By: Chris Shaffer For more than 15 years I’ve been hoping to fish the Niagara Bar. Meanwhile, the one-to-two times a year we’re able to fish the Lower Niagara River conditions haven’t been right. In fact, our local pros joke about how I bring the worst weather possible with me every time I fly in. […]
By: Chris Shaffer After the first two drifts Ted Kessler looked worried. His energy level fell from excited to perplexed. Following a month of world-class brown trout fishing, Kessler expected the Niagara River browns to bite on our first drift. They didn’t. Unfortunately, they didn’t on our second drift, either. “I’m not marking anything,” Kessler, […]
By: Ted Kessler Our salmon have changed their habits this year. Traditionally, we aim to cure an orangey-pinkish egg, but this year they want more of a darker red/pink color. It’s been kind of interesting as all the guides are experiencing this. We all know how important it is to have well-cured eggs, but this […]
By: Ted Kessler The salmon run started slow on the Niagara River, but it’s at par right now. We are seeing the same success we had last season, which is good. The last week or so has been really good. We are hooking roughly six to eight salmon per trip. Some days it’s even better. […]
By: Ted Kessler Even though our March was slower than normal due to Arctic like weather we are looking forward to good spring fishing as weather patterns stabilize and the river gradually warms. I’d say our steelhead run on the Niagara River this year has been average, which is good. Given the current conditions I […]
By: Ted Kessler It seems that every year I find something new when it comes to curing my eggs for fall salmon. I’ve gone from shake and bake cures where you put the eggs in a bag and shake Fire Cure on them to other methods such as brines, but this year I’ve started to […]
By: Ted Kessler It’s been one of the toughest steelhead seasons I’ve seen in at least 20 years on the Lower Niagara River. We need ice on Lake Erie for our season to be good and this is the second season in a row we haven’t had ice. If there’s ice on Erie, Lake Erie […]
By: Ted Kessler My go-to egg curing method hasn’t changed in a few years. More than 85 percent of the salmon we catch come on what I call the Niagara River Brine. I mix plain borax and blend three colors of Fire Cure and it gives us an egg the salmon key in on. More […]
By Ted Kessler Up till a week ago I was telling my clients they need to reschedule or cancel their Niagara River salmon trips because the run was two to three weeks behind due to an unusual heat wave we had around Label Day. It’s been a weird late summer. At the warmest it’s suppose […]
