Frank Campbell with niagara steelhead he caught.

Frank Campbell expertly positioned his dee-vee boat along the convoluted current seams that make up Devil’s Hole, a popular gathering spot for both fish and anglers within the lower Niagara River.

He lowered a three-way rig baited with natural salmon eggs to the bottom of the rocky river and was soon rewarded with the take of a Lake Ontario steelhead. It took several minutes before I was able to scoop Campbell’s steelhead in the net, a heavy fish in the upper-10s, pound-wise.

Come fall, many anglers partake in the steelhead fishing that makes up “steelhead alley,” a collection of Great Lakes-connected waters that become ripe with steelhead.

For the most part, these Lake Erie and Lake Ontario tributaries are relatively small, easily-waded and reliant on fall precipitation to freshen up the flows and usher steelhead into their modest confines.

In the case of the Niagara River, which carries the flow of Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the run is much more predictable.

The steelhead fishing of the lower Niagara — downriver of Niagara Falls — makes up much of Captain Frank Campbell’s (www.niagaracharters.com) late fall/winter charters.

“We have a scenario where the salmon run is dying off by late October,” explained Campbell. “The steelhead are in there eating the eggs, they’re not in there to spawn. By November, the lake trout move into spawn, and the steelhead keep packing into the river. The further on we get into the fall and winter season, the better the fishing gets.”

Though the Niagara is a huge river, it’s subject to discoloration. Campbell said if there’s a big blow on Lake Erie, enough to rile the water, the Niagara will become dirty enough to shut down the steelhead fishing. But during the initial stages of such an event, the fishing can become better, as the stained water plays in the angler’s favor.

Though bank fishing has become more popular, due to the size of the river it’s still largely a boat-fishing deal.

The Art Park Drift, about three miles found between Lewistown and the power plants, is the most popular and productive steelhead stretch. Campbell said the most productive method is drifting egg sacks, fishing them nearly vertical under the boat on three-way rigs. Early in the season, larger egg sacks produce, smaller as time moves on and lake trout eggs (which are smaller) become the forage.

Campbell said yarn flies and beads also work at times. Later in the season, as eggs become scarce and steelhead switch to minnows, hardbaits such as Yakima’s Map Lip, also fished on three-way rigs, become productive.

The outing during which I joined Campbell took place during the spring. At that time, we caught both steelhead and lake trout. After we tired of that, Campbell ran down the river to Lake Ontario, where we enjoyed the best fishing for magnum-sized smallmouth bass that I’ve experienced to date, including my personal-best 7.5-pound bronzeback.

The Art Park stretch of river that Campbell lists as one of the best for steelhead can safely be fished from a 16-foot boat or larger. However, running up to Devil’s Hole is a tricky deal as strong currents from power generating stations on both the American and Canadian sides collide with that of the river.

Campbell says a minimum of 18-feet of boat is required to navigate through those waters. I’d add that it’s a much better idea to first fish these waters with an experienced guide such as Campbell before trying it on your own.

Not only is this a much safer option, but the tactics learned from such an experience will significantly shorten your learning curve.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle