Snow Flies

Last night we received our first significant snowfall of this fall.  It's hard to believe that just a few days ago it was 70 degrees here.  This is without a doubt going to affect the fishing.  As the weather starts getting colder we will need to start to transition from our fall tactics over to our winter tactics.  It is going to stay pretty cold for the next few days here in WNY so the snow is probably going to stick until around Thursday and Friday.  Until then the fish are going to definitely be sluggish.  With the water temperature dropping significantly it is a good idea to start to fish once the sun has been up for a few hours to let the water heat up a little bit. 

For the Lake Ontario tributaries the flows are pretty low and clear.  Larger tribs like 18 Mile and the Oak have some salmon still hanging around but mostly they are moldy zombies with maybe a few fresher fish mixed in.  As for the other smaller tributaries the fish are spread out and can be hard to find as well as spooky.  The chance for Cohos is pretty good with an excellent shot at steelhead and browns.  Getting good slow drifts with egg patterns and nymphs has been the trick lately but this cold calls for a downsize in tippet and fly size.  If the fish seem totally unwilling to go for anything a woolly bugger swung of dead drifted is always a good bet. 

It's only a matter of time now before the Erie Canal will start being drained which will bump up the flows in some tributaries significantly as well as show us anglers if there are any late run browns and what the winter steelhead fishing might be like.  More good news is the fishing pressure on all the tribs has lessened quite a bit since gun season for deer has opened as well as the cold weather has scared off the fair weather fisherman.  

If you haven't checked out my YouTube channel it can be entertaining as well as educational (follow the link below).  As always thanks for reading, tight lines, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Current Stream Information:

18-Mile Creek (Burt):  November 21st, 2016

Mod fishing pressure

Low Clear Flows

62 CFS

Cattaraugus Creek:     November 21st, 2016

Low Flows

313 CFS

33.3- 47.3

Oak Orchard Creek:   November 21st, 2016
Mod Fishing Pressure

Med Clear Flows

57 CFS   

Salmon River:           November 21st, 2016
550 CFS

My YouTube Channel

Gotta Break Some Eggs

Sorry for the delay in blog posts it's been a busy time for me.  Getting on to the fishing report there are good numbers of salmon still hanging on with zombies as well as some fresher green fish in the mix from last weeks rain.  Lots of spawning going on including some early brown trout spawning.  Atlantics are being caught on a daily basis here on the tribs which is a really encouraging sign to see so many being caught.  However I have not seen many or heard of many coho's being landed.  From my experience the coho's come a little later in the fall but by now it's usually common to have a number of them being caught.  The aforementioned rain gave all the tribs a little boost in water flows but it was very short lived.  Now that it's November winter is right around the corner and with that comes the cold weather we all love.  That being said look for water flows to get a nice boost from the Erie Canal Drainage effort coming towards the end of the month.  Since the run of fish started pretty late this year don't be surprised to continue seeing kings hanging around for awhile yet.  Swinging flies was very productive in the high muddy conditions where dead drifting with a smaller fly was more effective when the waters leveled out.  Productive streamers were woolly buggers in a wide variety of colors as well as egg sucking leeches.  Other productive flies have been pink and chartreuse eggs (for muddy water) with apricot otters eggs when the water was a little lower.  Look for the stonefly bite to get on when the steelhead have been in the streams a little longer and key in on that food source.  It looks like its going to be a little warmer this week until Friday when we might get some snow even!  The fishing pressure has definitely lessened some but still a lot of guys in the likely places like Oak Orchard and Burt Dam.  Check out my newest video on my two setups I generally use in the fall and feel free to ask questions and comment!  Even though it might be getting cold out a bad day of fishing sure beats watching the Bills.  Tight lines everyone!

Current Stream Information:

18-Mile Creek (Burt):  November 6th, 2016

Heavy fishing pressure

Low Clear Flows

60 CFS

Cattaraugus Creek:     November 6th, 2016

Low Flows

431 CFS

44.1- 55.0 

Oak Orchard Creek:   November 6th, 2016
Heavy Fishing Pressure

Med Clear Flows

97 CFS   

Salmon River:           November 6th, 2016
695 CFS

Photo Credit:  Kevin Carges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnVp3Nz_LQs