This is to be the last points event (of 4) for Southern Tier Bassmasters of the 2003 season. This is for all the marbles, as we do not drop a tournament, they all count. The race leading up to this tournament is very tight within the top 12 or so. Tournament waters include the entire Lower Niagara River as well as Lake Ontario, both US and Canadian waters would also be available.

For me, prefishing fo this event started two weeks ago. I wanted to get a jump on it because I have not been to this area in several years, plus I was sitting at 6th in points and thought I had a legitimate shot and remaining in the top 6 for the year in the club, which is the ultimate goal for me any given year.

As for this first prefishing trip, both my wife Robyn, and Rob J went out this day. Weather was very nice with sunny skies and little wind. It was also about 4 days after a major Lake Ontario upwelling which made the lakes surface temps drop from about 70 degrees down to 46 degrees in about 24 hours. Since neither my wife or Rob had Canadian licenses, we were restricted to fishing US only waters this day. No big deal, there is ALOT of water in the US anyway.

We started out the day by going out to the red can off the mouth of the Niagara River, about 2 1/2 miles straight out into the lake. There is a nice hump out there, and I was hoping to get a deep water smallmouth bite going which is my favorite way to catch them. After some zig zagging I found the hump, and we made several drifts over it, but not a bite. We found some other offshore structure, but no bites in those areas either. From there we took off towards the 4 mile creek area and headed in very shallow, 4-8 feet. My wife brought a 14 incher up to the side of the boat with a tube, but it got off. I think Rob had a whack on a spinnerbait here as well. We went out deeper for a moment, but again, no bites. I guess it is off to the river!!

In the river I first stopped at a known drift that I have caught fish in before, no luck. Off to another known spot, which I got a small keeper dragging a tube. We were several hours into the day at this point, it was getting very warm and pleasant, and the fishing stunck!! So we went sight seeing LOL!! If you are unfamiliar with the Lower Niagara River, the current is is very intense, about 7 knots in most areas and higher in others. I have never been further upstream that where we were, so away we went. Up near the Lewiston Bridge the river narrows to about 1/3 of it's downstream size, and the water grows much deeper, averaging 80-100 feet deep. The current is awesome here with eddies and whirlpools all over the place. I was running about 1/4 throttle thinking I was moving right along, but looking at the shoreline I realized I was just crawling upstream. We went clear up to the US and Canadian power plant discharges. The water is very turbulent up there, water boiling up off the bottom everywhere and whirlpools all around. This is a famous drifting area for all salmonid species different times of the year, but I didn't dare stop, much too scary!!! My wife insisted that we get heck out of there, I agreed. We did stop downstream at the point the river widens back out again. Still a very strong current though. The only thing I figured I could do here is throw a spinnerbait at the shore. It was weird drifting that fast this close to shore, but I did manage to put a nice 14 incher in the boat (this experience would prove to be valuable in the future) To finish up the day, we drifted near the mouth of the river and I put 2 or 3 more keepers in the boat, one being about 2 pounds or a little more, while dragging tubes.

Although not the most successful fishing day, I left with some knowledge that could help me in the future.

The next day I was able to get out was the day before the tournament. Again, beautiful weather dominated, but the forcast for the next day was extremely dismal, for both wind and rain. So I figured spending the extra time in the river might be a wise idea, because it was possible the lake could be off limits due to the weather. Seeing I was alone today, concentrating on unfamiliar Canandian waters was my plan. I started directly across from the Fort Niagara launch, and was dragging a tube in waters 20-40 feet deep. I caught a short smallie and a 13 incher in about 34 feet. A 2nd drift through the same area didn't get a bite, didn't seem like a great spot to me.

I ventured several miles upstream and found a nice rocky shoreline with high current. Out came that spinnerbait and shortly after a pound and a halfer came into the boat. Shortly after that a 2 1/4 came into the boat. Hmmmm, I think something is starting to come together. From there I went even further upstream just below where the river narrows. There were folks shore fishing there, so I couldn't cast really where I wanted to. No fish caught here.

I thought at this time I would head out into the lake and try a couple Canadian spots. I tried very shallow and deep, no luck. Over to the US side for abit and started in very shallow. No luck. Man, his is bumming me out that I can't catch fish on the big lake. From that shallow area, I went straight out until I found the first drop that was worth looking at. That drop happened to be from 20-25 feet, and I marked a ton of baitfish here as well. Certainly worth a drift!!! The first drift produced two quick fish, one pushing 2 pounds or better, on a dragged tube. 6 more drifts in that same area produced one missed strike. I am not getting a warm fuzzy feeling about the lake. Back into the river I go.

Once in the river, I go about 4 miles upstream and find an area that closely resembled the one I caught those spinnerbait fish in. I drifted about 100 yards, but then got a nice 2 3/4 in the boat. It was at this point I really pieced this pattern together. I realized that these fish were holding in the same type areas. These rocky shorelines I found were on main river points. Both spots I started drifting on the current side of the points. But at the instant the high current turned into the eddie on the back side of the point is where I would get whacked on the spinnerbait. Once the eddie got larger, I didn't get fish. I headed to the US side of the river to test this pattern further. Sure enough, I got a nice keeper there to. I made a 2nd drift in that area with a medium diving crankbait to see what would happen. That same spot I got another decent keeper.

Well, it was a long prefishing day it was after 4 :00 already, but I felt I had something going. Hopefully the weather would allow me to do what I wanted to do.

The forcast for the next day was strong 20-30 knots SSW winds with higher gusts. Also, heavy rains up to an inch were expected. The river flows north, so a strong south wind would make normal fast drifting even faster. South winds on the lake however, probably woud affect it that much within a mile or so of shore. I am acting tx director for this event because our tourment director was unable to make it tournament day. So unfortunately, all decisions for the tournament were mine.

