September 5 report

[Tony Scime]

Jon and I fished the east river today. Since I had the original "old troll" with me, we trolled. Only way to keep him in good humor.

We started out in the upper east and worked our way down. I had a fish on almost immediately. It was a walleye. Maybe 5 pounds. Nice eating fish. Funny thing about walleyes, hit them with overwhelming force (muskie gear) and they surrender. Immediately. At least bass would still fight even when faced with such odds. At least a head shake our two. But the walleye came in sans resistence and pretty much said "eat me". I said "no, have some pride", and I let it go.

Later, down along the yacht club, Jon boated a dink. Maybe 22 inches. It fought like a walleye, until it got to the boat. I'm sure it will grow up and learn how to fight. Past the GI bridge Jon might have hooked onto a second. His rod went off  a few times in rapid succession, but before he can get the rod off the holder, the fish, or snag, was gone. Don't really know if it was a fish or not, but I think it was. Only time his rod did that today, makes me think fish.

We covered a lot of east river water, including its triangle w/o luck. But taking a troll down the Tonawanda side I hooked into a real muskie under the GI bridge. A chunky, clean 37"er. I was holding my rod when it hit. 11 of 12 trolling muskies I caught I hooked while holding my rod. And I have it in the holder about 50% of the time.  Not too sure why the difference.  But I do like holding my rod while trolling. I think it's the added action I give the lure. But maybe it's just coincidence. When I'm in high confidence areas I tend to hold my rod more. Jon, incidentally, never holds his rod. And the last few years the only muskies he's seen (except for today's dink), are the ones I catch (good thing he's never heard of the internet). I think even Frank S. was holding his rod when he caught a muskie with me. So there may be something to it.   

We quit at about 11:30 am, because that's what old trolls do.

East river actually had a lot of floating weeds, making trolling a chore (another reason I hold my rod - so I can sense the weeds, and because I'm constantly reeling in to clean). Not for the casual troller. But it appears it has a lot more fish than the west. I've spent too much time trolling the west with not enough results. But less weeds. I think the east has fish top to bottom. Maybe not the largest, but fish are there. Tubers and jiggers can work the same lines we troll and can catch fish. Or cast the weeds and catch fish. Ask Lacko, or Kevin K.

Old troll and I are going to give it another whirl tomorrow.

[John Pensyl]

49 fish in my boat from the Niagara last year.. not one from the west river, we didn't even have Ontario Lic. Also hit 46, 45 inchers and a bunch right around 40. Lot more little little dinks over there but quality fish as well.

[Scott McKee]

You boys can have the east side. (Until the late fall.) It's like trolling a swamp with an anchor attached to barbed wire.

[John Pensyl]

Who said anything about trolling? Never bothered with that nonsence last season.

[John Miller]

Ok, so lets have a little speculation here.  Why do you think the West appears to have a lower population of fish?  It looks good...has great structure and weed lines doesn't get much pressure at all the further you go down.  Surely there are good fish there, probably as clean as a whistle too!, but what does the East have that the West don't?  There has been some real effort put in by good anglers this season with only one real good fish that I know of (I'm including myself here....just fished it 5-11pm last Saturday with Marc all the way down to Navy and worked another area on the way back).  So please join in with your opinion.     

[Scott McKee]

I would assume the east side has a better population because there is more baitfish present.   I know the east side’s population of smallmouth dwarfs the wests.  You can hop from Grand Island to Tonawanda on the backs of smallmouth and not get your feet wet.  On the west side, I have to work for them a little.

I have caught a lot of my muskies on the west side of the river this year and I have no complaints about the Chip.  There is more structure to hit in the west side (at least I think there is) and we can’t jig and troll it all.  In 2000 I had the opportunity to fish with Gregg Thomas for a day on the river.  One of his first comments was, “How do you guys catch anything in water this clear?”  I almost always target areas of stained water when the river is predominantly gin.  The generally clearer water of the Chip has to make it more difficult to fool them under less than optimal conditions.

What do I know?   I’ll wait for Tony’s response and then adopt it.

Football time!

[Scott McKee]

Don't bother with trolling John (P)!  It's for "old" guys and middle aged guys who feel ancient anyway. Until I can figure out how to cast or jig with three rods (suckers are not an option for me all you clever trousers out there) on the east side in the fall, I'll stick to trolling.

John Pensyl said:

Who said anything about trolling? Never bothered with that nonsence last seaso

[John Pensyl]

I think adding a little trolling to the arsenal has worked out well for me this season. :). It is funny that I still consider those bonus fish, there's fish I catch casting and then there is bonus fish!

When u do hit a fish trolling the east this Nov make sure to let me know right away. If there's anything I learned last year its that east river muskies hunt in packs! Make sure you call me right away so I can go jig 5 more off that piece of structure before they move on.

[Scott McKee]

You are right about the packs John.  When you get one there seems to be another not too far away.  I don't know about calling you, but you can read all about them on the site right after I'm done.  Good boys and girls post their reports no matter whom they're fishing with. ;)

[Scott McKee]

I kid becaue I love!

       -Harriet Levy

Scott McKee said:

You are right about the packs John.  When you get one there seems to be another not too far away.  I don't know about calling you, but you can read all about them on the site right after I'm done.  Good boys and girls post their reports no matter whom they're fishing with. ;)

[Tony Scime]

During the 1980s and 1990s the west river (areas from the shipyards to Navy Island) had a healthy population of muskies. Good numbers and good size (much larger than the fish we catch now anywhere in the river). I also understand that it was fished successfully for many decades before. I heard of a 40 pounder caught by Diamond Rock in the early 1960s, I believe.

About ten years ago the water became crystal clear and the fishery collapsed. I've been waiting for it to bounce back at least to the extent other areas in the river have. I don't believe that has happened. I know fish can be caught, but the numbers seem relatively low. I really don't know why it has lagged behind the rest of the river. The stain is good, no longer clear. There seems to be good numbers of bass and other species. I'm not too sure about the forage base, but I would think it's not much different than the rest of the river.

Perhaps back prior to 2000 the heavy population of muskies in the prime areas helped fill the void. An "overflow" effect. Same effect that some believe populated the Buffalo Harbor. Although the Strawberry Island area has a good population, still not close to what it had prior to 2000. Thus no overflow? Or no need for the limited population to find more feeding grounds. Plenty of food where they are for their limited numbers.

Just thoughts. I really don't have any answers.