Niagara fishing updates with Niagara Sportfishing

Winter trout action

2011-12-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

Fall trout started off slow in early November because of warm water temps, steelhead runs pushed past most of the slow Canadian drifts and headed up to the fast water where shore fisherman were reporting great catches. Thank god the brown trout showed up in great numbers to keep us busy until water temps finally cooled enough to get the steelies to hang around.

The browns are like the smallmouth bass of the trout world, their aggressive nature allows for fisherman to use all kinds of presentations to catch them. When the water got dirty from the rain and wind, kwik fish really did a number on them as did dropshotted soft jerk baits. Roe and egg imitations worked well when the water cleared.

Now that water temps have reached the low forties, the steelhead action is heating up. With weather being as mild as it has been, I suspect we will be having problems with water clarity. Usually warm weather this time of year is accompanied with big winds and heavy rains. Don't put those kwikies away yet.

Recap fall smallmouth

2011-12-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I posted, the rest of the summer was great as usual, lake Erie did not disappoint. Lots of dropshot action as well as jerk bait action in the fall. My good friend Lonnie king was down from Ottawa, he was working on an article for Ontario Out of Doors on the best trophy smallmouth spots in southern Ontario. We had a great day, Erie layed down flat for us and I put on a drop shot clinic for him.

We caught fish at will, however finding big fish is always a chore with so many rock piles and rocky flats on the Canadian side to scan. Lake held its own with such fisheries as the St Lawrence and Simcoe and we boat several big fish with the biggest topping out at 6 lbs. Lonnie also added a beautiful 8lb walleye on a jigging spoon.

It won't be long until I find my way back onto the lake again to fish the NY trophy season.

Ontario opener

2011-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an opener its been, I had a feeling with the late spring that the opener was going to be terrific, and it has been. I have never seen so many fish shallow before. Its a great time to get away from the usual dropshotting and tube dragging and start fishing some really fun baits like topwater, spinnerbaits and rattle traps. Tubes and grubs still account for alot of fish. We have been getting fish as shallow as I can possible get the boat, your probably better off fishing from shore. I did start looking for post spawn females and have located a good bunch in that 15-22 feet of water just off spawning sites. I suspect alot of fish will remain shallow this year due to the late spring. This happened a few years ago and there were alot of big fish shallow all season.
I dont know if anyone has noticed this, but the water offshore looks really dark blue. It may be due to the colder water down below. Very strange. Here are some pictures of fish that we have caught in the last few weeks.

More Lake Erie trophy smallmouth

2011-05-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

What a great week of fishing, finished it off with Steve, Mike and Bob from West Virginia. I never laughed so hard in my life. Those guys are a blast to fish with. Steve knows every line of every funny movie ever made, he kept us laughing the whole two days.
Steve was up with his dad a few weeks ago because I told him how good April was last year but unfortunately, mother nature had something to say about it and we had the worst spring that I could ever imagine. Steve was looking for redemption and he got it, two glorious days on Erie with very little to no wind. We caught a rediculous number of fish on jerkbaits, tubes, Poor Boys Erie darters and dropshot rigged emerald shiners.
Both Steve and Bob broke 6 lbs, with Steve's fish coming on a jerkbait, very cool. Here are a few pictures to recap their trip. Thanks alot guys for making the trip.

Weather finally coming around on Erie

2011-05-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Had a real great week, weather finally started to co operate and the smallies really came around. There is still dirty water moving around the lake, I think its from all the creek run offs on the south shore. One days its starting to clear, the next its brown and cloudy. The fish dont seem to mind to bad and really hammer the blade baits in the off color water. However, if you can finds some nice clear water, the bite is very good.
I had one of my best days last week with a couple from Oklahoma. They flew up to fish Erie because they had heard so much about it. Well, she didnt disapoint and made them feel right at home. Julie counted every fish they landed, up to 85! They probably lost a good 20 or 30 as well. All came on plastics dragged on the bottom and blade baits. We had a real stiff west wind up to 15 mph. There were small white caps but it didnt seem to bother Julie or John and fishing out of the Ranger was a real pleasure, they absolutely hammered them. I was really impressed with Julie, she didnt complain about the wind or waves or cold all day...I guess when you are too busy catching fish you dont rally notice the nastiness!
They did well the next day too, however they seemed a bit disapointed they only caught 55 or so. The bar was raised too high, we didnt get the wind the next day and they had to work for bites with dropshot rigs.
Here are some pics from the last weeks trips with some great clients, some real slobs in there.

