Niagara Chromers - What a Day!

[Aaron Shirley]

I had Mike Miltenburg and Andy Todd out for some steelhead fun on the Niagara River today. What a day we had! It was a bit slow in the morning, but the afternoon was gang busters. Crazy action drifting roe on three-way rigs along with the bottom current. I have no idea how many we caught and lost. All I can say is that there was no shortage of action in the afternoon!

The average size was fairly large and they fought surprisingly well as the day grew warmer. The water temp is still only 34F, which is ice cold for this time of year. The water colour has a nice stain to it currently. Our best depths were roughly 18 feet deep.

Boat control was tricky with the high winds and strong currents, but we managed. We drifted rainbow trout eggs tied in Spawn Net in white, peach, chartreuse and pink. All the colours worked well. We also got some bites on pink worms and single eggs.

The Niagara River will continue to be good into June this year with the later weather pattern. We can fish steelhead in shorts and sandals later on!

Good fishing!

Aaron

[4x4bassin]

Nice , Great looking fish . That is quite the fishery down there

[corvette1]

awesome day on the lower Aaron congrats

[Fish Farmer]

Andy, that's a thankless job, but someone has to do it.

Thanks for posting Aaron, just an inside joke between me and Andy.

Tell Andy, Dave said Hi

Hope to troll Lake O this week.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Fish Farmer

[BillM]

Nice Aaron!

[spinnerdoc]

Great time fishing for sure , with those specimens it was a blast for sure

[Tim Mills]

Informative report, goargeous fish and beautiful scenery, thx for posting,

[The Urban Fisherman]

man open water never ends for you guys! good stuff!

[captpierre]

Beauti fish.

 

I've fished at the powerplants at Niagara.

 

Until I heard a few years ago a charter lost 2 guests overboard as the boat got partially sucked under by the current.

 

1 drowned I believed.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

[Aaron Shirley]

Actually Captpierre, I was fishing below the dams when that incident occurred that day. I saw the guide boat floating down River upside down with the Coast Guard boat beside it. A Sheriff's boat approached us and told us what happened and asked us to keep an eye out for 2 bodies. We didn't see them. They took a week to surface I believe. I felt sick about it for a while. From what I was told, the guide and a woman lost their lives that day. Her fiancé lived. From what I understand, the guide boat got sucked backward into a big whirlpool that opened up. Another boat nearby was able to rescue the one man.

 

It is a very dangerous place to fish, especially if one doesn't know the water well. It is even dangerous for people that know it, and a lot of caution must be taken. Ever since that incident, I take extra precautions when I travel above the dams and insist everyone wear a flotation suit or pfd. I know the water well, but anything can happen up there. The Niagara River must be respected, especially above Queenston.

[misfish]

Awesome report.

 

Use to squeeze through the fence at the hydro(Canadian side) LOL

[chris.brock]

beauty fish, you definitely have the Lower Niagara dialed in Aaron

big river, crazy current, that deserves respect for sure