Niagara steelhead action should be hot
Based on last year's experience, anglers can anticipate a good steelhead season this fall in the Niagara region.
According to veteran guide Frank Campbell (www.niagaracharter.com), the steelhead action gets rolling as early as late September, when the Lake Ontario-run rainbows begin relating to the monster run of king salmon that find their way to the lower Niagara River.
"The steelhead will start following the spawning salmon up the river," said Campbell. "When the salmon start laying eggs, that's when our steelhead fishing starts kicking in."
Whereas salmon begin staging outside the mouth of the Niagara River before entering and are caught on the impressive structure of the Niagara Bar, Campbell said the lake run typically doesn't follow the same pattern.
"The steelhead are kind of funny," he said. "We usually don't hit them on the bar. They come from the deep water and slide right into the river, so it's more of a river thing. And early on, a lot of the steelhead catches are incidental, while we are targeting salmon. Once the salmon have been in the river and are laying eggs in mid- to late October, we can then target steelhead using salmon egg sacks and Kwikfish."
Kwikfish are banana-shaped plugs that have been a lower Niagara mainstay for more than 20 years. They vibrate and dart erratically with little movement, making them perfect for the vertical drift fishing that's so effective on the lower Niagara.
Using a three-way rig employing a cylindrical pencil sinker for weight, Kwikfish or salmon egg sacks are tied to a fluorocarbon leader. The rig is dropped to the bottom and flows with the current as the boat drifts through likely fish-holding areas.
The bait actually trails out downstream from the sinker as the boat drifts downriver. The upriver current sliding past the lure is what activates it. Campbell fishes these rigs on medium- to medium-heavy bass-type tackle; bass-sized level wind reels coupled with 7-foot medium-action basting rods make up his typical outfit.
If last year's experience is an accurate indicator of what's to come — and it usually is — 2009 should be a quality year for lower Niagara steelhead fishing.
"Last year's steelhead fishing was very good," said Campbell. "It was one of the strongest years we've had, as far as numbers of fish running. We had good steelhead fishing running from October through winter and through the spring without any real lulls."
The steelhead fishing was still good when I fished the river with Campbell in early May. There were still good numbers of fish in the river in mid-June, though the presence of moss made fishing for them very difficult.
"Numbers-wise, last year was great," said Campbell. "The average size was up, too, although the top-end fish were a bit smaller."
Campbell said last season's average steelhead ran about 8 pounds. The biggest steelhead were 17 pounds. In some years, the biggest steelies can be as much as 22 pounds.
"With the numbers of fish that we saw last year, and the numbers of catch-and-release trips I ran ... we should have a dynamite fall," he said.
The quality of the salmon fishing also factors into the equation. Good salmon fishing on Lake Ontario during the summer keeps the pressure off the rainbows.
"Ironically, the guys on the lake, if the salmon fishing is tough, they'll target steelhead," he said. "If the salmon fishing is good, the rainbows get a reprieve, which translates into a bigger population of fish to run the river in the fall.
"And, this summer, the lake fishing for salmon has gone real well," he added. "That should bode well for the river rainbow fishing of the future."
Visit www.niagara-usa.com for information.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.
