Jim Elie
Member
I fish the Niagara River here in Canada year round for a variety of salmon, steelhead, and trout. The river above the Falls is shallow and offers great water for “Far and Fine Off” spey fishing with traditional 16 to 18 footers. The water below the Falls is a little different due to the erosion of the Falls on the limestone rock of the Niagara escarpment. This has formed the Niagara Gorge which the river flows through to Lake Ontario. Deep pools are relative and fishing this river offers some unique challenges to spey anglers as some runs and pools are up to 300 feet deep. The currents here can be very fast and vary due to upstream hydroelectric generation and or strong westerly winds pushing water into the river from Lake Erie.
As previously mentioned, salmon and steelhead frequently hold along the steep banks of deep pools, and in the seams out of the strong currents. The drop off angles of the river banks here are often 30 to 60 degrees and the salmon and steelhead are holding along the edges in depths of 20 to 40 feet. I use my long spey rods with a 4 1/2 inch wide spool vintage 1914 era Hardy Silex fly/spinning reel loaded with a Rio Scandi In Touch, or a Guideline 3D+ or a Scott MacKenzie Phased 5 System. The Silex may seem to be an unusual choice for a fly reel but this handsome reel (which resembles the rare Salmon St George) offers versatility that most fly reels do not. The free spool lever can be activated to allow the CD sinking head to reach the desired depth by aerial mending upstream and reduces the drag of the current as it sinks. You can also use this feature to feed out line as your fly makes a linear, more broadside profile, on a downstream drift along the edge of a current seam. This presentation can allow an angler to cover inaccessible deeper water along the banks as wading and casting here is difficult with the steep slopping bottom and shoreline vegetation.
Rather than casting 50 yards downstream into couple of hundred feet of water, I switch cast these Controlled Density 32 foot Scandi lines at 50 to 20 degree angles 50 or 60 feet down stream. I use the rods length to make aerial mends and at a 50 degree angle to keep the 50 lb OPST Lazer hi vis pink oval mono shooting line above the water with just the tip of the Scandi CD head above the surface as a drift indicator. This prevents the rod guides and your hands from freezing while winter steelheading. I lead the line with my elevated rod tip and this allows the CD lines remarkable “In Touch” sensitivity to work its magic as you maintain a taunt straight line connection with your fly and can feel a fish inhale it 15 to 40 feet deep, even on the dangle. The longer length of the rod compensates for not being able to wade more than three feet from the shore and when held at this elevated angle, permits an angler to lead the fly and hover it down stream in the sweet spots. I always work the fly on the dangle for a least a minute before switch casting it to the surface prior to the next cast.
The running line is knotted to 300 plus yards of backing on the reel as you often can’t follow or keep up with a Chromer running down stream with the heavy current here. The free spool can then be activated to slow or stop a running salmon as it responds and holds up when the check and pawl are disengaged and you stop palming the spool. I’ve had numerous salmon then swim back upstream to their lie where I hooked them after the check has been disengaged. The fish seem to calm down when the don’t feel the drag and the vibration and hear the loud buzz of the pawl when running. While keeping the Silex in free spool, I can wind in the salmon silentlyand without any vibration transmitted, and “walk the dog”, leading it back upstream and hopefully avoid being spooled. This ploy works with Atlantic’s, Lakers and Steelies, but not always with Coho or Chinooks, which also frequent the Niagara. This is an exciting river to spey fish as you can catch a variety of salmonoids here. You may hook your PB Atlantic here..... as these sturgeon can get well over a 100 lbs.
I use a range of sinking densities as these fish can be holding in shallower water along the banks in the low light conditions of dawn or dusk or when the water is shaded in the gorge. These periods can call for a shallow presentation just under the surface with a F/H/I or F/H/S2. The usual morning to afternoon deeper fishing is conducted using mid to deeper sinking heads ranging from S1/S3/S5, I/S4/S6, S2/S4/S6 and for heavy currents adjacent to deeper holding water S3/S5/S8. I carry these various heads in a wallet and switch them with a loop to loop connection with the
Lazer shooting mono. This is an effective easy to learn technique for difficult water which is usually bypassed by most anglers.
Regards from the Restigouche....Jim
As previously mentioned, salmon and steelhead frequently hold along the steep banks of deep pools, and in the seams out of the strong currents. The drop off angles of the river banks here are often 30 to 60 degrees and the salmon and steelhead are holding along the edges in depths of 20 to 40 feet. I use my long spey rods with a 4 1/2 inch wide spool vintage 1914 era Hardy Silex fly/spinning reel loaded with a Rio Scandi In Touch, or a Guideline 3D+ or a Scott MacKenzie Phased 5 System. The Silex may seem to be an unusual choice for a fly reel but this handsome reel (which resembles the rare Salmon St George) offers versatility that most fly reels do not. The free spool lever can be activated to allow the CD sinking head to reach the desired depth by aerial mending upstream and reduces the drag of the current as it sinks. You can also use this feature to feed out line as your fly makes a linear, more broadside profile, on a downstream drift along the edge of a current seam. This presentation can allow an angler to cover inaccessible deeper water along the banks as wading and casting here is difficult with the steep slopping bottom and shoreline vegetation.
Rather than casting 50 yards downstream into couple of hundred feet of water, I switch cast these Controlled Density 32 foot Scandi lines at 50 to 20 degree angles 50 or 60 feet down stream. I use the rods length to make aerial mends and at a 50 degree angle to keep the 50 lb OPST Lazer hi vis pink oval mono shooting line above the water with just the tip of the Scandi CD head above the surface as a drift indicator. This prevents the rod guides and your hands from freezing while winter steelheading. I lead the line with my elevated rod tip and this allows the CD lines remarkable “In Touch” sensitivity to work its magic as you maintain a taunt straight line connection with your fly and can feel a fish inhale it 15 to 40 feet deep, even on the dangle. The longer length of the rod compensates for not being able to wade more than three feet from the shore and when held at this elevated angle, permits an angler to lead the fly and hover it down stream in the sweet spots. I always work the fly on the dangle for a least a minute before switch casting it to the surface prior to the next cast.
The running line is knotted to 300 plus yards of backing on the reel as you often can’t follow or keep up with a Chromer running down stream with the heavy current here. The free spool can then be activated to slow or stop a running salmon as it responds and holds up when the check and pawl are disengaged and you stop palming the spool. I’ve had numerous salmon then swim back upstream to their lie where I hooked them after the check has been disengaged. The fish seem to calm down when the don’t feel the drag and the vibration and hear the loud buzz of the pawl when running. While keeping the Silex in free spool, I can wind in the salmon silentlyand without any vibration transmitted, and “walk the dog”, leading it back upstream and hopefully avoid being spooled. This ploy works with Atlantic’s, Lakers and Steelies, but not always with Coho or Chinooks, which also frequent the Niagara. This is an exciting river to spey fish as you can catch a variety of salmonoids here. You may hook your PB Atlantic here..... as these sturgeon can get well over a 100 lbs.
I use a range of sinking densities as these fish can be holding in shallower water along the banks in the low light conditions of dawn or dusk or when the water is shaded in the gorge. These periods can call for a shallow presentation just under the surface with a F/H/I or F/H/S2. The usual morning to afternoon deeper fishing is conducted using mid to deeper sinking heads ranging from S1/S3/S5, I/S4/S6, S2/S4/S6 and for heavy currents adjacent to deeper holding water S3/S5/S8. I carry these various heads in a wallet and switch them with a loop to loop connection with the
Lazer shooting mono. This is an effective easy to learn technique for difficult water which is usually bypassed by most anglers.
Regards from the Restigouche....Jim