End of April steelhead

Curtis admires a gorgeous hen steelhead before it's release

I know we are quickly getting into the last bit of May, but before I post some warm water adventures, I wanted to put up a post about a trip I did about a month ago at a local WNY tributary with a good friend of mine.

The end of April usually means that our spring WNY steelhead season is winding down. The days are filled with long walks in search of the few remaining fish left in the system and stream temperatures in our small freestone tributaries start to warm quickly, bringing in lots of warm water fish from the lake.

However, like last year, our spring has been exceptionally cold and has prolonged our tributary season well into May, leaving us with many great opportunities to catch plenty of drop back chrome.

Curtis with a small male drop back

Fishing at the end of April and early May can be a bit of a challenge. Some days are filled with sun and warmth while others can remind you that winter may yet still have the last laugh.

Warming water temps and dropping water levels can really turn fish on to a swung fly. And they can be extremely aggressive to the point of ripping the rod right out of your hand if you’re not ready.

 On the other hand, a cold snap can shut down fish for a day or two and the bite becomes light. Dead drifting nymphs and egg patterns will out produce fishing a swung streamer. 

My one and only steelhead of the spring

And then there is the in between stage where fish will take both offerings. And with that kind of a day, you may spend a good amount of time switching back and forth between the two.

On this trip Curtis and I found the fish to be right in the middle and caught them while dead drifting flies and on a swung streamer.

All the steelhead we caught were drop backs that had already spawned and were actively feeding as they made their way back to Lake Ontario to spend the summer fattening up for next year’s spawn.

All in all I had a great spring tributary season and am already looking forward to the fall.

See you on the stream!

Fishing with the Boys

Jonathan works a long run with a big streamer

A little more than a week ago I had the perfect opportunity to take my two boys out to do a little fly fishing at a local WNY tributary. The afternoon temperature was in the low sixties and the water levels, although still high and stained (about a foot of visibility), were on the drop. The fishing looked promising.

Ethan gets ready to release a nice drop back hen

We ventured downstream to a location that is easy to wade and usually holds decent numbers of fish. The foot traffic was high so we passed on our first choice and found our second location vacant.

Each of us tried a variety of flies, starting with streamers. We swung them and dead drifted them for the first thirty to forty minutes, changing our spots every so often, and came up empty handed. A change to egg patterns produced the same results.....nothing!

After a few more casts, we decided to head back upstream and check to see if another pool would produce for us.

Over that last hour or so we managed to hook up with six fish, landing four of them - All drop back brown trout, and all caught on egg patterns under an indicator.

Jonathan with yet another drop back hen

With the high stained water of spring, it is important to not give up when the fish don't seem to come to the net as often as you think they should. It can be hard to find fish in these conditions, but when you do, they will often be bunched up together in one or two particular spots. This is also compounded by the fact that the fish will hold in different spots in a pool, run or riffle during high stained water than when the water is lower and clearer. Remember, these are fish that are on the move, so it pays to keep trying different locations when your first spot doesn't pay out.

It's always a joy to get out on the water and spend some time tossing a few flies to our local WNY fish. That joy is made even better when I get to do it with my family. And watching my boys do battle with some feisty drop back tributary browns was priceless.

Ethan's big fish of the day - 6lb. male brown

See you on the stream!

Winter Fly FIshing - Inland trout 2015

Leif tying up a new offering while fly fishing the Oatka

Winter has certainly made a home here in WNY.

With prolonged spells of arctic air that never seem to moderate, we are now beginning to suffer from the effects of cabin fever. An ailment that seems to run long and hard this time of year.

Colored up Spring Creek brown

Weather windows seem to be few and far between, but when they do happen, its cause for great celebration. A little over a week ago I found some time to take full advantage of one of those windows and am so glad that I did. Maybe. Just maybe, that little bit of opportunity to get out and do a little fly fishing will hold me over until things start to thaw out a little…..maybe?

With daytime temperatures that worked their way to just above the freezing point, we made every bit of the time we had on the stream count. 

Fishing was not easy, and fish didn’t find the net with any measurable regularity, just enough to make the day a success.

All fish came by way of small midges dead drifted under an indicator. And even though I tried a streamer for a while, it only produced a few pulls and nothing else.

I was joined by a new friend – Leif Mermagen of StreamwalkerNets. 

A fine example of Leif's craftsmanship - Streamwalker inland series net.

Before we headed down to the stream I had the chance to check out some of his beautiful hand crafted landing nets. And as he showed off his work, he told me about the different models that were available, the custom work that he was doing for a client and his passion for fly fishing. I find it truly amazing that we seem to have so many wonderfully talented people in our WNY fly fishing community. What a blessing!

Someday soon I plan to add one of his nets to my ever growing collection of fly fishing gear. A net that will truly be as unique and beautiful as the fish it will hold. But I fear that may have to wait a little bit…..at least until winter decides to find a new home.

Make sure to check out his work with the link above.

See you on the stream.

Brithday Fly Fishing 2014

Jessie and I with one of a few doubles on the day.

This past Friday – that would be December 5^th to be exact – A few of us brave souls made an attempt at putting our angling mark on some WNY tributary trout. 

Jessie with one of many

My good friend and Wide Sky Fly Fishing guide Jessie Hollenbeck had been giving me updates from his recent outings with his clients, and boy did the fishing look amazing. I was just hoping for it to half as good.

And good it would be, even if it started off a little slow.

Conditions proved to be a bit icy at the get go. Punching weighted nymph rigs through the numerous slushburgs floating downstream needs to be mentioned here only because I want you all to know that fishing was at first rather difficult. Oh, and the ice shelves that we needed to break through just to get into position. Can’t forget those.

Below me Matt Smythe, AKA the Fishing Poet, worked a slow pool while Jessie Hollenbeck geared up on the bank. I think he was listening to Denver Miller recount a story of his first fish of the day, but I have trouble multitasking, and when I made that first cast to a group of fish I could see holding on the other side of an eddy, his voice began to fade. A few drifts later and I was into my first lake run trout of the morning. 

Over the next hour, before Matt would make his way back home, we all got bent by numerous Lake Run giants. Most of the battles were won, save only a few. And if you have spent any time on the water chasing large fish, you know all too well that some of those battles will eventually have casualties. Matt can attest to that first hand after a large brown snapped his rod a foot or so above the cork, making a four piece rod into a five.

Jessie's hen steelhead

In the next couple of hours after Matt’s departure, we all took turns at various positions in the run and the pool. 

The ice and slush that plagued us earlier was now gone. It gave way to a pulse of water that seemed to invigorate the fish. From then, until I had to leave, many many fish found the bottom of the net. At first it seemed as though it would be the day of the brown trout. But through the wave of big lake run browns Jessie and Denver managed to convince a couple of feisty steelhead to join the party.

The fish ate everything we threw at them - Egg patterns, nymphs and streamers - with egg patterns being the overwhelming preferred fly of choice by the discerning lake run trout.

In the end I headed home happy and a little sore, ready to join my family for an amazing birthday dinner.

Matt does battle with a large trout just before the snap!

A gorgeous hen brown for Matt

Denver's chews on some graphite while holding this beauty

A golden male brown trout

Denver with a nice big hen

A colored up hen ready for release

One of the larger fish for me

Another double - Denver with the fish of the day.

Thank you Jessie Hollenbeck, Denver Miller, Matt Smythe and Jim Metcalf for a memorable day of fishing and fellowship. Until next year……