Some of you might be wondering why I chose to tie flies in the morning instead of the night before, allowing me to just get up and go fishing bright and early. Now that is a valid question. Any other time of the year that's exactly what I would do. However, today (and usually in the winter) was in the teens to start out the day and getting only into the mid twenty's. These cold temperatures make the fish very lethargic and if you go fishing earlier in the day, it's harder to get the fish to bite. However if you let the sun come out (which it does from time to time in the winter) it warms the water slightly giving you a better shot at hooking up. Not only does the cold temperature affect the fish but if affects you the fisherman in a way you might not think of right away. The one thing that every fisherman combats in the winter and fly fisherman especially is iced up guides. I have not found an effective way to keep the ice out of my line guides but if anyone reading has found a way please comment! Everyone has this problem and sometimes it can be costly.
So as you probably read in my last blog post the weather conditions have been a little bipolar lately and has made the streams pretty darn muddy. But with the cold weather that moved in, the ground has frozen again and less water is running off. That being the case I thought today would be a good day to try a pretty small stream. I looked at the conditions yesterday and it too seemed muddy, but when I arrived today the water had dropped and the conditions were just about right. In my experience small streams are very hit or miss. You can go and catch a ton of fish one day and come back the next and they are all gone. The fish probably sense the flows slackening and proceed to drop back into the lake until the flows pick back up. This holds true for almost every small tributary I've fished whether it be on Lake Erie or Lake Ontario.
So today I got on the water at about 12:30pm and fished until 5:30pm. This is a pretty long day for me in the winter but you gotta take advantage when you can. As I mentioned earlier the high when I was fishing was only about 25 degrees and it was also fairly windy today as well. Can you say burr? One thing that I cannot recommend more to fellow fly fisherman and fisherman alike is a "Buff". This is like a lightweight balaclava and is mostly used down south to keep the sun off your face, ears, and neck but it also does wonders up here to keep the wind off the same areas. I've gotten off track but those are a really useful thing to have.
Anyways I got on the water at 12:30pm. I started out with my go to stonefly (#8) and fished with that for probably longer than I should have but everyone has their favorite. I riffled through my flies and decided on a small minnow imitation since I saw a school of Emerald Shiners swimming around in the pool I was fishing. Fresh fish in the streams are more likely to take something they are used to seeing (other fish) as opposed to stuff that is unfamiliar to them (nymphs, eggs, etc.). That's not to say that fresh fish won't take nymphs and the like, but they are just more used to eating and seeing smaller fish as their forage. I moved from hole to hole until I got to a promising run. This particular run was a nice deeper pocket of water with current breaks on either side of the main current flow just downstream of a fallen log. I switched over to a chartreuse estaz egg (#8) that I had tied a few years ago seeing as nothing else was working. After about 10 minutes I had a hookup and landed a small but healthy brown trout around 3:00pm. I then let the hole settle.
By the time 5:00pm rolled around I was about ready to leave but I had one more hole. There is always one more to fish isn't there? I hooked into a huge fish but as mentioned above the cold weather had frozen my guides and consequently my line in the guides as well. In an effort to clear my guides the fish got the line underneath a rock and broke me off. I was pretty bummed out but there is always another day.
Stream conditions are listed below again and I hope you found some of this information useful and maybe even entertaining. Hopefully you guys are getting out and if you catch fish post some pictures or comments below! And remember, tight lines!
Current Stream Information:
Sandy Creek (Hamlin): March 1st, 2016
Free of ice
Light to no fishing pressure.
High/Muddy flows. (cfs unknown)
Oak Orchard (Albion): March 1st, 2016
Free of ice.
Light fishing pressure.
High/Muddy flows. (cfs unknown)
Johnson Creek (Lyndonville): March 1st, 2016
Free of ice.
Light to no fishing pressure.
Medium/Muddy flows. (cfs unknown)
18-Mile Creek (Burt): March 1st, 2016
Free of ice.
Light fishing pressure.
High/Muddy flows. (229 cfs and falling)
Salmon River (Pineville): March 1st, 2016
High and muddy flows. (2180 cfs and falling)
Buff Website:
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