The snow piles are dropping, days getting longer and sunnier, and the rivers have started to open up here in Southern Ontario, as winter slowly loses its grip on this part of the province. I've been seeing early winter black hatches on my last several trips to the Niagara and my thoughts quickly turn to the impending spring run of steelhead!!
Will there be enough water to run the rivers? Will the fish have dropped back by then? Will it be a strong group of year classes running..... and all kind of such thoughts start rattling around in my brain.
What is for sure is that the fish will run and there will be fishable water to hit somewhere. It's up to us to monitor the conditions and be ready to take the time off if necessary when it does happen.
Steelheading is like sacrilege in Southern Ontario, and anyone exploiting these tightly guarded waters with anything more than the bare basics is heavily frowned upon. And no, a kayak is not considered a basic.... that is except by us here at Nomad Adventures. A kayak is an essential tool to success for spring and fall steelheading!
If you aren't implementing all tools at hand, then what exactly are you doing?
All rivers are fair game, and we all know there's a lot of rivers coursing thru the Southern Ontario peninsula, surrounded by 3 Great Lakes plus Georgian Bay.
Our steelhead kayak fishing trips run from Spring: late April - late May, Fall: late October - end December.
Opportunities for Brook, Brown and Lake Trout exist on these trips. Fishing methods are float fishing, fly fishing, bottom bouncing and spincasting.
Beginners to seasoned anglers will all enjoy these trips.
Inquire at Nomad Adventures for your 2011 Steelhead Kayak Fishing trip in Ontario; we look forward to hearing from you!!
Adventure Fishing in Ontario
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Showing posts with label Niagara River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Niagara River. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Monday, April 5, 2010
2010 spring Steelhead season came early to Ontario
Can you believe the weather!!
We've had daytime temps ranging from +15/25C for close to three weeks now. Ontario is the new Florida! They wish they'd had our weather.
Unfortunately for a lot of steelheaders in Southern Ontario, it means they miss the spring runs if they don't get out in the next few weeks. There are always the dropback fish I guess. Smelt runs have been in full force with each sprinkle, for the past two weeks and there are guys steelheading the northern rivers around Sault Saint Marie for a week now too. Crazy!
Can't wait for Brookie season around here because they'll be good and fat by then with the spring season being so far advanced.
The Niagara River has just started picking up for shore fishermen and has been decent from boats for about two weeks. I'm predicting it to get real hot in the coming week and there already huge deluges of people flocking to fish it. I picked up one fish in 6hrs on the big river last Wednesday after covering several miles of the gorge, and ended up breaking out the hardware to do it. Lost a massive muskie in the process; estimate in the 50-55" range!
Reports from Lake Huron rivers are positive with decent catches coming from the Saugeen to the Maitland. The water is clear and low for this time of year though. Brown trout, steelhead, coho/chinook salmon, perch and pike are being caught. Georgian Bay should soon pick up too.
So get out there and Good Fishing'!!
We've had daytime temps ranging from +15/25C for close to three weeks now. Ontario is the new Florida! They wish they'd had our weather.
Unfortunately for a lot of steelheaders in Southern Ontario, it means they miss the spring runs if they don't get out in the next few weeks. There are always the dropback fish I guess. Smelt runs have been in full force with each sprinkle, for the past two weeks and there are guys steelheading the northern rivers around Sault Saint Marie for a week now too. Crazy!
Can't wait for Brookie season around here because they'll be good and fat by then with the spring season being so far advanced.
The Niagara River has just started picking up for shore fishermen and has been decent from boats for about two weeks. I'm predicting it to get real hot in the coming week and there already huge deluges of people flocking to fish it. I picked up one fish in 6hrs on the big river last Wednesday after covering several miles of the gorge, and ended up breaking out the hardware to do it. Lost a massive muskie in the process; estimate in the 50-55" range!
Reports from Lake Huron rivers are positive with decent catches coming from the Saugeen to the Maitland. The water is clear and low for this time of year though. Brown trout, steelhead, coho/chinook salmon, perch and pike are being caught. Georgian Bay should soon pick up too.
So get out there and Good Fishing'!!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Winter Steelheading in Ontario
Most of the fishing is confined to creek and river mouths from Dec 31 until the last Sat in April when the season opens again.
The Niagara River is open for business all year and winter catches of Brown Trout and Lake trout can be as common as Steelhead depending on what section of the river you are fishing. The lower river below the Whirlpool is a definite must fish section with several different options to drop in on. The key to success is to not spend much time in any section, but rather fish the hell out of it for 2hrs and move on to the next. In two hours, you will have either detemined if there are active feeding fish, and have caught the most active ones or nothing is holding there at that moment. Catching three fish out of any one spot is a good "drop-in" and you've probably exhausted the run so you should consider moving half an hour to one hour after hooking the last fish.
