"It's up to you, New York, New York"

Today on 5-12-2024 I headed to New York to chase some pre-spawn smallmouth. I plotted a course to the upper Niagara River.  I was greeted by two Saint Bernards, and they were just curious and happy dogs. After a brief visit I got dressed up for the dance in the river.

So, the Niagara River as a rule of thumb is not a wading friendly river. You can die quickly if you do not use extreme caution.  That’s my PSA for today!

I arrived at her shore and when I got into the river mid-thigh I then realized holy sh!t this is really cold.

The rod I brought today with me was my good old trusty St. Croix 9’ Med-Heavy Avid. This has been my spinning rod work horse and I have strapped it with a Daiwa Ballistic MG LT. I have 30# braid on it that has a 8# monofilament diameter. Off that I have a 2-foot section of 15# test flouro and then I have 4 feet of 4# test flouro. I used 12# mono for my leader section when I was throwing big baits earlier in the day.  Now, I could have gone much heavier and gotten away with it but chose not to.

Even with the waters being so cold I elected to throw a 90 Choppo in Perfect Ghost. My thought process was there could be a musky cruising these rock, mud, sand, and silty loam flats.

The weather dude and NOAA said it was going to be 64 degrees and 5 – 9 knot winds!  Well, they were off no shocker, but I anticipated it.  The river chop was 4” to 6” near shore.  The bass boats peppered the shoreline but were totally manageable. Here in another month the fiberglass hatch will be ghastly.

 I fan cast short and long looking for defined shadow pockets in the underwater river structure.  These are obstructions that provide current breaks due to the gradient of the riverbed here. Fish will move through here and will seek shelter to escape the current.

After 30 minutes and trying to redefine the definition of insanity I changed to a 3” white with silver flake paddle tail swim bait and a Mustad 3/4 oz jig head.

I then waded out into the river mid-thigh, and this is where I stop. If I go deeper the current could push me over if I lose my balance on the river bottom and then get swept away.  

I would not get a bump or a swipe but did manage to collect some weeds. I would have been better off with 1/2 oz jig heads but only brought 3/4 oz.

After 60 minutes I decided to go look at a few other rivers and or creek west of here. 

I went down low on the next river and found here to low for me to fish, but did witness a few smallies busting bait. I decided to make one last ditch effort and head to the next largest Lake Erie tributary.

Here are some websites I use to help me look into water temperatures around the Great Lakes.

National Data Buoy Center

Great Lakes Water Temps

National Weather Service

Also, some of the USGS site have water temps with them for example:

USGS Site 1

USGS Site 2

There are several other variables that could ruin a trip and here to help is a few great weather links.

Weather Site 1

Weather Site 2

I like this for the reel time road weather conditions.

NY Real Time Road Conditions

Ohio Real Time Road Conditions

I then arrived at the next body of water. This is a creek I hold near and dear. She normally has produced the best fishing memories for me over the decades.  It’s no secret it’s the Cattaraugus Creek and thank goodness with each flood she changes. She has in some section’s gradient is so steep that you better not be there if the river comes up.

I cut off my 12# test flouro and put on 5 feet of 4# test flouro. I then went in and grabbed a 1/4 oz Aberdeen jig hook and my favorite powerbait power brub the 3” Milky Shad.  Because men do nothing in moderation when I worked part time at Bass Pro I bought about 20 packs of these in 2” and 3”. Needless to say this is all I have left. Lol

I need to find a replacement here very, very soon. I walked up river right and I had to use my wading staff because no one wanted to step off in a six foot hole lol.

I fished every bucket “small hole” I could find. I saw a guy on the opposite side of the river catch a few fish and I was happy as a lark to witness that. The fish had pushed up to this point.  Historically The smallies stop at this section of the river.  I don’t know why but I believe it’s a mix of gravel and the bait that’s in this section of river.

I did really good here on this section of the river. I hooked and landed a few 4 pounders and one 5 pounder. The other fellers were between 1 and 2 pounds.

The retrieve had to be slow because of the temperature of the water. Looking at the water temps on the USGS it was 57 degrees at noon and the fish would be more attracted to a slower bait presentation.  The good ole ST. Croix had a great work out and my arms did as well. My arms were tired and both of my thumbs were showing signs of a epic day.

Be well folks,

Sonder