Spring Steelhead

 

Days are getting longer, the winter snow & ice are melting away and the official start of spring is just days away.  Trout fishing is a month or so till it’s spring peak.  How do you shake off cabin fever and use some of the flies you spent all winter creating?  It’s the beginning of the short, but sweet, spring steelhead season.  Many of the tactics you know and use throughout the fall work great.  However there’s plenty of dropbacks returning to the lake looking for an easy meal and will aggressively strike flies passing by.  Spring is a great time of year to sight cast, swing flies and even take an aggressive fish on a skated or waking fly.  What an exciting way to bring in the new season.  I look forward to seeing you on the stream.

 It's October.  That can mean a lot of things.  Pumpkin Spice, Cooler Days, Butternut Squash Soup.  Here in Western New York we celebrate a lot of things fall, as a fly angler, one who really enjoys swinging flies with a two handed switch or spey rod, I cheer out loud every morning as the sun rises to the arrival of our lake run fish.  Primarily the steelhead (if your from the west rainbow trout) that enter the creeks feeding into Lake Erie.  Most of these fish are smolt that are released into the tributaries and find there way into the lake.  After their arrival into the lake they spend anywhere from three to five years foraging on all types of food sources, primarily baitfish, including emerald shiners and goby minnows.  Swinging fly patterns using marabou, rabbit strips and flash wrapped around various sized hooks, shanks or tubes work very well at fooling this fresh run fish into striking at what they think are the bait they are used to chasing in the lake.  What makes this type of fishing the most enjoyable is the "grab".  The grab is hard to explain in words as it's a feeling that can vary as the fish is taking the fly.  I think that if you every talk to anyone who is a "swing" enthusiast, it's a mutual agreement that the tug is the drug.  Don't hang up your waders this fall, keep your boots wet and try swinging flies for our lake run fish and I think you'll find yourself immersed in a new technique of fly fishing.  Tight Lines. 

Docs Cork Dry Fly

Here is a little step by step of tying a great summer dry fly that can be tied in a range of sizes, colors and will support the weight of a number of droppers.  I tie mine to imitate yellow sally stoneflies and crickets.  

Tie in a thread base and apply head cement.

Attach a thin piece of 2mm craft foam in segments.

Fold over remaining foam to form a wing and a head.

Behind the head tie in a wing using either elk or deer hair.  Then wrap 5-6 turns of dry fly hackle.

Three simple set ups to catch more Salmon and Steelhead

With Steelhead and Salmon season in full swing, how do you rig for a day on the water?  These three simple rigs are guaranteed to bring more fish to the net this fall.  Making adjustments to depth, weight, tippet size and flies will make these rigs catch more fish in just about any riffle, run, pool or tailout.  See you on the river and good luck this fall.

As the leaves change and the days get shorter.  There's one thing that comes to mind when you live and guide in the Great Lakes Region.  Steelhead, Salmon, Lake Trout and Lake Run Browns.  Living in Western New York we are blessed with Lake Erie and Lake Ontario Tributaries all within an hour drive.  These rivers and streams range in size from small pocket water creeks to huge rivers like the Niagara.  With so many options there's always a place to find fish.  I look forward to seeing you on the tributaries this fall/winter/spring season.

Looking to learn more about fly fishing?  Join Orvis in this educational trip to the West Branch Angler, where I’ll be helping, along with other endorsed guides and Orvis staff, teaching tips & techniques about fly fishing.  Sign up at any corporate store in Buffalo, Cleveland, Rochester, Westlake or Pittsburgh.

It's summer and the fun is just getting started.  There's so much fishing to do this time of year it's hard to pick.  Trout on hoppers?  Musky, Pike, Smallmouth Bass?  Carp on Dries?  Small Stream Brookies?  Big River Browns?  It doesn't matter the choice, it's going to be a great day on the water.  Each species and each techniques offers it's on challenge to be successful.  Lets do a quick bullet point on each to make your day on the water better.

• Hoppers, make sure they plop near overhanging structure and use a dropper nymph.
• Warm Water Species, use a streamer to imitate the natural forage fish of the river.
• Carp on Dries, treat a surface eating carp as a technical spring creek trout.
•  Brookies, use large dries so the little fish aren't able to be hooked. (Barbless)
•  Big River Browns, go on cloudy days early in the morning.

These are some basics that will help you get more hook ups on your next outing in Western New York and North Western Pennsylvania.