Fishing with and Old Friend

Bob and I watched this fish chase down his swung streamer a good 3 feet before eating.

Bob and I first met back in 2000 at our place of employment down in Canandaigua, NY. He had this fishing decoration hanging from his work desk that prompted the first conversation we ever had. A conversation that started with fishing, and more importantly – Fly Fishing! 

A 10lb+ brown trout to start the day

From that point on we would share our fly fishing experiences together….at least until I moved on to another job, a family, and a full schedule. But even then, we strived to find at least a little bit of time each year to get together and fish.

And each year we make sure to find at least a day or two to reconnect with each other and toss a fly or two to the local fish population.

A gorgeous steelhead ready for release

Back in those early days of our friendship we would find ourselves fishing for hours at the local trout stream, or in the fall at our local tributaries. We caught plenty of fish and made plenty of mental notes of conditions, the fish we caught, and what pattern was most successful. We had some pretty good days fishing together. And I am certain we learned a whole lot from each other as well!

This past Friday we had that opportunity to reconnect again. And as in so many years past at this time of year, we ventured out to see what we could do together at a local tributary.

Fishing started off somewhat slow due to the below freezing temperatures. But there were fish, and some of them were more than willing to be caught.

Another swung up brown

As the afternoon wore on we ventured to other places and found more fish. Even some salmon and brown trout that were willing to move for a swung streamer. This is usually the case with a constant water flow over a long period of time after the salmon spawn is done. Many of the trout in the system turn towards other food items other than eggs, as there are very few loose eggs to be had. This will change as we get more precipitation or a release of water from the Erie Canal, which will once again disturb the salmon spawning reds, releasing salmon eggs back into the stream and turn the trout onto eating eggs.

Bob with a nice male brown

Bob's Atlantic salmon

Golden hen

My indicator dipped down while fishing the head of a deep pool for lake run trout. I never expected this!

On this afternoon we had to walk to find some willing fish, but our efforts were rewarded with plenty of fish brought to hand – Just like the old days!