It is a New York thing!

Well New York is always going to be New York. The weather well as you can imagine is subject to change in a moments notice. You can get bluebird skies and a nor’easter all in the same day. One always needs to plan for the weather.  It does not matter if it’s the rain, wind, or sun you are concerned about it needs to be thought of. With these anadromous fish they are photo sensitive, and one needs to plan accordingly.

I choose New York because of her long history with me being a very productive fall fishery.  This fall has been very strange. Let discuss that point in detail.

In September on the 11^th through the 18^th I was in Maine.  It’s not a huge deal at this time but when I went to Acadia the leaves had barely any color to them.  They should not have been in full autumn splendor but should have been a lot more color than there was.

The Great Lakes Region would be plagued by high water temperatures. In September 2021 Ohio saw a few weeks of temperatures in the 80’s. Now this does not seem like a big deal, but now let’s talk about over all Great Lake Temperatures.

I don’t need to beat it to death to prove my point that these temperatures have added to the lack luster returns of fish in the bodies of water we fish for them in. I could go into a huge diatribe about this topic, but I will stop myself.

Back to the trip report shall we. All the rivers and creeks are coming off a high-water moment. In the past it weas my experience that this would transcend into good number of fish entering the rivers, creeks, and ditches. I also want to travel to all these rivers to see them and journal about the flows I found and the visibility they had. I will use this data later down the road for other trips. This will educate myself how the rivers would look at any given moment based upon the data that I collect over these past 5 days.

Unknown to me history would not be repeating itself and I would be in for an awakening that I have not experience before.

I would begin on the Thundering River the night I arrived in town. The river had 36 inches of gin clear conditions. She was holding color of that inky green like some glacial run off in Alaska you see in a post card.

I swung flies over and over trying to disprove thee very definition of insanity. To no avail I would call it a night and head for the shed. I heard either small Browns or Lakers breaking the surface about 15 feet to 20 feet away from me. For me it is all about the experience that life brings in any given moment. I notice when I can the difference in the splashes. Some splashes where bigger than others. The odd thing was that all the splashes happened within the same 100 yards! So I thought I would have a chance.

The first full day of fishing aka Day 1 of 5

This day was full of driving between the Thundering River and The Oak.

On the Thundering River using a 10-foot tip of T-14 for 140 grains and 12-foot tip of T-12 for 144 grains. I had not joy for either tip, but it was great to swing the flies none the less.   Her solid 6 feet of visibility had me all worked up!

The second full day of fishing aka Day 2 of 5

Fished the Oak and the Niagara again today. While I had two grabs on the swing on the Oak the Niagara is the one, I want to so badly have a grab on.  You could hear fish rolling, but I just could not get them to commit or find them! This would also be the night I fell in the Niagara! Thank goodness I was in shallow water and 15 feet from getting out of the river. I was due to fall it’s been a while!

The third full day of fishing aka Day 3 of 5

I would venture out East of the Oak and find some nice new water. This flow was good for bobbers, but the volume was not enough to swing. I could have done it with lighter shorter tips, but I had my 7wt Scott Switch rod. Had I brought my custom 11’ – 5wt switch it would have been better.

From all the news I would hear I would find myself at Oak Orchard. My thought process was after all the bad things I have heard about the runs of fish I am sure the crowds would be gone from Oak Orchard.  So, I lined my Scott switch with a 126 grain tip and headed out. I was greeted by a river that was almost VOID of people.  It was like winning the fishy lottery.  I would walk upriver right because I was willing to bet everyone was fishing the Archers Hole side. Well, that paid off because most people don’t want to deal with how tricky the footing can be with the clay on the banks.

I used my new intruder that I have dubbed the Punk-Rock Cheerleader. 

I worked through the pool from atop of the pool. It was tough because of the broad current seams and the strainers (downed trees) that are in the river. I do not recall how many swings I did, but what I do recall was the bigger than normal belly I put into the swing. This made the intruder lift higher in the water column and send a brown trout screaming after it. 

Carrying no loop, the line slapped the rod and the drag kicked off and sent the hook deeper into her flesh.  She was not coming unbuttoned with that hard of a take.  The brown trout did the good old bulldogging and washer machine tumble in the creek.

