Canada's best year round multi-species fishery?

The answer rolls off my tongue with ease and not second thought.  The Niagara River of course!
What, an Ontario river you say?  Not a BC river, you must be joking?
Quite the contrary actually, and it is likely the best fishery in North America.  Although Chinook Salmon runs are down in all the Great Lakes, the other opportunities just keep on improving.  This is thanks in large part to established, long term stocking intiatives by both the US and Canada.
The Brown Trout returns this past season has got to be as good as anywhere and has definitely bested any year the river has ever seen.

So you are a die hard Trout fisherman and Ontario is currently in the grips of winter, so what do you do?  Head to the Niagara of course!

Winter tends to a bit slower than say Nov/Dec but there can always be a few fish willing to take a well presented offer.  An average winter day can easily have you battling three fish over a half day of fishing.

So get out there and good fishing!

The Credit River - politicians playing God

Here's a recent report of the goings-on of the Credit and how the government plans to dump wild Steelhead into one of the last and best Brook and Brown Trout fisheries left in Southern Ontario.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/621082

As if the Atlantic Salmon fiasco isn't enough!!

Great Lakes Asian Carp Invasion

If you fish any waterbody that has connections to the Great Lakes, then you need to know how the future of this fishery is being severely threatened!!



There is new DNA evidence, as early as last week, that the carp has now breached the Chicago barrier.
For those of you who don't know what that means, then you need to watch these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zkTnQVaM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChwJiKKBdA

Lets hope for swift and immediate action to save our $7 billion/year fishery!!

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!

Southern Ontario, Niagara outdoors and the 2010 Spring Shows

It has been feeling more like winter in Southern Ontario this year, since the start of the month. The slightly lower avg temps of -4 to -8C have kept snow down though. Niagara had a week long dump of snow due to some continued N - NW winds bringing heavy flurries in off Lake Ontario. The cold coupled with poor water vis has kept me away from steelheading the Niagara River for 2-3weeks! There's a mild spell of +3/4C coming by the end of next week. Provided the water stays at its 3ft vis and green, there should be some good action! The Browns are still around in the river, possibly dropping back now.

The Toronto Boat Show started this week and continues til next weekend.  We'll be in Toronto with Fogh Marine, presenting at the Spring Fishing and Boat Show Feb 12-15.  The unveiling of our 2010 Ontario Kayak Fishing Series, the new Nomad Adventures Brochure and Hobie's '10 fishing kayak line-up plus Fogh Marine's great sailing display.
We'll also be presenting at the Niagara Outdoor Show on April 3/4. 
Hope to see some of you out!

Lake Erie has started to freeze on the N-W end, so it won't be long til the river stays clean for at least a month!  Now just have to contend with cold weather and freezing rod guides.

Good fishing and see you on the river!!