Day 1...
Wednesday, March 16th 12:01 AM.... up early... lol... and hit the road to pick up my travel companion Mike.... with Spring fast approaching I was eager to hit the open water so decided to head to the Niagara region in search of trout. After a few stops at a couple Tim Hortons along the way and about 500 km on the car we arrive at the Niagara River and meet up with local angler Darryl Penhale. After setting up some gear and launching Darryl's boat we were ready to go searching for some Niagara trout. This was my first trip to the river in about 15 years so I was very excited to say the least.
We started drifting the river in search of steelhead trying several different areas, it took a bit of time to get used to the drift fishing and just having your weight lightly bounce along the bottom without getting snagged and trying to detect when a fish took your bait.
In not too long though my buddy Mike gets a hit and after a nice little fight he lands his first Niagara River steelhead!!! Unfortunately he forgot how to hold a fish and when trying to pick it up for a photo.... the fish slips away and falls overboard back into the water.
We continue to work several drifts in the river catching a couple... losing a couple.... then decide to mix things up and head out to the mouth of the river to jig for lake and brown trout. After a cautious ride out to the Niagara Bar, it was foggy most of the day. we set up and start drift jigging.... we marked quite a few fish but they we very scattered around, not stacked up in schools at all.
After catching and losing a few lake trout. We decide to head back into the river for a few more steelhead drifts to finish the day.... by now the fog had finally lifted and it was bright and sunny but the steelhead did not seem to mind as few finish the day landing a couple more and of course losing a couple more. lol
We called it a day in the late afternoon, keeping a couple fish for the smoker.
After fishing we headed into Niagara Falls to check into our hotel room, the city not being very busy lately, we got a great deal on a hotel room.
After checking in and freshening up we decide to head to Welland to get some dinner and have a pop with Darryl and visit another local angler Mike Snow at the The Kavern. After some pizza, wings, a couple sodas and some more fishing talk we head back to Niagara Falls.... a little drive by the falls and up Clifton Hill to see what is happening we head back to our hotel for a little sleep. It is now after 11 pm on Wednesday and we have been up since 7 am Tuesday.
Back at the hotel... hit the hay.... heading to the Toronto Sportsmen's Show Thursday morning.
All in all a great day 1 of our road trip.... caught some fish, learned some new fishing tips, had some good food and some good conversation.... hard to beat!!!
If anyone is looking for some Niagara trout fishing action let me know I can put you in touch with Darryl Penhale he will get you on some fish.