This past week has been a
cold week for spring. As a result it did make the steelhead fishing a bit
challenging. As much of an inconvenience this cold weather has been, we did
need this cold snap. As result the steelhead spawning activities has been slow
down significantly. We are now not as far ahead of the normal spring fishing
schedule.
The weather forecast for this
coming week is supposed to be much warmer. I suspect when the temperatures rebound
the fishing activity will most certainly pick up.
Starting with the inland
trout fishing; water flows in most of the trout streams are in good to
excellent fishing conditions at this time. Keep in mind that, waterfalls this
time of year can change quickly. Often we need to just go and check out the
situation on favorite trout water.
We are about a week early but
it is time to start looking for some bug activity. This coming week is supposed
to be warmer and maybe some Hendrickson will be hatching in the afternoons. At
the very least there should be some decent fishing with nymphs. Try size 14 and
12 hairs ears and Hendrickson nymphs.
Steelhead fishing in western
New York, Appears to be about done for the spring. Obviously this doesn’t mean
that there could possibly be a few more fish showing up. However the consistent
day-to-day fishing appears to be over. This past week the fishing on the Oak
Orchard River was very slim. We were fishing through quite a bit of water for
one or two fish. There has been about four weeks of steelhead spawning on the
Oak Orchard River. Over the years, four-week
time period is about as long as I have observed for the spring steelhead spawn.
If you still intend to try fishing the Oak, keep in mind that the fishing is
going to be hit or miss at best.
At the time of writing this
update, we are in the process of moving our fishing operation to the Salmon
River at Pulaski, full time. We will be fishing here for the rest of the month
of April and into early May. With this freezing cold snap I am not concerned
about the steelhead run being over earlier than anticipated. We will most
likely have steelhead spawning activity until the end of the month and drop
back fishing until mid May, Normal fishing schedule. Water flows on the Salmon
River as of now are at 500 CFS from the dam, down from 750 CFS. There is rain
in the forecast for the upcoming week. Looks like waterfalls will be
fluctuating over the next couple of weeks. I do not suspect we’ll see any big
water flows for the rest of the steelhead run. Water temperatures this past
week were in the mid to upper 30° range. With these colder water temperatures
the spawning activity was severely slowed down. A lot of steelhead dropped off
and into transition water, the smaller pools and cuts near where they have been
spawning. With the cooler water temperatures, we needed to slow the drift down.
Back to Stone flies and winter style of fishing. Once the water temperatures warm-up
everything will be back to normal. The swing fishing will be back on, especially
in the mid to lower river.
Fly box; not much has changed
over the past week. Stoneflies nymphs still getting it done, in size 12 to 10,
for the swing, small intruders around two and a half to 3 and half inches long.
We have been having the best success with size for size 4 and size 6 Black and
brown Willy buggers.
Note;
A reminder, I still have
dates for spring steelhead fishing April 18,19,20,21 and April 25,26 just
opened up. Early May is still open, we call May, swimming season. A great time
to fish for steelhead with two-handed rods and a singing fly. Our friend Rick Smith,
also has dates available for both April and May. Feel free to call if you have
any questions Cell 585-233-0436
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