Fishing the “716”
Lake Ontario - Here in the “716”, we are almost entirely surrounded by water. To the north, we have Lake Ontario. A part of the “great lake system”, It bolsters healthy fish populations for us to target. Getting into the fall, the King Salmon begins their annual migration into the tributaries. These fish can grow to 30 plus inches and provide one of the best fights of any great lake species. Targeting them with swung flies or egg/ nymph patterns, they provide us with the earlier “lake run” fun of the season. Following closely behind are Lake Ontario’s mighty Brown Trout. They can be extremely aggressive and grow much larger than their resident river cousins. Swung flies, streamers and nymphing can all produce to land you your largest brown trout ever! Lake Trout begin to push their way into the lower Niagara River around November. These native giants can grow to 30 plus inches and 20 pounds, making them a favorite species to target once they come off the spawn in December and January. The only native salminoid species we target, they provide a fun experience to catch when wade fishing the “Mighty Niagara”.
Lake Erie - The smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes, it provides us anglers with phenominal steelhead and smallmouth tributary fishing. Once the feeder streams of Lake Erie start getting around 65 degrees, steelhead begin to make their way up them. Normally starting around October, we have the opportunity to fish a plethora of tributaries, as each holds different stream conditions, fish numbers and run sizes. Lake Erie fish tend to run smaller in size compared to their Ontario and Ohio strain cousins, but what they lack in size they make up in spunk! A fresh Erie steelhead is one of the most exciting species to catch on a fly rod due to their energy level and acrobatics. As the winter comes along and turns to spring, fresh fish will make their way in and out and provide us with months of fun. Come spring, around May, we start to see Small Mouth Bass make their way into the trib’s to spawn. This means we have two of Lake Erie’s finest species in the tributaries for us to target! The bass are an average of 3-4 pounds and make the month of May one of our favorites!
The Cattaraugus - Starting in the interior of Western New York, The “Catt” run over 80 miles and covers a 400 sq mile drainage area. This makes the Cattaraugus the largest tributary of Lake Erie! From its headwaters to the Scoby Hill dam in Springville, its a trout fisherman’s paradise. Coming from its source, Java Lake, the Catt winds its way through beaver infested willows and dams to East Arcade, where it grows in size from many spring influenced tributaries. Clear creek joins to almost double its size, creating the main section of water most anglers spend time on. This 10 mile stretch offers a variety of water styles. Quick, boulder laden pocket water opens up to nice undercut banks, pools and log jams. You can find Brown and Rainbow trout in this section, with browns growing up to 20 inches and the rainbows topping out around 16 inches. The fishing on this stretch is pretty consistent. It holds a mix of wild and stocked fish and in the spring can produce some spectacular hatches that get the fish looking up. Its a Euro Nymphing paradise with lots of quick chutes, boulders and pocket water. From the town of Sardinia to Springville, where Scoby hill dam is, it becomes a marginal trout fishery with temperatures hovering around 75 degrees in mid summer. Here you can find the occasional SmallMouth bass and large trout taking refuge on the many spring influences. Below Scoby hill dam starts one of the best and most scenic steelhead fisheries on the East Coast. Known for its higher % of wild, naturally reproducing steelhead numbers, the Catt is an amazing fishery when we can get on it. With it being a large tributary, it gets a-lot of negative runoff. Years of bad land management and clear cutting has led to major erosion issues, which creates large swaths of clay outcrops throughout the system. During heavy rains or melts, the clay substrates left behind from the glaciers, finds it way directly to the waterways which clouds the waters for extended periods of time. Getting on the Cattaraugus for lake run fishing is not only a blessing, but can be extremely rewarding as the pressure is not near the amount on the smaller lake tribs.
The Allegheny River - Running From its source in Northern Pennsylvania, it winds its way into New York before running into Kinzua reservoir, and back into Pennsylvania where it continues its journey to the Ohio River, Mississippi, and to the Gulf of Mexico. This river system is directly in our backyard and provides us a bounty of waters to explore. From the upper most tributaries of the “Gheny” holding native Brook trout and feisty Brown trout, to the Main river flowing through Portville, Olean and Salamanca NY. We can always find somewhere the fish are biting. The Allegheny hosts a diversity of water. Long riffle sets to even longer, deep, slow moving pools. We can find feeding small mouth bass in the quicker currents behind boulders as well as holed up in down timber or logs. Pike enjoy spending their time in the slower moving waters where they have some structure to forage around. These two species make up the majority of an anglers catches during a trip as they feisty and prevalent throughout the system. Pike range from 15 inches to 40 inches and occasionally we find a larger one. Their larger cousins, the Muskellunge or “Musky”, are the dominant predators in this system though. Native to the Allegheny, their demise started once the completion of the Kinzua Reservoir finished. The Army Corps of Engineers decided to plant Northern Pike in the reservoir, which quickly spread to them taking over the main river with the surplus of food available. Pike out compete muskies in the early stages of their lives, hatching earlier which allows them food sources first and a growing advantage before muskies hatch. Walleyes are found throughout the system as well, creating an awesome by-catch species when fishing the long, deep pools. In the spring months as the waters warm, we can target walleyes throughout the bigger tributaries which can be exciting for someone who has never targeted them on the fly! One of the last but not least species we target in the Allegheny are Carp. Wow can these fish put up a fight! Mudding the shallower flats, carp like to eat mainly nymphs and crustaceans. They can grow to 20 pounds and be pickier than a wild trout. Often, we can sight fish carp like bonefish on a sandy flat in the Bahamas. Stealth is key when approaching, as well as a proper cast, but when they move over to the fly and vacuum it up, its sure to be a memory that lasts a lifetime!