Salmon River New York
Capt. Troy Creasy
March 17, 2008
Salmon River - Freshwater Fishing Report
I am back on the river most days now as many of our guests have cabin fever and the steelhead bug has settled in.
March is always hit or miss and the last few days have been mostly a miss.
Steelhead are scattered from top to bottom. Cover a lot of water and try downisizing your egg sacs. It seems they like the smaller ones better. Don't be afraid to fish wax worms or meal worms under a float.
We hit a few each day but after being spoiled for the last 4 months, this is tough to take.
We are hitting a mix of fresh and spawned out fish. I really don't see a lot of fish. The long period of high water has sent them packing to the hatchery and upper fly zone. You can literally walk on the fish up there. But when they drop, oh my, we will be smiling once again.
The Oswego river is rising and although it has plenty of fish it was slow this past week. White jigs and pink eggs are working best up river and jigs with minnows are taking browns in the harbor.
I also had a report of a few browns being caught at the mouth of the Salmon river and Grindstone creek. Look for things to improve there as the water warms and the run-off increases.
I am still getting good reports from Sandy Pond and Oneida Lake. There is plenty of ice and perch fishing has been real good.
Western New York fishing report by Jay Peck – www.jaypeckguides.com
The Oak Orchard River continues to fish well. We have been finding steelhead spread out from the dam all the way downstream as far as you can fish. Water flows still remained on the high side however the water clarity is good. Right now the watershed for the Oak Orchard River has about 12 to 14 inches of waterlogged snow. Judging by the weather forecast for this coming week, water flows for the Oak Orchard River could change dramatically. The water temperatures continue to be stable at 32° I do not expect this to change for some time. The cold water is making the fishing technically difficult more of an interesting challenge then anything else. We have been concentrating our fishing efforts in the pools and use long leaders and strike indicators. Productive flies are Mark's carpet fly, glow bugs in colors of peach, apricot, cream delight all in size 8 to 12.
The areas smaller rivers and creeks are presently at ideal shape for fishing. The same goes for how long I suspect these conditions will hold up. For now a few of these creeks are producing a mixed bag of Brown trout and steelhead. I suspect we have two maybe three weeks before all of the remaining Browns will be back into the Lake. We have been using the same set up with strike indicators, leaders and flies, as we do in the Oak. The big difference is when we are fishing for the Browns, we are swinging white bunny streamers size 6. The month of March can be a challenging month on the west end of the Lake. We can experience fishing conditions from, winter conditions to flood conditions and then spring fishing conditions all in the same week. Get out, fish hard and make the best of it, you will be pleasantly surprised.
OPEN DATES
March 24, 25, 29, 30, 31
April 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 13.
May 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 29, 31 for browns or walleye.
If you a have question or comment, feel free to e-mail me anytime. Send your mail to Troy @ lakeontariooutdoors.com or log on to our website at www.Lakeontariooutdoors.com to see our live salmon river web cam, our daily fishing reports, local events, lake charters and river guides, as well as numerous links to great sites and area businesses.
Remember to be stay safe and put a few back for another day.
This is Captain Troy Creasy, Good Day.
Target Species:
steelhead
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