Steelhead
Good
The winter run. Slow and deep: float gear right on the bottom, swing slower, and fish the days after a small rise in water.
Niagara River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
The Niagara River: stocked rainbows, chinook and lake trout below the falls, bass and muskie above, with a live gauge at Fort Erie.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
172.38 m6,100 m³/s
Air / High
8 °C / 10 °C
Wind
WNW 16 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 02HA013, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Niagara River has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the warmest hours. The gauge reads 172.38 m, up 0.14 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind WNW around 16 km/h, rising pressure near 1012 hPa and a high of 10 °C. Water sits around 8 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:41 PM-1:41 AM and 11:17 AM-1:17 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Chinook (spring) salmon
Slow
Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Lake trout
Closed today
Reopens Dec 1, 2026. Lake trout are open 1 January to 30 September and 1 to 31 December, in Zone 20 and in Zone 19 alike.
Tie on: Jigging spoon through the ice · Dead-stick minnow · Tip-up with dead bait · Tungsten jig and wax worm. Prime windows: 11:41 PM-1:41 AM, 11:17 AM-1:17 PM, 7:14 AM-8:14 AM. Warmer at 14 °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 (07:00), sunset (16:58), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:41 PM-1:41 AM and 11:17 AM-1:17 PM; minor 7:14 AM-8:14 AM. New Moon, 0% 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 2026-11-09 07:15.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp8 °C
High / Low10 °C / 5 °C
WindWNW 16 km/h, gusts 35 km/h
Pressure101.22 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 29%
Sunrise / Sunset07:00 / 16:58
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~8 °C est.
The level of the whole lake, live at both ends: Lake Erie water level today.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Niagara River
The best day on Niagara River this week looks like Thursday Nov 12, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, Nov 12 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Nov 9 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 11:41 PM-1:41 AM and 11:17 AM-1:17 PM
- Minor period
- 7:14 AM-8:14 AM
- Sun
- 07:00 to 16:58
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 29%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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
Open all year Pacific salmon and rainbow trout (steelhead) are open all year in Zones 19 and 20; many tributaries have their own seasons and sanctuaries, such as the Ganaraska. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
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. The winter run. Slow and deep: float gear right on the bottom, swing slower, and fish the days after a small rise in water.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
Open all year Pacific salmon and rainbow trout (steelhead) are open all year in Zones 19 and 20; many tributaries have their own seasons and sanctuaries, such as the Ganaraska. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
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. Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Lake trout
Ice season, and spring after ice-off
Closed now Reopens Dec 1, 2026. Lake trout are open 1 January to 30 September and 1 to 31 December, in Zone 20 and in Zone 19 alike. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
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.
Smallmouth bass
Opens late June in most of Ontario; best July to October
Open now Closes Dec 1, 2026. Above the falls (Zone 19) bass open on the fourth Saturday in June and close after 30 November. Below the falls (Zone 20) smallmouth are catch and release only from 1 January to 10 May and open for harvest on the first Saturday in July. This line shows the dates both zones share as closed or release-only. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
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. Closed or out of season in most waters.
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 8 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 12 °C, wind to 29 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 10 °C, wind to 16 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 14 °C, wind to 18 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 → Except on a one-day licence you also need the Outdoors Card.
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. The zone-by-zone seasons and limits are on Ontario fishing seasons.
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, forming the border between Ontario and New York. Above the falls it is wide, fast bass and muskie water; below them, the lower river takes runs of trout and salmon from Lake Ontario. The Water Survey of Canada gauge at Fort Erie, station 02HA013, supplies the level, the flow and the 30-day chart on this page; it measures the upper river as it leaves Lake Erie, not the water below the falls.
Two zones, two sets of rules
Ontario splits the river at the falls. Upstream is Fisheries Management Zone 19, the Lake Erie rules, with bass open from the fourth Saturday in June to 30 November and muskellunge between the Peace Bridge and the falls open from the third Saturday in June to 15 December. Downstream is Zone 20, the Lake Ontario rules, where lake trout are closed from 1 October to 30 November and smallmouth bass are catch-and-release only from 1 January to 10 May, then closed until the first Saturday in July.
Species and stocking
Chinook come up the lower river in the fall, and rainbow trout (steelhead), brown trout and lake trout are fished through the colder months. Ontario’s stocking record lists rainbow trout yearlings released in the Niagara River by the Lake Ontario Management Unit every year from 2022 to 2025, between 15,000 and 40,000 a year.
Where to fish it
The lower river is fished from drifting boats between Queenston and the mouth, and from shore only where access down the gorge is safe and permitted. The upper river is fished from boats, working the current seams and the drop-offs for bass and, from June, muskie. The current below the falls is powerful and cold enough to kill: never wade the lower river, and treat the gorge trails as steep terrain.
The water through the year
Because the river drains Lake Erie, its flow is steadier than that of most rivers, though wind setup on the lake moves the Fort Erie reading. Fall chinook, winter and spring trout and summer bass give the river three distinct seasons.
Reading this report here
The Fort Erie gauge shows the upper river’s level and flow; below the falls, clarity after storms matters more than level. The chart shows the last 30 days, and pressure and cloud are the other inputs to 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. The Zone 19 and Zone 20 summaries 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, with rainbow and brown trout through winter into spring in the lower river.
Are the rules the same above and below the falls?
No. Above the falls is Zone 19 (Lake Erie rules) and below is Zone 20 (Lake Ontario rules), with different bass, muskie and lake trout seasons.
Does the gauge show the lower river?
No; it is at Fort Erie on the upper river and reads the water leaving 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: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
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
- Pages checked
- 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.