On the Road: Cool Scenery, Great Fishing on the Niagra River by Alan Clemons
gengberg December 23rd, 2009
On the road: Cool scenery, great fishing on Niagara River
LEWISTON, N.Y. - Frank Campbell guided his comfy Lund upriver, the boat sashaying in the roils and upwellings of the “lower” Niagara River as he steered it toward two massive power plants on either shore.
To the left was some kind of wild piece of sculpture high atop the bluff at a location called Artpark. To the right, Canada, and its pinnacle of honor to a military general killed during the Battle of Queenston … the first battle, taking place just across the river, in the War of 1812.
“I read where the falls have moved upriver about seven miles in the last 12,000 years or so,” I told Campbell, who motioned to the bluffs and said their original location was right where we were at the moment. I started thinking about the amount of water, the incredible force, the churning of land and rock and repeated battering against boulders that broke apart or survived.
Digging around online, I discovered about a fifth of all fresh water in the world is found in the four “upper” Great Lakes - Michigan, Huron, Superior and Erie. The latter is tethered by the Niagara River, which explodes over the falls between Buffalo and Ontario. The water continues flowing another 12 miles or so to Lake Ontario, where it then moves to the St. Lawrence River.
Pretty heady stuff. Just trying to imagine the water flow is incomprehensible. Looking at a map, you see tiny threads between these giant lakes, and within those threads are some of the most awesome fishing anywhere. For in the lakes are steelhead, king salmon, smallmouth, sturgeon, brown trout, lake trout and muskie, probably billions of forage fish turning these predatory eating machines into giants.
Campbell guides for these species virtually all year, with base camp for his clients in Lewiston at the comfortable Riverside Motel. The launch is just a walk across the street or, possibly, about five miles up the road in Youngstown … where settlers established a trading post and Old Fort Niagara is located overlooking Lake Ontario. The entire area reeks of history, with numerous signposts noting significant sites and a cool atmosphere in the evening for a walk in downtown Lewiston to dine and relax.
Our crew of four split the first day, with writers Bob McNally and Steve Quinn in the Niagara River Gorge with Campbell fishing for the multi-species outing. Chuck Smock of Cabela’s and I toodled off to Olcott, about 20 miles away, to drift egg patterns in Eighteenmile Creek for big brown trout and kings. Both migrate in whopping numbers from Lake Ontario into the creek on their feeding and spawning runs, creating incredible opportunities for waders and bank anglers using fly rods or spinning tackle.
The next two days we spent in the gorge, drifting egg sacks and Kwikfish wobbling crankbaits on weighted rigs off the bottom. It reminded me a bit of saltwater trolling, in that we didn’t know for sure what might hit. One drift, we might have a double of fat lake trout or a smallie. The next drift, it could be a leaping steelhead putting on a tremendous show … on one catch, McNally deftly played the a steelie that leaped 12 times before coming to the net.
None of our catch were the monster 4- to 6-pound smallies or 20- to 30-pound steelhead that will be found in spring, after gorging for months on the ample supply of baitfish and bottom-dwelling round gobies. The latter is an invasive European species that now resides in the Great Lakes, providing a conundrum of sorts: They’re great forage for game fish, but reproduce in such numbers as to threaten the ecological balance of the lakes. We’ll have to let Mother Nature sort out that puzzle.
- Alan Clemons
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