Old Muskies Inc Article from 1979

[jojo wilczewski]

Good Day

FYI An old Muskies Inc. article from 1979. What is interesting is that the average size was 30-36 inches and a high 40 a rarity?

ALA BALA BALA jojoout

 

 

Muskie Fishing on Niagara River By David Johnson

From – Muskies, Inc., Annual 1979

The Niagara River separates the State of New York from the Province of Ontario between Buffalo and Niagara Falls (approximately 20 miles) and below that on to Lewiston, New York at the western end of Lake Ontario.

The Niagara has a steady 8 miles an hour current and depths averaging between 12 and 20 feet. As the Niagara heads north from Lake Erie, it separates as it flows around Strawberry Island, Motor Boat Island and then Grand Island. This separation creates what is locally referred to as the East and West Rivers.

The East River separates th e predominantly industrialized New York Shoreline from the eastern portion of Grand Island, a residential suburb of the metropolitan Buffalo area. The East River is less scenic and generally not as suitable for fishing.

The West River separates the western portion of Grand Island from Province of Ontario. It flows from Strawberry Island on its northerly course between Grand Island and Canada to Navy Island at the northern tip of Grand Island. Several miles north of this it plumnets to the Lower River at Niagara Falls. The Strawberry Island and West River stretch in general contains the majority of the Niagara River Muskie habitat.

The Niagara has a healthy, self-sustaining population of the Great Lakes Muskelunge and yields an annual estimated catch (combined kept and released fish) of between 500 and 1,000 legal fish per year.

This may not seem like much of a "Great Lakes Fishery," but really it is when one considers that most of the Muskie habitat is limited to several small segments of the total river.

The Niagara River Muskie is constantly fighting the strong currents and because of this, many of us feel, it demonstrates stronger and harder fighting characteristics that his less active cousin. The majority of our catch averages between 30 to 36 inches, with only 5 to 8 percent of this total catch exceeding 40 inches in length. This past season, the largest fish caught was a 23 pounder, while the river yielded a 28 pounder the previous season. The statistics underscore our problem– TOO MUCH FISHING PRESSURE WITH TOO FEW FISH BEING RELEASED. Fortunately, the Niagara River Chapter of Muskies, Inc. Is working hard to change this and were responsible for Release of 1 21 legal Muskies during the 197 8 season; with several of these over 40 inches and many of them in the mid and upper 30 inch range, which hopefully should increase the number of lunkers available in the future.

Since most of the river does not contain Muskies, knowledge of the water and structure is essential to consistent fishing success.

　

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In earlier days most of the oldtimers "drift-fished" the river for bass and walleyes and accepted the

occasional Muskie as a bonus. Some of the more hardy ones trolled by rowing cross current with wobbling spoons or spinners. The current made live bait fishing and casting impractical and the effort required to row cross-current kept trolling from getting too popular.

The oldtimer’s Muskie tackle was quite simple, generally a 100 to 150 foot cuttychunk had line of 100 to 200 pound test tied directly to the spoon or spinner. When fishing alone, both hands were needed to maintain trolling speed: this required the angler to tie or fix his line to the boat and to compensate for the lack of hand control on the line, the angler would loop his line in several places and tie sections of inner tube between the line. This allowed flexibility and stretch so that when a fish did strike, there would be some give to prevent tackle failure or tearing the hooks loose from the fish.

Today our motor trollers have it a lot easier. Although some fish are caught casting early in the season, the majority of the fish are caught motor trolling. The most effective technique is to troll cross-current or down stream, so as to expose your lure to the greatest number of fish which predominantly face upstream in a strong current river such as the Niagara.

Since much of the trolling is cross-current, depths range from the 6 foot shallows to the deepest holes of 20 to 30 feet, and then up to shallower depths as you approach the other shore or other shallow structure. To keep the lure close to the bottom and allow some control over changing depths, most fishermen use "lead core" trolling line. This line is metered in 10 yard lengths and by varying the amount of line out, as well as the speed, we can control the depth of our lure at all times. The heavier 27 to 40 lbs. Test lines are u sed to minimize the effect of the line wear encountered by constantly letting out and retrieving line. This situation is aggravated by the heavy floating moss which exists during July and August, causing continuous unscheduled fouling of the lure. A serious troller on the Niagara often has his lure in the boat as often as the caster would.

The "lead core" line is spooled on a light salt water free-spool trolling real mounted on a light trolling or stout Muskie casting rod. Although each fisherman as the expected box of sure fire killers, the bait that dominates the Niagara River Muskie man’s box is the jointed Pikie Minnow. The most popular size is the deep diving model of just under 5 inches in length. With Niagara River trolling pressure so heavy most experts feel that the fish know the various colors and models of each lure by its catalog number. Because of this, most of the fisherman adjust their lures to achieve an erratic or darting action from the lure, so as to entice the strike of the following ‘lunge when the lure makes its jumpoff "course."

There are certainly other plugs, spoons and spinners which catch fish on the Niagara River, but the Pikie is the most widely used and probably is responsible for 85 to 90 percent of all the Muskies caught. The biggest reason–aside from the fact that the fish take the lure– is the fact that a properly working Pikie telegraphs a very pronounced rhythm to the tip of the trolling rod and any change in this rhythm alerts the angler to reel in and clear his line, allowing him to keep his fishing time a productive as possible.

　

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How long does it take to catch a Niagara River Muskie? That depends on the fisherman. Some catch two to three a year, while others catch 30, 40, or even 60. During good years, the "good regulars"

will average a fish every 6 to 10 hours. How big do the Niagara River Muskies get? The largest I’ve heard of was 42 pounds-9 ounces, caught in the early 1950's. I’ve been fishing the Niagara since 1958 and know of probably less than a dozen 30 plus pounders caught, including a 32 pounder I caught in 1965. The 30 pounders, with the exception of one "37 pounder" (also caught in the earlier 1950's), were all just 30 pounds, and usually ranged between 30 and 33 pounds to be more exact.

So our Niagara River isn’t "super-hog" territory– never was and probably never will be.; It is a prolific fishery however, and with more people releasing fish, we feel the Niagara. River can regularly produce 25 to 40 pound Muskies. The bottom-right photo of a "hump-back" Muskie I caught in 1963 demonstrates that the Niagara River can indeed produce big Muskies. The fish was only 43 ½ inches long, but weighted over 27 pounds. The deformity was the result of an earlier illegal spearing. Had this fish not been speared, the tail section of the fish would h ave matched its large head and forward portion of its body and undoubtedly would have been in the 40 pound class.

The convenience of our fishing has created our pressure problem. Almost all of our fishermen are natives–they live and work here and they fish the river before and after work and on weekends–not 4 or 5 times a season, but in many cases, 4 or 5 times a week. Many of us live within 5 miles of the water, which certainly makes our sport very accessible to us. It’s sure fun to travel to far off trophy waters in pursuit of a lunker, but it always takes time, costs money and all too often is unproductive because of "poor weather conditions: or uncooperative fish. I enjoy such trips and will continue to make them, but when I want to catch that crafty unpredictable Muskie, I’ll be on the Niagara River. Although I’m sure I’ll never get a 70 pounder here, if we can continue our success with the RELEASE concept, I’m sure our prolific fishery will again be producing the "Lunker Great Lakes Muskie."

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

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