Mid-Winter Thaw on Oak Orchard
The gentle warming trend of upper thirties convinced me to leave the fly tying bench and head out to Oak Orchard River. It was a pleasant, mostly sunny afternoon and no gloves were needed during fishing. It’s always a winter treat to fish without gloves, as well as not worry about iced guides. There were only two other cars in the parking lot and I had several hundred yards of river to myself. I broke out my two-handed 8wt and opted to slowly drift and swing streamers. The water was crystal clear and flowing around 300 cfs. Nobody liked my white zonker, nor a brown bugger. Covering plenty of water, I changed to a # 6 dark olive bugger and within a few casts, hooked a 3-4 lb brown. I carelessly lost the brown as it got closer. Nonetheless, I enjoyed a good look at it and was glad to hook a fish on this January day. After that, with determination I bounced my fly on the bottom, covered plenty of water. My effort didn’t produce another strike. Overall, a nice day winter day to get outside. The highlight of this trip was watching a beautiful pair of trumpeter swans feed and patrol a close stretch of water.
I’m not sure how many fish were in the section I fished, but Jay Peck and Carl Coleman later confirmed that “the Oak” had been stingy recently. With all the smaller creeks iced up, your best bet these days is on this river, the Genny, lower Irondequoit, Salmon River or any of the other decent sized tribs with moving water. The slightly warmer temperatures the next few days might likely help in your quest for a winter steelhead or holdover brown. Remember to layer up and keep that fly close to the bottom and moving slowly!