Lake Erie smallmouth

2011-05-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Weather was tolerable for the last few days and finally got some charters done. Wate was about two feet on Monday and the tube bite was there but we mostly got smaller fish. I couldnt fish the water I normally fish because it was too dirty. I fished with Ian and Chris and we gave it til noon or so and went back and it was abit cleaner, at least it was green instead of brown. We managed some nice fish to 5lbs. What was really cool was the jerkbait bite that we got going in shallow water. We hit a few tanks up as shallow as 6 feet. Pretty cool.

Today I fished with Wayne from LeBarons in Mississauga, What a miserable day, cold, wet and windy....I am sick of this crap. I cant wait til summer. We had a good jerkbait bite early and then got on them pretty good with blade baits and tubes. We even got a bonus catfish that went 14lbs on a blade bait!

Spring smallmouth

2011-05-02T05:28:00.001-07:00

Wow, I cant remember a spring this bad as far as weather and wind goes. When I finally did have a chance to get out, I had to run past Sturgeon point to find relatively clear water. We got some fish, but nothing really big. The water off Hamburg is just starting to clear, it should be ripe in a day or so. I imagine it will be polluted with fish. Usually, big winds always bring in alot of fish. I hope these winds finally die down, I am jonesing for some big spring smallies. I will post when I have some decent fish to show off.

Falcon Lake trip mid march

2011-03-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

I love largemouth fishing, thats what I do mostly on my days off during the summer months. I have made several trips to the states, Florida and Texas. I fished the famous stick marsh way back in the early nineties and fished Lake Fork two years ago. Both trips were fun with many fish, but nothing big, realatively speaking. Big for down there is 8 plus.
This year I decided to try Falcon Lake in south Texas on the Mexican border. Its a reservoir on the Rio Grande river. It was made famous in 2008 when Paul Elias, a BASS elite angler, broke the all time 4 day weight record at over 132 lbs. Thats a 7 lb average. I decided to do after reading about the lake record being broken by Texas guide Tommy Law, his fish weighed 15.6 lbs. I called him and my brother and I booked a three day trip for mid March.
There are no direct flights into Laredo Texas, the closest city with an airport to Zapata TX, which is the only city on Lake Falcon. We had to board three different planes then rent a car and drive an hour to Falcon. It was all worth it. My first fish went 6 lbs and I followed that with a 10.11 lb giant in the first half hour of our trip.

The winds kicked up and it blew for the next three days. I am quite familiar with wind fishing on Erie, but largemouth fishing is way more spot oriented and it was very difficult fishing the main lake spots that Tommy wanted to target. We ended up fishing in coves trying to get out of the heavy winds. We caught alot of fish, 20-30fish a day with many pushing 8 lbs. One day we got on an amazing crankbait bite hooking about a ten fish to 8 lbs.

On our last day, Tommy took us into the Rio Grande river, we fished some of the protected coves trying to hide from the forecast 20-30 mph winds. The fishing was slow, he took us to many of his best spots with only 2-4 lb fish caught. The coves were starting to develop an algae bloom and soon the lines on our reels were turning green. He had me crank this one spot that he had done well on a few days earlier. I lost three crankbaits in a row on it. I felt like a moron, but I swear I know how to fish crankbaits, the lures would snag instantly before I even touch bottom. I asked him if there was a tree on the spot and he said no, only rocks. He laughed at me and threw one up there himself only to have it snagged. We left the spot only hooking one fish about 3 lbs. We came back later, I tried to redeem myself and lost another crankbait. My brother also snagged his texas rigged fluke. I asked Tommy to go up on the spot to get our baits back and sure enough, the Mexican fisherman had strung a gill neck right across the mouth of the small cove. I only got one crankbait back and we high tailed it out of there before someone saw us messing with the net. I dont know if any of you know about Falcon lake, but there has been some negative news surrounding it for the last few years. That part of Mexico is pretty much run by drug lords and they have been known to pirate the odd bass fisherman as well as murder a jet skier last year. Things have been quiet there after President Obama sent 1200 national guard troops to help patrol the border. However, once you enter into Mexican waters, you are on your own. Tommy has been fishing it since 71 and has never had any problems. We didnt the whole time we were there.
The last day was pretty slow so he kept us out a bit longer, trying to get my brother a big bite. I asked if he had a hail Mary spot, he said he did and took us there. My brother hooked a big fish on a t-rigged Zoom Speed worm but it jumped a good foot or so out of the water and spit the hook. We probably caught 9 fish out of that spot up to 6 lbs.

