This last week we gut a bunch of weather, almost 20 inches of snow, Followed up with a few days later with around 2 inches of rain. We now got water everywhere. Starting with western New York, Oak Orchard River area. The water flow is finally up for the Oak. Flows are at a medium high to high flow and very money. The surrounding areas creeks are at flood stage and appropriately muddy. This is good news, there should be a fresh run of fish in when the water flows come down and we can get on the water. We will need to continue monitoring waterfalls closely. I suspect conditions to improve later this coming week.

The Salmon River watershed has also been influenced with the recent round of heavy weather. As of writing this update, water flows on the Salmon River are at 2600 CFS at the Pineville gauge with an 1800 CFS release at the dam. We recently finished in this high water flow, and did surprisingly well. There is a fresh run of steelhead in the upper river and I suspect more fish are on the move. Hopefully this is a positive sign for the upcoming spring fishing. Productive flies; this week, we caught fish with a wide variety of patterns. If one fly pattern is not working, switch it up. We caught fish with a variety of stonefly nymph size ranging from 10 to 8 we also had success fishing size 10 egg patterns concentrate your fishing efforts with these patterns along the current seems between the slow and fast water. For the swing, small intruders around two and a half to 3 and half inches long is getting the job done. Keep in mind with high water flows try fishing intruders around 4 to 6 inches long. Sometimes you need to put a big target out for them.

Note;

A reminder, it is time to start planning you’re up coming fishing trips. I still have prime dates for spring steelhead fishing, open for both March and April. Feel free to give me a call discuss dates and fishing opportunities. Cell 585-233-0436

This past week gave us a taste of spring. We had not just had spring time temperatures but also water temperatures. Our smaller river and creeks cleared out of ice and gave us a taste of springtime fishing. Starting with Weston New York, even though we had some rain earlier in the week, Oak Orchard River water flow did not respond much. Water flow still remain low, however there is a few fish holding in the deeper pockets. The smaller rivers and creeks was where the best fishing happened. Depending on where you were fishing we found both steelhead and post spawn Brown trout. However and this is a big however, the weather did change by the end of the week. As everyone knows we now have some of the coldest weather of the entire winner. Everything is locked back up with ice for now. Hopefully the upcoming week, we’ll have some moderation in our whether and we can get back on the water soon.

The Salmon River; the water flows have come up, in fact we have had two increases in water flows over the past week.  We started out with a flow of 335 CFS by the end of the week a water flow of 1250 CFS. The 1250 CFS water flow is a bit much for comfortable winter steelhead fishing, for us fly fisherman.  Productive water is very limited and current speeds are way too fast to make proper winter condition presentations. We need to wait until water flows Drop down below the 750 CFS mark. Keep in mind that this recent round of high water is pulling in new fish from the lake. Even during this cold snap steelhead should be trickling in. As for fly patterns, not much has changed. For the swing, small intruders around two and a half to 3 and half inches long is getting the job done. Keep in mind with high water flows try fishing intruders around 4 to 6 inches long. Sometimes you need to put a big target out for them.

Note;

A reminder, as most of you know my booking calendar is now open. Time to start planning you’re up coming fishing trips. Feel free to give me a call discuss dates and fishing opportunities. Cell 585-233-0436

This past weekend was a busy one. Spent the weekend at the Somerset fly-fishing show in New Jersey. It was good to see everyone that stopped by my booth to say hello. Now that this fly fishing show, as great as it was is out-of-the-way. Time to get back on the water, where I belong.

Water flows in western New York have been extremely low, up until recently. We finally got some decent rainfall, and our smaller creeks and streams are iced out. It is going to be good to have these waters opened for some fishing, even if it’s temporary. As for the Oak Orchard we’ll have to see how much of an increase in water flow we get. However at this stage the more water we get more fish we’re going to half. Definitely looking forward to doing some what are still efficient and by Western waters.

The warm weather has been a bonus for the Salmon River. Water flows have remained constant, 350 CFS release at damn and around 500 CFS at the Pineville gauge. Good fishing flows, especially for the winter. The biggest bonus with this warm weather is water temperatures have risen to the mid 30-degree mark, a return to late November early December fishing conditions.  With the slightly warmer water temperatures we have an opportunity to have some productive fishing with a swinging fly.  As always when pursuing steelhead on a swinging fly it is always best to cover this much water as possible. Fortunately at this time there is fish scattered all the way from the Douglaston salmon run to the lower fly fishing zone. Over the last few days there has been consistently decent fishing in the DSR. When this is happening. We can be assured that we are receiving a steady trickle of fish. Looks like this weather break is going to be a productive one for steelhead fishing on the Salmon River. For productive flies; Stone flying nymphs have been getting the job done in the upper river. As for fly patterns for the swing. Small intruders around two and a half to 3 and half inches long is getting the job done. Keep in mind that the water flows comes up abruptly try fishing intruders around 4 to 6 inches long. Sometimes you need to put a big target out for them.

Note;

A reminder, as most you know my booking calendar is now open. Time to start planning your up coming fishing trips.