Gary holding the first spring steelhead after ice out!

Well it's official! It is spring steelhead time! We had about 5-6 weeks of solid winter where most of our rivers froze up. But that all changed about a week- 10 days ago with a combination of warmer temps and rain that broke things free! We patiently waited for the spike in flows to recede, wondering what was in store for us. And when it did, our suspicions were confirmed. While the spey fishing was still a bit of a challenge with the colder flows, we found a few willing takers. Things should only improve as the weather warms.

If you haven't already, get on the phone with us to reserve your spot. We don't have a ton of days left, so reach out to us when you can.

 - D 

Beautiful chrome fish

The fishing remains very good, with a nice mix of fresh and holdover fish. The fish that have been in the systems a while have taken up winter lies, so dredging the deeper slower runs is often what it takes. Fresh fish can surprise you from a fast water pocket or choppy run, even though the water temps are in the 30's. The fish above was taken in 35 degree water from the choppy head of a riffle where we often find fresh fall run steelhead. So don't overlook every faster water pockets, as fish do have to move through the entire system. Cold water colors of blacks, blues, and purples seem to be producing the best, with the whiskey hangover taking the most fish. 

Looking ahead, the next two weeks are calling for dropping temps. Daytime highs in the low to mid thirties and nighttime lows in the mid teens. This will likely cause a moderate amount of ice up. So if you haven't been out yet, get it while you can. This time of year you just never know. We've been fortunate in that we have not seen any real ice-up so far this season. Perhaps it will stay that way, but the weather is nothing if not unpredicatable. 

Check out some from the last few weeks, and tight lines!

 - D

Browns on the swing are always fun- Steve Vaccariello Photo

CJ with a nice swing fish- his first on the spey rod!

A fat hen from the fast water (they still gotta move through it)

Matt with a steamer! Steve Vaccariello Photo

There's chrome in them there hills (and rivers)! Steve Vaccariello Photo

Cool shot of me trying to tail a fish! Steve Vaccariello Photo

The result! Steve Vaccariello Photo

I got to swing up a nice bright fish way up on the Catt

Well soon 2020 will be in the books, and that can't come quick enough. It's just been a weird year all the way around and we're looking forward to better on many fronts. One thing that was really nice was just how good the fishing was this past fall and continues to be. It's been a long time that I can remember fishing so many days on the Catt with the decent run that we've had this year. While it for sure wasn't an overload of fish, we've had good numbers and steady fishing since early October. Coupled with the number of fishable days, that's a big win. If memory serves me, might have to look all the way back to 2015 for a similar year. And fishing continues to be good with steady, small influxes of fresh fish pushing into the lower river at regular intervals. 

Lake Ontario browns have been another pleasant thing of 2020. Again not like the run of 2018, but much better than last year's run. Good numbers and good size to the fish made getting up there fun. On the flip side, man have there been people out this year, and people doing crazy shit too. But the fishing has been good and looks like it should stay that way.

Tight Lines,

 - D

As remote as you can get in the lower Lakes  

Steve with a nice brown

Dan with one of many

Another bright December fish

Winter spey fishing

Matt with a good sized brown

Tom with a great fish his first day spey fishing with guide Matt Rysak!

I'm going to keep this one short. Things are fishing very well. We had a bit of an unseasonably warm and dry spell for a minute that made fishing a little tough on sunny days. But other than that there are good amounts of fish around. We've had some water of the past two weeks which got things moving even more. The Erie fish, bucks in particular are running large. We've lost a couple I'd say were well over 12 pounds. And from the reports I'm getting up on the Lake O tribs, there are some monster browns around. Watch for a full report on that next time. All in all, great fishing.

Tight Lines,

 - D

Greg with a FAT colored up buck

They don't get much nicer than this

Dough with his first fish (of 3) his first day ever spey fishing with fishing buddy John

Another one of Doug's first day fish

John getting it done on the Firestarter second morning

Doug even swung up an elusive Cattaraugus lake run brown way up there

The Lee Party striking silver with Guide Matt

Matt getting ready to put one in the net

Now's the time folks.

Solid fish on the hangover

Well we're marching along into fall. The fishing continues to be productive if you can adjust and know how to fish low, clear water. Over the past week, we've had ideal water temperatures for very active fish, along with the persistent low flows. In that time we've hooked fish skating dries, swinging clear floating or clear intermediate polys, and even a tip here and there. Despite the low flows, there are good numbers of fish in the river.

The game is stealth mode. If you're going to swing a sinking tip, do it early before the sun gets on the water (if it's a sunny day). Once the sun gets up, back down to clear tips, and long leaders. Natural colored speys are working well. Don't be afraid to skate a dry in choppy pockets. Now's the time to get surprised. Case in point, Jeff was fishing around us. He came to a pool that had been worked through by indicator fishermen and spey fishermen and hooked and lost one on a skated dry. That fish had seen pressure. Yet it still ate off the top. And not just once. The fish ate it twice in the same swing before he hooked it the second time. Unfortunately, like a lot of dry eaters, it threw the hook early. I don't know what it is about fishing that way but you land a lot less than you hook and you hook a lot less than you rise. Props to Jeff for at least sticking his first on the dry.