Before we went in, we stoped at a shallow ridge with small gravel and trees on it. He said it was a trememdous spawning spot. I hooked a 4 lber right away and my brother lost another. I then hooked a really big fish which boiled the surface and shook off. Tommy said it was huge...I wasnt so sure. I threw right back in there and hooked another fish with tremendous strength. Thank god I have musky fishing background because I knew I had to be careful with this one. I free spooled when she wanted to run, my drag was clamped all the way shut and she would have either broken my 25 lb fluoro or straightened my 6/0 superline Gammy. After a lengthy battle of back and forth, Tommy lipped my new personal best, an huge 11.8 lber!

What a way to end a trip. I cant wait to go back, he says April and May are his favourite times because most fish are post spawn and on main lake structure. Cranking and carolina rigging usually end up with big numbers and big average sizes. I plan on going back bi annually. This place is heaven on earth for largemouth fisherman. Its definately on its way up to peak, Tommy says once the reservoir receeds 12 or 15 feet, the fishing is going to be out of this world. I think it is already there.
If you plan on going, give Tommy a call, his guides service is called OutLaw Guide service on Falcon Lake, 325-439-6045. Bring extra heavy gear, these fish are nothing like our northern fish, they are big and mean.

Spring Steelheading

2011-03-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I posted. Things have been pretty steady this winter, many double digit days and the weather was way more co operative than last season. Fishing has been good, but not as good as in the past especially for steelhead. They have been abit scarce. There are however a ton of browns in the river. The bite on roe has seemed to switch over to more of a minnow or streamer bite. Yarn is still catching fish as well. This season seems to be different from the past. I have been guiding for 16 years now and cant remember a season like this with more browns in the river than steelhead. I'm not complaining, its nice to see all those browns around. I guess like everything else, things change. Most days we are getting close to 12 or more bites. The picture below was a double header of fish around 10 lbs. Earl is holding a beauty, it was his first time on the Niagara and he was quite impressed with the fishery. Last picture is of Natalie, myself and her 11 lb brown. Her and her boyfriend did well on the river hooking over a dozen fish.

Mid Nov Steelhead report

2010-11-22T15:46:00.001-08:00

Trout action has been hot the last two weeks on the lower Niagara river. Lots of steelhead, browns and lakers being caught. As usual this time of year, weather is playing havoc on the fishing with wind affecting water color. When it clears, the fishing is phenominal with many double digit days. One of my clients also caught what we believe to be an Atlantic salmon. This fish was 15 lbs, it looked like it swallowed a whiskey keg!
See you on the water!

Fall fishing heating up

2010-10-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Fishing has been heating up for smallmouth and muskies on lake Erie and the Niagara River. Only problem so far has been the wind. When possible to get out on the lake, I am finding the smallmouth starting to school up on their usual wintering areas. Jigging spoons are working great right now as is dropshotting and dragging tubes.
The steelhead action on the lower drifts is still slow. Sporadic runs of rainbows are blowing past the lower drifts up to the faster water. Fishing is hit and miss. Another couple of weeks and they should be setting up on the lower drifts as well. There are plenty of lakers around already to keep things interesting til the steelies show up.
The musky action has been consistent with multiple fish days, and the fish seem to be putting on the winter weight. I love the fall, but I hate the wind that comes with it.

