up our troll with the waves and deployed 2 trolling bags on each side of the Lund to slow down and stabilize the presentation. Our goal was an average of 1.5mph SOG. The fish were suspended high in the water column, and the mono planer board rods were set with mostly Husky Jerks and Down Deep Husky Jerks. They would prove to be the only lures working. We tried all kinds of stick baits, but the Husky Jerks were the only ones that got bites. I have not seen such a highly specific stick bait bite like this before for walleye on Quinte. We ended up getting 14 walleye in the boat and losing three at the end of the day on Wednesday. Although it was really windy, it was warm and the fishing was great We ended our day with lots of smiles and barely noticed how tired we were from a lack of sleep lol. We had a bite to eat, had some cold ones then hit the sack to do it all over again on Thursday. Enough details for now, enjoy the photos Larry wasn't into holding up the pike for a photo, so Gavin held it up. Although it wasn't gold, it was a nice pike. We had to be careful of major icebergs all over, some of which were about 2-feet thick! Icebergs were an issue for our planer boards and a lot of work to clear, but hey, we were trolling in February! Rob hooks up with a heavy True tank and the biggest of the trip at 13.24lbs. Great fish Rob! It was -2 on Thursday and our rods and reels got wet on the ride and covered with ice and stopped working! We had to warm up the rods and reels inside our suits to rid of the ice and get the reels working again. Gavin found this quite amusing lol. My best walleye of the trip I got this awesome pike on a Rapala Trolls To 20 feet at the end of the trip. Made my day! A perfect end to a perfect trip trolling the Bay of Quinte in February 10 fish boated with no lost fish on Thursday. Thanks for the program info Gavin and joining me, along with Rob and Larry on this awesome trip! This was a truly epic trip and one I will not forget any time soon. We had a riot, and caught a ton of fish. My stomach hurt for two days from laughing so hard. There are a few quotes that had us in tears, and I'm still chuckling over them Now that's a great trip with buddies I hope that I can get back there again before the season closes, I could get used to this global warming Good fishing! Aaron

Good stuff Mike. That will be nice to take the kids out in as well as the bigger lakes Have fun on the beach!

This has been a very tough winter for me so far to get out in my usual places. The Niagara has been quite muddy and Simcoe has a severe lack of ice for whitefish and lakers. It does not look good for Simcoe ice, so I am going to have to start looking at other venues if the Niagara is muddy... like trolling Lake Ontario lol. I finally got out on Niagara on Sunday with a couple buddies Glen and Dean. It was not ideal conditions to say the least with about 1.5 feet of vis, but it was fishable. Paul Castellano told me that since the Niagara has been muddy for so long, the fish are biting as soon as the water clears a bit. Thanks for the info Paul. We launched at Queenston and headed down river. The water did not look too bad at the ramp, but it was much dirtier outside of the water circulating the backdrift. We got into fish, but it was tough. Bright pink and chart bags worked, as did pink TriggerX eggs and corkies and shiners. It was a fun day, and I was just happy to get out! It does not look good for Lake Erie freezing to help the Niagara with clarity, so dirty water and big bright baits will probably be the order this winter. We heard the Kwikfish were also working well from others, which is typical for dirty water with the vibration. We got into fish scattered all over the river along the ON shoreline, and we heard the US side was good. It was a beautiful January day to be drifting the Niagara If you get out to the Niagara, tie up big bright bags and take corkies, shiners and Kwikfish, because it will most likely be dirty. Fishing World is open early on the weekend and has some nice bait to pick up along the way, and I am sure Bills up the mountain will have lots as well. Here are some pics from our day, enjoy. Good fishing! Aaron

Hey, thanks again everyone. I do enjoy fishing combined with video production. Glad you enjoyed it! Knuguy, I am not on TV. I post videos to my YouTube channel as a hobby only. Toad Hunter, you hit the nail on the head. They are there in the fall. Summer is a different story. Hey Speil, I remember that day. We all got our butts kicked by that old guy that walked out 3 miles, fished for a half hour, then walked all the way back in with his limit lol. He caught more fish in a half hour than we did all day! That was amazing to watch how he jigged them with a rod in each hand so differently. What's also amazing, is that I can remeber such fine details from a fishing trip from years back, but I can't for the life of me remember what my wife told me yesterday!

Haha, funny solo! Actually it did not, but it wouldn't have mattered if it did. Breakage would have happened with any rod with my careless placement of the rod Lesson learned!

That is pretty sweet for lock-jawed walters! Well done Greg, and glad to hear you had good father/son time out there. I'm looking forward to taking my 3 year old out when/if the ice is safe enough.