River Dave

Man I haven't been on the river in almost a month. I wanted to go next week but won't have any time so I'm looking at almost two weeks from now before I'll get a shot at it. This is not at all how I pictured how this year would go, I had planned on fishing a ton this season. Good luck tomorrow, not many boats out there today. I thought it would be crowded but it wasn't bad at all when I went by at 8:30.

Great fish. That's the same picture that brought me to this forum for the first time. I was googling "Niagara River muskie" last year and it directed me to your original post with that picture. I read a bunch of the different local threads and joined the site. Pretty much all your fault Chris.

We seem to put at least one in the boat every year but haven't caught a decent one in years. Had a 36" a few years ago but that's it. The little ones hang in the weedbeds where I bass fish and will hit spinnerbaits and stuff like that but the big girls go deep after the spawn and I never fish deep. I seem to hook and lose a decent one every June while they spawn but never get them to the boat with my bass gear. My dad was the president of the Niagara River chapter of Muskies Inc when I was a teenager and we fished muskies hard for a lot of years but I don't really target them now. My personal best is 49 1/2" so never did break 50 which is the holy grail of muskie fishing and even that was 20 years ago, been a long time since I've even broke 40". Still love those River muskies.

That is awesome. Watching muskies is one of my favorite things about the River. What a great picture.

I went back and liked your posts to see if that will give you more rep points (not sure exactly how that works). Maybe that will let you post your pictures. I dont get to pond hop as much as I'd like to but I would be interested in any local shore fishing spots you're willing to share. Most of my old places are posted and/or developed now and the few I do know I've mentioned earlier in this thread.

PS looks like me and Faye posted at the same time. Didn't realize they were going back to Cayuga this year. They launch and weigh in at the Union Springs launch which is a nice big place with plenty of room for spectators. That would be pretty cool to attend and it's an easy 2 hour drive from Buffalo. We had a cottage less a mile from the launch the past two summers but we were a week ahead of the tournament. It would have been cool to watch but would have been a nightmare trying to fish and especially to launch the boat so it worked out better for me being early.

I don't think you're missing all that much really. From what I read it's not an actual tournament it's just like 6 or 8 guys doing some sort of qualifier on the River. I could be wrong but that's the impression I got. They probably won't even fish the river, my guess is they'll just run for the lake. I don't think they are fishing Cayuga this year so this is probably as close as we'll get locally. The launched out of Small Boat Harbour a few years ago a couple of times but I never bothered to go, my buddy said it was cool though. Thanks for the map RSX, that's exactly where I caught my lone pike the other day. I just kind of blew through there with the trolling motor, should probably have stopped and fished it harder I guess. Looks like you caught some nice ones.

Nice one Faye! I know the feeling RSX, Silver Lake seems to like you and hates me but the River seems to be the opposite, likes me but is stingy with you. I haven't really been on it yet this year but if I were to fish the river tomorrow with live bait I would stick to the backwater areas like marinas, canals, and the bay of Strawberry Island. If you're chucking lures I would drift between the Huntley plant and Mid River Marina. Me and the River play well together, Silver Lake on the other hand sent me home with nothing but a farmer's tan last week.

Hey nice one Chris! Niagara River smallmouth are my favorite fish in the world. I have one question for you though, how do you fish a ned rig in the River? Isn't that a super light finesse type presentation? I wouldn't think you could do that in the current of the river. Where you in some bay or marina or out in the main current? I'd like to try those this year but figured I'd have to go somewhere else to do it. I'm impressed. Hey Hockeyplayer welcome to the forum. As much as I'd like to help out a fellow West Senecan (I don't think that's a real word) I've never heard of any of the ponds you mentioned. I've spent hours and hours at Chestnut Ridge over the years and never even knew there was a pond there. Sorry

I was throwing the spinnerbait for pike rather than bass but even they didn't want much to do with it. I found one shallow flat that was loaded with smaller pike and they kept rolling on it and swatting at it but wouldn't really eat it. Later in the day I had a school of bass doing the same thing on it, had 4 or 5 hits in a five minute period but no hookups. I will know better next time , thanks for the tip. Good luck tomorrow Chris, let me know what the water temp is if you remember.

