Species 18

Smallmouth bass were our primary targets at Lake Ontario today, and they clearly dominated the catch Still, when a few coho salmon decided to bite, Frank Campbell and I sure didn't complain.

The cohos, along with being fast and pretty, provided a nice bonus and for me another species for my annual fish list. Yesterday's first lake trout was also new for this year's list, and I'm pretty sure I'm at 18 fish species. The plan tomorrow is to fish Lake Erie for smallmouth bass. I have smallies well covered, but you never know what might take a bait any given time in the Great Lakes! once while doing the same stuff we'll be doing tomorrow, I actually reeled in a goby!

New York State of Mind

Not represented in this photo are about 50 big smallmouths
caught and released on the same day!

As of a yesterday, a little past lunchtime, I thought I'd be home for the next few weeks, writing fish stories and doing only local fishing. Then opportunity arose, and it was one I just couldn't resist. Some time this weekend I'll point the Fiesta north and drive till I get to Lewiston, New York, on the banks of the Niagara River.

Lewiston ranks among my favorite fishing towns, and the annual media gathering I'll be joining is always fun and productive. Last year, it produced one of my favorite fishing days of the entire year in Capt. Frank Campbell's boat on the lower Niagara River. The 10-pound brown pictured above slammed a tube while we were smallmouth fishing, and was among about 50 smallmouths between about 3 pounds and 5-15. To cap the spectacular smallmouth action, which occurred in about four hours at the mouth of the Niagara River, we ran upriver to swifter water and managed to land a steelhead and a laker. Some kind of day, I'd have to say!


Potential opportunities from the same trip also include fishing Erie for big first-season smallmouths, fishing for trout and salmon and Lake Ontario and much more. I fished three days on last year's trip, and each was completely different from the other two. Erie was slower than normal, but one fish I caught weighed 5-11, which is the biggest smallmouth I've ever weighed. The variety of high-quality opportunities is in the Niagara River Region is really pretty astounding.

For now, I suppose I need to scramble to finish some writing, charge some batteries, clear some come cards, pack some junk...

Personal Best Smallmouth & More

It's always fun to top a personal best for a kind of fish. To do so two days in a row is even better. The smallmouth pictured above, which I caught today on Lake Erie in Billy McDonald's boat, was the biggest one I've ever weighed (5-11). I can't say with absolute certainty that it's the biggest smallmouth I've ever caught because I've caught a handful in the 5 1/2 range that I didn't weigh. I really don't think any were bigger than that one, though.

Yesterday, while fishing the mouth of the Niagara River with Capt. Frank Campbell, I caught a 9-pound brown trout, which definitely was a personal best.

Of course, that shouldn't surprise me. I've also caught my biggest lake trout, steelhead and coho salmon while fishing with Frank Campbell in the Niagara River on past trips. That's five personal best fish from one region, and I've only fished up here a handful of times.

Just one of many reasons I love fishing in the Niagara River region!

Sandwich Smallmouths

No, this isn't about eating bass.

Instead, its about catching bass while trying to eat my lunch. I caught three chunky smallmouths today before I could finish a simple roast beef and provolone sandwich. More noteworthy than those particular fish, though, was what I learned from them.

Catching smallmouths wasn't a tough task today. Capt. Frank Campbell had us in the right spot, and the fish were pouncing on tubes. I got off to a slow start, though. In fact, I think Bob George of Buck Knives had five or six fish before I landed my first one, and he and Mike Kelley of Flambeau Outdoors were whacking them way faster than me in the morning. I was catching some bass, but at a far slower pace, through most of the day.

My catching pace picked up when I picked up my sandwich because it forced me to slow down. I thought I was working my bait fairly slowly already, but when I fished with a sandwich in one hand, I no longer had a reeling hand that could do any more than bump the handle a bit to pick up slack. So I pretty well moved the bait the speed the boat was drifting, which was quite slow, jiggling the tube place, pausing it and hopping it only when we'd moved far enough to do so without reeling.

That change of pace made all the difference, and I kept up with the other guys for the rest of the time we targeted smallmouths via that simple change of pace. They still outfished me for the full day, but only by a few fish, which said a lot after my slow start.

Thank you, sandwich.

Fishy Days Ahead

Eli Moscul hoists a beautiful Niagara River brown trout caught
with Capt. Frank Campbell a couple of days ago. Photo courtesy
of Niagara Region Charter Service.

 

I caught myself daydreaming about fishy days ahead, so I figured I might as well blog about upcoming fishing travel and make the daydreaming at least sort of productive.

Capt. Frank Campbell is largely to blame for my straying thoughts. He sent a note about an upcoming trip to the Niagara River and included the photo at the top of this page. One of his clients caught that brown trout only a couple of days ago. I'll be up there in early May, fishing Lake Erie out of Buffalo for giant smallmouth bass and the Lower Niagara River for brown trout, steelhead, lake trout and whatever else wants to bite. It is one of my absolute favorite places to visit.

I'd better not get too far ahead of myself with a New York state of mind, though, because before I get to the Niagara, I'll be fishing on Norfork Lake in Arkansas for stripers, largemouths, crappie and whatever else wants to bite, floating Arkansas' Spring River for smallmouths, rainbows, browns, rock bass and more and then flying to Green Bay to fish the legendary waters of Door County (Sturgeon Bay area) for jumbo smallmouth bass, jumbo smallmouth bass and jumbo smallmouth bass.

