Fishing with the boys – November Edition

Jonathan and his 30" inch female brown trout

Our fall tributary season has had a great start. Plenty of fish to go around and most importantly, plenty of water. It’s been years since I can remember having this quality of flow in our WNY tributaries and that has helped bring in a steady push of fish on a daily basis. And because of this, fish are most likely spread throughout the system, from top to bottom. And that should mean great fishing throughout the winter and into spring. 

Recently the boys and I headed out to one of our favorite WNY tributaries in search of large lake run trout. The salmon run has been pretty darn good up to this point, with plenty of spawned out and spawning fish still around. This means that any trout that have now entered the stream are on an egg diet, and we were ready to take full advantage!

30" inch male brown trout

The water was cold and at a good medium flow with still a hint of stain to it. Salmon reds littered the tail-outs of runs and pools, and even though we could not see any fish holding in and around them, we knew the trout where there.

Jonathan hooked up first in a long run with a chartreuse bead head olive woolly bugger. It was a large fish, and he struggled to gain control of it. I had to move a good bit downstream to eventually get the net under his first fish of the day, a gorgeous thirty inch female lake run brown trout.

Ethan gets ready to release my 1st steelhead

After Ethan worked through the run, I was able to step in and hook up next with a light pink sucker spawn/light pink bead combo. And after another ten minute battle, Jonathan slid the net under a large kyped out thirty inch male lake run brown trout.

We fished a bit more in that section before heading downstream, leaving without another hookup.

It was another half hour before we worked our way down to another location that always seems to hold fish, and in the past has produced well for me. Again, the boys drifted on through first, without a hook up. They continued to fish down in the tail-out and I took a turn in the pool. A few drifts later and I was into my second fish of the day. It was a smaller fish, but still managed to pull hard and take some line off the reel. A few minutes later, Ethan put the net under a very fresh lake run steelhead, my first of the fall.

Ethan and his 1st ever steelhead

By now Ethan was feeling a bit left out. He had yet to hook up with a fish and his feet were starting to get cold. As he took a break on the bank to try and warm up a little, I told him to stick with it and that the next pool would provide another opportunity for him to get into some fish.

About one hundred yards downstream, at the tail-out of a long slow pool, I put Ethan

Ethan and his last fish of the day

into position and over the next thirty minutes he hooked up with three fish and landed his first ever fall steelhead. All his fish took a chartreuse bead head olive woolly bugger with a bright yellow bead two inches up on the leader, dead drifted under an indicator. All that action seemed to warm him up enough to want to continue on to our next spot, where he promptly hooked up with and landed his second fish of the day, a beautiful female lake run brown trout – again, on the olive bugger/bead combo.

The hot fly of the day

All in all it was a great day of fishing. We each managed to get into a few fish and bring a few to the net. We are certainly blessed to have such an amazing fishery.

Early Spring Steelheading with the boys!

Jonathan holds his first steelhead ever!

Just this past week, as the kids were off from school for their winter break, we received a wonderful gift. The gift of warm weather! And although it is not uncommon for us to have a little bit of a thaw during February, especially towards the back end of the month, we were not expecting daytime temps to soar into the sixties. 

The kids spent most of their time outside riding bikes, playing with our two dogs, taking walks and playing with friends. Even I was able to get outside and finish a few projects before I couldn’t take it anymore and announced an afternoon fly fishing trip with the boys.

And as always during this time of year, especially when conditions warrant it, we made plans to hit up a local Lake Ontario tributary for large lake run steelhead and drop back brown trout. The only problem is picking the right stream where water conditions are in your favor and being in the right place at the right time. These are anadromous fish after all, and finding where they are in high stained water can sometimes be a challenge. But when you do, it can be amazing as you can often find both large spring run steelhead and big drop back brown trout that have wintered over in the stream until the thaw.

Ethan holds the 1st fish of the day

Our first “plan A” location had five cars parked at the pull-off. Not wanting to fight for space to fish, I made the call to head upstream to our “plan B”. This is when putting all those hours and days and years into learning a stream can really pay off. We can go to a different less crowded section of the stream and know where the fish should be. And on this day our move certainly paid off.

The water, although still on the cold side, was in perfect shape. High and stained with a good eighteen to twenty inches of visibility.

Within the first forty five minutes we were able to land two colored up steelhead out of some great looking pocket water. The male took a dead drifted streamer while working a deep run, and the female we landed ate a big rabbit strip streamer in mid-swing while fishing a pocket pool above.

Even dad gets to catch one

Over the course of the next hour we fished hard at each little spot that looked like it should hold a fish or two. But to my surprise, we moved nothing and saw nothing.

On our walk back up towards the car my oldest son said he wanted to try our first location again. He really wanted to try and get his first spring lake run fish before we headed home, and hopefully his first steelhead ever to the net.

It did not take Jonathan long until he swung up a big colored up male steelhead. With water being thrown everywhere by the fish, and big hard pulling runs, we all watched nervously as he fought to keep that fish close. In the end everything played out perfectly and I had the pleasure of sliding the net under Jonathan’s first spring steelhead. And what a fish! At twenty nine inches it also was the largest fish of the day. Congratulations Jonathan!

Jonathan swings a streamer through the head of a pool.

Another great fishing trip with the kids. Can’t wait to do it again……see you out there!

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!