Personal Erie Summer Best

2010-08-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

After a successful half day charter on Sat I decided to scout some water that I don't usually fish. I had some crayfish left over so I decided to use the remaining dozen up. I drove around for some time looking for the furthest and deepest transition from soft to hard bottom on this particular shoal. I used my Lowrance X27 equipped with a broadband sounder to find a drop at the end of the shoal from 29 to 35 feet. It looked to have several boulders with hooks around them. The new Lowrance HDS units come with built in broadband in them. Its an awesome tool when scouting for deep structure and fish. I put a crayfish on my drop shot rig and lowered it down. As I drifted up the slope I felt that distinct dropshot bite and raised my rod and began reeling. I knew it was a good fish and my suspicions where verified when the smallmouth rocketed out of the water. After a stressful battle on six lb test the fish was in the net. I was shocked when I lifted the fish from the net, I hadn't really seen a fish this big since the spring NY trophy season. The fish measured 6 lbs 4 ozs and measured 22 inches long. I have caught alot of 6 lb fish but most of them in the spring. This fish was truly a tank. I suspect it would go 7 lbs in the spring. I tried to duplicate my luck but only managed to catch much smaller fish from the spot. This fish must have been a loner. I wish I had more time to just drive around and look for spots like this. When your electronics perform like this it makes exploring alot of fun.

Mid summer smallmouth on Erie

2010-08-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

Smallmouth fishing on lake Erie has been tremendous so far this summer. Many 30-50 fish days with some fish to 5 lbs. The warm weather really has them revved up, the fish are fighting so hard and the arial accrobatics are spectacular with some fish jumping as high as 4 feet out of the water! Drifting dropshot rigs with soft plastics has been deadly. See you on the water.

Fun with Lowrance Structure Scan imaging

2010-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

While cruising a popular bay in Lake Erie, I was playing around with my Lowrance Structure Scan that came out late last year. I had it on side imaging, with a span of 40 feet in shallow water, I was in 10 feet of water. As I was cruising along, into my screen came the haunting image of a sailboat on its side. I knew about side scan imaging and have seen all the images available on the internet, however to actually find a piece of structure like this was amazing. There it was, a 25-30 foot sailboat on its side lying on the bottom of the lake. The StructureScan has the ability to use your gps to mark waypoints out to the sides, so that is what I did, I marked a box around the sailboat and put the electric down and started throwing lures over it. My clients caught several smallmouth from it on spinnerbaits, rattletraps and topwater. They were amazed at its detail and accuracy.
I hope to spend many days cruisintg around looking for these little sweet spots that would be otherwise very difficult to find with out StuctureScan imaging. Looking for isolated boulders or other objects on sand flats will without a doubt be hot spots for years to come. StructureScan will definately open your eyes to a whole new way of fishing. See you on the water.

Tribute to my Mom

2010-07-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Late last year, my mom was diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer. They performed an ileostomy on her to reduce the pain of a almost completely blocked colon. She received two rounds of chemo therapy that really did a number on her. She didnt complain, nor did I ever see her breakdown and cry like I probably would have. She accepted what had happened to her and held her head high and kept a positive attitude to the very end. The pain and suffering I saw my mom go through from the chemo side effects and the ileostomy was unbearable, it took a toll on her and my family. Together we helped and supported my mom to her final days. She died last Sunday peacefully surrounded by family. She had a beautiful funeral that was attended by hundreds of people. I realized that my mom was loved by many people, she touched so many lives with her generosity and kindness, always willing to listen or help out in way she could, especially when it came to cooking. We should all wish to have that many friends. I am going to miss my mom dearly, but I can find reassurance in the fact that she was so loved by so many. If your mom is still alive, give her a big hug and tell her you love her. I wont be able to do that anymore. Rest in peace mom.

Musky season opening!

2010-06-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

Musky season is finally opening this Saturday, it seems to take so long. I have been enjoying incredible bass fishing up til now for both smallmouth on the lake and largemouth on the river. Traditionally, the moss on the river is very bad this time of year and trolling is difficult, however casting and dragging plastics has been very successful for the last few years or so. Big swimbaits like the Storm wildeye and Red October tubes have been dynamite. A little modifications make these approaches very successful. Adding stinger hooks increases your landing rate greatly. Fishing plastics isnt easy, the bites are light as opposed to throwing jerkbaits and bucktails, concentration and a good hand are key. Good luck on he water!

