Oatka Creek Spring Fishing
One of our most famous streams in the Rochester NY area is Oatka creek. It is a beautiful stretch of water that runs for 58 miles through Western NY into the Genesee River. There is a combination of stocked and wild browns and rainbows that will test your fishing skills even on the best days.
I decided to take yesterday off and take my father-in-law to Mumford NY to fish in a One-Fly Competition that was being sponsored by the Genesee Country Museum. They have about 2 miles of private water that is easy to access and loaded with fish. Oatka is a Seneca American Indian word meaning – leaving the highlands or approaching an opening. To me that translates into not knowing if you are coming or going. That is what happened to us yesterday. It did not matter what we presented the fish they would not strike.
At days end we ended up with no fish and out of about 20 fishermen there was 16 fish caught with 5 coming from one person. Not a very good afternoon. We saw some sporadic hendrickson hatches but nothing consistent. My guess would be this was due to cool temperatures that hit us that afternoon. By the end of the day we ended up in the mid to high 40 degrees with overcast skies and light rain. Really not the formula for a sustained hatch. The warmer temps is usually the thing that gets things going on the Oatka.
I think I will wait a couple weeks and see if I can catch an evening sulfer hatch.