Looking ahead, we got weather coming through. Hopefully it will really get things rolling, though I don't mind the conditions as they are if you just adjust a bit. But more water will help bring more fish in and get the ones already in moving up higher. That will help the fishing.

Tight Lines,

 - D

Jeff with his first of the year 

The Concord Grape is a quick tie that catches fish.

Check out the video to learn how to tie and fish this productive pattern:

 

Perfect fall steelhead on a blue and purple spey

Despite the very low and clear water, there are decent numbers of fish. With flows this morning hovering just north of 100 cfs, I figured early would be the game. Started a nice mid-river stretch of pocket water, good early season floating line water, with a traditional blue and purple spey pattern on a size 4 Alec Jackson. I started out with a 14' clear floating poly with about four feet of 1X, but after a while I decided to shorten up to a 10' floating poly but lengthen the leader out to about 7 feet tapered down to 3x. I liked the initial length I was fishing, but I was afraid that with the shorter leader, the poly would be right on top of the fly and the fish might still see it despite being clear. So I switched it up and started working again.

After I made about ten casts, I looked down and saw the head of a big, usually moderately fished run was open and with the sun cresting over the trees, it was still in the shade. My plan was always to work down through all the pocket water and riffles and fish that run, but I started thinking that people usually fish that run and I don't see people fish the choppy water I was casting to. So why not book down there, fish the run first, then come back up and fish all the water through again. Made sense to me.

So I got down in position and started fishing high on the head of the run. The run is set up on a gradual river-left turn with a riffle up top and a trough that forms against the right bank on the other side. It's not a crazy deep trough in the head, particularly in the flows we had this morning. But about four feet off the right bank puts you somewhere around mid-thigh deep. And there are a couple boulders right near the bank on the other side. It's good water. 

As I was fishing through, I was making a conscious effort to not hold the running line against the cork. I wanted any fish that took to be able to pull line from the reel if it needed it. 3x is 3x after all, and I've had many fish break off on the take alone. Lesson learned. When fishing a floating line and super light tippet on the swing, let them take it from the reel. Right as I got into that trough and the current evened out, the fish absolutely annihilated it. It was somehow thrashing on the surface while screaming line off the reel at the same time, even before I lifted the rod. People ask me why I fish the way I do. That's why. You will not find a harder hit than light line on a floating tip on a scandi or long belly. None of the energy is absorbed by a weighted tip so it all goes to the rod. 

The fish fought the way you hope an early fall fish does- long, fast runs with a few jumps thrown in for good measure, and it even briefly got around a mid-river snag as I did my best to lose it. But the hook stayed buttoned, my line held, and I was able to bring it in. Not huge, perhaps four or five pounds, but as pretty and clean as can be with perfect fins. Sometimes you can just tell. 

After that I spent the rest of the morning jumping around to spots and switching it up between a riffle hitched muddler and a foam waker, but none wanted to play all the way up top. But that didn't matter. I got my fish. I could go another year if I have to, but a sink tip won't be on my line anytime soon. 

Check out a few extra pics.

Tight Lines,

 - D

Gorgeous Sunrise 

The fly that did the damage

Bucktail Muddler

One of the coolest things I find about steelhead fishing is the absolute variability in flies that one can catch them on. Sure, it's fun to have old standbys. Finding a confidence pattern is like finding a twenty on the sidewalk- money in the bank. Those are the patterns to tie on your line when you need to feel like you're still a somewhat capable steelheader. Whether that's fishing in slightly off conditions, trying to break a dry spell (we all have those), or simply fishing a new stretch of water where you're looking for feedback as quickly as possible- confidence patterns have a crucial place in a fly box. 

But as fun as it is to catch a steelhead in general, I think if it's possible, it might be even more fun catching one on a new pattern or profile scheme or color. Part of the reason behind that is until a fly pattern is proven, you just don't know if it will catch a fish. I've tied lots of flies I thought looked great. But it's not me those flies have to catch, and sometimes the fish don't share my opinions. Maybe that's due more to confidence- again until a fly is proven you don't know how a fish will react, and the longer you fish it without a fish the more you can second guess whether it's a good pattern or not. It is often right about then that I find myself switching out to a proven pattern and relegating the previous to my infamous drawer of misfit flies.This coming fall, however, I've set out to add as much variety to my steelhead game as possible. So of the flies I've been tying, while many are old standbys, perhaps even more are new patterns. 