Didnt have to wait long

2010-04-20T18:42:00.001-07:00

Well, didnt think I would be posting so soon, however I had to report on my trip today. Fished with a very good client Mike Bailey today. We probably had our best trip, we hooked well over 60 fish and weighed at least 12 over 5lbs and one over six. The average size was tremendous, most fish in the mid 4-5 lbs range. It was also one of the nicest days, we had a perfect 5-7mph wind all day out of the west, didnt have to mess with a drift sock or need any fancy boat control. Jerkbaits, tubes, select plastics did the trick. It didnt seem to matter really, they seemed to be chomping all day. It was a good way to start the smallmouth season. Water is starting to creep up, mid to high 40 for surface temp by the end of the day.

Trophy smallmouth time!

2010-04-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I posted last. I have had a terrible winter. Found out my mom has cancer at Christmas. Its been a rough few months. If anyone reading this is over the age of 40 and has never had a colonoscopy, I suggest getting one done. Colon cancer is one of the few that can be cured. Unfortunately, my mom never had one done. She is getting chemo treatment and we are hoping for the best.
I was able to get out a few times for steelhead, and did ok, dirty water or bad weather always seemed to get in my way however when guiding, but spring for me is trophy smallmouth time. This year the bite is early due to the early exit of ice on Erie. There are some really big fish setting up already falling to tubes and jerkbaits. Looking forward to the many charters I have booked this spring. Hopefully this year I will be able to break 7lbs. I will post another report in a week or so hopefully with some pics of slob smallmouth.

Late fall action

2009-12-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Its been awhile since I updated my blog, I was pretty busy on the water for the last three weeks fishing smallmouth and steelhead. The smallmouth action was awesome on Erie with all the mild weather, got a fish over 6 lbs almost every trip. Average size wasnt as big as usual, but the big fish were there. This year that was a tremendous amount of perch everywhere I stopped in 40-50 feet of water. I dont remember that many perch around, we caught them on everything from jigging spoons to dropshots to tubes. Pretty impressive when you can lip a perch.
Steelhead action was good through Nov. with lots of lakers mixed in as well. Even got one that was 21 lbs. Weather has finally caught up to us with high winds and rain. River has been dirty for a few days now with no real sign of clearing for a another few days. High winds tomorrow should keep it dirty. If it does stay dirty, the fish will climatize and start feeding. I had a great kwik fish bite last fall with the same conditions, less that two feet of vis for many weeks. Hopefully though, the winds will calm and fishing can get back to normal. Only good thing about the rain and wind is that it will bring in fresh runs of steelhead.

Oct fishing

2009-10-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

Smallmouth fishing on lake Erie is excellent right now, fish are starting to consolidate near wintering areas meaning huge catches of numbers and big fish. Jigging spoons, tubes and dropshot continue to work great. Great time to bag a trophy fish. Average size is way up as well.
Musky fishing on the river is very good as well. As the shallows cool off and the weed beds die off, many muskies use the main river channel where they are easier to catch with trolling techniques. Fish are starting to get quite girthy as well.
Steelhead action on the lower is starting to get good, many fish up river in devils hole all the way to the falls. With cooling water many of the drifts down stream from devils hole will likely turn on as well. Hopefully we will get a good run of browns this year that hold on the lower drifts, last year they seemed to blow by the lower drifts and headed right up river to the whirlpool.

Sept smallmouth

2009-09-07T02:08:00.000-07:00

Smallmouth fishing on lake Erie and the Niagara river has been excellent all summer long. With cool summer conditions, many fish have remained in the river system and shallow on the lake making for some excellent days on the water with fish pushing 6 lbs. Drop shotting deeper structure has also started to heat up with big fish starting to show up on fall spots. I expect a great fall for big fish.

New Lowrance HDS8

2009-07-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to installing a new HDS8 sonar on my boat and trying it out on Lake Erie. The new Navionics Platinum Plus map is a must have on Erie. The new mapping includes dimesional countours of the bottom showing humps and drop offs that where not apparent on the previous Navionics maps. It really opens up a whole new world out there. I drove around checking out the new structure and was quite impressed with its accuracy, and the amount of fish it held. Looking forward to trying it out with the new structure scan coming out this fall.

