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Niagara Fishing Guide
Best spots for Niagara River Fishing and around Niagara River, Lake Ontario and Erie. Trout, Musky, Bass fishing
What makes fishing on the Niagara River
so spectacular is the variety and abundance of fish
species, the scenery of the Niagara
Gorge, high speed rapids and surrounding
attractions including Sir Adam Beck and Robert Moses Hydro generating
plants.To fish in Ontario, you have to purchase a license from Ministry of Natural Resources offices, available also at the sporting-goods stores and resorts. To fish in New York State you have to buy a license as well, issued by the Department of Environmental Conservation NY.
Best Spots for Niagara River Fishing
Best spots for Niagara fishing are along the full length of the river, where two distinct fisheries can be noticed; the upper and lower Niagara River.
The upper river stretches from the waterfalls to the city of Buffalo and Fort Erie, with two river branches separated by the Grand Island. The upper river is the warm water fishery as the average depth is 25 ft.
The upper Niagara River is where you will find muskellunge in the abundance, and is also great for catching a trophy (40-pound or so). One of the approaches to catch a trophy is by drifting, trolling and still fishing.
Note: Keep in mind that boats are prohibited north of Grand Island due to its proximity to the unpredictable rapids and crushing waterfalls.
The most popular Niagara fishing spots on US side are:
- Bird Island Pier, Broderick Park in Buffalo city.
- The Riverwalk, north of Buffalo parallels River Road/Niagara Street.
- Fishermen's Park, west side of North Tonawanda.
- Gratwick Riverside Park, off River Road in the village of North Tonawanda.
- Griffon Park Shore, south edge of the city of Niagara Falls NY.
- Niagara Reservation State Park, off the southbound lane of Robert Moses Parkway.
- New York State Power Authority Reservoir holds the water from the Niagara River to be used for generators. You can fish there mainly smallmouth bass and walleyes using minnows and worms.
The lower Niagara River carries a massive amount of water into the Lake Ontario making it ideal for every fish species and year round, including massive salmon species and sturgeon.
Fishing on the lower part of Niagara River features the 15km stretch between the Devil’s Hole and the Niagara Bar. Niagara Bar stretches from Welland Canal in Canada to Fourmile Creek, and into the Lake Ontario for about 3.5 miles. This area is rich in smallmouth bass, walleyes and seasonally for salmon.
Devil's Hole, 2 miles north of Niagara Falls is the hot spot for Chinooks and for Coho salmon around the mouth of the Niagara River. Try also fishing salmon from the shore off Whirlpool State Park.
Steelhead fishing prime time is from December through March, between Devil's Hole and Fort Niagara and where the rapids are present. The best baits are worms, skein, egg sacs or using in-line spinners, streamers and crank baits.
White bass can be found around Whirlpool, Artpark and Devil's Hole especially during the summer months.
20-30 pounds muskellunge can be found in the water North of Lewiston and in the harbors and around piers you can find lots of yellow perches.
Other popular places for shoreline Niagara fishing are:
- Artpark in Lewiston
- Lewiston Landing Waterfront Park
- Fort Niagara State Park
- Joseph Davis State Park
Fishing Niagara Tours
There are several fishing Niagara tours, with the popular salmon and steelhead fishing on Lake Ontario and the Niagara River. Companies that are providing fishing tours offer full service. They are equipped with reliable boats, safety and fishing equipment including bait, tackle, fish cleaning and packaging and offer advice and fish-catching tips.
It doesn't matter are you a novice or experienced fisherman, they will guide you and take you where the best fishing spots are. If you are a beginner you can still enjoy fishing as the tuition is provided.
Fishing tours are available from mid April to the end of October with half day, full day packages or multi-day charters.
Fishing Niagara and available fish species
The salmon and trout fishing starts every spring on Lake Ontario while the steelhead, bass, musky and walleye fishing of the Niagara River is a year round fishery. Niagara River is considered the best steelhead river in the North America.
During the summer time and at the end of June and to the end of October, you will find it as the best time for smallmouth bass fishing.
In the winter, from early of November to the middle of March, steelhead and lake trout fishing is popular. To fish for steelheads use cast spoons and spinners, and the best spots are just above the upper rapids, along Robert Moses Parkway and back side of the Goat Island.
Twenty five pounders muskie can be caught without any problem, using larger minnows as bait, by casting large jerk baits and bucktail spinners. The best Niagara fishing spots for muskies are around Strawberry Island, Erie Basin Marine and Huntley Power Station in Tonawanda.
Muskie anglers consider the upper Niagara River as one of the best fishing spots of the entire Great Lakes area for catching a trophy.
You can fish walleyes all year round by casting crank baits or working jigs along deep weed edges. The greatest number is in spring and fall.
In the upper part of Niagara River, you can find 10-15 pound brown and 6-10 pound rainbow trout. The best time for trout fishing is from December through March using the fresh trout eggs as the bait.
Here is the list of the fish species you can catch around Niagara:
- Chinook Salmon
- Coho Salmon
- Atlantic Salmon
- Steelhead
- Smallmouth Bass
- Largemouth Bass
- Brown Trout
- Lake Trout
- Rainbow Trout
- Muskie
- Walleye
- Northern pike
When Niagara fishing, most of the fish species above you can catch trolling either crank baits, spoons, cut-bait or flasher, fly combos and other, but it all depends on the fish you want to catch.
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