Dave

I have to keep telling myself its a vacation with my wife 😆....

I do the same thing Gil, fish some of the waters you mentioned, and more.This year will be my 29th year of fly fishing and fly tying...Kayak Bass in Lake Erie and wade fishing the Grand..Also saltwater destinations.I'm going to be in Cuba three weeks from now with my wife, but I'll still get out for Bones and maybe a Cuda..Feel free to send me a PM

I now call it the "Windy Planet".As a fly fisherman for 29 years now and a Kayak fisherman you tend to really pay attention to the wind..I've got used to fly casting in the wind but the amount of safe kayak days on the Great Lakes have greatly reduced.. You can deny global warming all you want but weather change is very real.Most of the fishing venues I do, I have to pick solely on the strength of the wind and direction, It has become a pita....

They are Snook. In the summer when they are cruising the beach to spawn, its closed to harvest, but open to fish..

Thanks Smerchly, here's a few pics from that beautiful place....

Well, I never made it to the open house.In all honesty its been a really bummer day for me.One of my favourite destination fishing trips just got wiped out by hurricane Ian.If you've watched the news today you will see that large portions of Fort Myers and Sanibel island are wiped out.I would imagine that the whole resort of small cottages just off beach are reduced to boards and floating rubble..Damn it, that was a great trip, sight fishing to monster Snook with the fly rod..Had a cottage on the beach already booked for next year..

I've fished for much of my 60 years in this area..I'm tired of the exploitation and urbanization of our local waters.Starting with the helicopters, then the jet boats,Great wolf lodge.The Niagara river was almost a wilderness setting when I grew up.Don't fish certain sections of the Grand any more because I'm bombarded by rafts and rubber duckies all summer long, courtesy of Grand River Rafting company.Lets develop a new gated community on the shore of Lake Ontario,then put up no parking signs, and remove your right to access..I'm getting tired of the " beat down" of our local waters..The hovercraft route just another annoyance...Can't fight urbanization I guess but IMO we sure haven't planned some of it right..

Smerch, the website says 365 days a year operation.I would imagine you can run hovercraft over ice..I would assume a Jet boat is much nosier than hovercraft.I feel thats how they're trying to bill this, a noise free solution, and eco friendly.. We are talking 180 people crossing 48 times a day..Passengers will need to park here to go there, and the incoming passengers will need to be shuttled out, the math on this is huge...I really can't imagine a hovercraft flying in and out a Port marina every 1/2 hour with the boaters wanting to enjoy Port.

Good that you do see some positivity out of this.As a local here, I'm interested where 180 people are going to park, and how 180 people are going to get shuttled out of here, per hour! In all honesty I'm tired of the urbanization of our waterway shorelines...So many great fishing spots have been lost to the "beat down" of the shoreline..Don't even get me started on the Grand..In my world there would be a none urbanization buffer for a kilometre around our lakes and rivers...Quiet as a dishwasher my butt, sound travels over water...Getting buzzed every 1/2 hour by hovercraft while trolling Port Weller...

So fyi to all members, the city of St. Catharines is proposing a hovercraft terminal just north of Sunset beach (Lombardy Ave.).Here is the link https://hoverlinkontario.com.. So you now have a hovercraft running a path 18hrs a day,365 days a year, right through one of the prime spring time trolling areas on south shore.. Imagine trolling this area now and 48 crossings a day of 180 passengers..I'm much more concerned since I live 1.5 miles from this terminal site....Apparently runs quieter than a dishwasher, I hope so ,I can hear SeaDoo's buzzing the beach from home... Heres details of an Open House (Community Information Session) Grantham Lions Club,732 Niagara st.,St. Catharines,Thursday September 29 2022,Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm....

Thats the same rod I've got..I have not hooked up on the 203 yet.May be the north winds have pushed some fish onto the south shore..

Thats exactly the same reel I have Okuma 203 Cold Water LH!!...Looks like Okuma rod to,I actually think the triangle fore grip is a good idea..... What length and model did you buy?? The biggest problem with kayak fishing on the Great Lakes is getting a safe day to go out..Might go out tomorrow on south shore not sure yet..

I went with Scotty as I already had the basemounts on my Hobie Hrail system...Plus its easier to find scotty attachments around here..I needed to get the rod handles out of the cockpit..If staging kings don't pan out there's always the spring...I live near the lake so at least I can look at the conditions..

I'm willing to try night fishing out of Port D if interested.Probably wont have to go too far offshore either..Night fishing not my favourite thing but willing to try.The very first time setting out for Kings I managed 2 hook ups but lost both and that trip was early morning.I think I hit it perfect,a north wind must have pushed them in.. Looking to rig up a second Okuma line counter and trolling rod......Just bought some Scotty gear head rod mount extenders....

Thanks Deetch, Yes definitely in the St. Catharines area..

Any reports of Kings getting closer to shoreline yet?? My plans this year is to do more Kayak trolling.. Don't want to venture out to 100 fow but if they start hitting 40-50 I'm interested..Probably a week or two weeks away from them getting consistently closer?? Don't really know their habits fishing from water just twilight fishing from shore... Any tips appreciated.. Dave

Thats awesome! I'm just getting comfortable hitting 15ft. of water for Smallies.I've seen some crazy wind this year and Erie is rarely calm..I was in Albino Bay last week on a North wind and it started cranking way more than the predicted 30 k gust..Always think I'm safe in an offshore wind but I learned you can get white caps even close to shore...

I'm going to be in the Kawartha's to but not really keen on the lower Buckhorn..Last time there I had the impression it was fished on hard.The Smallies were in fact very small.I have to keep telling myself its a family trip LOL..Damn I wish they would change the date next week is still prime for sight fishing Erie..

Yep, that was me in the Hobie 14.What a stinking hot day low wind in the afternoon knocked me out..I was slipping into heat exhaustion when I hit the launch.. One of my better openers in the last 3 years but not even close to the good ole days.

Managed a 20 fish day fly fishing out of Kayak on Lake Erie opening day..Some awesome sight fishing.Too bad wind dropped and spun East at about 10:30 and killed the bite.. Had a 15 fish day in the Grand once again on the fly.Grand is so low that fish were all huddled in a riffle..Couldn't poke one in the obvious holes..Strange day indeed.

When you got the Camo gear on the fish never see you coming😁

I'm sorry to hear that Smerchly.I know who you are talking about he was the brother of my old supervisor from GM.Peter did share some of his secrets with me before his passing.Port really isn't my thing but I had hoped to see him this year...He was a pleasure to talk to..

When I get to the point of actually seeing the snap weight I will let you know LOL!!I've only seen 70 yards of line peeled out so far.. I have a really hard time opening up the red offshore clips.Apparently my hand strength not good..So I experiment with elastic and found I could tear it right off the line...This will definitely be a learning experience for me... Just out of curiosity how close could I get a large snap weight to the lure with out spooking Salmon?I would rather remove weight at the end of fight instead of in the middle of it...I was using the 50/50 method on one rod.But other rod had weight about 20 ft. from lure, the rod that was hooking up.. I would just have to refigure depth control....

I've caught lots of Nookies off the bank before and that was 100% a Salmon run on both the fish... They were rolling on the top actually in mouth of Canal.I thought at first it was Carp but I got a look at that Salmon fin.. A good number of boats out today off of Port D..They all started shallower before moving out..

I forgot to mention I didn't bother using alligator clip on lead weight.I just went through eye of weight and over with elastic band..