steellee

Only 3 good shore access points Queenston, Glen area(metal stairs) and the Whirlpool on the lower. Upper has Fort Erie under Peace Bridge but it's extremely sketchy wading if your new to it and some good water above the Falls but most of that is off limits now too.. Lost alot of access over the years but if you're cool with a hike there's a tonne of ground to cover. US side has some great water too and better access and trail system. Like was said Queenston is your only true easy access pull up and fish type situation and even than you can get crowded out by the regulars if the fishings particularly hot at the time you go

I was on the hunt for a decent dual purpose rain/wading jacket and ended up coming across a Mustang Taku online marked down half price last week. Had most of the features I wanted so figured I trust my life to Mustang products on the water they shouldn't have a problem making rainwear. Will see how it goes when I get to test it out. Also while researching found last year's Simms G4Z on half price so figured I would be proactive and jump on that deal as well. Although being Simms most heavy duty wader and packed with features the new Simms G4Z Goretex feels about half the material of my 12+ year old Simms Headwaters Goretex, but hopefully it holds up as long

Do you ever test those pink ones in the rivers for bows? Look like they could be killer under a float...

I did my vintage Mirrocraft tinner about 4 summers ago. It was a scraped up Mirro puke green if you are familiar. Prep work goes a LONG way. I sanded down to bare aluminum best I could. Than tack clothed and alcohol wiped the entire thing to eliminate any possible contaminants. Next step was a couple coats of a self etching primer. Than I chose a hunter green crappy tire marine paint( frustratingly thick and takes ages to cure so patience is a good thing)but the quality, price and final finish I Ioved... New numbers, factory decals and constantly messing with interior setups and it's been good to go. It gets a yearly coat of marine wax if it's lucky and the paint had a very nice natural gloss. After 4 summers of trailering & launching +/-3 days a week and jumping waves to 60' at Port Stanley it has held up great. If you are only doing above the original paint line it should be fine. If you envision doing the entire boat it will probably be a hell of a job. I had the luxury of flipping my light utility boat over with a few guys help. A friend of mine re-did the same boat 2 summers ago as he liked mine. Didn't do the prep and used a home Depot acryllic in similar color. It is already completely peeling in spots...

Assuming since your fishing Gibson you are close to Niagara? For a shore angler any of the creek mouths along the Upper River can have fish cruising by and probably your best bet in that area. Also the Lower River has a small but overlooked population above the dams and all throughout the whirlpool/Glen area. I have never really targeted them there but have caught and seen quite a few incidentally over the years. Spend enough time smallie fishing there one will grab your bass,,or spoon chucking salmon and casting kwikfish for trout seems to hook ski's if ones around . You do see a few guys target them with giant tube jigs or inline bucktails in that area at times.

Very sleek for a float rod! Still have a D&M myself as well and fish with a few guys still running them as their main rods!

30 second fix with the right size tip...I've built, modified rods for 25 years now and played with all kinds of ideas on broken rods. They may not fish 100% like they once did but shouldnt be dumpster bound either. I am currently working on bringing back to life a intact bottom half of an old 11' fenwick river runner mated to a snapped top section of an old 12'6 fenwick legacy that should make a passable float rod around 11'. Will it be perfect, heck no. Will it still get me some bows when I decide to go back in time and use it for an afternoon? For sure! Lots of the old loomis stuff still floating around was frankensteined rods from Lorne Green etc. Sometimes its better to strip and rebuild right from scratch. My favourite IMX 1562 float rod is missing about 3". I stripped it and rebuilt and its my favourite even though I have the same rods without the tip break. Just the straightest and best balanced...Used good quality broken rods to do strip and rebuilds that I end up giving to friends and family also. Allows some creativity and keeps me from always spending money on new blanks and components.

Got to agree, I run them in rivers and creeks for trout all the time but its crazy how many alternative species you get. Bass, pike, perch,etc, etc, even the aggressive carp and cats hit them like trains... you can learn alot about a creek by putting down the float rod and wobbling plugs from time to time! Biggest trick for me is work them SLOW and hang on tight.. For me flatfish have the better action and way better color selection from f3-f6. K7-K9 kwikfish in the bigger rivers seem a slight bit better for me than the larger flatfish. But if I can only pick one it might be a hotshot. They seem to be every bit as productive except you can work them in faster drifts without them kicking out. RiverRockers, Tadpollies, and the various others have accounted for very few fish personally although I probably havent gave them a fair shot comparatively... I have amassed a huge collection of plugs and am always on lookout for more and most days its all I have with me for creek fishing.

I've tried alot of different brands of trolling reels and can say Okuma are by far my least favourite. Shops must get a good markup off them as they are popular mostly because shops love to pimp them. In the mid-range I find the Penn's squall or warfare superior. If your going with Tekotas which is a solid choice for sure at least check out the Daiwa Saltists too. Great reels at a similar price point but maybe a bit harder to get your hands on.