Sounds like you need a day off Farmer! I figure this has to be a busy time of year for you, I saw guys working the fields the whole drive down and a few farms smelled like they were spreading "fertilizer". Phew! I saw a fair amount of smallmouth on beds in one area yesterday but didn't really fish them. Like you said most of the nests were empty. I was in several places with very high concentrations of fish and at one spot where I've never seen so many fish in one place in my life that didn't have a vending machine full of Cheerios next to it. That was amazing. With all that said I still couldn't get bit. The fish under the docks were fairly aggressive but the ones in open water were as turned off as could be. I did see some giants and, after seeing how much forage is in that lake, I see how they get to be so big. That's a real pretty home lake you have there Farmer, I'm jealous. The drive certainly blew all the carbon out of my trucks engine (close to redline climbing the hills) but it was a very pleasant day so I'll be back in the near future. Hope you recover soon.

I finally made it out to Silver Lake today but the fishing was tough for me. I saw a TON of fish (including several PB's if only they would have cooperated) but I could only manage a couple of two pounders and one small pike (saw some real nice pike too). Had a very enjoyable day on the water and perfect weather but I couldn't get any fish to bite, felt like muskie fishing most of the time. Run it right by their nose and nobody cared, not even the pike. I was out all day but didn't see anybody I recognized from the forum. Did any of you guys get out on Silver today and, if so, did you struggle as badly as I did or do I just suck? That is a definite possibility. Still had a great day though, I like that lake.

Not sure what the problem was today but I only caught 2 largemouth, one pike, and a giant rock bass. I saw a ton of fish but the only ones I could get to chase a bait were the ones under the docks. Caught the pike on a perch color spinnerbait (and had a bunch of hits and follows that didn't hook up) and caught the bass on a weightless T rigged Senko. Tough day fishing wise but very enjoyable, I stayed out ALLLLLL day it was so nice. Good luck in the morning Chris, hope you have better luck than I did today.

Man I swear these fish hate me. I found where they all live but I can't t get them to bite. Either they're all on a diet or somebody farted on my tackle box because I can drag everything right past them and they either ignore it or run away. Would be frustrating if it wasn't such a nice day out here. I'm just enjoying my day and hoping they'll turn on at some point.

I'll definitely let you know what did and didnt work. From what I read in another thread bluegill color jerkbaits are the ticket now. No time for me to get to Cabela's this week so I'm going with what I have (which sounds all wrong) and make the best of it. Hey Chris I've been to Cayuga in May before and did real well up by that train bridge at the North end. There's a state boat launch up at the North end too so it's an easy launch. There's a couple of rock humps up in that area that produce too. There is also a channel that runs up under the rail bridge and out into the main lake. My PB largemouth was out of that chanel in front of the bridge. If the docks are in those are always good and the pattern in August (which probably means nothing now) was like 15' weedbeds. Perch/firetiger is a good color there and the pickerel love big swimbaits and buzzbaits. The last day we were there last summer I had easily 100 pickerel (couple BIG ones) and just under 20 bass. Had a ball. I love that lake.

Oh man I love Cayaga. What part of the lake are you going to? The past couple of summers we got a cottage on the East side of the North end near Union Springs where the BASS tournaments run out of. Some great fishing and great scenery in that lake . I can hook you up with some spots but I don't know if they would produce now, we always went in August.

Finally heading out for the first real fishing trip of the year tomorrow. Finished up a ton of projects around the house and was able to free up some time so Silver Lake here I come. Haven't been there in over 20 years and aren't expecting great results but I definitely want to check it out. I know some guys are killing it there lately but I think I'm unprepared as far as lures and colors go. I always fish the River so almost everything I own is either silver, white, or perch (for when I fish Cayaga Lake) and it sounds like jerkbaits and bluegill patterns are the favorites at Silver Lake. I don't have either but I'll make do and if nothing else hopefully I'll catch some pike. I'll post something when I get home and let you know how I did. I like to fish weeds and it sounds like this lake has zero right now but I think I'll like this lake more as the season progresses, just kind of checking it out for now. I'm just looking forward to a day on the boat. I can't wait.

