Winter Trout - Inland Style!

With conditions being what they are on most of the WNY tributaries, I have been turning my attention to our wonderful inland trout streams, and have been having a blast doing it!

Lot's of trout have already been caught this cold and chilly year while dead drifting all kinds of scuds, midge larvae, nymphs, and small buggers, with a certain local stream being very good to me this year already. But recently I have been wanting something a bit different....

For a while now I have wanted break out the big streamers and give them a swim through some of WNY's finest trout water. And last week was my first opportunity to do so. It turned out to be a great experience, and it filled that void for doing something different. But even when I got a few good fish to move to a fly, I couldn't get one to commit 100%, and therefore, couldn't bring one to the net. Then I got a report from Lucas Carroll, who hit up that very same spot a few days later, that described a much better day of catching then I had had. He and Jim Guida received more attention from the trout than I did and were able to put several nice fish in the net. Good news!! But I still was thirsty for my first inland brown caught on a streamer, so when I saw that the recent warm weather had brought stream levels up to near perfect conditions, I got my stuff together and made it happen.

Fishing turned out to be great. I moved some good trout, and had several fish commit to take the fly. All the fish were taken on a large weighted rabbit strip streamers. And unlike low water conditions when fish usually swipe at the fly mid current, these trout were right up next to the shore, and would eat the fly after a strip or two away from the bank.

Boy do I love this kind of fishing!!!