Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: SpringMaster on January 19, 2011, 12:16:57 PM
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Hey guys: it's been a while since I contributed, but it's because I've moved to the east coast US and on a different time zone!
Anyhow, the Steelhead are large and plenty here in Buffalo; all the tributaries of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie produce Steelhead, Springs, Cohos, Brown trouts and other trouts.
I've caught my first Steelhead in my life here in Buffalo ;D; needless to say that I had tried it two seasons in Vedder a few years ago and I got skunked both seasons.
I've been going to the 18mile creek (Burt Dam) and I've been landing fish on every trip. Google Burt Dam, New Fane, NY and you'll see the river and also find some youtube videos. The fish are still entering the creeks and rivers here and according to the locals, we can fish until April for these beauties. Some of the smaller creeks are frozen over now, but they will break of on a warm day. The larger rivers like Cattaraugus are flowing and fishable with fresh runs.
Two weeks ago I was at the river and after about an hour of casting, I moved down about 10 feet and continues casting an egg pattern in pink. Third cast hat hardly hit the surface of the water when I felt like a tug and I assumed I snagged a rock or pebble. I tired to retire the line and sure enough I had a fish on! A beautiful silver Steelie! That was a day that very few people were fighting a fish...sure enough I got some attention from the other fishermen and they wanted to know what technique I'm using. And I'm just a rookie ;D I felt so good :)
One thing I don't like about fishermen here is that after they catch their fish, they don't bleed them, and they drag the fish on the ground until they get to their vehicles! I just find it rude and disrespectful to the fish (even though it's dead already) >:(
I'm going to attach a couple of photos here for you...I hope it works!
Tight lines.
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Way to go Spring. I have told people for years about the Salmon & Steelhead fisheries back east. Very rarely does anyone believe, that easterners live the fisheries that we only talk about. If it weren't for work and family I would be living back there; maybe in retirement.
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I thought springs and cohos were pacific salmon - how the hell do they get there?!? Or were they introduced?
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Thanks newsman.
I'm a beginner in my own opinion - don't let the name fool you :) - and I've been doing so well here on the east coast.
Same as everyone else, I didn't think sport fishing was that hot here; I assumed only Bass fishing is popular, but boy was I wrong! and gladly so.
I'm using west coast methods here on the east coast and getting results that surprise myself and the locals! I'm only guessing that the fish are also not used to west coast methods. Again, I'm not an experienced fisherman, but I've watched and envied good fishermen when I lived in Vancouver. Now I feel like one of them :)
East coaster like using hardware and cured roe. I use coloured wool that I have brought with me from Vancouver and it works!
There are so many rivers and creeks that I haven't seen yet, that are full of fish. I'm just finding my way around now. Oh, there is even a small river that flows throughout most of the city and it also has Steelhead and trout fishing.
anorden: all the salmon species here in the east coast are introduced and also they get re-stocked each year by the hatcheries. A great system. The fish fatten up in the lakes (Erie and Ontario) and then they return to the rivers to spawn. Check out Salmon River, Polaski NY; it's a hot spot for Springs in fall. Next fall I'll be there to try. The Springs can get as large as 45lbs and average is around 20lbs. Not bad eh?
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It must be a fishing paradise out there with the vast number of rivers and an abundance of fish. Good for you!
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Cool post hope you get the pics figured out you can always email to me I'll host them on the web for you and link them here.
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All the salmon, steelhead, and kamloops rainbow in the great lakes were introduced back in the late 60's. It came about as a result of the sea lamprey problem. For years the powers that be were trying everything they could think of to get rid of the sea lampreys that came in through the St Lawrence Seaway. It was a worst case sate of affairs with an invasive species. After a number of years they decied to introducing aelwives (a sub-species of herring), to feed on the lamperys. The idea work but brought another problem when the alewives had a mass die-off every four years at the end of their life cycle and as the populations grew so did the die-off. It became a huge problem. The solution was to hybrid herring eating pacific salmon to keep the alewives in check. The first were chinook and coho. After the experiment was proven successful pink salmon, steelhead, and kamloops rainbow were introduced. ( would you believe there are kamloops swimming in those lakes to 35 lb. I have seen them weighed in at the "THREE WEEK LONG" Great Lakes Fish fishing derby).
