Oatka Creek Trout Goodies!

Sulphur nymph in a size #16

Taking stream samples can be a challenging endeavor to say the least. For starters you have to make the decision that you aren’t going to fish for a set period of time and that is and has always been extremely hard for me to do. I would rather spend my time fishing. The other part of this whole experience is in making sure you have all your gear together to make the most out of the time you set aside from fishing. And believe me, taking a little extra time to make sure that you have the right stuff makes the job go by much faster and in the long run allow you to enjoy the process. Besides, there is a whole lot of great information that you can gain from taking stream samples - Information that will provide you with better flies to match the hatch with, where to fish those flies, and lastly how to fish them.

Hendrickson nymph in a size #14

I have always used a trout net with a fine mesh bag to collect my samples. But that has changed recently as I have ruined my net in doing so. It doesn’t take long to wear down the polyurethane coating on the wood when you’re jamming the net into the bottom of the stream while kicking up rocks which then in turn ruins the wood.

So this year I have fashioned a make shift seine of my own based on one that a good friend of mine Lucas Carroll first made several years back. He used fine white mesh to make his. In fact he said it was material that one would use to make a wedding veil. Can you imagine the looks he got in the fabric store that day!!! He then took that material and fashioned it to two wooden dowels with duct tape. This would allow him to roll the seine up and stuff it into a pack with ease. And the cost was very minimal.

Golden Stone - Size #8-#10

This makeshift seine has worked very well and is very easy to use. You can plant those posts into the stream bottom and kick up a few feet of bottom with a good two to three feet of mesh capturing everything.

I will be back to the stream soon with seine in tow, and work different sections of the stream to see what those sections might turn up.

In the mean time, enjoy these photos of just some of the aquatic goodies I found on my home waters of Oatka Creek.

Tiny Sulphur nymph - #24

March Brown nymph - #12

Hendrickson nymph - #16

Caddis Larve - #12

Here is the seine I made. I have added some duct tape along the bottom of the veil material to add some support.

We are starting to see good numbers of Hendricksons coming off with some really encouraging reports of fish looking up. Time to get out there and fish!

Spring Fishing & Lots of Rain

A gnarly looking dude that couldn't lay off a #14 OS

Up until this past week there has been some pretty good fishing to be had around WNY. Not that I have been able to get out mind you, but I have seen the photos and read the reports.

Bigger tributaries to Lake Ontario, like Oak Orchard creek were still fishing well even with the low water. The smaller tribs have been a little tougher, but there are still fish to be found. Even the inland trout streams were in prime shape. That is until the incredibly large amount of rain we received over the past three days which has raised many local water ways to near flood stage.

This will put the fishing off for a while. So in the mean time I will post some photos from some of the late winter/early spring fish I was able to tempt with a fly, when I had the opportunity to do so - Photos that include an epic day on one of my favorites - Oatka creek, and a local trib.

I hope everyone can find a little time to get out this spring and enjoy a little fly fishing adventure.

If we don't get any more rain, and things start to dry out, we should see streams come down to a good fishable level at the end of next week.

Remember our first good mayfly hatch of the spring is almost upon us - Bring on the Hendricksons!

 

Another inland wild brown with the fly of the day - #14 OS

A nice 26-27" drop back steelhead ready for release.

A very colorful drop back female lake run brown trout.