Early Spring Steelhead
The combination of increased sunlight, warmer temperatures and melting snow pushed water into our Lake Ontario Tributaries. If you haven’t yet heard, steelhead fishing improved the past two weeks. We could still use a soaking dose of rain, but fish are being caught in Eighteen Mile, Oak Orchard, Genesee, Sandy, Irondequoit, Mill Creek, Salmon Creek, Maxwell, Oswego, Salmon River and smaller tributaries. Depending upon the size of the water, some may be chalky, high and difficult to fish. Smaller tribs clear quickly and may be just right. By just right, I mean w/ decent visibility and enough discoloration to make the fish feel comfortable. Just a slight push of new water this time of year brings in fresh chrome!
I couldn’t resist the bluebird sky and pleasant temperature that greeted us over the past few days.
Even more difficult, was the daily steelhead report and barrage of digital pics that two of my colleagues shared each morning. The next afternoon I met Brian and Brian on the creek. Conditions were near perfect on this smaller Lake Ontario Tributary. The water was running high, slightly off color and there was still 15″ to 20″ of visibility. I knotted an oversized brown bugger w/ a chartreuse head and added plenty of weight. Chartreuse, oregon cheese, hot pink, fuscia and purple are all top steelhead egg patterns for slightly discolored water. For a rod with small trib fishing, I’m using a 7wt, 10′ switch rod. This light rod is easy to mend, roll cast, great at reaching tight spots and is a pleasure to fish.
My second plunge pool yielded two nice steelhead. One darker colored 24″ female and a fresh, smaller, bright male.
Leapfrogging upstream, we took turns at the best pools. Over the next hour or so, I hooked another three fish. One wrapped me around a brush pile that was too tricky to wade into. Despite losing that darn fish, it graced us w/ several spectacular sommersalts before saying “adios”. Another fish unbuttoned as it departed downstream. Such are the antics of small creek fishing, especially with a solid flow of water. I tend to fish alone and don’t carry a net for trib fishing. For a change, it was nice to use the large net that my companions brought. These two were drifting egg sacks w/ moderate success. It never hurts to learn from spin fisherman or center pinners. It was refreshing to watch Brian hook and land a steelhead from below a tiny, overhanging branch that I wouldn’t have bothered to fish. That said, I think that my oversized chartreuse pattern really stood out in the water. In addition, the longer reach of a fly rod really helps me control and place the fly during a drift.
Losing visibility and needing to head home, we called it an afternoon. Nice to fish w/ friends and get a sample of what’s on tap the next two months!
If you’re in town Saturday, March 20th, join us for Angler’s Workshop. There are over 23 unique fly fishing events, workshops, seminars, casting, great raffle prizes, HD movies and more! I’ll be presenting two workshops (Kayak Fly Fishing and Getting Started in Saltwater Fly Fishing). Check the upper right hand corner of this Flyfishingchronicles for additional details regarding Angler’s Workshop.





In the bleak midwinter




With such a sunny forecast I invited my father to fish with me this afternoon. My father taught me to fish and I feel fortunate that we are able to fish together. Our goal was to enjoy the warmer day, get outside and perhaps find a fish or two. We went to a local Lake Ontario Tributary where I saw a few browns mid-week. To my surprise, I couldn’t locate any of the fish scouted several days ago. Next, we drove to a second creek that previously contained a number of browns and steelhead over the past few weeks. Again, these fish must have dropped back to the lake and the water was nearly a foot lower.













On Saturday I decided to go take a look at some of the streams closer to my house. Most of them have been subjected to heavy farming and runoff and don’t look so hot. They tend to be very muddy, have lots of algae and have limited bug activity. From time to time when I am on streams like this one I have noticed foam on the water. My first reaction when I see something like this is that it must be polution. Fortunately I have a fly fishing friend who is a toxicologist. He once told me that the foam is not pollution but a break down of organic material that is agitated by the stream. Just in case you ever wondered about this there is a more detailed explanation on this site: 


