Sucker Spawn, Greedy Browns and Drop Back Steelhead
Suckers are a common sight in our creeks and rivers these days. Their spawn activity deposits plenty of edible eggs. Smallmouth bass, walleye, carp, brown trout from the lake, resident brown trout and steelhead all capitalize on this seasonal feast. Northern pike also follow the suckers, looking to engulf a larger meal. This time of year, it’s not uncommon to catch several species in one stretch of water. Especially, below or around a stretch of spawning suckers. This movable egg buffet typically last two weeks, around late March to mid - April. Suckers don’t run as far upstream as salmonid species, so fishing lower stretches of a river during this time has benefits.
I’m blessed with a number of fishing buddies. That said, some of my favorite fishing companions are my brother and his children. So, I invited my brother and his oldest son to fish Irondequoit Creek. I geared up two fly rods (6wt w/ a T-14 sink tip and white wooly bugger & chartruese bead head, and a 7wt w/ a generic sucker spawn egg mass). My larger brother crammed himself into an old pair of my wading boots/waders and my 13 year old nephew slid into a pair of oversized boots/waders. Not a perfect fit, but enough to keep them dry. Scouting and walking the banks of the creek, they became excited upon seeing formations of suckers. Who says that sight fishing to 16″ suckers can’t be fun? My nephew began lobbing the streamer towards a drop off, while my brother bottom bounced a riffle with the sucker spawn. Within minutes, my brother detected a bend in his rod and was enthusiastically fighting a sucker. I know that we all prefer to target steelhead and trout. Nonetheless, suckers offer novice anglers a wonderful chance to read the water, perfect line control, control depth of drift, sight fish eggs, fight and beach fish, etc. They are also a nice remedy for breaking the ice, for those who haven’t fished nor caught fish in some time. It was fun to support my brother and nephew as they tangled with a few suckers. They also managed a few tree fish and encouraged me to do better.
I took a few steps upstream and on my first cast, hooked a chunky lake colored brown. I promptly handed the rod over to my nephew and we enjoyed watching him land this fish. In my experience, landing a fish on your first cast indicates either red hot fishing, or a prolonged stretch of no bites. Ever the optimist, I then grabbed the 6wt and flung my streamer towards a current seam at the head of a pool. Within a few short casts, the white wooly bugger with a chartreuse bead head was slammed! An acrobatic, post spawn steelead darted across the pool and I thrust the rod into the hands of my nephew. Again, we cheered him on as this fiesty fish broke the surface several times. Posing for a few more pictures, we let her go. Great to see the enthusiasm in my nephew’s face and you won’t find a prouder father or uncle. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a few afternoon hours. There are numerous rewards to taking youth fishing. Please invite a kid to go fishing with you this Spring!
This unseasonably warm, early spring may shorten our small tributary steelhead season. By the first week of April, steelhead sightings were scarce in the smaller creeks. At the same time, future rain activity may drive more fish upstream. Depending upon the conditions, some years our small tributaries give up steelhead into early May. Reports indicate that the larger rivers continue to fish more consistently (Cat/Oak Orchard/Genesee/Salmon). We’ve seen dark stoneflies hatching the past weeks, as well as blue winged olives. Hendricksons are already up on some creeks and caddis will be here shortly. Some of the easiest surface pickings of the year are with fish feeding on mayflies in April. As effective, are nymphs and streamers. So many options during this wonderful time of year. Good luck and tight lines.
