Lower Niagara River, ON Jumbo Perch.
Posted on November 25th, 2013
Nov. is normally the peak-time to bonus-out on Lower Niagara River, ON jumbo perch but strong winds over the last 2-weeks has made for challenging fishing due to turbid water conditions. The perch migrate up to the Queenston, ON boat launch following the large schools of emerald shiners. The shiners feed heavily along the current breaks but if the water is too stained they move to deeper water to feed and the perch follow.
A good way to locate feeding jumbo perch on the current breaks in water depth from 15-30′ is to vertical jig with a Blue Fox 1/4 oz. Rattlin’ Flash spoon.
I normally let the spoon fall all the way to the bottom and than I start jigging it in 1-2 foot intervals and slowly reel up until I find the magic depth the perch are feeding at. Sometimes they are near the bottom, at other times they are suspended.
I find that using the Sufix 832 braid in the 10 lb test (4 lb. mono diameter), works well with a Sufix 6lb. test Fluorocarbon leader. The reason I use the 10 lb braid is because it’s common to hook larger fish like big walleye & rainbows that also move in to feed on the schools of emerald shiners.
If the winds calm down for at least 3 days next week, the Lower River should clear up and the perch should be back in on the current breaks close to shore. If you love to catch and eat nice-size perch, you may want to head down to the Lower Niagara.