These fish have since populated all the great lakes and their tributaries and thrived in-spite of all the predatorial species they encounter there. (this is why I don't believe the BC anti bass propaganda). In fact they have thrived to the point that they are out eating their food source of aelwives and have found their way down the St Lawrence into the atlantic. Now we have easterner's screaming about pacific invaders displacing their atlantic salmon.
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When man interferes with nature, havoc runs wild. Man creates and man destroys.
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Actually, alewives were not introduced but rather invaded the Great Lakes via the Welland Canal.
The Great Lakes is recognized by biologists as the largest ecological disaster since the late 19th century. The fishing maybe good, but the challenges that it faces will not disappear anytime soon. These challenges include industrial (heavy metal effluent) and residential (Raw sewage) pollution run-off, decline of water supply, historic overfishing of native species, over 150 invasive species that have displaced or replaced species that were once abundant in the Great Lakes since the last glaciation.
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Great post SM.
You've given me something to think about when I go to Toronto next time.
A few days of detour for fishing would be fun! :)
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Thank you Rod. I didn't know the alewives showed up on their own. Nice to see that nature can come up with it's own solutions. I know the big zebra muscle scare turned out to a great filter for cleaning the great lakes.
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Actually, just to expand my previous post regarding alewife and sea lamprey. The relationship between the two species is not predator-prey (alewives do not feed on lamprey, they primarily feed on zooplankton like other herring species), but a symbiotic one. Because sea lamprey successfully removed most of Great Lakes' predators (lake trout), their absence allowed the second invasive species (alewives) to strive. This resulted in the population explosion of alewives due to the absence of predators, which lead to mass die-offs when the population grew beyond carrying capacity.
In the case of zebra mussels, they are indeed filter feeders like all other mussel species and are credited for clearer water in the Great Lakes. However, the Great Lakes already had native mussel species that did the job for the system. Like most invasive species, zebra mussels have been successful on establishing a monotypic population by outcompeting native mussel species. They are also responsible for the healthy population of yellow perch and smallmouth bass. Whether that is a good thing or not, it'd depend on who is being asked. My guess is the answer would be quite different between a biologist and a fisherman, or among fishermen who differ in preferences of target species.
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Interesting, so what I was told about the alewives, back in 69, was wrong. Okay;do you know what brought the sea lampreys under control.
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Sorry for the delay...figured out how to post these photos now ;D
Enjoy.
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/th_Brown.jpg?t=1295624206)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/IMG_0101.jpg)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/IMG_0098.jpg)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/IMG_0097.jpg)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/FemaleStealhead-web.jpg)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/Catchoftheday-BrownStealhead.jpg)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/Brown.jpg)
Notes: The female Brown trout was the biggest I've ever seen and it was a show stopper when I landed it. Other fishermen came to take a look. It was awesome.
The male Steelhead (the readish one) wash caught 30min after then Brown.
The silver female Steelhead (the one in the net) was caught on a different day and released after the photo. Being alone it was difficult to take more photos.
The river shots are from the Lower Niagara where you can catch many species. That's my destination next fall :)
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The fish caught from the great lakes have high levels of toxicity compared to those on the west coast. (which non of you fine people should take for granted)
The east coast DFO warns fishermen of limiting their fish intake to once a month on most species. So you really have to be careful with how much you eat. This leads into less fish being killed - in my opinion - and therefore more fish surviving.
The more sought after fish from Lake Erie is the Walleyes; they have white meat and lower levels of toxins.
Lake Erie turns over every 3 years due to incoming flow and outgoing (to Niagara Falls) which drains into Lake Ontario. Also, few years ago they had a invasion of zebra mussels that came into lake Erie via some foreign vessels. The zebra mussels that seemed to be a nuisance at the beginning, now are responsible for filtering out the toxins from the lake! So even thought they stick to boats and motors, fishermen kind of respect them for cleaning the water.
I thought this was an interesting knowledge to share :)
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sounds like a good time over there. I would love to be able to take a month or so off work and fish across Canada to Newfoundland, PEI and Nove Scotia ;D its one of those bucket list things and kind of a trip of a lifetime for me because i love this country
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re your mentioning the lead levels in those eastern fish. While we don't have those toxins here, but we do have toxic atlantic salmon. I have long said that we should be handed a pamphlet explaining the toxicity of escaped atlantic salmon, along with our fishing licences (many farmed atlanic salmon are fed antibiotics to the point of being toxic and must be de-toxed before going to market).
