Typical of mid to late May a lot is developing with our fishing world. Starting out with our local trout streams Oatka Creek and upper Genesee River. Water flows are very low for this time of the year; we are in desperate need of some good rainfall. As for the bugs, hatches are progressing along a normal time schedule. We are now seeing the front end of the Sulfur hatch; this is a size 16 yellow mayflies. Along with sulfurs we should be seeing Gray Foxes and March Browns coming off anytime soon. These mayflies typically hatch midday to late afternoon.

Expect to see good bug activity starting somewhere between the mid to late afternoon and peeking around dusk. Also spinner returns are now evening routine, as long as weather permitting, not too cold or windy. We will have Sulfur spinners returning at the end of the day. Along with evening spinner returns and Sulfur there also should be caddis hatching.  This is probably the best time of the year for bug activity. Expect to see good hatches on all of our healthy trout water. 

Because we are dealing with low water conditions, the trout are going to feel exposed. We will need to take this into consideration when we are on the water. Even though it is still May we are going to have to break out our mid to late summer stealthy techniques so we don’t spoke the fish. Walking softly on the trail and wadding carefully is going to be important until order flows come back to normal levels.

Other fishing News, we are continuing to explore the brook trout water.   Our recent exploratory trip produced several fish between 4 to 12 inches long. We did lose a few fish the left us wondering what the heck hit us. The Douglaston salmon run has stacked 400 brown trout on the run last week. Most of these fish are between 14 and 20 inches, many of these fish are around 20 inches. It is nice to see that someone is at least trying to make more trout fishing opportunities instead of destroying it. Along with fish stacking on the DSR, I have observed and received credible reports of Atlantic salmon.  This is good news considering how challenging the past tributary season was. At least for now the Atlantic Salmon are showing up on schedule. I will be keeping a close eye and a fly in the water when it comes to these fish. Hopefully this fisheries will develop into a viable resource that we all can enjoy. As the Atlantic salmon run develops I will keep everyone posted.

Notes;

We have Time available over the next few weeks for both the Brook trout fishing and the rest of our trout fishing. Feel free to give me a call and talk about the fishing. Cell 585-233-0436

Water and fishing conditions held up very well over the past week. We did receive a little bit of rain, which mounted to what I refer to as maintenance maintaining conditions at status quo. Because we had a cool week, water temperatures have remained relatively cool. These cooler temperatures have slowed the progression of the hatches. Fortunately for now all of our bug hatches are running on schedule. The main featured bug for now is a size 14 light caddis. This caddis is hatching practically everywhere. All of over trout streams are seeing good afternoon caddis hatches. Along with the caddis we are still having a few olives hatching. This hatch is more of a stream and weather condition specific hatch at this point. If we have some cloudy or wet weather, these conditions well often trigger an olives hatch. As for the Hendrickson hatch, there is the a few bugs popping up periodically but for the most part the hatch is over. Keep in mind that we’ve had plenty of cool weather and there are lots of Hendrickson spinners waiting to come back. The next few warm evening we should see heavy Hendrickson spinner returns. As always if you’re planning on catching this spinner drop, keep an eye the air temperature. We need to be 60° or warmer for the spinners to return.

We have started scouting and fishing through our menu of trout fishing. We recently spent the day fishing the off the grid brook trout water. Even though we did not see a lot of bug activity that day, the fish were still very cooperative. We caught several fish using wet fly techniques; there have been several days of caddis activity on this water. The size of the Brook trout range up to 10 inches, however we did lose a few large trout. Never ceases to amaze me how the big boys find a way to get away.

Note;

We are currently scouting our menu of trout fishing options. This will include upper Genesee River, Off the grid Brook Trout fishing and our local Trout waters. There’s lots of opportunity and open dates feel free to give me a call discuss what is happening and what are the options cell 585-233-0436

Looks like spring is taking its time. The last few days we have had Cold frosty night. This has the water temperatures in the mid to upper 40° range. After a warm fast start to this spring, everything has slowed down. We did have a bit of rain this week. We did need the rain, it has been getting a bit dry. As for how much rain we did get, it did help keep all of our and good fishing condition.

Starting out with the trout fishing, this past week was a good week for the spring hatches. There is good hatches of Hendrickson and Olives, coming off from early to late afternoon. In most cases the fish were on the bugs. Going forward keep an eye out for the start of a light caddis, this fly will be in a size14. Look for Henderson spinner Falls towards evening. This spinner falls will happen when the air temperature is above 60°. Keep in mind that the spinners are very sensitive to air temperature. Just a couple degrees can make the difference of the spinners hitting in the water or going back into the trees. Going into this week, the hatches will continue even if water flows increase. Keep in mind water flows are too high to fish with a dry fly try fishing some bigger nymphs or even a little streamer fishing.

At this point I am now officially calling it an end to the steelhead season. Even though you can find stray fish, for the most part it is done. This  past Lake Ontario tributary season has been one of the most difficult that I have experienced in over 35 years of fishing tributaries. We have good years and we have difficult years, all part of working in the natural environment. The question is asked why was this past season such a challenge? We can discuss and have this endlessly, but the truth is we will have challenging seasons occasionally. Hopefully easy water an early start to the spring will give the Lake Ontario a strong growing season and we will see a marked improvement in the quality of fishing. As always every year is different and every year has its challenges. Thank you to everyone that fish with me for fishing hard and making it happen. Now to the trout streams.

Note;

Over the next week we will be scouting our menu of trout fishing options. This will include upper Genesee River, Off the grid Brook Trout fishing and our local Trout waters. There’s lots of opportunity  and open dates feel free to give me a call discuss what is happening and what are the options cell 585-233-0436