Spring in the Niagara Region

 

The Niagara River Region well its springtime and that means the lake run steelhead and browns are getting their groove on. I have mixed feelings fishing in the spring, but I was not targeting the best of my knowledge fish I could see. I would swing holding lies like eddies and slicks to see if I could swing up a fish possibly!

 

Except for one tributary in Ohio all other were blown out. New York had more opportunities for fishable water. With the overnight low being 32 degrees, I saw no reason to get their for a while!

I woke up at 0500 and got the car loaded up and on the road at 0600. Now mind you I knew I would not get there until noon, but with the bad spring season I knew well at least I thought I would not miss anything.

 

I left the eggbeater at home and with the flows it would better bobber water, but I stuck by my swinging roots.

 

I strapped on 10 foot of T-8 and with mono section of 4 feet 1.5 feet of 20-pound test floro followed by the rest being 8-pound floro to my tube fly.

 

I took a video of my self-taught casting to see how it would look.

 

I walked up to the top of the island and working my way through the entire sycamore hole area and into the Archers Hole. Using the light tip to cover waters in that current with a lightly weighted tube fly with a brass body. This set up is good for the low flows (in my book) that day of 300 cf/s.  When fishing you have to make the best of it.

 

There in Ohio Conneaut would be on fire, but most of the fish would be in shallow water spawning.  The Grand River is unfishable at 1300 cf/s.

 

I was not going to fish other tribs because a lot of them were even lower. I would have liked to fish the Catt but she is not fishable at 763 cf/s.

I had maybe two grabs, but it could have been the structure I was fishing also. I did foul hook one brown in the Archers Hole and broke it off immediately.

 

I did walk to the dam, and I saw a family that was struggling. I was able to give them some pointers assistance to a new family with worms and a few bobbers they had. I helped them catch their dinner and they were so grateful. It was awesome to see the genuine joy on the child’s face.

 

On a good note, for the second time in my life I was asked to see my fishy license. Its was nice to see the guys there.  We carried on a conversation, and we said last year the small tribs did so much better than the large ones. It was nice to hear that because he said exactly what was my experience last year!

 

So, I broke down my rod and headed to the car. I did see one steelhead running down from the dam for its life, but that was the only fish I saw. Traditionally the Lake Ontario tribs do not get strong runs of spring fish. Its not to say one can’t catch fish you can. The numbers are not as strong in the spring and that has been my experience over the decades.

 

I would turn my car west and head to Niagara Falls and take some photos.

Well with me learning about photography I knew it would be a tough day with how the sun was in the sky. What I did not account for was the clouds in the sky and coupled by the mist coming from the water. The sun was shinning through a huge light diffuser. In this case in some photos, they are so washed out. I adjusted the F stop and it only helped a little bit.  I hope you enjoy the videos and photos!

Be well,

 

Sonder