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!

Fly Fishing Oatka at night - Early fall edition

Bob takes a few last casts before calling it a night

This past Friday I finally got out to do a little fly fishing.

I met up with my good friend Bob Burrows on Oatka creek for a little night fishing. The goal was to find some big trout, and maybe a few bass and pike, while tossing mouse patterns and big streamers.

The stream gauge was reading right at 2.45 CFS which meant we would be fishing in low clear water – near perfect conditions for tossing flies at night.

17-18" inch brown taken on a deer hair and rabbit strip streamer

The fishing wasn’t easy, especially when you are limited by what you can see, or for that matter, what you can’t see. You become more reliant on your other senses. A practice that takes some getting used to. At least we had a little help from the bridge lights from time to time.

We did manage some nice fish for our efforts. On the night, we landed two rock bass, one pike and one brown trout.

Fishing with a little help from the bridge lights

All fish where taken while fishing large streamer patterns that where fished just under the surface with a slow but steady retrieve.

Hopefully I’ll get a few more cracks at these inland trout before we start to gear up for the fall migration of lake run salmon and trout into our local tributaries.

1 of 2 rock bass on the night

26-27" inch Northern Pike

Until then….tight lines!

Fly fishing with the boys!

Ethan holds a nice Black creek pike.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to take the boys out for a little fly fishing at one of our favorite WNY warm water fisheries.

Black creek is one of those spots that never really disappoints. Sure, there are those days when the fishing is a little on the slow side, or maybe you don’t quit get that “big” fish you were looking for. But when a slow day is catching 20-30 bluegill, small bass, and crappie and that big fish happens to be a 14” inch smallmouth bass instead of that 19” inch bronze back you were hoping for….well….it really isn’t that bad!

Ethan and his sucker

On this trip however the fishing was just fine, and having the company of my two boys was even better.

We started our little adventure right near the spillway and eventually worked our way downstream before heading back up for a few last minute casts before the trip back home.

The fast water right near the spillway proved to be very productive as my youngest son Ethan hooked several nice bluegill and I, a nice pike, which my son very enthusiastically fought and landed for me. My oldest (Jonathan) worked a section just below us and eventually hooked a few fish for himself. 

We then made our way downstream and fished a section of the creek that resembled more of a trout stream. Here we picked up plenty of small largemouth and smallmouth along with some rock bass.

Jonathan with his sucker

Ethan then took a break and walked around for a bit, eventually wading down to a slower section of the creek, just below where Jonathan and I were fishing. It didn’t take long for him to spot some very large suckers and carp working the head of a long pool.

For the next thirty to forty minutes the boys and I had lots of fun trying to get some interest from the fish. And in the end persistence paid off and both boys were able to play a few and even land a fish for each of them.

Ethan's smallmouth bass

Our afternoon ended with a few “last casts” back up in the slower section, a good 90 feet or so below the dam. Ethan and I picked up a nice largemouth and then a few casts later a rather large carp intercepted our olive bugger and Ethan grabbed the 5 weight and tried as hard as he could to turn the fish. Within the next few minutes the carp tore off all of the fly line, took a right turn up at the spillway, and proceeded to break the leader off on a rock.

The largemouth before the carp!

Ethan could only stand there in awe of the power of his first carp battle on the fly rod. And even though he lost that round, he has since vowed to get back there and land one all by himself. And when we get that chance, I’m sure he will.

All in all another great fly fishing adventure with the boys!