Colored Up Chrome

It's a classic spring here in WNY where you can expect the weather to do anything it wants to do.  When you think about it, almost all of fishing can be dictated by the weather.  The past week or two has been fairly warm and not any precipitation to speak of.   The water in some tributaries has been as warm as 62 degrees!  On average the temperature has been around 54 degrees and bottoming out around 48 degrees at night.  This warm weather has effectively ended the steelhead run.  It has been waning for weeks now, but this warm weather has really nipped it in the butt.  Steelhead are still around but are colored up and can be pretty beat up too.  The water has been low and clear in most all the tribs so the dropback action will most likely pick up with this nice rain we had last night and today.  Swung flies like woolly buggers (earth toned colors) and egg sucking leeches have been the most productive flies.  With the water clear downsizing tippet and swinging your fly slowly has been the trick.  The warm water is not a steelheads favorite but it does make them more apt to take a swung fly over a dead drifted stonefly or prince nymph. 

While we are still on the subject of the tributary fishing, the estuary and mouth fishing has been good if the wind is down.  Clousers, EP Baitfish, and Deceiver flies can be productive and really fun!  Fishing in 5-9 ft of water is about where a lot of the bass and browns are this time of year but it is also getting a little late for that too.  Once the lake starts to warm up further out the baitfish move and so do the trout and salmon making them out of reach for us fly fisherman. 

Going inland the cooler weather has still stiffed much of the hatching going on but there are still dry fly fishing to be had.  Afternoon hatches are the strongest of the day and decent numbers in the evening.  Its feast or famine so you gotta hit it just right.  Hendricksons, midges, and caddis dries have all been effective in a size 16.

This is the time of year where it starts to warm up a bit and giving casting lessons becomes more enjoyable.  No time like the present to learn how to take advantage of this wonderful sport.  After a summer of casting practice you'll be a pro to cast to those finicky browns and salmon come the fall.  If you are interested you can leave a comment or contact me at wnyflyguy@gmail.com

Thanks again for reading and tight lines guys!

Current Stream Information: 

Oak Orchard (Albion):  April 27th, 2016

Light fishing pressure.
Med/Stained flows (CFS unknown)

18-Mile Creek (Burt):  April 27th, 2016

Light fishing pressure.
Med/Off-Color flows.
174 CFS

Oatka Creek:   April 27th, 2016

Light Fishing Pressure
Med/Stained flows
247 CFS