Orleans County Fishing Report 3/19/24
Orleans County Tourism
March 19, 2024
Oak Orchard Creek - Freshwater Fishing Report
Good trib fishing chances right now despite a cold and snowy forecast. Nearshore Lake Ontario trolling and casting chances could be a little challenging thanks to the cold weather and some stiff winds. Over the past end of week and weekend there was 1.00+ in of rain that raised the trib flows up with some color to the water. Flows in the Oak actually went briefly high but have since retreated to something like medium flows and about 2 ft of nicely stained visibility.
Forecast ahead right thru the weekend looks like highs in the 30°s and dropping back to the 20's°F at night. Daylength seems too long now for any significant icing conditions but the trib water temps should be dropping back from what was an early warming trend. Snow showers and chance of an area wide snow end of week with no major accumulations expected.
The spate of water for the Oak seems to have rejuvenated the semi spawned and drop back fish like the feisty steelhead in the pic below. Anglers are still into good numbers of fish like at the dam and the immediate downstream water. Some fish are spawning there and also all the typical gravel spots all the way to the Archers Club have been populated with staged or spawning fish. Adjacent holes will have some fish but drifts will have to sort thru some sucker hook ups to get at them. Over-the-all there's a pretty good accounting of steelhead numbers with hopefully fresh fish continuing to trickle in.
Fishing pressure has only been moderate at times but is generally manageable. Precipitation ahead can hopefully maintain reasonable trib flows with good opportunities into April. The other area smaller tribs have moderate to medium flows and slightly stained water color. Less intel lately from those waters but like the Oak, the smaller waterways should benefit from this latest cool down and slight rise in flows with fresh fish migrations. In the near term, thanks to the colder forecast, look for flows all around to be dropping and clearing.
Target Species:
Steelhead, Brown Trout
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