| Steelhead Western NY October 28 - 31, 2007 |
| Our first trip out to W NY this season was part of an annual fall adventure that included Stu Apte and anglers from the Florida Key’s and from the northeast. Bob and Paul Wingrove, from the Keys and PA, did a great job setting up the accommodations as well as the angling venues. Dave Beshara put together the plans for the NE guys. All in all, there were 14 of us! Our base of operation was in Fredonia, NY, close by to Cattaraugus Creek and a few smaller creeks across the state line in W. PA. The anglers from the NE arrived in Fredonia in the early afternoon, Sunday 10-28 and spent the remainder of Sunday scouting out the “Catt”, from the estuary, on up 20+ miles to the dam.
Later in the day we hooked up with Paul W. and made plans for fishing on Monday. The PA/Keys guys decided to head west into PA and fish a small creek that they had experience fishing during previous seasons. Dave and NE gang split up and fished several different areas of the “Catt”. We fished hard all day and between us landed a mere ˝ dozen steelhead. The PA/Keys guys on the other hand had a spectacular day hooking and releasing about hundred steelhead! At dinner on Monday evening it was decided that the entire group would head off to the creek in PA for what would be an unbelievable day of steelhead angling. Due to the low water in the creek, most of the steelhead were holed-up in deeper pools. Our large group split up into several small groups and spread out to several large pools. It is not often that a steelhead angler is presented with an opportunity to sight cast to this many beautiful fish milling around a pool of 50 feet by 30 feet. The water was at best 3 feet deep so floating lines with slightly weighted flies were the ticket to success. The small creek did not disappoint! All of us enjoyed a spectacular day fishing steelhead. Dinner that evening was rich in conversation about what a great day we all had on that small PA creek. But enough was enough, we decided to leave the steelhead be and made plans to drive east and fish the Oak Orchard in Waterport NY. We headed out from Fredonia at 6 am and drove the hour and a half out to the Oak. We made our way down the access path to the creek bank and spread out from there. As was the case with the other creeks the water level was low. I headed upstream with Stu, Fred and Dave B. to the Archer Flats pool. I tied on a small blue cluster fly on Stu’s tippet, pointed to the undercut bank and Stu placed the fly perfectly. The line went tight almost immediately and Stu hooked up a feisty female King salmon. He got the 18 pound salmon to the net for a photo before releasing her back to the stream. Stu and the others all enjoyed the day at the Oak with several more salmon, a few browns and a huge 15+ pound steelhead landed by Bobby B. But for Dave B. and the rest of the NE gang, the trip was over and we all headed home from the Oak. The Keys gang headed back to Fredonia and spent the remainder of the week fishing the Catt.
|
| Skip |
| Click the image below to view a photo slideshow |
 |
| Click the image below to view a video clip |
|
| Thanks to all for contributing the photos in the slideshow; contributed by Paul W., Dave F., Fred A., Dave B. and Skip |
