Fall Tributary Season 2020

Ethan works a nice pool

 

Has it really been that long since my last post.....really?

Jonathan with a nice October King

Oh well.

Here it goes.

I will try and put up a few posts in short succession to highlight some of the past fishing trips over the course of the year.

I will start with this fall tributary season, and hopefully add some backlogged stories as I go.

This year’s WNY tributary season was pretty normal, at least from my experience.

We had water, not a lot, but more than what I had seen in some past years. And that allowed for the salmon migration to start right on queue. Fish moved up all fall, and even had some opportunities to push way up into some of the smaller freestone tribs with the occasional pulse of rain and/or canal release.

Ethan with a streamer king

Even though we caught some fish, we didn’t ever seem to find a good group of fish, and had to put in a lot of steps just to find the few we were able to catch. But, that’s fishing. Each year is different, and some years are better than others, especially when it comes to finding plenty of fish that are willing to take a fly.

Our best flies this year were woolly buggers tied in olive, brown and black and in sizes #4-#6. We primarily dead drifted pockets and pools and swung them in tail-outs and runs. Or, a combination of the two.

Woolly bugger king

As the fall progressed, we started to find more and more trout in the local streams. And like every other year, we match the hatch with egg patterns. As the salmon run winds down and the spawning is complete, the lake run brown trout start to pair up to begin their spawning. Here is a great opportunity to target the pools, deep pockets and runs for early lake run steelhead/rainbows and other brown trout that have yet to get on the gravel to spawn. You can also witness some of the spawning that takes place, like the salmon, in the shallower gravel sections of the stream. But remember, these fish are trying to naturally reproduce. And even though there isn’t a high success rate in natural reproduction, it does happen, and it is recommended to leave actively spawning fish alone.

Once late November comes around, the brown trout start to come off the spawn and will eat almost anything and everything…..including a swung streamer!

Jon's first fall lake run brown

In a couple of weeks winter will officially be here, at least meteorologically speaking. That means the fishing will slow way down as the stream temperatures drop. And that’s when the fish will start to pool up and hunker down. We will need to slow our presentation down, and keep those flies in the zone. Fishing the afternoon will usually be better, because as the day warms, so does the water. And any warming of the stream will mean the fish will become more active.

Enjoy the upcoming Holidays….and hopefully I’ll see you on the stream.

Make sure to check out these links of local guides and craftsmen, along with other major brands that we use while on the stream

Wide Sky Fly Fishing

Streamwalker Nets

JP Ross Fly Rods

Waterworks - Lamson

Jay Peck Guides 

Cortland Fly Fishing 

Rio Fly Fishing 

Temple Fork Outfitters

Ethan and a big post spawn hen

Egg patterns and post spawn lake run brown trout

Jon with a big drop back

Ethan with a nice streamer caught male brown trout

First fall lake run rainbow

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.

In Search of Spring Lake Runs

Ethan with his first spring steelhead

I finally made out on to the stream this spring.

 

With a busy family schedule and weather windows that didn’t match up with any free time, it’s been difficult to find the time to go, even for just an hour.

This week my two oldest children and my wife are helping out with Flower City Work Camp. So I took a few days off to spend some quality time with my youngest son. And Tuesday afternoon, after work, we made a quick run up to a local tributary to scout a few locations for the end of the week. We also brought our rods along and tried out a few spots.

In the net!

The water was in great shape, with a good medium flow (for spring,) with a bit of stain and about two feet of visibility.

The first two locations we stopped at, although they looked promising, didn’t give up any fish. We kept at it and our visit to a third location proved to be the difference maker.

We ended up hooking up with six fish and landing four. Two trout and two suckers. And all of them, save the first fish, were caught on a #6 chartreuse bead head olive woolly bugger dead drifted under an indicator.

Hopefully we can get out a few more times before the spring season is done and find a few more willing lake run trout.

Ethan took this photo of me and my drop back lake run brown trout

See you on the stream!