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!

Fishing with Dad!

Here is a photo of my Dad swinging a big old streamer, trying to temp a big lake run fish to take a streamer.

This is not a blog about me fishing with one of the kids, rather it is about fishing with my Dad.

He has never been a fisherman. But he has been an outdoorsman all his life, at least I consider him to be so.

He has always involved me and my brother and sister with hiking and camping throughout our young lives. And we have enjoyed some great times together as a family scouring the High peaks and beyond of the Adirondacks - This also included winter camping and skiing.

Even though it was tough for them (my parents) to gather all of us together and get us to participate in these camping trips, it was worth all the effort, I am very glad they did. It is where I learned survival skills, how to make a fire, hanging the food away from camp so the bears won't get into it - and us, sleeping under a tarp, hiking for miles when you don't know the destination, etc....the list goes on and on! The point is he did what he needed to do to make us prepared for camping and hiking anywhere!

I was always a fisherman first, everything else was second. In fact I used to get teased for it by my family, but I didn't even care because I loved the sport so much.

Now....years later we go together fishing when we can, and this past Thursday we had the opportunity to do so.

Our outing was at a local WNY tributary in search of lake run trout, big lake run trout.

The water was perfect, if not a bit cold - just above freezing - and it had great color. These are the kind of conditions you want. The kind of conditions you pray for!

We spent a few hours throwing big streamers, and even a little time dead drifting an egg, but no fish came to hand. In fact no fish were seen or even felt on this day. And everyone we ran into on the stream had the same story to tell.....no fish to show for their effort.

But no fish to show for our efforts does not make it a bad day. In fact I had a lot of fun working several different runs with my Dad. We would set up with him at the point swinging a streamer, then I would follow behind swinging something different, sharing the stream, hoping for a pull from a fish. I really have a desire for me to be there when he hooks his first tributary fish while swinging a fly and put a net under it, but I will take any time I have with him. And I know that at some time it will happen the way I see it in my mind.....And I will rejoice!

I always say that we learn more from when we fail than when we succeed, and I stand by that. Especially when it comes to fly fishing - Remember it’s not always what you bring to the stream that will make your day success, but what you take away from it.

I'll see you out on the stream.....

Brian Bradfield