Marabou Mania

It's been a dry week here in WNY and flows everywhere are down.  It's time to downsize leaders and flies.  Tributary fishing is isolated to warm water fishing for the most part.  The smallmouths are in thick and are taking anything that passes through their nesting bed.  Clouser minnows, marabou jigs, and gurglers are the most productive flies right now.  For the jigs I've been using either black or white in sizes #8 and #10 with good success.  This is the time of year where the tributaries are getting stocked with steelhead.  Oak Orchard has good numbers of fish in the 4-7 inch range and 18 Mile creek has good numbers of fish in the 7-14 inch range.  Swinging streamers and matching the hatch have been really effective for the trout.

Moving to the inland streams its more of the same.  Warm water fisheries have active smallmouths as well as chubby rock bass protecting the nest.  The same flies are working here for the bass (Marabou Jigs, Clouser Minnows, and Gurglers) here as in the tributaries.  Even though the bass don't take the topwaters as often as the streamers, there is nothing like a bass hammering a topwater fly.  As for the trout streams this cooler weather has kept the fly hatches to the afternoon and evening.  Not only have the hatches been late in the day but the hatching schedule is behind from years past.  We are still looking at only BWO and Caddis flies hatching in any kind of serious numbers.  BWO have been in sizes 16 and 18 where the Caddis flies have been coming out almost exclusively in size 14 and thick numbers of them.  Hendrickson hatches are all but over but keep an eye out for the spinners to return when the conditions are right. 

My schedule for the Fall remains open for salmon and trout dates and remember the summer is a good time to brush up on casting.  If you're interested in getting some pointers or a private lesson you can email me at wnyflyguy@gmail.com.  Check out my latest YouTube video of swinging streamers for the stocked trout!  Tight lines everyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqQvXZkRFU


Current Stream Information: 

18-Mile Creek (Burt):  May 19th, 2016

Light fishing pressure.
Low/Clear flows.
67 CFS

Oatka Creek:   May 19th, 2016

Light Fishing Pressure
Med/Clear flows
120 CFS