Oatka Creek Trout Goodies!

Sulphur nymph in a size #16

Taking stream samples can be a challenging endeavor to say the least. For starters you have to make the decision that you aren’t going to fish for a set period of time and that is and has always been extremely hard for me to do. I would rather spend my time fishing. The other part of this whole experience is in making sure you have all your gear together to make the most out of the time you set aside from fishing. And believe me, taking a little extra time to make sure that you have the right stuff makes the job go by much faster and in the long run allow you to enjoy the process. Besides, there is a whole lot of great information that you can gain from taking stream samples - Information that will provide you with better flies to match the hatch with, where to fish those flies, and lastly how to fish them.

Hendrickson nymph in a size #14

I have always used a trout net with a fine mesh bag to collect my samples. But that has changed recently as I have ruined my net in doing so. It doesn’t take long to wear down the polyurethane coating on the wood when you’re jamming the net into the bottom of the stream while kicking up rocks which then in turn ruins the wood.

So this year I have fashioned a make shift seine of my own based on one that a good friend of mine Lucas Carroll first made several years back. He used fine white mesh to make his. In fact he said it was material that one would use to make a wedding veil. Can you imagine the looks he got in the fabric store that day!!! He then took that material and fashioned it to two wooden dowels with duct tape. This would allow him to roll the seine up and stuff it into a pack with ease. And the cost was very minimal.

Golden Stone - Size #8-#10

This makeshift seine has worked very well and is very easy to use. You can plant those posts into the stream bottom and kick up a few feet of bottom with a good two to three feet of mesh capturing everything.

I will be back to the stream soon with seine in tow, and work different sections of the stream to see what those sections might turn up.

In the mean time, enjoy these photos of just some of the aquatic goodies I found on my home waters of Oatka Creek.

Tiny Sulphur nymph - #24

March Brown nymph - #12

Hendrickson nymph - #16

Caddis Larve - #12

Here is the seine I made. I have added some duct tape along the bottom of the veil material to add some support.

We are starting to see good numbers of Hendricksons coming off with some really encouraging reports of fish looking up. Time to get out there and fish!

Oriskany creek trout and retirement

In the beginning part of the month of May, I found myself back in the town I grew up in – Clinton, NY. I was there to celebrate my Dad’s retirement from Hamilton College with my brother and sister. We had plans to meet my mom and visit some old family friends in the afternoon before we all had dinner at a great restaurant in Waterville, NY. The following morning we would all plan on attending my Dad’s last lecture before eating lunch and then making our way back home.

Well….plans change, and due to a minor biking accident my Dad had earlier in the week up in Inlet, NY, his last lecture was cancelled – Don’t worry he’s fine.  That left me with a little spare time before I had to meet up with one of my old friends Jordan Ross of J.P. Ross Fly Rods. I guess it was a good thing I brought a few fly rods with me just in case something like this happened.

Fishing was good. Not great. The water had receded from the previous day’s high and stained conditions and looked to be near perfect. But even with a nice warm day, there were only a few #14 tan caddis popping off, so my plan was to toss big streamers and strip them back fast. But it wasn’t until I was at least forty five minutes into it that I hooked up with my first fish. It was a good fish for that stream, at least from what I could remember, and it took a bit longer than I had planned to land the fish. But the four weight fly rod and tippet held up just fine and I soon had a chunky eighteen inch brown trout in hand. A few photos later and she swam back just fine. My only other fish of the day came just a few casts later as a small stocked fish of about nine inches did it’s best to swallow the big streamer.

I spent the remainder of my time walking downstream looking for one more. But all I found was a big old goose trying to protect her nest from a six foot two inch moron who just happened to stray a little too close for comfort while scanning the water for fish.

Congratulations Dad - This fish is for you!!!