Summer smallmouth

2009-07-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

The weather for the past month has been terrible on lake Erie. I had three days of calm mornings when I could get a topwater bite going. The rest of the days have been breezy to windy. Not so much as I couldnt get out, just couldnt get a topwater bite going. Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and crankbaits have been the ticket to great days on the water. The shallow bite has really slowed down, most of the fish have finished the spawn and move out to a bit deeper water, usually the first drop off. This is where the crankbait and jerkbait bite has been the best. As summer progresses and the fish set up on their traditional summer rockpiles, the dropshot bite will take over for me. Look forward to hooking into some bigger fish during this pattern. Most of the shallow fish are in the 2-4 lb range, not too shabby, most of my first time clients on Lake Erie are blown away by how hard these fish fight. Like they say, pound for pound the smallmouth bass is the toughest freshwater fish!

Lake Erie bass opening week

2009-07-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

Topwater action has beeen limited so far due to the winds and rain that have been passing for the last week. Fish have been extremely shallow, as little as 2 feet of water. When conditions were right, spooks and prop baits have accounted for most of the fish. When the wind was too strong to throw topwater, we have been having tremendous luck with spinnerbaits. Fish are smashing them with a vengance. The water is alot colder than normal for this time of year and I suspect that the shallow water bite will continue for sometime. We even managed to catch a beautiful 16 lb muskie on a spinnerbait in 4 feet of water on lake Erie...what a surprise that was! See you on the water.

New website up and running

2009-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

My newly renovated website is up and running. Hopefully, more people will get the chance to find me on their searches on the fishing here on the Niagara and Lake Erie. It truly is a fishermans dream destination with the excellent steelheading, smallmouth and largemouth bass fishing. The musky fishing is on a comeback with good numbers in the river. In a few years it will back to its old self again as one of the better musky fisheries on Ontario. I still have some dates available for the Ontario opener of bass fishing. The first week is the best topwater action you will see all year. Lots of fish and big fish still shallow from the spawn. Big fish on a topwater last year was a giant 5.4 post spawn female.

Lake Erie smallmouth

2009-06-12T05:49:00.000-07:00

The NY state trophy season is still living up to its name. In the past few weeks in June my clients have managed to boat several smallmouth in the 20-22 inch class weight up to 6 lbs. The average size is way down, however some big post spawn females are still around. Best consistant bite has come deep in 27-30 feet of water for myself. Trips to the shallows has been spotty with lots of small fish. The topwater bite hasnt really started yet, but I suspect with water temps climbing into the mid sixties they should start hitting topwater with a vengance. Tubes, jigging spoons, drop shotting and emerald shiners are doing the trick for us. The tube bite is best with a good breeze while the jigging spoon bite is good on those calm days. Emeralds work all the time! The Ontario season opens soon and the topwater bite is historically amazing, usually lasting a couple of weeks. In the past, I have been able to catch fish as deep as 25 feet on surface baits. Of course, the weather has to be perfect. Last year was the first year as far as I can remember where I couldnt get out other than a couple of times to fish topwater. Hopefully this year will be good.

Late May NY state Trophy smallmouth

2009-05-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

Almost a month has passed since I started fishing the NY state trophy smallmouth season. The weather couldnt have been any better, I only lost a couple of days on the lake due to winds. The fishing has been good to great the whole time and there werent too many trips my clients didnt manage a fish over 6 lbs. I am working on getting a new web site up and the pictures of the big fish will be on there. Some real hogs with a few measuring to 22 inches. However, the 7 lb mark still eludes my boat. I cant believe with the numbers of fish caught, probably pushing one thousand, someone didnt land a fish over 7 lbs. Just goes to show you how rare the actually are. I still have a few weeks left, however with the spawn in progress, weight loss will be an issue.
Dragging tubes, jigging spoons, jerkbaits and emerald shiners have been accounting for most of the fish. Tube still seem to catch the biggest fish, even over emerald shiners at times. I guess those big females like their meals dragged infront of their noses. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to post a report on a seven pound fish one of my clients was lucky enough to land.

