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The bluebird sky and temperature in the upper thirties convinced me to leave work early today for Oak Orchard River.  A friend of mine (Norm) was already fishing the river and he invited me to join him prospecting a popular run.  He was chucking a large chartreuse pattern to dredge up steelhead.  I opted to put on a sink tip and fish streamers, slowly on  the bottom.  I fished an 8′ section of T-14 and knotted a white zonker w/ a chartreuse bead head as a pattern.  I took the lower half of the pool and felt a familiar tug within ten minutes.  Soon, I victoriously hoisted a foot long horny head sucker out of the water.  Not exactly what I expected as both the sucker and I looked surprised.  Still, any fish in the winter beats a sharp stick in your eyes!

After some time I hiked upstream and crossed well above of the pool.  I wanted to fish the other side of this popular run and really plumb the trough of the pool.  After another thirty minutes, I felt a solid tug and enjoyed the fight of a hefty steelhead.  This fish was foul hooked and I barely admired the beauty, before a prompt release.  I continued to fish a variety of streamers (purple/white/olive) for another hour with no success.  I really enjoy fishing streamers, especially for active fish.  As nobody around us appeared to be hooking up, I couldn’t say that these fish were active in any way.  In fact, reports indicate that things were slow on Oak Orchard today.  Sometimes, bottom bouncing is your best bet, especially with lethargic fish.  Finally, I re-rigged and switched to a dark stonefly w/ a petite chartreuse head.  On my second cast, I hooked a nice 24″, well proportioned brown.  After the brown, I fished another hour and couldn’t buy a fish.  As much as I enjoy fishing streamers, I think that tiny, natural stonefly patterns might have been the most productive ticket today.  Overall, a beautiful day, nice to fish with a friend, swans keeping us company and a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday, March 6th, I’m presenting  (Kayak Fly Fishing and 1,000 Bass and Pike) and tying flies at the Fly Tying Symposium http://www.jprossflyrods.com/staff/ffaa/index.php in Utica.  This is a great event for kids, stop by if you are in the area!

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!

A friend of mine called me up a couple of weeks ago and said that his brothers-in-law were coming to town and wanted to go steelhead fishing.  Of course I said I would join him and suggested that we go to Oak Orchard in Carlton, NY.  My friend had never been before but heard quite a bit about the legendary fight of these Lake Ontario steelhead.  We went out last Saturday.  It was a beautiful but cold day.  The sun was shining, but the water was still around 47 degrees.  The fish seemed happy rolling like tarpon as they moved upstream, but nothing.  We threw egg patterns, streamers, and even a tube fly at thess fish but nothing.  Since we drove separately I decided I would leave at noon but my friend Cody and his brothers-in-law decided to stay.  They fished from approximately from 9am til 4:30 pm and finally caught the steelhead pictured below.  I believe they caught this one on a streamer, but had the advantage of site fishing.  I wish I was there for the catch, but I understand it was a thrill for my friend Cody to catch this fish.  Looks like yet another who is addicted to our wonderful New York steelhead.  Tight Lines Cody!

We are truly fortunate and thankful to live in Western NY where we have great trout streams and rivers.  In addition to this we also have world class steelhead and lake run brown trout fisheries.  Yesterday I got out with a few of my friends to try our luck for some Lake Ontario steelheads and browns.  The conditions were a bit tenuous with quite a bit of snow and rain with very cold temperatures.  The first Lake Ontario trib we tried was running too high and cold.  The fish were just not responding to our flies.  After a few hours we decided to try a tailwater to Lake Ontario which would have some better water conditions.  It did and as a group we were able to land 6 large lake run browns.  Although the browns do not fight like steelheads, they are beautiful and do put up a good fight.  It was a nice way to start my Thanksgiving holiday.