After searching the internet and asking numerous friends Wes and I managed to find a little soft water to fish yesterday, well mostly soft. We did have to dodge and run over a few chunks of ice. Some of them were large enough to hold an angler and a couple of tip ups, fortunately we didn’t come in contact with any of the big ones.
Since my boat is in storage for a couple more weeks, Wes and I hired a guide on the Niagara River in NY. We met Captain Vinnie of “Thrill Seeker Charters” at the Lewiston Boat ramp bright and early, 7 am. The weather was a little cool, 4 degrees, but the wind was light and the sun was starting to poke thru the cloud. It looked like we were going to have the perfect day for fishing, but will the fish cooperate?
I guess there is only one way to find out, lets launch the boat and drag some baits. We were going to be fishing out of a fully equipped 19’ Starcraft that had a brand new Honda Fourstroke hanging on the back. Capt’n Vinnie jumped up in the boat and started getting her ready to launch. He pulled out the rods and bait, fired up the propane heater, secured the dock lines, and then put ice melt (road salt) on the floor (first time I have ever seen that done!!). Then he jumped down and went to the truck, he came back with a 6’long 2 x 8, I was thinking, what is that for, two seconds later I found out, he takes the board and jambs it between the boat and the trailer, pushes down, and with a loud POP, the boat is broken free from the trailer and ready to be backed into the water, that 2 x 8 is Vinnie’s boat deicer. This is going to be an interesting day! The boat is launched and off we go onto the river.
We head out into the middle of the river and setup for our first drift. Capt’n Vinnie rigs up two Abu Garcia Baitcasting rods with 3-way rigs, on one end a 6’ 10# mono leader with a #12 hook, tipped with a 4-5” emerald shiner, on the 18” dropper end, a 2 oz. sinker. Are you guys ready to catch some fish, OF COURSE!!!
Wes is in the water first followed by yours truly, Capt’n Vinnie is busy running the Minnkota and keeping us on a perfect drift. It’s a tough job, the current is fast and there are icebergs and sheets of broken ice everywhere, but Vinnie shows the river who is boss. The whole situation is kind of hard to describe with words. After about 15 minutes, Wes is hooked up, his rod is doubled over and the drag is screaming, 2 drag screaming runs later we land the first fish of the day. A beautiful brown trout about 25” long. A couple quick pictures and back in the water he goes. Capt’n Vinnie, re-baits Wes’ hook and back in the water it goes, now Wes is up on the bow smiling and mumbling something, I rattle of a “don’t even start”…. About 10 minutes later its my turn, the drag is screaming, and after a quick battle, the first Lake Trout of the day is in the net, a small but feisty 23 incher, a quick picture and off he goes. This same action goes on for about the next hour and a half, then slows to nothing.
Vinnie decides that it is time to move so we reel in and head a little further down river to work a ledge along the east side bank. Instead of using live bait this time, he 3-way rigs us up a couple of gold kwikfish.
This time I am in the water first, followed by Wes. After about 10 minutes I have a serious hit, it felt like I was snagged at first until the drag started to scream, I didn’t think the fish was ever going to stop. The fish was in the river current and I couldn’t turn it back towards the boat, the back and forth battle continued for about 10 minutes until I finally started to gain on him. After about 5 more minutes we were finally able to catch a glimpse of him, it’s a steelie, he’s huge, followed by the famous “Don’t loose him”, I didn’t he’s in the net!
Capt’n Vinnie is fired up; this might be the biggest steelie we caught this year. We better measure it, 35 ¾” long, this is the longest, by an 1/8 of an inch!!! Works for me! How much do you think it weighs? between 18-20lbs. We snapped a few pictures of the silver beauty and then he was off to be caught again, hopefully the next state record!
We worked this area for about another hour or so, Wes and I both manage to land quite a few more fish before the action started to slow.
Capt’n Vinnie decides its time to move again, lets head down to the mouth of the river and fish the Niagara Bar. The bar is where the Niagara River dumps into Lake Ontario; over the past hundreds of years the flowing water has created a huge shelf that seems to hold Lake and Brown Trout all season long.
We dodge icebergs and get setup for our first drift; Vinnie rigs us up with the emerald shiner 3-way rigs again. Wes hooks up on our first drift along the shelf, this fish is pulling drag and won’t give back an inch of line. The fight seems to go on forever, down one side of the boat, then back up to the bow, around the bow, down the other side, finally he is back up on the bow and the fish comes to the surface, it’s a huge Lake Trout! Down he goes again, then the whole cycle repeats itself, finally the fish is back up on the surface and in the net…. Look at this beauty, about 33 inches long and over 16 pounds!!!
We snapped a few pictures of this giant colorful monster, and then it was off to be caught again….
We worked the bar for the next couple of hours, catching and releasing numerous Brown and Lake Trout over 10 pounds. All of them being caught on shiners as we drifted up the face of the ledge. We were having a blast, unfortunately it was approaching 2 pm and the end of our trip was nearing, Capt’n Vinnie announces that its time to go.
We reeled in our lines, put everything away, and made our ice-dodging trip back up the river. Before I knew it, we were back at the dock and saying good-bye to our new friend and fellow angler “Capt’n Vinnie”.
This was an awesome day on the water and I can’t wait to get back up there and do it again… If anyone is interested in a day of salmon fishing on the Niagara River let me know and I will put you in touch with the best guide available, Captain Vinnie of “Thrill Seeker Charters”
