Going into this week this is
going to be an interesting one. It is time to get on the water and get
steelhead fishing. It is now happening, Time to use all those flies we have
been tying all winter long.
Starting with Western New
York the Oak Orchard River and local creeks. Water flows in all the rivers and
creeks are at a medium to a medium high flow, As of now. There is some rain in
the forecast, water flows may be subject to change. Water temperatures are in
the mid too low 40° range. There is steelhead still sitting in winter holding
water, along with a few fish starting to spawn. At this stage we need to a bit
of hunting to find fish however there appears to be a fair amount of fish around.
The issue is steelhead are spread it out and can be found just about anywhere
along the river. Productive flies, we’ve had the best luck with big willy
buggers, leech patterns and egg flies. Along with the flies keep in mind we are
fishing with a lot of persistence, Water is heavily stained and the fish are
spread out. You need to cover water.
The Salmon River this past
week we did receive a lot of rain, almost 2 inches of the stuff. Water flows in
all of the surrounding smaller rivers and creeks were over their banks. The
Salmon River, with a dam release of 1700 CFS, head over 1000 CFS in runoff, for
a total of 2700 CFS at the Pineville gauge. Water flows have since come down
and should be into ideal fishing condition early this week. I do suspect the
1700 CFS release to continue for some time. Typical for this time of the year,
we’ll need to constantly monitor water flows. Water temperatures continue to
hold around 36°. The water temperature is slowly improving, however the fishing
is way ahead of schedule. The fishing has been a Little crabby lately, We’ve
had to work hard for our bites. This is nothing new, my experience seems to be
when the fish get close to spawning they get a little grouchy. This past week I
did not notice a particular pattern to the flies. Once again I contribute our
success to persistence. For productive flies; the obvious stoneflies nymphs in
size 12 to 10, 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, myself and our
friend, Rick Smith still have prime dates for spring steelhead fishing, for
both March and April. Feel free to give
me a call to discuss dates and fishing opportunities. Cell 585-233-0436
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