Tributary fishing spring 2018

In search of Lake Runs - Part II

I know its June, but I am going to go back to last month to share a bit from a great day on the water with my oldest son and my daughter.

Jonathan's May Steelhead

It was May 6^th and we were in search of one last drop back steelhead.

Even though it had started to warm up a bit, the water was still quite cold and starting to drop and clear. Just about as close to perfect conditions as you can get for this time of year.

Jon's 1st smallmouth bass

We decided to walk a ways downstream first, and then walk and fish our way back up to the bridge where we came in.

Our first stop was a good sized pool with a great fall down at the top and some great ledges for the fish to hide by in the middle and tail-out.

Jonathan took position at the top and Katie at the middle.

Katie's 19" smallmouth

In that first half an hour. Jonathan managed a beautiful drop back hen steelhead, and a nice sized smallmouth bass. Katie got a good pull, but was never able to connect. When we felt as though we caught what we could, we moved on.

Our next location proved to be more of the same, giving up a few fine fish and then turning off. The pool gave up a rather large nineteen inch smallmouth to Katie, while Jonathan landed a very respectable rock bass. I hooked a large smallmouth in the tail-out, but couldn’t seal the deal.

Our last couple of hours we worked our way back up to the bridge, hitting all the major pools and deep pockets and runs. We each managed some very nice fish, but Katie’s twenty inch smallmouth bass was the fish of the afternoon.

All fish where caught on woolly buggers in olive and brown, and craft hair streamer patterns.

Katie's 20" smallmouth.

Even I managed to land at least one.

I managed to take some great photos and video. I’ll post the photos and try to get the video up when I can…..Enjoy!

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!

Late November Fishing with the Boys

Jonathan with an average sized lake run brown trout

We made the trip up to one of our favorite WNY tributaries in search of big lake run trout only to find every spot loaded with anglers. Even an old standby location that has served us well in the past when angler traffic gets heavy, was now posted and equipped with surveillance cameras. 

Ethan with a nice kyped out male

So we headed back to one of the pull-offs, parked the car, and decided to hike a bit upstream, away from the bridge where there were at least 7-8 anglers.

Along the way we made frequent stops to check every little nook and cranny, carefully searching for a holding fish. Over the course of the next hour or so, we saw a few here and there and even fished a nice pool or two along the way, but our venture upstream proved fruitless.

Back at the bridge, we were very happy to see that almost all the other anglers were now gone, save one lonely soul across the stream on the other side.

Over the last hour that we had left, the boys and I fished a spot that often gets over looked. We each managed two hook-ups a piece, with the boys each landing one. Not a bad way to end a tough outing.