Try everything before you leave though and overlook nothing. When fishing with buddies, be certain each is using something different. ie. roe, streamers, bunny/marabou jigs, plastic minnows, pink worms etc. If fishing solo, then start changing up after 10 drifts in each of that runs pockets because the key to success can be as simple as a colour change or size change away. Pinks, oranges, whites and purples are all very good winter colours. Winter baitfish are generally emerald shiner or smelt patterns in 3-4" sizes, so match the hatch.
I have a friend who is unemployed and fishes several days per week. He has started to get successful in the last 2 weeks because he's discovered where fish hold and basically runs to those spots for first dibbs - yes, he's still a buddy. If your friend does this, then you are within your right to fish in close proximity. Unfortunately though, this same fella when not on the fish and you are, likes trying to grease you out and is always low holing people. Stand Your Ground! Tell 'em off if there isn't enough water for the both of you to fish. Luckily the Niagara is a big river and you can almost always find other produtive spots to fish.
The temps are rising and this coming week is forecasted as sunny and +2/7C, so the fish are going to get very active shortly. Get out there and get your fix before the masses see the forthcoming reports and start flocking to the productive water.
Good Fishing!
The Niagara River is open for business all year and winter catches of Brown Trout and Lake trout can be as common as Steelhead depending on what section of the river you are fishing. The lower river below the Whirlpool is a definite must fish section with several different options to drop in on. The key to success is to not spend much time in any section, but rather fish the hell out of it for 2hrs and move on to the next. In two hours, you will have either detemined if there are active feeding fish, and have caught the most active ones or nothing is holding there at that moment. Catching three fish out of any one spot is a good "drop-in" and you've probably exhausted the run so you should consider moving half an hour to one hour after hooking the last fish.
Try everything before you leave though and overlook nothing. When fishing with buddies, be certain each is using something different. ie. roe, streamers, bunny/marabou jigs, plastic minnows, pink worms etc. If fishing solo, then start changing up after 10 drifts in each of that runs pockets because the key to success can be as simple as a colour change or size change away. Pinks, oranges, whites and purples are all very good winter colours. Winter baitfish are generally emerald shiner or smelt patterns in 3-4" sizes, so match the hatch.
I have a friend who is unemployed and fishes several days per week. He has started to get successful in the last 2 weeks because he's discovered where fish hold and basically runs to those spots for first dibbs - yes, he's still a buddy. If your friend does this, then you are within your right to fish in close proximity. Unfortunately though, this same fella when not on the fish and you are, likes trying to grease you out and is always low holing people. Stand Your Ground! Tell 'em off if there isn't enough water for the both of you to fish. Luckily the Niagara is a big river and you can almost always find other produtive spots to fish.
The temps are rising and this coming week is forecasted as sunny and +2/7C, so the fish are going to get very active shortly. Get out there and get your fix before the masses see the forthcoming reports and start flocking to the productive water.
Good Fishing!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Steelhead Gods are smiling again!
It was long time coming, but we finally got out again for some winter steelhead fishing on the Niagara. The day was beautiful, +3C with sun all day. There was a bitter E wind just to remind us that it was still winter but the sun made it feel more like +10C. The morning was slow and we never saw any fish where we started out at Pebbley. Around noon we decided to make our way upriver toward the Glen, and it was at this point that I noticed the fish had begun to get slightly active around the surface. We fished the tailout section of a long 17' deep run, and on the second drift my partner hooked up with the smallest steelie I'd ever seen pulled from the mighty Niagara River. But hey, it's a start!! We kept moving upstream fishing all the pockets and deeper runs as we came upon them. I spotted a real slow run of about a 50 metres in length and decided to set up shop there. On the third drift my float did the super slow sink as it does on all telltale snags, so I gave it a quick rip back in the direction it had drift from. Oh what is this, the snag fought back!!
I landed this hearty buck after a very lacklustre battle.
The drift kept changing speeds from very slow, to dead stopped but we persisted. Two drifts after my fish, Ben nails another buck just slighty larger than the one I caught.
We fished for about another hour and I lost one fish about the same as these two. The sun had now left our side of the river and the temps started to drop quickly, so we decided to weave our way back up and out of the Gorge.
Not a stellar day by any means but hey, it was great just to be out on a gorgeous winters day and catch fish.
til next time, Good Fishing!
I landed this hearty buck after a very lacklustre battle.
The drift kept changing speeds from very slow, to dead stopped but we persisted. Two drifts after my fish, Ben nails another buck just slighty larger than the one I caught.
We fished for about another hour and I lost one fish about the same as these two. The sun had now left our side of the river and the temps started to drop quickly, so we decided to weave our way back up and out of the Gorge.
Not a stellar day by any means but hey, it was great just to be out on a gorgeous winters day and catch fish.
til next time, Good Fishing!
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