# 7 Big water..Big fish

I hate fishing big water...
Well hate is a strong word...after all it is fishing..
I suppose I should say that I dislike it...

I prefer a nice slow braided meandering flow of about 4- 5 ft tops in its deepest spots..
I like it boulder strewn with pockets ripe for the picking.
This is the water that I really came into my own on and it is the water that I have the most confidence on.
This fish...#7...was a BIG water fish...THE BIGGEST WATER I suppose...I can't think of any bigger.
A river Legendary for its strength.
The Almighty NIAGARA
I remember hearing a tale about a drift boat being sucked right under in one of its swirling whirlpools...could've been made up but after fishing the river and seeing it up close...very believable regardless.
I think I've fished it maybe 3 times now but the first trip will always stand out in my memory.
The Niagara Gorge is really very beautiful in the fall and I had no idea that it even existed.


Unfortunately the words Niagara Falls have always conjured up feelings of disgust for me...
Wax Museums..sleazy motels...and cheap tourism...
Not to mention the Casino.
SEWER..
I had read about the fishing but could never bring myself to make a run.
Well Morin talked me into it.
He talks me into a lot of shit.
lol
During a horrible low water spell early one season we loaded up the car and took a run at the big water.
What an experience. Nothing at all like I'd expected.
We had no idea where to begin so we just 'winged it'...come to think of it we have had very good luck at winging it.
lol
Well the word was that it was early for Steelhead but the river was thick with salmon.
We had a very funny experience where a GIANT Chinook was washed up onto the beach where we were rigging up and the the violent river just took it right back out again.
Surfing Boots.
WILD!!.
We each caught a lot of fish ...mostly Coho and King salmon with a beauty of a Brown thrown in for good measure but it wasn't until the end of the day that we hooked any Steelhead.
13 ft of line under the float, thrown out about as far as you can toss that madness and just hope for the best ...that was the MO...completely weird....but it worked.
Finesse fishing this is not.
I knew it was a Steelie the minute it was hooked because it just went wild.
On that river all you can do is put as much pressure on them as possible and pray...NICE.

Well just when I thought my arms were going to fall off this beauty came surfing in on a wave. It hung around just long enough for a photo and then we sent him back into that swirling mess of a river.
If I was a fish I would surely prefer a fall run up the Bighead.
Great fish #7

..and It stands out in my memory just because it was the first on a crazy river that still intimidates me a wee bit.
At any given time on this day the river would rise or fall about 4 ft within about an hour.
At one point when we weren't paying attention some of the stuff we'd left about 15 ft from shore just about got washed away during a river surge.
Crazy..
The fact that there is such quality fishing tucked right in the armpit of Ontario appeals to my sense of the absurd and this is my trophy.
A river that deserves another few trips but who knows when...and man what a hike out.