TR: Another Maitland story

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

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 09:12:12 +0200, "Vaughan Hurry"
wrote:


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


Greg could very well be right that theses fish may return to the lake
after spawning. I'm not up on smallie spawning migration habits to
know one way or the other.

When I went back to the car to eat a sandwich, two float fishermen
walked by then stopped to chat. A few minutes later, the Deputy
CO/biologist also stopped by and we ended up gabbing about the state
of the river and the steelhead fishery. One of the float guys has
fished the river for 35 years and we talked a bit about the fishery's
history. The CO mentioned that these smallies were not spawning --
too early, but though the thought crossed my mind, I didn't ask him if
they were resident or migratory. I'm impressed with the river and
despite it being a 2 1/4 hour drive, I think I'll fish it more often.

Peter

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