Mid-November Fly Fishing

Jonathan gets ready to release a 29" inch male lake run brown trout.

As of writing this blog post, we still have snow on the ground from last week’s snow. In fact the whole month of November has been more like late December or early January. Colder than normal temperatures rule the day, and rain drops have been transformed into those light white fluffy flakes.

Ethan with his biggest brown of the fall

Even in the face of a lingering cold snap, the fishing has been really good. And that, In part, is due to the release of Erie Canal water into many of our WNY lake Ontario tributaries.

The extra bump in water has provided a continual push of fresh fish into all the streams. Lots of Lake Run brown trout, steelhead and even a few salmon are still making their way upstream. With the salmon spawn done, and the brown trout spawn fully under way with plenty of spawning and post-spawn fish now in the system, the “egg bite” is on!

We have had most of our success while dead drifting egg patterns in pockets, deeper runs and pools. And now that the many of the brown trout are coming off the spawn, swinging streamers have started to take their fair share of fish as well.

A nice big lake run male caught on the 10' 6 weight

Jessie Hollenbeck with a nice steelhead

Even I get to catch a few - Photo by Jonathan

As the season works its way into a winter pattern. Fishing will start to slow a bit, as the fish’s metabolism also slows. This will make the afternoon period better for fishing. Even a slight warming of the water by just a degree or two will often turn fish on to feed. Until then, enjoy fishing big streamers on the swing for some heart stopping action.