This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
Christmas rain brought all the trib flows up with stained water color. Forecast thru this week remaining after today is for warm temps in the 40's°F. Chance of an inch or so of area wide snow tonight on the Lake Ontario plain with 2-3 inches expected to the south. That will subsequently melt. Consider how wet it's been for months now, the high water tables, saturated fields and brim full swamp headwater supplies and you'll come to realize the "typical" slow rise and quick fall of trib levels is going to occur more like quick rise and slow fall. Canal seasonal feed and winter drainage water is done or nearly done and the trib levels remain up thanks to the natural run of the river contributions. Flows in the Oak are slightly high with 1 – 2 ft of stained visibility. A good head of turbine water lending fishy water and cover for fish to be anywhere in the water course they would want to be. As a few post holiday reports come in it sounds like guys have had some better steelhead action. By steelhead standards the flows we have now are real nice and could move some fresh fish upstream. The other area smaller tribs have slightly high flows with stained visibility of about 1 foot. Those waterways do seem to be slowly back on the retreat. Look for post spawn browns to be redistributed thru the waterways and the chance for some fresher steelhead. All the waterways are wide open to fish with no icing to worry about for now. Fishing pressure is light to moderate with what looks like a few guys here and there probably enjoying holiday time off. Chance of legitimate winter weather and temps coming on by next week.
This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
Flows in the Oak have retreated some to slightly high and slightly stained. Real nice flows by steelhead standards. First real cold night of the year Sunday night probably tightened things up for flows and runoff in the Oak and smaller area tribs as well. Looks like a good head of turbine water with overflow levels diminished. Just a handful of cars seen at each access spot. Not a whole lot of reports coming back in for the Oak but now with flows that are a little more easily drifted guys should be into a few browns or steelhead. Always the chance at some fresh steelhead migrations that should only improve as we get into the later winter. Downstream frog water areas are all open with no icing conditions yet. Other area smaller tribs are at moderate to medium and slightly stained flows. You can see the Canal drainage influence in the stained color but Canal release flows sure look more tempered in the smaller tribs then say the Oak. Hike some different water spots on the smaller tribs and you should find some brown trout action with a steelhead or two thrown in. Forecast is back to the seasonable warm temps that we have been prone to so far this whole trib season – highs near 40°F for mid week and warmer yet for end of week. There's a chance of snow showers tomorrow (Wed.) and precipitation at the end of week again. No real change yet seen in Oak upstream headwater flows but shortly Canal water will run out and I'd be looking for some kind of continued lowering flows by end of week or weekend – that is without any new significant precipitation for runoff.
This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
Flows in the Oak are medium and mostly clear. Definitely on the moderate side of medium and not on the slightly high side of medium. For now these are the lowest flows of the whole fall season and are more typical of average fall flows. If any Canal winter time drainage is passing thru it must be tempered like Canal managers said they would do. Light fishing pressure with just a few cars seen at the two access points. I'm hearing of a few hook ups each outing for most guys, and those anglers report putting in the time and working for the hook ups by covering different water with swings or dead drifts. Browns are more likely in downstream water with a few steelhead at the dam. For best chances at steelhead action later this winter and spring we might hope for some more colder and typical winter weather for the in between later Dec/early Jan timeframe. With the flows observed today anglers should be able to cover all the fishy water pretty effectively. Downstream slow water is getting pretty froggy thanks to rising Lake Ontario levels and the lowering upstream flows. The other area smaller tribs I have not laid eyes on directly and should have something like medium flows. Some reports of stained water color to the east which could be a result of Canal drainage. Everything is wide open to fish with no icing conditions. Lakeshore conditions should likewise be wide open if any hardware chuckers were so inclined to make some casts. Warm weather is forecast under windy conditions over the next couple days and cooling down for the weekend.
This week's fishing report is from Ron Bierstine, Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge:
So much for the hope of drying out some. A little more precipitation from the end of the past weekend and beginning part of this week has bumped up the trib flows slightly. Seasonably cold is forecast thru about mid week so those bumped up flows are already on the retreat though. Tough time of the year for any serious drying out since everything will wind up essentially as runoff. Forecast ahead is for snow showers today, chance of area wide snow tomorrow and then another warmup for the end of week. Less then 1 inch of snow accumulations are expected here on the WNY's Lake Ontario Plain. Fishing pressure is light all around and no significant icing conditions are hindering drifting chances. Any below freezing night could make for some skim ice or chunky flows in an exposed waterway like Sandy. Flows in the Oak are still humming along at slightly high consisting of a good head of turbine water. Anglers are toughing it out for a few bites daily on browns or steelhead. There is some downstream frog water action. It might take lots of bobber watching or a few cast and retrieve/swing presentations to hook up on a post spawn brown or staging steelhead. The other area smaller tribs have medium+ and slightly stained flows. Best chance at hookups is going to be covering different spots on the same trib and/or moving around to different tribs. A few guys report their hookups include at least one real good big fish. Keep in mind that any good or better action that might come on will be tough to know about with such light fishing pressure. The only sure way to know is to get out there and make a few drifts!
