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.

Midnight Mousing Trip – August 2017

Bob sends out a few nice loops before dark.

We have had a great end to our summer and I have much to catch up on. 

I always try and do a late night fly fishing trip to our local stream during the dog days of summer. I make sure to pick a night near or on the new moon, and when the water is low and clear. This gives us the best opportunity for success.

Last year I didn’t even try and get out on the stream, because of how poor the fishing conditions had been over the past few years. The local trout population had suffered greatly since we had to back to back bitterly cold winters. The locations that we usually could find plenty of fish were now vacant, and up until this past winter, seemed to be on a very slow rebound.

The fish and the fishing are now starting to make their way back, but it will still be a few years before the stream begins to fish as well as it did before.

Midnight fly change

This year my good friend Bob and I decided to start at a new location. It was a section of stream up from where we normally fish that receives plenty of stocking during late March and into April, depending on stream conditions. Sure it gets plenty of pressure from all kinds of anglers throughout the spring and summer, but I also know that in those same areas, bigger holdover and wild trout can be a pleasant surprise.

Arriving with plenty of light to rig up our rods, we fished a nice pool below the bridge before the darkness set in. We worked it over pretty well, but no fish came to hand.

We then walked way downstream, tied on high-riding mouse patterns, fished a great looking tailout, and worked our way back up slowly.

We fished our mouse patterns on the swing and with a constant slow and steady strip. In all that time, we only had two or three fish come up and give a good pull, but none of them could stay hooked.

With just a couple of hours or so left, we then headed to a section of stream that we had spent a good amount of time in fishing at night. It is a place, that in the past, we could always count on catching at least a few trout before heading home. Even here, the fishing started off incredibly slow. I was beginning to think that the fishing that I had experienced earlier in the year was just a fluke. And that the fish, were not rebounding like I thought.

Finally on the board!

Over the next half hour or so we flogged the water, until I heard a loud splash followed by a hard pull. It was the first trout of the night. We were on the board!

Over the course of the remainder of our time we had just a few more good pulls, but none of those made it to the net. We left the stream that night feeling fulfilled and tired, and perhaps most importantly, hopeful. Hopeful of the future of this stream and the trout that reside within it’s ever winding course. 

The fishing that we used to experience is still a little ways off. In the meantime, I plan to try and get out when I can enjoy the fish that are there and willing to take a fly.

Spring Fly Fishing at its Finest!

Ethan with a fine Black creek smallmouth that ate a large rabbit strip streamer.

Black creek pike taken on a big streamer.

Staying home with my youngest son today because he isn’t feeling well, has provided me some much needed time to rest up and maybe catch up on a few things….such as writing a long overdue blog post about our spring fly fishing adventures.

Small drop back brown taken on a brown woolly bugger.

With the amount of rain we have received this spring, it’s no wonder that fishing time has been tough to find. In fact high water and flooding have been a constant headline for a good month or so, leaving many anglers sidelined waiting for little weather windows of opportunity to try and get out on the water.

Ethan's big smallie

Jonathan with a small tributary smallie

Ethan swinging the back end of a pool

Another big smallie for Ethan

Smallmouth release

Jonathan with a huge lake run smalllie

We here at the Bradfield household have been blessed to not only find the time to get out, but also experience some pretty darn good fishing to boot!

We have enjoyed some of Black creek’s finest, a few excursions to a local tributary in search of some drop back fun and a trip to the local pond in between.

Pike and bass at Black creek, bass and panfish at the pond, and large lake run smallmouth and a couple of small lake run trout from a WNY Lake Ontario tributary all found the bottom of the net.

Each of the spots we fished, save the pond, we have had to work in high stained water to find fish. These conditions are usually reserved for early spring as the snow pack melts away in late February early March and then with spring rain in late March, early April – Leaving the middle of April as the drop period, hopefully lasting into late April early May if we are lucky. But as it is with each new year, conditions can vary, and this year was certainly an exception. We are still dealing with high stained water into the middle part of May!

The boys doubled up on large lake run smallies

We have had great success catching fish on streamers. Both large weighted rabbit strip streamers in the 3.5-4” inch range that resemble the many baitfish that inhabit the streams we fish and dark and more natural colored woolly buggers in black, brown and olive. Dead drifting buggers under and indicator did take some fish, but the majority of the fish we put in the net have come by fishing these flies on the swing or actively fishing them of the bottom. Even the pond fish we caught were fooled by small olive woolly buggers fished just under the surface.

Still a few trout around in the WNY tributaries

As we start to dry out and water levels drop, the fishing will change yet again. We will start to target trout on our inland streams with dry flies, the carp will start to show up in Black creek in larger numbers and our warm water fisheries will start to set up for summer. 

Jonathan with a short nosed red finned sucker

Hopefully our schedule will continue to align with that of Mother Nature and we can find plenty of opportunities to get out together and fish this year. It’s been a great start so far.

Enjoy the photos and we'll see you on the stream!