I thought to myself if this had been a steelhead they would of not hesitated to put me into the strainers.  I would have been heart broken for sure. I don’t know how exactly I navigated her around the strainers, but I think it was because of the side pressure I had on her and keeping her off balance I was able to manage.

The rest of the day went along with no grabs or bumps.

Until this point all I have eaten is pizza. It is great pie from a place called Favorites here in Lewiston, Ny. Needless to I ate at the Brickyard here in Lewiston the break the cycle.

The fourth full day of fishing aka Day 4 of 5

The rains have come over night and the Lake effect snow machine was getting warmed up.  I would be traveling to the easterly state line to see how Chautauqua looks. She was up and cranking along and I moved up stream about 5 river miles. I found her to still have a lot of sand and silt in her water column.

I did also find how ever a natural shale dam in the river. Also speaking of shale and the creek bottom is made of it. This would also mean this creek will clear fast because of it. There is a lot of elevation difference between the upper and lower creek. This is yet another variable that we as creek fishermen need to be aware of.

I thought to myself this will be fun. Then I looked at the water again and saw all the red oak leaves. I rolled my eyes and then I attempted to fish it and because of the leaves I stopped it was too much. I took a break and went into a town called Westfield in New York. The place I had breakfast in was called Westfield Main Street Diner. This place is amazing, but I warn you the bathroom facilities are in a closet. Its just a small mom and pop diner. The food is amazing, and they are good people. The portions are great, and the price point is great to average. 

After eating my brunch, I went back to the natural dam. I foul hooked two fish broke them both off and left the area. The fish were staked in there tight with no room to run except into each other or downstream. It to me was not very sporting to keep targeting these fish. I drove to see 16 Mile and 20 Mile Creek in Pennsylvania.

The winds were so nasty the tops of creeks were flowing backwards.  It was too much even for me I bolted for the safety of the hotel room. My face was so wind burned and is still feeling a little bit of it right now.

The fifth full day of fishing aka 5 of 5

Saturday well the crowds will be out in full force today.  I went to the Oak just to look, and it was a nut house. I left and went East to smaller creek that had gotten a great shot of rain from the other day. I had 6 access points to look at and all of them had a lot of ppl on them.  I found a dam that stops all the anadromous fish. I went there to fish it well try and anyhow. It would be a great place to go fish during high water, but at this moment it was low water being almost 27 miles from the lake.  

By the time I got to see the damn dam I could fall back and fish the first access point on this Eastern tributary of Lake Ontario.  I would be using bobbers and eggs for this go around. I also had planned on going back to the Oak for the last 2 hours of day light.

The water was moving better than the last time I was here a few days ago.  The water had a solid 18 inches of clarity to it.  I did not want to swing this creek because I knew with the runs of fish being so small that targeting holding and feeding lanes for these fish would be more productive.

I would never get to fish because I saw a father and son team working some of the water I wanted to fish. I watched them and they were having a good time, but where really on the struggle bus. I broke my rod down and introduced myself and asked if they would mind a few helpful tips and such? They said you would help us. I said of course I would be happy too.  After I got the leaders, all straightened out, the placement of the split shot, and the wight of the split shot figured out with them. I went over some roll casting basics. I also helped them with some reading water basics to help them understand what the creek waters hydraulics are trying to show us and teach us.

I told them about how you want the bobber to tick along the creek bottom like the lead holding the fly down. I told them have fun and take care. I disappeared around river right and heard one of them scream in delight. I am guessing one of them hooked up with a fish. It was meant to be for them and not me and I am totally fine with that.

I drove to the oak and stayed on river right again. I would finally get to fish. I was there maybe 45 minutes and then the bobber went kerplunk. It stayed motionless for a minute. I thought no dear God no not an oldy moldy Salmon! No alas it was not it was a buck brown. He put up a short fight and came to hand. The one guy said, “son you have landed the only brown I have seen today out of this hole”. I said thank you but if it was not for dumb luck, I would not have any luck at all.  The buck took a size 14 pink single egg tied on my most favorite hook a Tiemco 2488H.

I walked out of the Oak with smile on my soul because this trip has brought me so much joy on so many levels. Well, I hope you have enjoyed this write up and the photos.

 

Be well,

Sonder