I spent the night at Rob's house (because he lives pretty close to the river) and woke up tournament morning and checked the weather online. Uh-oh!! There is a tornado watch until 8:00 am for the entire area, and an intense squall line was quickly approaching from the west. Winds were on the increase as well. Now, I am not the smartest guy in the world, but tornados and tx fishing usually do not go well together!! So off to the launch sight we go. We hit some lightning on the way there, but once we got there, that was it for that. Rain was coming down pretty good, and the wind was rolling down the river strong out of the south. Tournament launch time was 7:00 am, but the closer we got to that time, we realized it was not quite light enough, plus another very heavy batch of rain and wind was moving in. I decied to hold off the tx until 8:00, mainly to see if anymore lightning would be associated with this. Ted and I ventured out to the lake about 7:30 to see first hand what the lake looked like, to see if we needed to make it off limits or not. Even with the very gusty south winds, we were able to run at high speed out there, so the lake would be on. 8:00 rolls around, and the tournament begins.

I run right to that first spot I caught spinnerbait fish the day before. I make one long drift starting way up on the high current side of the point. The water is capping, and the winds are pushing me slightly into shore. I am probably drifting at 10 miles an hour or faster, heaving my spinnerbait towards shore as I go. One whole drift, not a bite. Not good!!! The second drift I decide to throw that crankbait. Quickly I got a nice 2 3/4+ pound fish in the boat, but it wasn't at the eddie beginning, it was right in the middle of the current side of the point. Hmmmmm..... The next drift (these drifts are about 300 yards long BTW) produced another hard strike on that crankbait. I got about 5 cranks on what appeared to be a very heavy fish, but it came off. Ratz!!!! I continued the drift with no more bites. Before repeating the drift again. I tied on a Rattling Rogue jerkbait. About halfway down this next drift I caught a very nice 3 pound plus fish on that Rogue. The next drift I would throw the spinnerbait again, no takers. At this time I thought I should give this area a rest and try that second point I caught my biggest fish prefishing. I made one long drift with the crankbait without success. I didn't feel another drift was a good idea, so back to the fist spot. The first drift there produced a nice 2 1/4 pound fish. I had 3 very nice river fish here, and 1 lost one that appeared to be good. These fish were not coming fast, but they were good ones!!! I made 5 or 6 more drifts through here, but no more fish. I was 10:30 I needed to do something while there was still time to do it.

I made the 5 mile run down the river and ran a couple miles out into the lake to that one 20-25 foot drop that I caught a couple fish the day before. I took a couple drifts over the area to figure out where I needed to start to put me over the exact spot I caught fish in. The 3rd drift produced a 12 1/2 inch fish dragging a tube. Number 4 was in the boat! The next drift produced a 12 inch fish, not a fraction longer, not a fraction shorter. It was 12 inches, and I called it number 5. A couple drifts later a smallie close to 2 pounds was caught, culling out that sqeaker. A few more drifts and one just over 2 pounds was caught, culling out "number 4". It was nearly noon now, and I could see very heavy rain to my west coming down the lake. The wind also started to pick up out of the west building waves from the 1 footes we had to 2-3 footers quickly. I decided I did what I came out to do, and that was get my limit. I did not want to get caught out in heavy winds, so back into the river I headed, to hopefully chase after the larger fish I was catching there.

The ride back in was miserable as the heavy rain was beginning to fall, I couldn't see a dang thing. My glasses were fogging terribly, and my googles made things even worse. I could see just far enough ahead so I didn't run into anybody. I got to the safety of the river and stopped to clear up my glasses. Still raining hard, I made the slow run back up the river. I made many drifts here alternated between the spinnerbait, crankbait and jerkbait. One drift I caught one short smallie and two small keepers on the jerkbait, but unfortunately the last small keeper broke me off, and I lost the bait. I even tried dragging tubes down this stretch for a couple drifts trying to relocate these fish. No more were caught here. With an hour left, I decidd to head out to the Niagara Bar in hopes of a last minute kicker fish. On the way there, I decided to stop in front of the launch and fish the "Coast Guard Drift" once. A couple minutes into it, while dragging a tube, I hook into a solid fish. It felt very heavy, and had slow head shakes, all the signs of a big smallie. I got it to the surface and discovered it was a 3 pound plus walleye. Nice healthy fish, but not what I was after. In front of the Coast Guard station I caught a short fish. I decided just to continue drifting out ino the lake from here, along the dropoff into deep water trying to hold in 24 feet or so. With about a 1/2 hour left I catch a nice smallie a little over 2 pounds. Put him on the balance beam and sure enough, it was easily a cull fish!!! A very short while later, another good fish, but the blance beam proved it to be smaller than my smallest. 15 minutes left I decided to call it quits for the day. I was tired, I was chilled from being damp and the wind was blowing right threw me. I was drained, but very happy with what I caught, it was by far my best day I have ever had on the Lower Niagara!!

At the weigh-in, there were varying successes for the day. Some guys did well, and some did not. It will prove to mix up the final standings I am sure!! In the end, John "Sea Jack" Siejak took the victory with 13.92 pounds (Insert a big round of applause here), second was Wade McClurg with 13.07 and I finished 3rd with 12.86. 4th place was Don Hallock with 12.66. I believe we had 23 or 24 guys fish. Lunker honors went to Charlie Prince with a 4.92 Lake Ontario smallie.

I am very happy with this last tournament outcome!! It gauranteed my position in the top 6, and a spot on the 6 Man Team for next years Federation CTE. I was even thinking I may have made the top 3 to make the team as a boater, a first for me in the club. I will wait for the official standings from the tournament director before I post what place I am in. I started the year at the opening tournament in 24th place. I thought even climbing my way back into the top 10 was a long shot at this point, not even considering top 3.