Days on the Water: 2
Who we fished with: friends/clients
Where we fished: Lower Niagara
What we caught: steelhead, lake trout
Tactics: beads, jigs, live bait
Commentary for the Week of 03/07 – 03/13/2022
It was a short week. I returned from a fishing trip to Oklahoma late Thursday (tap here for the report) and managed to fish on our home water Friday and Sunday. Water clarity was excellent and it seems like more and more fresh fish are entering the system. The bite has been hit or miss but the general trend is that things are improving with each outing.
For the audio version of this report and much more, tap the link below:
Daily Conditions Analysis
- Friday – gorgeous day. Mild temperatures in the upper 30s, little to no wind, excellent water clarity. A heavy dose of snow showed up late in the day, but we got off the water shortly thereafter.
- Saturday – very cold. very windy. scattered snow showers throughout the day.
- Sunday – windy and cold with a ton of ice – but we were itching to get back out so we gave it a shot.
Seasonal Assessment/General Observations
It seems like live minnows are the best bet…but not by much. There have been days where an orange bead caught half the fish but more times than not, live minnows worked best. I loathe using live bait this time of year because, well, that involves hauling around a bait bucket (live wells and the pumps inside freeze up in the cold and often blow fuses – it’s not worth the hassle of using them) and freezing hands. However, when the bite is picky, you’ve gotta give them what they want…but it doesn’t hurt to experiment throughout the day. Thankfully, spring is near so the days of freezing hands are coming to an end.
If you look at the photos, you’ll notice that most of the steelhead we’ve been catching lately are fresh – bordering chrome. In case you didn’t know, steelhead change colors when they enter rivers to spawn. After a few days in the river, their reds become more vibrant and their general pallate turns from chome to gray and black. It’s weird that we’ve only been catching a few dark fish and leaves me wondering where all the fall-run fish went. Phrased a little differently, if there was a good run of steelhead this past fall, we should be catching a mix of colored up and chrome fish – but we aren’t.
Whatever – bottom line, it seems like more and more fresh fish are entering the system. For now, they seem to be keying in on minnows and building up their energy prior to the spring spawn. It won’t be long before they start focusing more on eggs/beads than minnows.
Looking Forward to the Week of 03/14/2022 – 03/20/2022
The chart above is my prediction for this upcoming week. In short – it looks pretty damn good! If the forecast holds steady, the whole week will be fishable! Those 2 yellow indicators are only there because there is some rain in the forecast. Most of the week will be warm, low winds, and sunny – just in time for the first day of spring. I have a little bit of boat maintenance to do on Monday but otherwise, I’ll be on the water daily.
Our spring calendar is already packed! Thanks again to our loyal customers for reserving dates well in advance! We still have a few openings left but things are getting tight so if you’re considering booking a trip for one of the best angling windows of the year, do so ASAP.
Stay healthy my friends – mentally and physically,
Ryan
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