NY state Trophy smallmouth

2009-05-03T02:34:00.001-07:00

Its been a week since I started fishing smallmouth on Lake Erie on the NY side. Numbers have been very good with clients averaging around 60 fish days. Two fish over 6 lbs have been caught so far, but the 7 lb mark still escapes me. Dragging tubes, dropshotting and jerkbaits have all produced very well with most fish coming from 24-21 feet of water. Weather looks good for the upcoming week, hopefully a 7 lb fish will find its way to my boat.

Lake Erie smallmouth

2009-04-27T01:31:00.001-07:00

Finally got the opportunity to fish Erie for smallmouth yesterday. Wanted to get ready for the next three weeks of charters. Caught fish on tubes right away in 23-27 feet of water so I decided to try the shallows to see if a jerkbait bite was happening. When I got there, I noticed very stained water, less than 4 feet of visibilty. I made a few casts with no bites so I decided to work my way over to another waypoint by using my electric motor. I decided to throw my jerkbait out and troll it behind the boat. I didnt go 10 yards and got a bite. A nice fat typical prespawn 4 lber. Hmm, I let her go and threw my jerkbait out again and kept trolling. I immediately got another strike. Well, since it was such a nice flat calm sunny day, I decided to keep trolling. I must have landed over 20 fish myself in a few hours. I even threw out another rod to see if I could get double headers...which I did, many of them. The two biggest fish were both in the 5 1/2lb range. Not too shabby for my first day out. Hopefully I will be able to add some nice pictues of some 6 lb plus fish to my website in the next couple of weeks. Typically jigging spoons and tubes get the most bites this time of year, however condtions where perfect for trolling jerkbaits this time.

Muskies Canda Odyssey April 25 2009

2009-04-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

Havent been on the water too much lately, probably not a bad thing considering the cold north winds. They are brutal on the lower river. I have been spending most of my spare time working on my Franky Baits in preperation for the 2009 Muskies Canada Odyssey in St Catherines ON. on april 25. Its a bi yearly event and consentrates strictly on musky fishing. You will find alot of the areas basement bait builders along with tackle retailer from around the area. If you cant find what your looking for at the odyessey, you probably dont need it. There will also be many seminars going on all day long. The raffle table will make you salivate, amazing amounts of tackle and equipment. I hope to have a good number of baits on hand from 8" to 14". The hard part is trying to figure out what patterns to paint. Hopefully I will have a good selection for people to choose from. Hopefully see you there.

Lower Niagara report April 2

2009-04-03T05:26:00.001-07:00

By far yesterday was the nicest day of the year so far. Morning started out chilly with a SE breeze coming down the river, with the water temps still in the low 30's it made for a cold morning. That changed by late morning when the wind calmed right down and the sunshine took over. Morning bite was slow for us, we took a few fish on pink roe bags. Things picked up in the afternoon and we ended the day going 8/10. I was suprised when we landed a beautiful female and she started dropping egss. Spawning in low 30 degree water. Amazing. The water quality was very good still over 3 feet of visibilty. I am sure above the dams the water would have been crystal clear. Rain expected for the next couple of days, hopefully that wont have much effect on the river. Its also supposed to get cold next week with brisk NW winds. Supposed to be back out on Tues...hopefully tht forecast will change for the better by then.

Lower River Report March 31

2009-03-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Water quality remains good even with the rain the last few days, visibility was beyond three feet. Fishing was slow today, my client and I managed 5/6 rainbows in the 5 1/2 hours we fished. Conditions weren't great with temps slightly above freezing and very breezy out of the west, reminded me of a Dec day. Small pink bags and pink power worms getting the bites. There seems to be alot of dead smelt floating around, alot more than I have noticed in the past. I would imagine the trout are well fed.

