Salvation at Spring Creek!

Winter can be a tricky time to spend on the water. You have to deal with frozen fingers and guides. You also have to wear many layers of clothes and make sure to cover your face and head. Frost bite is a very real possibility, and you need to prepare accordingly. I now carry a net with me so I don't have to stick my hands in the water to retrieve my fish - a lesson learned the hard way!

Most of the streams can be frozen over like many of our still water fisheries. But there is always a hearty few who know that not all is lost. In fact winter is probably the best time to fish. Crowds are not a problem and the fish still need to eat. So a few of us hard core fly fishing dudes take to the water that is open. And with our layers of clothing and waders, we stand in water that is barely above the freezing mark, in the hopes of getting our lines stretched and our rods bent. And if we are prepared enough, we might just catch a few fish.

For the past few weeks, with the exception of this past weekend, the temperatures have been a little on the cool side. And we expect this - it is winter after all! The bad part about it is that we have had no snow melt to raise the water levels, and many of the small streams are locked up with ice. The few that have remained open get pounded by fisherman that have been fishing to the same fish on a weekly basis.

Salvation has come from a small inland trout stream that remains ice free all winter long. In fact it's water temperatures stay near 50 degrees all year round. And that means that it is often the best place to spend a few hours throwing flies. And that place is none other than "Spring Creek!"
It has provided us hard core fly fishing guys with a remedy for a severe case of cabin fever.

Small flies and light tippet are the key to consistent action Spring Creek. We have had our best success using #16-#20 pink scuds, with #16-#18 red worms, #20-#26 midge larvae and #20 flash back nymphs taking the rest of the fish.

So here are some photos that were taken from the past two weeks of fly fishing spring creek. I will also put in 2 links here for you to check out some of Lucas Carroll's photography as well.

I hope you enjoy!

Winter Fish and Flies

With the new year now here, I have been thinking it might be time to put up a blog. I know, "it's about time!" But like I said before, I have been trying to cut back a little from my own personal blog so I can devote more time to the www.jprossflyrods.com web site. Besides it gets awfully busy around here during the holiday season....yikes!!!

December was a great month filled with more family and friends than anything else. And it was great to see everyone, even if it was for a short little while. But I am starting to get that feeling - you know the one where you wake up at night in a cold sweat yelling FISH ON!!! at the top of your lungs. Okay - maybe you don't know. But if you know me, that's not out of the realm of possibility. I'm starting to think that the risk of almost certain frost bite while fishing in weather like this is worth it. I mean I endured it last year, how bad could it be a second time around?

December was not completely void of fishing or fish for that matter. I did get out for an hour on December 7th at one of my favorite Western New York tributaries. And even though it was cold, I did manage to hook up with two fish and land one very bright female steelhead of about 5lbs. Happy Birthday to me!!! Other than that morning, I have been in a terrible drought. And as my Dad used to say on Christmas when one of us kids would open all of our presents in a sugar induced frenzy, and then have to sit back and wait as everyone else got to enjoy the rest of their gifts.....wait for it......"You'll just have to sit there and suck wind!" So that's what I've been doing at least on the fishing end of things.

As for other fly fishing things - I have been spending some time at the vise. And that means filling in some holes in the fly boxes and trying out some new things for my next adventure. I'll post some photos here of those flies, but you can find the recipe for these flies at the jprossflyrods site. So enjoy and make sure to get out there if and when you can. I know spring creek is always open and so is Oatka and Irondequoit creek too! Trout have to eat even in winter, we just need to take advantage.

Happy New Year!!!!