Here at Fish Lake Run Outfitters, we consider Cattaraugus Creek our home water. It is perhaps one of the best places to swing a fly in the entire Great Lakes basin. With scenic vistas through the Zoar Valley, gravel lined pools in both the upper and lower river, and aggressive fish that are roughly 25% wild what more do you need? How about a policy that focuses on enhancing natural reproduction of steelhead in the Catt?

Enter the Scoby Dam Fish Passage Project. Since 2007, I've been following this project hoping that it would get the green light. Over the past few years, impact assessments have been concluded and cost/benefit analyses have been weighed, and recently the Army Corps of Engineers has come forward and recommended moving forward with the project, and expects the dam to be lowered to 13 feet high and a 15 foot wide fish passage channel created in the middle by 2018.The good news with the Scoby Project is that the upper river supports both miles of public fishing rights along with miles of suitable spawning habitat that already boasts robust populations of wild rainbows (some have been wild since the initial rainbow/steelhead stockings in the late 1800's) along with solid populations of wild browns. The upper river is truly a coldwater salmonid haven.

As anyone who has fished for wild steelhead before can tell you, there simply is no alternative to wild fish. They are more aggressive, move further to take a fly, and fight harder than hatchery stockers. As an added bonus due to feeding on insects on the surface of the water as young fish, wild fish are more likely to take a skated or waked fly as adults.

For more information check out the following links:

 http://news.wbfo.org/post/dam-project-will-help-fish-block-invasive-sea-lamprey#stream/0

http://springvillewhitewater.org/assets/pdf/SpringvilleDamDPR5_22_2014.pdf