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.
I am so very proud. My oldest daughter reeled this big large mouth bass in today. We are lucky to have a Town Park pond that is loaded with bass. My daughter is already asking to go out again. I hope she keeps her love for fishing.
Since most of the rivers in NY State are overflowing with runoff from rain and melting snow (see picture of Irondequoit Creek below), there is only one thing left to do…Smoke cigars and drink Single Malt Scotch. Check out my review of Rocky Patel’s Decade Cigar and Balvenie Scotch on Rocky’s Cigars Blog.
New York has some of the best Steelhead fishing in the world. My friend Craig makes this point with the following report from the Salmon River in Upstate NY this past Friday:
Fished on Friday and managed to land a beautiful skamania steelie on the swing. Great fight and a beautiful, well balanced fish. We need water this Fall, but thought that you might like to see my first steelie of the season.
As you may have read from earlier posts I took a trip to Montana with my father-in-law back in June. During that trip we had the pleasure of meeting Tom Brokaw and fly fishing legend Craig Matthews (www.blueribbonflies.com). The other morning NBC decided to do a segment that featured Yellowstone Park and Craig’s efforts to help establish the Yellowstone Park Foundation. If you would like to see it click here and go to the 4 minute mark to see Craig’s part of the segment. Enjoy.
Four more days until I am in Montana. My father-in-law and I have been planning a trip to the Madison for a number of months. We have never been to Montana so we are both very excited and are looking forward to the experience. We are going to stay at a place called the Papoose Creek Lodge. It looks like an amazing place, but most importantly they use fly fishing guides from the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in Yellowstone. I have heard nothing but good things about the Blue Ribbon guides from all my friends. I will let you know how everything went when I get back.
Lastly I would like to thank Josi Etter for letting me use one of her beautiful pictures of a rainbow trout for the header of my blog. I really like the concept of her business, Sketch & Release. If you send her a picture of a fish that you caught, Josi will create a wonderful watercolor painting of your fish. The paintings make a special gift and a really nice addition to your office, den, or showcase.
That is all for now. I will make another entry when I get back from Montana.
