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Swinging The Niagara


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With the spey clave next weekend I've gotten thinking about a spey rod again. Wondering who swings the niagara and what you use (rod, skagit?, what kind of sink tip). I'm thinking an 12.6-13ft 7wt rod with a short skagit head. Would 10 ft or so of T-14 get me down in most spots in the pool and glen? Is swinging the river very practical with the seiche flow? would also fish the grand and credit. Thanks.

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i swing down on the niagara at times, I use a 13' st. Croix (7/8wt) with a full sink line and a 3ft leader to a weighted fly. You can swing the majority of the pool, its not the most ideal method of fishing the niagara, but its definetly possible. There are a few spots to swing down in the glen, but few and far between. I would stick to the pool unless your very familiar with the glen and where the drop offs are. Usually swing varying coloured streamers, green and white being most productive for me year round. good luck.

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Not only that if your gunna spey or switch it don't be one of the idiots that come down there at 9 and wedge between two people. If your there early the spots yours I'd your not willing to get up don't bring the rod

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Not only that if your gunna spey or switch it don't be one of the idiots that come down there at 9 and wedge between two people. If your there early the spots yours I'd your not willing to get up don't bring the rod

I don't do that and dont plan to. 3 people fishing on a 15ft section of bank is not my thing. I can see that spey in october is probably not gonna work on the niagara. I try to be on my first hole by first light or earlier.

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I've gone a few times with my switch rod and I prefer the upper river because it's a much more uniform flow and a lot safer to wade. Under the train bridge is decent with a nice shelf and some slack water behind the piling. In the lower I go to the queenston back eddy and try to find a spot no one is fishing. Good luck my friend. Hope to see you out.

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Not only that if your gunna spey or switch it don't be one of the idiots that come down there at 9 and wedge between two people. If your there early the spots yours I'd your not willing to get up don't bring the rod

one of my favourite reasons to bring my spey rod, keeps the idiots out of my drift. i just let them know I'm giving away free piercings LOL. But i agree, get there early during peak seasons, and maybe try to hit it on a weekday if possible.

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A set of mow tips is your best bet. But having said that, i rarely use more than a 5ft float 5ft sink mow tip, or a 7.5float 2.5 sink tip. Not speyed Niagara but im sure Craig could answer that. A full t12 or T14 would probably be in order there. I also use a lot of intermediate poly leaders with weighted flies as well. I know the initial investment on a set of mow tips is a lot, this way your covered for all your depths.

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Swinging the Niagara can be tricky at times with the ever changing flows and current directions. I use floating Skagit head and intermediate sink Skagit heads depending on how the flows are. Which tips I use depends on where the fish are sitting. If they're in tight then I used an intermediate or type 3 sink tip with a floating head. If I know they are sitting further out in deeper seems then I use the intermediate head and some tips up to a 10ft t14. It all depends. Don't forget to swing all the way to the bank and then strip the fly all the way up to your sink tip before making your next cast. You'll get a lot of hits there on the strip. If you guys come to the clave I'll have some of the flies there that work for me there. Hope this all makes sense. Cheers guys

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I also want to mention that I use Skagit heads to keep the D loop small because of some of the awkward places that you have to cast in. Also keeps you from having to wade too deep to make a fishable cast. My go to rod is a 12'4" 8wt Beulah platinum with a compact Skagit head. Killer for that place.

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