Jay Peck's Blog

Judging by the way the rivers are going, spring is running about two weeks behind schedule. All things considered this is not all that bad. Starting with Western New York; water flows have moderated considerably and watercolor has improved. This being said the watercolor is still heavily stained. One of my favorite saying for spring steelhead fishing, is fear no mud. Muddy dirty, off colored water, may seem impossible to fish. But you need to keep in mind that this dirty water is nothing but cover for the fish. Water temperatures has improved significantly this past week as of now temperatures are above the 40° mark for most of our rivers and creeks. This means we have steelhead spawning in most of our tributaries. Even though most of the river and creeks are off color there is plenty of opportunities for some good fishing. Productive flies; now is the time to have fun, all the fun stuff that’s been sitting in our box, It is time to fish it. We have and head an excellent success with small intruders, large leech patterns, willy buggers, egg sucking leech. Because of the off colored water, Colors of browns and olives are not that productive. These two colors get lost in the dirty water.

Salmon River:  water flows half come up considerably this past week. From my flow of 350 CFS to a flow of 1250 CFS, Looks like spring run off has finally arrived. The water flow is still not to high for spring run off. Water temperatures have also started to creep up a little, As of this time temperatures are hovering in the mid to upper 30s. We saw good numbers of fresh steelhead moving on this recent push of water. Looks like the Salmon River is receiving a healthy spring run of steelhead at this time. Even though water temperatures have improved a few degrees and water flows are up with fresh ground steelhead.  We still need to approach the Salmon River as if it is in winter conditions, At least for now. As I always say conditions can and do change quickly. For productive flies; the stonefly routine it Is still going strong, Along with small intruders and funny leech patterns.

NOTE:

I still have dates available. On the Oak Orchard April 13,14,15,16,17 we will be fishing for steelhead and we will have ideal conditions for sight fishing. With the late spring we are experiencing, the month of May is looking like a great month for fishing for steelhead with a swinging fly.  As of now I have these dates open May 3, 7,9,11,12,13,14,15. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call. Cell 585-233-0436