As if that weren't enough to distract me sufficiently, spring and early summer travels will also take me to Deadwood, South Dakota to fish Black Hills rivers and lakes, mostly for trout; back to Green Bay for a big-water mix of smallmouths, walleyes and salmon; and finally South of the Border to Anglers Inn on Lake El Salto, where I hope to lock horns with some seriously big largemouths.

What all that tells me -- beyond the notion that I should enjoy some wonderful days fishing over the next few months -- is that I'd better quit daydreaming and get back to the business of writing fish stories so I'm ahead of the game when I point the truck toward Arkansas next week!

Maine to Alaska

Last year's fishing trips certainly spanned the miles. Best I can figure by looking back through blogs, I needed fishing licenses from 17 different states (plus Ontario) in 2011. Geographic range was from Alaska to Maine to Texas. Nine fishing days were on the ice in Minnesota or Colorado. Prior to 2011, I had spent a grand total of one day ice fishing.

I enjoyed the opportunity to spend a quite a bit of time casting for smallmouths last years, including inaugural visits to Maine's Penobscot River and Wisconsin's legendary Door County. I didn't spend as many days trout fishing as I normally do, but a friend and I did get the opportunity to introduce Nathaniel to our favorite river -- the West Fork of the Chattooga River.
My fish-catchingest days of 2011 (and among the most fun) were just a couple of weeks ago, with Frank Campbell on the Niagara River. We literally caught hundreds of pounds of steelhead, brown trout and lake trout. Another favored day included minimal fish catching because the river was low and the bite wasn't happening. That was the day I floated Arkansas' beautiful Buffalo River with Nathaniel and few good friends. I also really enjoyed the two days when then-6 Asher took Nathaniel and me to fish-catching school, catching almost all the fish, and the afternoon I spent with Stephen Browning catching Lake Fork largemouth doubles on tiny tandem rigs.

One of my most noteworthy individual fish came from Fork on the following afternoon when Gary Dollahon and I were trying to catch white bass for photos. Instead of a white bass, my spoon got the attention of an 8-pound largemouth. Also high on that list would be the halibut pictured above. It wasn't even sort of big by halibut standards, but it was still my best halibut, and I was standing in a boat close to a Volcano and in Alaska when I caught it, and that made it mighty memorable!

I'm very thankful for the opportunity to make my living collecting and recording fish stories, and I'm excited to see where the new year's fishing adventures take me!

Two Tremendous Days on the Niagara

I'm not sure how many hundreds of pounds of fish were caught and released in Frank Campbell's boat yesterday and today, but I do know that when we were not running from spot to spot or stopped to take pictures, at least one of us was usually battling a fish. Add the unseasonably mild weather and Campbell's great company, and you just can't ask for much better "work days."

Top techniques today included pulling Lindy River Rockers on three-ways and Shadlings on flat lines, hopping Fuzz-E Grubs off the bottom and dragging minnows on Lindy Jigs and on three-way rigs with Lindy Beads in front of our hooks. Yesterday we combined Lindy Beads with eggs for steelhead.

The Lower Niagara has become one of my favorite fishing destinations in the nation, in large part due to the tremendous variety of quality fish that you can catch any given day. We caught steelhead, brown trout and lake trout, but any given fish that grabbed a lure could have turned out to have been a coho or king salmon or even a big smallmouth bass.

Adding appeal is the delightful riverside town of Lewiston, with its shops and restaurants all walking distance from the Riverside Motel. Town seemed nicer than ever this week because of the Christmas lights and the open-air family skating rink, which is run by the town and free.

I've only been out of town for about seven hours, and I'm already looking forward to my next visit to the Niagara River -- whenever that might turn out to be.

Water & Ice

Today begins a two-legged northern fishing trip, which will include both open-water fishing and ice fishing. Stop No. 1 is in Lewiston, New York, where I'll spend two days with Capt. Frank Campbell on the Niagara River targeting big and beautiful steelhead and brown trout. Stop No. 2 is Northern Minnesota, where the lakes are well frozen. There, I'll ice-fish primarily for panfish, but you never know for sure what you will pull up through a hole in the ice!

December!

It's sort of hard for me to believe that the calendar page turned to December this morning. Of course, a few things have reminded recently that winter has arrived. Most notably, I suppose, we had some sleet a couple of days ago. Another good clue should be that I'll be ice fishing in about two weeks and that one fisherman friend I spoke with just this week was sitting atop the ice catching walleyes! I'm also looking at my family's Christmas tree as I write this, and we've been doing Advent readings around the table every evening this week.

I'm looking forward to a couple of ice trips this winter. The first is to Northern Minnesota, with assorted panfish being the main objective. The second (in mid-January) is to Devils Lake, North Dakota, where I'll fish for walleyes, yellow perch and northern pike. I took three separate ice trips last year and really enjoyed the experience. I also got a lot of good story material and photos and have had fun learning about and writing about ice fishing.

Next stop, though, is the Niagara River, where I get to spend a couple of days with Frank Campbell. Steelhead are tops on the list, but it's hard to fish the Niagara with Frank without catching a variety of fish. Winter is an exciting time because the steelhead and trout pour into the river from Lake Ontario. It can be seriously cold, but the fishing can be fabulous.

It seems like I should learn to find trips that begin in an airplane pointed SOUTH this time of year, but I really am looking forward to this winter's great northern adventures.