Trout, Midges & Going Solo

Just recently I found myself with a whole bunch of spare time to do anything I wanted to do. And just like a hunk of prime meat dangling in front of a hungry bear....I took full advantage it!
And what did I do with my new found freedom? I went in pursuit of some trout.

I ended up at a Spring creek, which was the only real option I had after a good bit of rain, and tried my best to catch a few. The morning started off a little rough, but I was not about to throw away my new found freedom. I pulled into the parking lot to see 4 other cars already there, and to make it interesting, it started to rain. Then it poured - Hard! Good thing it only lasted 20 minutes. From that point on conditions improved. I caught fish, the rain stopped all together, and the sun started to poke through the clouds. And by late morning, the sun had pushed every last bit of ugly out of the sky.

A few nice fish came to hand in that time, along with a trophy sighting. It's funny how those sightings seem to happen. One minute your fishing to a pod of fish, and the next, a huge shape appears out of no where. It's almost like spotting big foot. You could tell all your friends, and they may nod their head in understanding, but you know in the back of their head they just moved you up on their list of crazies.

I caught some more trout after that and then packed it all in and headed East. I came to location number 2 and brought out the big rod for some streamer action. The water was high and stained - perfect conditions for throwing big ugly flies, to big ugly trout.

I walked upstream heaving a 4" lead eyed black rabbit strip streamer, covering every last bit of big ugly trout water I could find. I got some follows, but no commitments. And then at the tail out of a certain "honey hole" I got my first pull - but no hookup. Two more pulls later and I hooked up with my first streamer hungry trout. It wasn't big, but it fought great in high water. And when I got it to hand, I could see why this trout couldn't lay off the meat. It was 14" and thin - like a hammer handle.

That was that! I headed home fulfilled with a day of fishing - even if it had to be solo! And as one of my friends says "sometimes you just need a day to get your act together, refocus your fishing skills, and concentrate on catching fish." So that's what I did. I re-focused my skills and caught some fish - and it was great!

Lucas Carroll Photography

For those of you who have viewed my blog or my work on the JP Ross Fly Rod website, you will notice that I try to put some great photos along with my writing. A good portion of those have been contributed by my very good friend - Lucas Carroll.

Lucas and I have fished together for a while now, and I have had the privilege of watching him develop his craft in both fly fishing and photography. It started with a few photo competitions(several of those he has won!), and has grown into so much more! Over the past few years he has had many of his photos grace the pages of several fly fishing magazines such as: Eastern Fly Fishing, The Drake & the Fly Fish Journal. His images have also found a home at several fly fishing websites that include www.MidCurrent.com, and of course www.jprossflyrods.com

So please stop by his photography website www.lucascarrollphotography.com and look around. You will see fly fishing stuff of course, but there is also much more that will catch your eye. You can even order prints if you find something you like....so take a few minutes and enjoy!

WNY Spring Smallmouth

For the past few years now I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to fish all kinds of great water during late April and early May. It is the time when I make the switch from steelhead mode to small stream mode, and on occasion bass mode. And if I where to be completely honest, it is a hard switch to make. Very hard! But the pull of getting my first trout on a dry fly, usually wins out in the end.
This spring has proven to be very kind to me so far. I have had the pleasure of fishing the hendrickson hatch and spinner fall a number of times with some friends, and even caught some nice fish for the stream we were fishing in. But great stream conditions and warm weather only lasts so long in WNY, especially in spring! A cold front, wind, or both, can put off a spinner fall or delay a hatch for a long time. And when you have a limited time to get a fly to fish, you have to have a second option up your sleeve. This is when I break out the bass flies and head to some water that is close to home in pursuit of some bronze backs.
There are two spots that I spend most of my time fishing at, the Erie canal and Black creek. Both have great fishing all throughout the summer, but spring is when it is easier to get into some of the bigger fish during the day. Plus there is always the added bonus of catching other warm water species such as carp, rock, bass, walleye, pike, crappie, and sunfish.
Being successful on these waters in the spring means slowing down your presentation. Dragging or jigging the fly along the bottom, and letting it bang off rocks and submerged logs is the best method. The fish almost always take the fly on the drop, and when you go to pick up the fly again, and you feel tension on the line(like you may be snagged on the bottom,) set the hook! More often than not it's a fish. Sometimes they put on a great aerial display and sometimes they stay down near the rocks. Either way, they pull hard!
Flies like the clouser minnow in chartreuse and white #2, woolly buggers in white and olive or brown #4-#8, and large cone head rabbit strip streamers in white and white/chartreuse #4-#6, are my go to flies. I fish them mostly on a WFF line and on occasion a 5' sink tip. If the water is high, I will sometimes add a split shot about a foot above they fly to get it deep fast and keep it there. A 7 or 8 weight rod is probably the perfect choice, but I prefer a 6 weight. I know it's a bit light, but it's way more fun!!!!!

