Bait shop near border

[Fossil Fish]

So yesterday went well, despite the weather forecast. Made it to the border by 7 am, crossed over and headed to the collecting site to find the main route blocked off for a cycling event. Fortunately I know the area and had no problems. There were about 25 or so fossil hunters there, but I still managed to grab about a dozen trilobites. Several are complete, but most need some prep work to see whether parts are buried or missing. Anyway, this is a fishing forum, so after I left NY, I found my spot on the Welland River and got to it. Regardless of the border crossing, I brought worms with me, as well as turkey giblets left over from Christmas. Starting with the giblets on a 1/0 circle hook, it wasn't long till I felt a good tug, but then nothing. I recast and soon got a hit, my first channel cat, but dammit, he got off the hook at my feet just as I was getting my net. A few casts later, another one hit and he wasn't getting away. Not as big as the first, based solely on the fight, but still my first ever channel cat landed. I got a couple others on giblets, then switched to worms and a bobber to see what else was in the river. Turns out, other than a couple of carp I saw swimming by, there's nothing but channels. For a while every cast got me a channel cat within a minute. No giants, most 9-10", but they still fight pretty good. In all, ended up with at least 20 channels and a nasty sunburn. Despite a forecast of clouds and rain all day, I never saw more than a couple of drops until after 8pm.