I do alot of my own maintenance but for any shimano gear I own its tough to beat sending it back to peterborough for a more detailed overhaul. The amount of new parts the reels come back with far exceeds the cost of the service. Not something that needs to be done each year but maybe every 5 or so gives you a reel like new

Seems in the fishing world everything good gets discontinued!

No one using Fireline crystal as a substitute? I have tried nanofil and although it handles and casts awesome its durability and abrasion resistance is terrible. Crystal I found to have similar handling, (not quite as good) but its strength and abrasion resistance is crazy. Also way over rated test wise so I usually go with 8lb or even 6 and it breaks FAR over that

NAPA stores, at least the ones by me sell it for 8.99 as everyday price.

I have an older pair of simms headwaters goretex and a new pair of Patagonia. Simms are a bit heavier duty with thicker material. I fish alot and they've given me no proplems in 8 years or so. Just had new booties put on at simms as they were showing wear. Fit of the patagonia are a bit better for me. Never used it but their warranty is supposed to be second to none and are probably worth a look. LL Bean also have a good rep and solid warranty with some good products

Ya I own a Cabelas Arachnid baitcast of same vintage as the Verano spinning. Its basically a Tatula type R with different color scheme and a few extra bearings in handle. I think the Verano was the older 2016 Ballistic which is a tank of a reel

Quantum and Okuma are currently under contract with Banax. Doyo has the contract for BPS, Abu Revo, Lews, Browning, Penn and some others. And ya they do often share platforms between brands. Daiwa and Shimano design and build their own product although Daiwa has been known to sub-build for others. (Most recently some Cabelas high end stuff). Seems the contracted builders put out some great stuff along with some duds with quality issues...

Ya these reels really excell at lure chucking steelhead. They're slightly heavier than the competion at about 8 oz but balance longer rods out nicer I find. I think the company targets a more casual anglers for mid level sales (crappy tire 50% off stuff) so they're high end offerings arent taken as seriously but they should be...

Most quantum are junk but the Smoke s3 are a different animal..I got the S3 spinning only because I had gift cards and got a great deal on a sale. The drag and line managment are hands down better than my more expensive daiwa kage or shimano stadics and saros I own. It was supposed to be a back to my back up kind of reel but really holds its own and I reach for it often. It doesnt have that airy feeling like the daiwas or shimanos but it feels tight and in my opinion will last. I still have a quantum energy titanium from the early 90s thats now my girlfriends reel. Thing wont die. They do seem to produce some gems now and again in between alot of junk they get a bad rap for. Baitcast I stick with shimano and daiwa although again I still have a perfectly functional Quantum US 600 from again early 90s

Although pricey, tungsten shouldnt be too hard to find. I use them in small creeks to toss tiny kwikfish and hotshots on 3 ways. A 5 pack I think is about 10+$ and usually lasts me a season. Worth every penny. Better feel of whats going on so I actually lose less plugs and better casting with less splash on entry to scare skittish trout

Cabelas made some decent stuff on their in house brand before the merger. I have a few of the xml steelhead rods that in my hands beat my loomis and croix hands down. Even a lower end tourney trail thats seen hundreds of septmeber chinnies over the last 15+ yrs and still feels like the best spoon chucker I've owned. I still have a pair of their breathables as a backup to my backups that I only takeon my worst rocksliding, bushwhacking missions and cant kill them. Wading jackets too. Their last few reels like the arachnid were better versions of high end daiwas and are still great if you could find. Their stuff was always hit or miss depending on who was contracted to build it but was sad to see it go as BPS was always junk in my eyes

Main current running clockwise.

Fished the pool today. First time this season. Water was surprisingly decent and fishable until mid afternoon when for no reason it was in trees and I got washed out. Parking is 2.50 per hr or 15.

Take it you just customized a black/gold rapala. Looks awesome. I do it often to my hardbaits too. Also like the spiral wrap rod you're running

Not familiar with sutton spoons but ya smaller williams wabblers are cerainly the most deadly steelhead spoon in my box. Used with almost no retrieve, just angles and a tout line in the current they can be absolute deadly. Larger ones you would run for chinnies are much heavier though and would not require any additional weighting in my opinion even for pier chucking. I've doctored lots of larger williams with glow witch doctor tape on one side of their ridge for night fishing with sucess also.

Use flutter or trolling spoons all the time. They work the drifts on Niagara way better than cast and crank style casting spoons for me. For weight I've tried it all and most methods are going to ruin the action. For starters keep a heavier treble on where as heavier spoons I prefer to swap over to a siwash style hook. Then if extra weight is needed you can use the Storm Suspend Strips. These are patches of lead that are designed to sink floating crankbaits so they suspend. They can be trimmed, removed, replaced on the same lure wet, painted. A few centered down the middle back of spoon should do the trick with the least intrusion on the spoons natural action. 8$ or so and your set for years. Also good baitcast gear is pretty essential. I find it better than spin gear and low end baitcast just won't cast in this situation. I run a Calcutta TE DC and can launch these effortlessly.