Are you sure that these aren't fish that have run up
from the lake to get ready to spawn ? In both the upper
and lower Niagara River a good number of very nice-sized
smallmouth appear at just about this time of the year to
spawn, as far as we can tell, because they're usually
gone within 3-4 weeks, not to be seen again until the
following year. Either that or a lot of us are really
bad at catching the large ones in the river at any other
time :-)


Well, after I mentioned it, the comments came back, "Ya, the Mailtand
has some good sized smallies." The Deputy CO/biologist said it was
too early for the spawn.

Here's hoping . . . .

Peter

Peter,
This is not much use to you I know, but when I fished the Maitland in
'88-'92 I caught a lot of very nice smallmouth in the summer both on top and
with weighted flies. I doubt I ever caught anything that would have put a
bend in my rod like the one you suggest but it held a lot of good fish. I
think of all the rivers I have ever fished the Maitland must have been one
of the richest. There were times I thought there was a crayfish under every
rock.

I caught my 2nd ever steelie there fishing for smallies and I got the fright
of my life when a 9lb hen rainbow leapt out of the water in front of me -
the first one was from the Thames on a curly tail jig while fishing for
walleye, not exactly my proudest moment but it was the very first fish I
ever caught in Canada. I guess the Maitland is not the best river in your
area but I have very fond memories of it.

Vaughan