Lake erie ice for the niagra bar this spring

[hondo573]

Hey guys I was thinking about making a trip out to the niagra bar in the spring end of April before the LOC.   I was wondering how the 90+ % ice coverage on erie would effect the salmon  by the niagra  bar to wilson area for the spring.   Would that congregate them more  closer to the river mouth?  Or with all the cold water would that keep them spread out around the lake and not so congregated in that area. 

[Mike M]

Gonna be a slow start for good Salmon fishing between Niagara river and Wilson IMHO. At least in early May when Spring LOC is going on. All that ice on Erie will probably make ice boom removal very late this year. Water temps on L.Ontario will likely be colder then what were used to in early to mid May. That means most of bait and Salmon will stay west of the river until all ice is gone and water temp gets above 40. Could be great fishing in Canadian waters west of the river, maybe quite late into May. Welland canal area is 7 miles west of river. I've seen the temp go up 8 degrees on a boat ride from the river to the Welland. Port Dalussi and Jordan Harbor are alittle further west. Canadian waters are where I'm expecting we'll start our Salmon fishing this spring. Of course I could be wrong. Mother Nature is the real boss. 

[rolmops]

If March turns out to be warm(ish) things may look different. So far it seems that there is a general warmup, so it's early to make predictions.

[Queechylakepro]

  be gone in no time.

[GAMBLER]

  On 2/27/2025 at 1:19 AM, Queechylakepro said:

  be gone in no time.

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Doubtful.  The ice at the ice boom when the Ship got stuck a month and a half ago was 5' thick. The ice in the East end of Erie will take a while to disappear.  All the heavy winds we had this winter shoved layers of ice under the main sheet making it super thick.

[4426]

  On 2/27/2025 at 11:46 AM, GAMBLER said:

Doubtful.  The ice at the ice boom when the Ship got stuck a month and a half ago was 5' thick. The ice in the East end of Erie will take a while to disappear.  All the heavy winds we had this winter shoved layers of ice under the main sheet making it super thick.

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Had reports of 3” to 18” off of Dunkirk ny last week, on the smooth ice out of 18 mile creek we saw 20-24” thick ice before a large area of ice shoves that I would assume are closer to that 4-5’ mark.