My Spring Steelhead Season

After the cold of winter releases it's grip on Western New York, my fly fishing friends and I eagerly await the spring steelhead run. This usually happens in mid March when warmer temperatures melt the ice and snow that locks up most of the smaller freestone tributaries that flow into Lake Ontario(larger tail water fisheries may have a different time table). Then it is a waiting game, until the water becomes fishable again. When that happens, we have a few good weeks of fishing until the spawn is done and most of the fish have made their way back to the lake. And much like the fall tributary season, it is our best opportunity to get large lake run trout that average somewhere between 6 and 8 lbs. There are brown trout and steelhead that have wintered over from the fall, but these fish can become stale, meaning that they have been in the stream for a long time and have seen every fly and fisherman for months. This can make fishing tough through the winter, especially if you have very cold temperatures that freeze the smaller tributaries and have very little run off or rain to bring water levels up to optimal fishing conditions.

The month of March also is the best time to catch the many lake run drop back brown trout that have been in the system since last fall. These fish can be very aggressive and take a fly well. In fact it is not uncommon to catch both steelhead and brown trout out of the same spot when fishing at this time. And if you hit the right spot at the right time, you could have a double digit day of big drop back browns and steelhead. It is what my friends and I strive for each year, but it rarely happens that we hit it perfectly.

The very end of March and the beginning of April usually marks the start of another lake run fish...the sucker! When these guys show up, it usually means that we are at the end of the steelhead run, and can expect to catch drop back steelhead in the weeks to come. Suckers can become a nuisance when fishing for steelhead and brown trout because they take up the very same water as the trout, and they will often out number the trout 10 to 1. You may have to catch 4 or 5 suckers before you even hook a trout. Many fly fishermen will swing large streamers up in the water column to combat this problem, but doing that will often lead to less hookups with trout. The drop back browns and steelhead will feast off loose eggs at this time, so using a pattern that matches the natural, is the best way to hookup with lots of trout, even if it means catching a few suckers in between.

By the end of the first week of April the suckers are usually done spawning and catching them while fishing for trout becomes less of a problem. This is when you will find more and more drop back steelhead. Drop backs are almost an entirely different fish than when they first entered the stream just a week or two earlier. They are a much leaner fish after the spawn, and are now on the hunt for food. These fish can be very aggressive, and on occasion can pull the fly rod right out of your hand if your not careful(this happened to me last year.) The Steelhead fishing will continue to be good until the middle of April on most years, and sometimes fishing until early May will still provide you with a few fish.

This spring steelhead season was one of my best. I caught plenty of fish and enjoyed doing it with friends. And just like years past, I enjoyed some new experiences as well. One of those experiences came on this past Wednesday when I was able to sight fish to a large female drop back steelhead. I changed my rig from an egg pattern under an indicator to a large streamer, and was able to swing it in front of the fish. On my fourth cast, I watched as the fish moved up a foot to take in the fly. I set the hook and the water exploded as the fish went crazy! It peeled line off the reel, it jumped, it shook it's massive head trying to throw the fly....but in the end I came out on top and was able to hold in my hands a 30+ inch drop back steelhead.

Another wonderful event that happened this spring while fishing the tributaries, was the sign of what appeared to be either lake run rainbows or drop back juvenile steelhead from the previous years spawning. We caught many fish in the 14"-22" inch range that looked more like rainbows than steelhead. They were very colorful with bright olive green backs, bright red stripes and lots of spots all over their bodies and tails. Just like what you would expect from a rainbow trout, not a steelhead. And even though they are biologically the same fish, there are different strains that may look differently and behave differently than each other. In fact the state of New York does currently stock both steelhead and rainbow trout in Lake Ontario. So it would make sense that you would catch both a lake run rainbow and a lake run steelhead. So what ever they may be, rainbow or steelehad, I have enjoyed them both this spring.

In fact, April also gives us the opportunity to catch a 10lb. steelhead in the morning on a Lake Ontario tributary, and then catch some brown trout on dry flies in the afternoon from one of our many inland trout streams.

For even more photos of this springs steelhead adventures, please check out some of Lucas Carroll's wonderful photography at his flickr page and blog.

Inland stream trout, hatches and other stories to come in the near future!

WNY fly fishing roller coasters!

