Niagara bar (first time)

[Dan P]

With the favorable weather pattern going to trailer over to the bar for the first time. Normally fish out of Rochester and FInger Lakes. Any thoughts on launch, route, strategy etc for a first timer would be greatly appreciated.  

[VooDoo]

The park at Wilson has a nice launch. The bar isnt that far and I had plans to run down there but never made it. Found plenty of fish 1 to 4 miles west of Wilson. The area around the red can at the bar has been producing a lot of fish. Good luck


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[Dan P]

Ok, where/what is this red can?

[893022]

About 4miles out of fort stay east of international line (with Canada) and you can't miss it   if I remember right it's a NNE heading out of fort. 

[Wargofam]

The chart capture below may help you out (see red arrow).  Just be sure to stay OUT of Canadian water during the COVID crisis, as we Americans are not welcome in their waters right now. They're taking it very seriously.

[Dan P]

Very helpful, appreciated it! This forum is the best

[Lightbringer]

Agreed, picked up a few here also

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[Lightbringer]

Careful launching at ft Niagara, water is low, and ramp drops off pretty hard at end of concrete if you back up too far.

Caught a nice 20lb by can today mid afternoon. Artificial meat by soco baits, green frog pattern rig and teasers.

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[Lightbringer]

I Should have been more clear, the north ramp near coast guard base is what I experienced, not sure on conditions of the south ramp on other side of bathroom building.

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[tbamniagara]

Have had no problem with south ramp. 

[KevinFarrell]

17 hours ago, Wargofam said:

The chart capture below may help you out (see red arrow).  Just be sure to stay OUT of Canadian water during the COVID crisis, as we Americans are not welcome in their waters right now. They're taking it very seriously.

Thats classic Canook behavior, more worried about spending resources to keep Americans out of their waters than vaccinating their citizens.

 

I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that selling Canadian fishing licenses to Americans is an economic boost, and would offer zero risk of covid spread.  

 

I used to love Trudeau but I feel like the dude gets more shortsighted by the day.

[tuffishooker]

What did you " love about Trudeau " ?

[Dan P]

Well, we put in a lot of hours today and just one small coho. Marked tons of bait and fish 40-60 FOW. Tried about everything, meat, FF, all kinds of spoons on riggers, dipseys and copper. Apparently we needed to go out deeper (100-140 FOW) away from the bait, per a guy we talked to on our way in. The theory being you need to be away from the bait, if your to close the fish have better options than lures. Feels a bit counterintuitive as I’ve always looked for bait / fish. Anyway he had the fish to prove it.  Going to give it another go this week as I have some time off work. Any thoughts would be appreciated.  

[whaler1]

Little more north south. East to west when you find the bite.


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[Dan P]

Yeah ran out to 120 FOW several times, just kept going back to where we were marking the fish 40 -60 

[adesalvo]

12 minutes ago, Dan P said:

Yeah ran out to 120 FOW several times, just kept going back to where we were marking the fish 40 -60 

Was there a lot of boats out? Saw a thread that the bite died down hard with all the boat pressure.  

Edited May 15, 2021 by adesalvo

[bigwalleye]

Hundreds and hundreds of boats down west twd the bar is what a dude in Olcott told me today. I plan to fish west of Olcott and keep away from the traffic. Fill up on coho and hope for a couple kings.


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[NyFallGuy]

2 hours ago, Dan P said:

Well, we put in a lot of hours today and just one small coho. Marked tons of bait and fish 40-60 FOW. Tried about everything, meat, FF, all kinds of spoons on riggers, dipseys and copper. Apparently we needed to go out deeper (100-140 FOW) away from the bait, per a guy we talked to on our way in. The theory being you need to be away from the bait, if your to close the fish have better options than lures. Feels a bit counterintuitive as I’ve always looked for bait / fish. Anyway he had the fish to prove it.  Going to give it another go this week as I have some time off work. Any thoughts would be appreciated.  

Yes, it really does sound counterintuitive.  I've spent a great many hours working those shallower zones with tons of bait and caught barely anything, while going out from 140 to 180 always works much better.  There's a bowl that goes from 40' down to 55' right on the US/Can boarder.  That is the only spot where I've caught lots of fish around lots of bait, but that was weeks ago.

[NyFallGuy]

1 hour ago, bigwalleye said:

Hundreds and hundreds of boats down west twd the bar is what a dude in Olcott told me today. I plan to fish west of Olcott and keep away from the traffic. Fill up on coho and hope for a couple kings.


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There was definitely a crowd out at the bar today.  Water was nearly glass.  I don't even want to imagine how crowded it will be tomorrow.  

[Beagler]

7 hours ago, NyFallGuy said:

There was definitely a crowd out at the bar today.  Water was nearly glass.  I don't even want to imagine how crowded it will be tomorrow.  

I bet it's crowded today.  We left Wilson at 440 and there was a line.

[Dan P]

I could not believe the number of boats. Hundreds of them, everywhere. Our rigger ball accidentally snagged someone else’s long copper. He was understandably not happy. I can’t even imagine the number of boats that will be there this weekend. 

[Beagler]

Not sure why anyone would run long coppers at the bar this time of year.

[Mrm31790]

On 5/15/2021 at 9:00 AM, Beagler said:

Not sure why anyone would run long coppers at the bar this time of year.

Why not? The amount of boats is shutting the schools down. Long coppers produce shy fish. People need to give others a little space. It’s a big lake. 

[Marty59]

1 hour ago, Mrm31790 said:

Why not? The amount of boats is shutting the schools down. Long coppers produce shy fish. People need to give others a little space. It’s a big lake. 

As a fist timer my observation was: 1) you have east/west stright line trollers, 2) south west / north east trollers and the 3) "S" trollers who were all targetiong the same 90-180' depth range (from the red bouy east).   You would think there is enough room for everyone but everyone wanted the same coridor!  We did not run long lines for that reason.  One vessel that cut in front us (coming from our port side! no less)  lost his long line rig in my downrigger cable.  From what I saw it is pure chaos although navagable.   

 

Marty

[Mrm31790]

25 minutes ago, Marty59 said:

As a fist timer my observation was: 1) you have east/west stright line trollers, 2) south west / north east trollers and the 3) "S" trollers who were all targetiong the same 90-180' depth range (from the red bouy east).   You would think there is enough room for everyone but everyone wanted the same coridor!  We did not run long lines for that reason.  One vessel that cut in front us (coming from our port side! no less)  lost his long line rig in my downrigger cable.  From what I saw it is pure chaos although navagable.   

 

Marty

Right. I know what you mean. The more boats pounding one school the more schools you can find and keep to yourself. Sometimes it’s worth burning a few gallons of gas. Almost had a charter captain cut my fish off yesterday. Had 2 miles of open lake on either side and came within 100 yards when I had 550’ out on a screaming drag. Luckily the fish stayed deep enough