New Lowrance HDS units

2009-03-23T05:36:00.000-07:00

I worked the Toronto Sportsman show for the last five days in the Lowrance booth. I had alot of time to play with the new High Definition units that came out this spring. All I can say is WOW. The picture, clarity is phenomanal. The new Solar Max screen makes viewing the screen from any angle crystal clear. The new units come with a two year warranty that should make consumers feel alot more secure about dolling out the big dollars for some of the bigger units. This year all the HDS units come with a built in broadband sounder. I had alot of people ask questions about the broad band, seems it wasnt out long enough for people to fully understand what it really did. It was designed for saltwater deep sea fishing where anglers where searching for fish on structure hundreds of feet deep. It does have alot to offer us shallow fresh water anglers as well.
I had added a broad band to my unit last year and loved it. Makes finding smallmouth on Erie alot easier on bottom among rocks. They call this ability target seperation. For trollers, it will show individual hooks more clearly from pods of bait. It also keeps its bottom lock better when traveling at higher speeds. I can be cruising at 40 and still be able to detect bottom hardness that may hold fish.
Another great feature the new HDS units have is the ability to read the new Navionics Platinum Plus chips. When installed in an HDS unit, not only does it show contour lines, it also shows what looks like satellite images of bottom contours. Alot like looking at google earth but much more pronounced. For example, a well known point in lake Erie shows multiple rock piles and humps strewn around its outer edges. The only way anglers would have found any of these humps would have been to drift or drive over them and mark them on their gps. Now, you can see each of the humps and how far out they actually are. Many people where very impressed and I can see how it will make a difference when looking for isolated pieces of structure that may have never been fished.
I am looking forward to trying out one of these units on my boat this spring. If you ever get a chance to spend a day on the water with me, I can point out all of these amazing new features on the new HDS units.

March Steelhead

2009-03-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Fished the Niagara River for the last three days, pretty tough considering the nice weather. Water is stuck in a silty 1-2 foot visibility. Seem the Canadian powerdams keep pumping out muddy water, must be reminance from the rain and melt we had last week. We fished for three hours on Friday and landed three and lost one, kwikfish seemed to be the ticket in the stained water. Sat was no better, my brother and I started at noon and fished til 4:30, I think we only landed three fish. Today I had a charter and we landed 7, it was a long day. Got a couple of really nice fish in the 8-9 lb range. Roe bags in pink and yarn flies seemed to work ok, even got one on a plastic minnow. Didnt get a chance to really fish the kwikfish due to the northeast wind. Boy, there were alot of boats on the water today, most of the drifts were packed. Those steelhead must have bumps on their heads with all the lead coming down at them.
I wont be on the water for at least a week, I will be at the Toronto Sportsmans show all next week, stop in at the Lowrance booth and check out the new HDS Lowrance units...way too cool!

my first blog

2009-03-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Frank DiMarcantonio and I would like to welcome you to the Niagara Sportfishing blog. I hope to share with readers stories, tips and techniques to help make your trip to the Niagara Region fun and safe. I have been fishing these waters since I was a young boy and have always been amazed at the quantity and quality that Niagara's lakes and rivers produce. I have been guiding since 1995 and have ejoyed ever minute of it, tons of great memories, great catches and friendships have been made along the way. I have always prided myself on my results and the reputation that I have upheld since I started guiding. I believe a good guide should not only be able to put his clients on fish, but also leave them with the memories of a fun filled day on the water.

A good guide should also supply his guests with the best tackle he can afford. I have been lucky to have created good relationships with people in the fishing industry such as Adrian Flemming, owner of Grimsby Tackle, probably one of the most respected men in the tackle business. Adrian has been at it for over 20 years. If you are ever in the Grimsby area, make sure you stop in and check out his Tackle shop on Highway 8 in Grimsby, its worth the drive. The guys there know their stuff and are the friendliest people you will ever meet. Through him, I have been able to supply my guests with what I think is the best tackle available today. G Loomis rods and Shimano reels make any day on the water alot more fun! If you have never experienced what a quality rod and reel feel like, then spending a day on the water with me will indeed open your eyes to what I am talking about.

I also try to stay on top of tends and tactics that make fishing more fun and productable. From dropshotting to shaky heads to new Japanese baits that will blow your mind! I am not afraid to try new things. Since guiding is a hobby for me, which probably is the reason I still love it to this day, I put all my effort, and most of my money, into new products and tackle. I am also one of the few guides to run a Ranger 620VS multi species boat. All I can say is get in one and you will understand why Ranger is the best built boat in the world.

I hope you visit my blog often and learn a few things from my experiences. Hopefully we may even share a day on the water. To learn more about my guide service, please check out http://www.niagarasportfishing.ca/ for more info and pictures. Take care and fish everyday like its your last.