Smallmouth bass
Excellent
The prime season: tubes, crankbaits and topwater along the rocky points and breaks.
Niagara River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
The Niagara River: steelhead, chinook and lake trout below the falls, bass and muskie above, with a live gauge at Fort Erie.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Level
172.36 m5,810 m³/s
Air / High
10 °C / 20 °C
Wind
NE 4 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 02HA013, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Niagara River has the water in the comfortable band where most of its fish feed through the day. The gauge reads 172.36 m, up 0.06 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 20 °C. Water sits around 19 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Chinook (spring) salmon
Good
Peak season on the coast. Work the tide changes along the points and the kelp beds with a flasher and bait, adjusting depth until you mark fish.
Tie on: Jig and minnow · Spinnerbait over the weeds · Bucktail fly, fast troll · Leech pattern under an indicator. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Similar at 22 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Ontario requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$12.21. Ontario fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with Ontario MNR before you keep anything; the Steelhead page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Niagara River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (07:06), sunset (19:07), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Water Survey of Canada station 02HA013 (NIAGARA RIVER AT FORT ERIE).
River level, last 30 days
Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 02HA013. Latest reading 2026-09-25 07:15.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp10 °C
High / Low20 °C / 5 °C
WindNE 4 km/h, gusts 10 km/h
Pressure102.67 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain6% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:06 / 19:07
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~19 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Niagara River
The best day on Niagara River this week looks like Sunday Sep 27, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Sunday, Sep 27 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Sep 25 — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 07:06 to 19:07
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 0%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Niagara River: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Steelhead
BC: winter run December to April, summer run into fall; Great Lakes: fall and spring
Sea-run rainbow trout, the fish of the Vedder, the Skeena system and the Island rivers in winter, and of the Great Lakes tributaries in fall and spring. In BC wild steelhead are released; a steelhead conservation surcharge applies on top of the licence. Fish the riffles and the heads of runs as water drops and clears after a rise.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
The biggest Pacific salmon, called spring or king on the BC coast. Feeds along the kelp lines, points and tide rips of the BC coast before running rivers in late summer; introduced to the Great Lakes, where it runs the tributaries in fall. Retention on the BC coast changes by area and by DFO fishery notice. Peak season on the coast. Work the tide changes along the points and the kelp beds with a flasher and bait, adjusting depth until you mark fish.
Lake trout
Ice season, and spring after ice-off
The big char of cold, deep lakes: Lake Simcoe, the Kootenay and Shuswap systems, the northern lakes. A winter favourite through the ice, where the season allows. Deep water over humps and drop-offs; vertical jigging where you mark fish.
Smallmouth bass
Opens late June in most of Ontario; best July to October
The rock-and-current bass of the Great Lakes shores, the Bay of Quinte, the St. Lawrence and Lake St. Clair. The Ontario bass season opens in late June in most zones, after the nesting period. The prime season: tubes, crankbaits and topwater along the rocky points and breaks.
When to come: the Niagara River calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Chinook (spring) salmon
Lake trout
Smallmouth bass
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 19 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Niagara River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Chinook (spring) salmon led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Chinook (spring) salmon led the card at excellent. High of 21 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Chinook (spring) salmon led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Outdoors Card and Ontario fishing licence, from C$12.21 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by Ontario MNR and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Ontario licence page before you keep anything.
Access
An Outdoors Card and an Ontario fishing licence are needed on the Canadian side; the New York side needs a New York licence.
About this water
Niagara River is a river in Ontario, Canada, covered from the Ontario reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Niagara River: the full guide
The Niagara River
The Niagara River runs from Lake Erie at Fort Erie over Niagara Falls and through the gorge to Lake Ontario at Niagara-on-the-Lake, the border between Ontario and New York. Above the falls it is a wide, fast river of bass and muskie water; below them, the lower river and its famous whirlpool fill with steelhead, salmon and lake trout from Lake Ontario. The Water Survey of Canada gauge at Fort Erie, on the upper river, supplies the level, the flow and the 30-day chart on this page; it reads the outflow of Lake Erie, not the lower river below the falls.
Species and seasons
Chinook run up the lower river in the fall, followed by steelhead and brown trout through the winter and into spring, and lake trout in the lower river in winter; smallmouth bass fish all summer in both parts of the river. Muskellunge are fished in the upper river in fall. Ontario’s zone rules apply on the Canadian side.
Where to fish it
The lower river is fished from boats drifting from Queenston toward the mouth, and from shore at Queenston, the whirlpool and the gorge where access is safe and allowed; the upper river is fished from boats out of Fort Erie and Chippawa. The gorge trails are steep and the current is deadly: never wade the lower river.
Planning a visit
Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake have every service, and guides run drift trips on the lower river. The New York side has its own rules and licences.
The water through the year
The river’s flow is steady compared with other rivers, set by Lake Erie and by the diversions for the power stations; the fall salmon, winter trout and summer bass make three seasons.
Reading this report here
The Fort Erie gauge shows the upper river’s level and flow, which change with Lake Erie’s wind setup; the lower river’s fishing depends more on water clarity after storms. The chart shows the last 30 days; pressure and sky build the score.
Licence, access and rules
An Outdoors Card and an Ontario fishing licence are needed on the Canadian side; the New York side needs a New York licence. Ontario’s rules are linked below, and our Ontario licence page has the fees.
Common questions
When do salmon run up the Niagara River?
Chinook in the fall, followed by steelhead and brown trout through winter into spring.
Can I fish from shore on the lower Niagara?
Yes, at Queenston, the whirlpool and parts of the gorge where it is safe and allowed; never wade the lower river.
Does the gauge show the lower river?
No; it is at Fort Erie on the upper river and reads the outflow of Lake Erie.
Is fishing good at Niagara River right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Water level and flow readings
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 02HA013 — NIAGARA RIVER AT FORT ERIE
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Fish stocking
- Ontario fish stocking report
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.