WNY Steelhead winding down
High water steelhead
Moday morning steelhead
Yes it's true! The spring steelhead run is winding down. I have been trying to get out as much as I can to enjoy it, but all signs point to it being at the end. Fewer and fewer steelhead and drop back browns are being caught out here in our small WNY tributaries. The larger tributaries will still have fish hanging around till early May, but those small tribs that we love so much will now play host to warm water fish, such as smallmouth bass. And they are starting to turn up in greater numbers each day. In fact this is also the time of the year when it is possible to catch steelhead in the morning and then hit up a few inland trout streams for some fantastic early dry fly action. Yes we are starting to see Hendricksons out here, or should I say, I have heard about them! I will try and get out tomorrow morning to comfirm it if I can. But what a wonderful State we live in! I mean think about it...we can catch a beautifull 10lb. steelhead in the morning and then in the late afternoon catch inland stream browns on dries...it truly doesn't get much better!!
This past Friday and again on this morning I had the opportunity to get out and fish my favorite small Lake Ontario trib for about an hour. On Friday the water was high and a bit stained with only 8" to 12" inches of visibility. I managed just one steelhead in about a 45 minutes of fishing. It was a gorgeous male steelhead that looked more like an Alaskan rainbow or one that would come out Colorado or Montana...a great fish that put up an amazing fight and even jumped for me a few times.
On this morning I fished for a little over an hour and managed two hookups with steelhead, landing only one fish. But again it was a great fight and the fish looked more like a Western rainbow than a steelhead. And just like last week all fish were hooked on egg patterns. I have heard however, that woolly buggers have started to work really well for some people who have been targeting steelhead, and they are also getting into some very nice spring run smallmouth as well.
If any of you are looking to get into some trout on dries, this is the perfect time out here in WNY. Our inland streams are starting to come back down after some recent heavy rain, and they are really starting to look good! The Hendricksons will really start to pick up in the next week and fishing will be red hot. So get out there and enjoy it if you can!
For more information on Hendricksons, check out Jordan's recent blog. And for some great looking flies check out Tom's Hendrickson patterns.
Robert
http://bobonthefly.blogspot.com:
You are so right about New York state. Sport fishing is not only good here for fly fishing. We have Charter Fishing in lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and the Ocean. Not to mention the variety of fish in the Finger lakes and the Adirondack lakes. With large species of game fish in the Hudson river and the Barge canal, including all the lakes tributaries. There are even fish in sections of streams only the locals know about.
thanks to The NYSDEC stocking programs and all the access parking spots and easements along the creeks. We do have a great state fishing program. Nice article.