So enjoy your eastern fishing it the best I have ever experienced bar-none.
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Looks like an awesome river!
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Looks like an awesome river!
Yes it does-I saw a youtube of guys in a jetboat just nailing one Steelie after another action like I've only seen once in my life 15+ years ago on the Gold-which for all intents and purposes is finished now.
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Yes, the rivers are great. Lower and Upper Niagara river are great for fishing all year round!
I still wonder if salmon swimming upstream in Lower Niagara try to go up the Niagara falls :) that would be an awesome footage to have.
When you go out fishing here, you really need to take all sorts of baits and tackle with you, because you could get tired of one specie and could easily switch to another. I've been only targeting Salmon and Steelhead so far.
If any of you guys planning a trip to Toronto, make sure to give yourself extra few days for fishing. You gonna love it. However, make sure you check reports and websites to know where to go to and what to target ahead of time. That way your trip will be worth it.
Have a look at this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQFWakbUUXo
Also you can watch his other videos and read his blogs on: www.canadian-sportfishing.com to familiarize yourself with fishing techniques in Ontario.
Enjoy.
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just found couple of more photos to share:
This river is the 18-mile creek; and I'm holding the brown beauty :)
This is another Steelhead from the same river:
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/Stealhead2.jpg)
Enjoy!
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Oops! Forgot this one yesterday;
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/BigBrown2-1.jpg)
You like the photoshop skill? :D
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that one is a little ripe
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Oops! Forgot this one yesterday;
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g374/SpringMaster/BigBrown2-1.jpg)
You like the photoshop skill? :D
Is that a Brown?
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Yes, that's a female Brown Trout.
She was full of eggs, and if you look closely you'll see eggs are falling out of her belly.
They can get quite large at this nick of woods.
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To be honest, I should have let that nice fish go :-[...I was too excited about landing a fish that I felt like I deserve to keep it. But this is a rookie mistake in my opinion. I haven't been fishing that long in my life, so you might understand this feeling.
On the positive note, when one of the fishermen saw the eggs, he asked if he could have the eggs, and he milked the eggs out into a ziploc bag. He was going to cure them and put them in eggs sacks for steelhead fishing. I'm going to focus on catch & release in the future, unless I'm starving!
My apologies to the beautiful brown trout and also those who felt bad for the fish.
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I wouldn't let that bother you, many of us in our novice days kept fish like that. It is a learning thing. Top guns (or anglers) all eventually become selective anglers when they face the reality that they can only eat so many fish. I always tell those who get on their high horse with a novice over taking a colored fish; "let them eat a real ripe fish. They will only do it once."
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Thanks newsman...
I respect those top guns who haven't forgotten that they were novice one day themselves :)
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thanks for the great read
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Thanks newsman...
I respect those top guns who haven't forgotten that they were novice one day themselves :)
X2 :)
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To be honest, I should have let that nice fish go :-[...I was too excited about landing a fish that I felt like I deserve to keep it. But this is a rookie mistake in my opinion. I haven't been fishing that long in my life, so you might understand this feeling.
On the positive note, when one of the fishermen saw the eggs, he asked if he could have the eggs, and he milked the eggs out into a ziploc bag. He was going to cure them and put them in eggs sacks for steelhead fishing. I'm going to focus on catch & release in the future, unless I'm starving!
My apologies to the beautiful brown trout and also those who felt bad for the fish.
SM, we all made decisions that were not the very best thing to do along the way.
Fishing is a continuous learning experience and I think we learn more from our mistakes than success. :)
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Thanks for all the encouraging positive comments.
Here in Buffalo, we're waiting for a warmer weather to head out to some of those frozen rivers. I can not wait to hit the streams and search for Steelheads again. I'll share the photos as soon as I got some.
Just so that you feel better about your west coast weather, we're having a -10 oC (with windchill effect) today :'(
The Lake Erie is frozen solid now, with 12" of thick ice. The ice fishing is apparently fantastic there. Guys are catching Perch and occasional Walleyes now.
Cheers!