Late last week I was torn between spending my Saturday on a Pennsylvania trout stream, or sitting in a treestand hoping a whitetail buck would walk by. I ended up opting for the treestand. I had spent a lot of time chasing fish in October and November and it took away from time I might have spent in the woods. I was fortunate to have some incredible encounters with a couple of bucks during the rut in early November, but the right shot never materialized.
Read moreNewfane Blues And Spring Creek Wild Browns
I thought I had western New York fly fishing out of my system for the year, but I didn’t. After catching a 20+” lake-run brown trout on 18 Mile Creek last weekend, all I wanted to do was go back and catch another. I ignored the lack of posts on the Burt Dam Facebook page and all the other indicators I use to know when it’s a good time to head north. I left early Saturday morning and arrived at the Burt Dam Fishermen’s Park at 6:30am. There weren’t many cars in the lot, maybe a dozen at best. I got dressed with my cold weather gear as the morning temperatures were in the high 30s. I headed down the hill to the water and as I got closer to the creek I could see that the water was lower than the weekend before. There were a couple of guys at the trestle bridge and one or two on the run above it.
Read moreHitting Goals On 18 Mile Creek
Trying to get an accurate fishing report out of western New York for specific Lake Ontario tributaries can be difficult. New York’s Department of Environmental (“NY DEC”) Conservation offers a western New York fishing hotline and that is probably the most consistent place I’ve found to get up-to-date information. Otherwise, when wanting to fish water like 18 Mile Creek near Newfane, I’ve learned to guage fishing by following the Burt Dam Facebook page. The more frequent the posts of fish pics, the better the fishing. This past week the NY DEC report was saying that the salmon had all turned to post-spawn zombies and the steelhead and brown trout were in the Lake Ontrario tributaries in good numbers. I made up my mind on Thursday night that I was going to take one last shot at hitting my goal of landing a trophy lake-run brown trout before giving in to the coming winter.
Read moreFirst Time On The Oak Orchard River
When I get it in my head that I want to accomplish something, good luck trying to stop me. I’ve wanted to catch a western New York giant lake-run brown trout on a fly rod for a couple of months now. From all the reading I’ve been doing online, November has looked like the best month to make it happen. And the location that has looked the most promising is one of the Lake Ontario tributaries in Orleans County, New York. I’m talking Sandy Creek, Johnson Creek, Marsh Creek, and the famous Oak Orchard River. I’d never been to the “Oak” before and so on Friday I got up early and made the trek to Albion, New York. Instead of going straight to the river, I decided to stop at a local tackle shop to talk and try and get any intel I could on what was happening and what I could do to increase my chances of landing a giant brown. I arrived at Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge (Orleans Outdoors) around 6:30am.
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