Western New York has a habit of offering two kinds of weather during the winter(at least it seems that way to me.) Cold and sunny or cold and snowy. The latter is accompanied by lots of clouds and very little sunlight, which is made worse due to the fact that the days are already short enough, and for some reason these kinds of days make up most of the winter! So when you are offered a glimpse of spring with beautiful sunny and warm weather you soak it all in. Of course the very next day you are brought back to reality with a healthy dose of doom and gloom. But it is what we have come to expect for WNY, and we make the most of it!
This is also a good way to describe the fishing conditions during the spring season. Once you get the nice beautiful warm weather, the snow pack starts to melt, creating a good amount of run-off. If you then get any rain in the mix, the water will become dirty and tough to fish. Then it becomes a waiting game until the water levels drop back to fishable conditions. And If you are diligent in checking the water levels in your local streams and tributaries, you have the opportunity to catch those in between stages of "to high to fish" and "near perfect" conditions. This is often made even more tough by the fact that you may often find yourself at work or other wise detained in some other task that inhibits your ability to get out to the stream. And then when you hear or read reports of great fishing and see the photos of all the wonderful fish being caught while you are otherwise detained.....well that just doesn't sit well! But if you do find yourself with one of those rare opportunities to get out during one of those "near perfect" times, it is well worth it and you should take full advantage of it!
Over the past few weeks my friends and I have been riding the WNY fly fishing roller coaster. And for what ever the reason, we seem to buy tickets for the same ride every year. And just like years past, it has been a fun but rough ride, and we have even found ourselves on the good end of some "near perfect" conditions. We have had the opportunity to get out and fish several inland trout streams with great success and a few favorite Lake Ontario tributaries with very little success. Lucas Carroll and Bob Burrows have joined me on several occasions and you can see their take on this whole spring fishing thing at their blogs and flickr pages.
Soon we will be in full spring mode with more days being warm and sunny than cloudy and rainy. We will find ourselves doing battle with chrome giants from the lake, and soon after that, our first major mayfly hatch of the season. And maybe, just maybe, we will have the opportunity to do both!

February, Spring Creek and the Midge!!

I know it's kind of a strange title, but I couldn't think of a better one, and it fits with what I am about to report!

February has been the month to fish a midge pattern at Spring Creek...Period! No other fly has produced as many trout as the midge. And more specifically the "#16 red worm." In fact, just last week the red worm has been responsible for putting close to 25 trout in my net in just about 2.5 hours of fishing. That's just ridiculous, and a hole lot of fun!

The fish haven't been huge, but when you can hardly keep your fly in the water without getting bit, who cares? Plenty of fish in the 10-12" inch range with a few that were 13" to 14" is about right. We also have been getting the occasional 5" fingerling thrown in for good measure.

But now that it's March, we need to look for the impending midge hatch! And it has been really starting off with a bang. Just this past weekend Lucas and his friend Andy fished Spring Creek and did very well. In fact a small midge dry fly was responsible for a few trout in the net for Luke. Check his blog and flickr page for more photos from his adventure!

This morning I saw hundreds of midges on the many rocks that line Spring Creek and I was very pleased to see that many fish had started to look up in the water column to feed. I saw plenty of fish bulging under the surface today and a few dorsal to tail rises. And I even saw a few fish taking adults right on top.....very exciting stuff!!! I was even more pleased when I was able to take a few trout fishing a #20 midge emerger. The trout I fooled, were working a section of creek that bordered a nice run, just on the opposite side of some submerged logs. It was here that I also hooked a rather large brown trout before I had to leave. And on the hook set, the fish came 2 feet out of the water and then came down in between two submerged logs. With another hard pull from the fish, he broke free, taking my fly and tippet with him. It was the biggest fish I had hooked at Spring creek this year, and all on the 2 weight!

So before the tributaries start to break free from the ice, I will try and make it out to Spring Creek for more trout. And I will be carrying a box full of midges with me.

On another note - I will be heading out to Utica, NY for the 2010 Central NY Fly Tying Symposium this weekend. You can check out all the details at www.jprossflyrods.com and even get directions too. And maybe I'll see you there. If not........

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

The Banner Says It All!!

About a year ago James sent me an e-mail that really caught my eye. It was about a local fly tying party that would be fueled by the consumption of mass quantities of pizza. It sounded great and I let him know that I was ready to go, but that was a year ago, and with family and jobs and everything else that life throws at you, I kind of forgot about it. And I know what your thinking..."How in the world can he forget about a fly tying event?" But I did!

Fast forward to yesterday - I get an E-mail from Mike Simmons from Guys, Flies & Pies with an official invite to this years event. And I must say that it was very nice to hear from him. He had found my blog and made mention of who he was and that we fished many of the same spots. It's nice to connect with local guys who have the same interests, especially when it comes to fly fishing! So I am going to try and go to this year's event and redeem my forgetfulness.

Party starts at 3pm on February 20th(That's a Saturday) ans runs till midnight! Pizza at 6pm and raffles at 8pm.

Hopefully we can all go and meet some new fly fisherman and learn how to tie some new patterns. But most of all....talk "Fish" for a while.

So click here to find out more about his years event!!