Jay Peck's Blog

May can be an exciting month for fishing. Everything is starting to come alive. Starting with our local trout streams, water flows and water temperatures are in ideal condition for the Hendrickson hatch. Expect to see a nymph drift somewhere around late morning, early afternoon, followed by the actual hatch early to midafternoon. The Hendrickson hatch has been going on long enough that if we have the right conditions you can also expect to see a spinner fall. Along with the Hendrickson hatch, we can now expect to see a size 16 olive hatch happening right along with the Hendrickson hatch. Do not be surprised if you notice the trout have a preference for the smaller olives. This hatch will be going on for a few more weeks. The cool spring we are having is helping to draw out the hatch.

The Steelhead fishing, as for the Lake Ontario tributaries of Western New York, the steelhead are for the most part back in the Lake. You might find a stray fish. The main activity now is on the Salmon River. Most of the Steelhead is now about dun with spawning and starting to go on the feed. I suspect we will have about 3 more weeks of productive steelhead fishing while they drop out of the river. Now is the time I call, swing season. Steelheads are done with spawning and now on the feed and looking for food. The perfect situation for swinging the pools. This is also what I refer to as a coverage game. The more water we cover the more bites we get. This is where using sinking tips two handed rods are a real advantage, if you ever thought you'd like to give a Spey Rod a try now is the time. This does not mean single hand casters cannot take full advantage of fishing, not a problem. 

Note;

I have had some days open up for first half of May. If you're interested in trying swing flies for steelhead, now is the time to do it. If you are interested please give me a call, my cell number is 585-233-0436 Also one last note, mid-May is when we have started to see the first of the of Atlantic salmon showing up in the Salmon River.