To accomplish variety, in the leadup to fall steelhead, I've put quite a lot of emphasis on tying different patterns with different materials. And one material I've recently rediscovered is bucktail. While I've always had a few hanging around in my fly tying supplies, I haven't really used them for tying steelhead flies. That changed recently. I've gone on a bit of a bucktail kick, tying everything from templedog style patterns to muddlers and I have to say, I'm really impressed with the results. But more importantly, though I've only got out once so far, I had a nice fish eat a natural bucktail bugger. Now I can't wait to go through my bucktail lineup. 

Tight Lines,

 - D 

 

My dad working the head of a familiar run

Well made it out for the first time this year, if only for a few hours in the morning with my dad. With drought conditions towards the second half of September, while I thought there'd be a fish or two somewhere, wasn't sure how many fish would be in. And overnight before getting out we got much needed rain, but it dirtied up the river quite a bit, while not adding excessive volume to the flows. But my dad doesn't get as much time to fish as either of us would like, so you have to make the best of it.

Went to an old standard for me, and we worked it over. With visibility somewhere around 14", it wasn't prime, but it is a spot that holds fish. My dad worked it through with a light tip and bigger fly and didn't get so much as a bump in the money spot. Then a good fish rolled a couple times. I fished through with a long belly, floating poly, and a smaller wet in blue and black but didn't get bumped either. Then I put on a natural colored bucktail minnow. The fish rolled a couple more times in the bucket. I swung out there and got a grab. I didn't set on it because I didn't feel weight on the line, but then he was still on there and trashing the surface with rolls so that when I finally did set it was too late.

Trouble with fishing light lines in slow water is sometimes without good water current pushing your line, a fish can grab and still be on the line but all you feel is the sharp pluck, especially from a good distance away. My casts were out there, so there was a lot of line between me and that fish. I can sit here and armchair quarterback what I did wrong. But getting a nice grab on the floating line is fun, and having a fish take in off conditions that way is even better. Seems like every year I feel more confident fishing that way. To be sure, the fly was lightly weighted, but it would still have been in the top half and not scaping bottom. Then a bit later I got the consolation prize of a smallmouth. And right after that my dad hooked and lost a fish at the head of the run.

We checked out a couple other places. Cast a bit, but we only had a few hours and had to call it before noon. But still, was a great time. Glad to see some fish have made it well upriver even before the rains came. Should only pick up from here.

Tight Lines,

 - D

My natural bucktail minnow

After the take

Decent smallmouth from 90 feet away

Matt with a solid smallie

As I sit and write this, the morning temperature was 44 degrees. You can just feel it in the air, that regardless what season the calendar says it is, fall is here. The heavy dew on the grass, the crisp morning air that stings your hands a bit. It's just all good stuff. With the change in the seasons, our thoughts are changing too, from stream trout and smallmouth to our favorite target- steelhead.

We spent the last few days playing around with PA smallies and trout. They're still there and still eating. But the trip we just took will probably be the last of the season for them. All around the river temperatures are starting to dip, though most remain low and clear. We could use a few days of steady rain, the soaking kind not the runoff kind, to get things moving. We had a wet start to the summer, but since about mid-July we've been pretty dry, and the rain we did get came in big, pounding spurts. In some cases, inches of rain fell over the course of an hour or two. Glad we get the rain, but when it comes like that it just washes off. We need slow and steady rain for two days. 

On the PA trip we had fun. We hooked smallmouth swinging trout speys, stripping streamers, and popping bugs. They really are a fun little fish and it's pretty clear why many anglers are showing them love now. We didn't find any huge ones, but we saw a few fish up to around 17" or so. Also found a partial hellbender skeleton which was super cool. Havent seen an alive one, but finding the skeleton was awesome. As for the trout, they're still acting trouty even in low water. Again nothing huge, but the biggest went to about 21"- a solid wild brown anywhere. 

As for steelhead, getting a few reports of early runners. I havent been out to check it out just yet but like most seasons this time of year I expect there to be a couple poking around the lower reaches of creeks. Looking ahead, we have a scattering of days forecasted to get into the low-mid seventies over the next two weeks. That kind of sunny day can get the creeks and rivers up into the mid to upper sixties. If you go out, fish early and keep a thermometer with you. I say it every year, cut your fishing short if you see 65 degrees. These fish are too cool to be caught only once.

As for a fall forecast, over the last few years we've been seeing a trend of fewer fall steelhead. Not that the fishing has been bad, just that the numbers we've seen were on the lower end of the average spectrum. I think that's probably what we have in store again consisent fishing throughout the season with drawn out runs. So far this fall things are running low. September has been very dry for most the area. We just got a small shot of rain, and we have rain in the forecast so hopefully things will be picking up. Hopefully we see that first good push happening any day now.

Its about time to get out there and take a look.    

Tight Lines,

 - D

Hellbender skeleton I found recently

Matt wrangling his smallmouth