Yea I've used braid in the River for years. Caught a ton of smallies on it. I'm going to try flouro leaders on a couple of rods this year just because of abrasion issues. I keep breaking off on T rigs and all I can think is the sinker sliding up and down the line is the problem. Killed me last year . I have some spinning rods spooled with mono and that also catches a lot of fish in the River.

Yea supposed to be real nice that day. See you there!

..........And I think I will probably see you there. I'll be earlier than you but I may still be out when you get there. I haven't been to that lake in over 20 years but I think it's time for a revisit. Sounds sacrilege to say on this forum but I think I'm going to focus mostly on pike. Certainly hope to catch some bass too but I'll be happy with just about anything. I'll be the fat guy in the blue and white Bayliner, give a shout if you see me out there (you too Farmer).

Yes, "most" but shockingly not "all". I couldn't imagine fishing in a stressful place like that anymore. I would find, and have found, a new spot if other people get to be a problem. I used to fish a lot of very urban areas and every once in a while one would get shady and I'd quit going there. One place got overrun with punk teenagers and one time one of them stole one of my rods when I made the mistake of leaving it out of sight for a few minutes. I knew one of them had taken it but it was stashed in the woods somewhere by the time I realized it was gone. I wanted to choke the life right out of every single one them but I did what I had to do and walked away and never went back. Hate to get chased away by some kids but I'm not going to jail for beating up a kid (I was in my 20's then) so I walked. It's really hard sometimes but it's what you have to do.

My plant does the same thing. Bring in temps that show up high as a kite, are late 3 times a week and blow off the other two days, take long breaks, spend half the day on their phones and they still get hired. I can't even believe it. Once they're in the Union it takes an act of Congress to get rid of them so once they're in they usually just go out on comp for six months and get a nice fat settlement for their faked injury. Happens over and over and over. I just wonder how long the company can keep this up and how many corvettes they can buy these people until they close the doors and guys like me are out a job. It's so frustrating that people like this can affect a 25 year employee with a great record. I do everything by the book and every day I park my 10 year old truck next to a brand new sports car that some dirtbag bought with the money they got for a faked injury. Right shoulders are worth $70,000 right now and I'll bet 25% of our plant has gone out for that one. You get 8 months off (paid) and a check for seventy grand. I was always told crime doesn't pay but every day I see evidence that it actually pays quite well. I never thought I'd feel foolish for going to work every day and doing my best, that isn't supposed to happen. It's not supposed to work that way.

I just have to wonder who are the bigger fools here. Is it the people who are harassing a fisherman and insinuating that he's gay for having long hair or the people that even remotely suggest shooting someone for harassing him and insinuating that he's gay for having long hair (or whatever the insult was)? The fact that firearms are even mentioned in a thread about "what to do about rude people" is a large part of the reason certain people go after the right to bear arms. Obviously you walk away from rude people, do you really need to be told that? Boys fight, men walk away. Unless they are robbing you or physically harming your family or something you ignore them and walk away from confrontation. If you ask me anybody that doesn't already know that should really think about leaving the gun at home.

Dang that's two sixes and one that was just a few ounces away all in a couple of weeks here, wow! Quite a roll you're on. Hopefully I'll come out there and clear out some of those pike for you in the next couple weeks. Always heard Silver was a good pike lake but I'd like to find out for myself. I know a lot of guys hate them but I love catching pike.

Man you're have quite a day Jigger! I love that dark one with the stripes. Smallmouth are just the coolest aren't they? Are you finding them deep right now or is it shallow where you're fishing? I marked a lot on dropoffs when I was out the other day. Went from like 10' down to 20+' and they were all suspending over the deep water but hanging at that 10' depth. That was the spot next to the Thruway I was fishing the other day and I drove right by it on the way home (on the Thruway) and a guy was fighting a fish. I went by there again yesterday morning on the way to work and another guy was landing one at that same spot. Kind of cool to see guys landing fish on my drive to work at 60mph.