Post by dpiscator on Sept 24, 2009 10:06:36 GMT -4
Since the fall is here... fish will be bulking up for winter. Bass have been packing on the pounds lately. Our summer was kinda screwed up with high water being the norm instead of low flows. Now is the opposite. All the creeks and rivers are at really low flows when we should be getting rain. The good parts of the low flows is that you can target fish pretty easy. Just pool hop to the deeper sections to find the bass milling about. They tend to hit anything large and meaty right now. I've had lots of fish on a few of my favorite patterns:
Particularly in the deep holes the Clouser Deep Minnow works like a charm:
For the trout and bass who have been looking to gulp down a big meal got fooled on my Fat Head Minnow Fly as well:
I even got a few walleye and pickerel too on a chartruese/white fat head minnow fly:
I have seen some topwater dry fly action as well, with #14-#16 Slate Drakes and #18-#22 flying ants if you must play "match the hatch". Grasshoppers are still hopping off the banksides and a few of the fish still will key into them along with a few beetle patterns. I've tried just a Jassed pattern and just a grasshopper but my Dave's Double Gurgler pattern a variant of Gartside's Gurgler, Jassed pattern, and top water frog combined seemed to work the best. If only I could find that one magic fly to work on everything....
I have had luck with deer hair poppers. Smaller ones mind you... not the huge LM hair bugs regularly thrown in the dog days of summer. I've been spinning deer hair bugs on a 2/0 hooks but trimming them into very streamlined bullet shaped bugs. The profile of them are smaller and seem to elicit a lot of smacks by hungry fish.
But the big showcase of fall fishing is the start of the Salmon and Steelhead season if your a big fan of the Salmonids. Coho's and Kings are running now up on the Salmon River. My Producer Fly has been my most successful fly in gaining a few King's/Coho in those cold Upstate NY Rivers:
Steelhead are just starting to come up the Lake Erie tribs on their first big push. All we need is a little rain to get things moving. My SR Express hairwing streamer is my first go to fly for the Steelhead:
In Central NY the Landlocked Atlantic Salmon are beginning to nose up into the mouths of the Finger Lakes tribs. Smelt and baitfish patterns seem to get the big fish excited. Big brown trout are starting to get their spawn on. They have been moving around in the creeks searching for suitable spawning grounds. I saw a few yesterday looking like big submarines in the water. They don't seem that spooky either. Here's my favorite baitfish pattern to use for Landlocked Atlantics and the big brownies that follow them in, A.K.'s Sparse Baitfish Streamer:
Flyfishing isn't my only bag o' tricks.... My spin rod also get a lot of use too! Some of my local rivers are just too big to flyfish. That's when I break out some jigs and cast 50-60 feet into the big deep pools. My Shorties have taken quite a few bass for me this year as the water got skinny. But I gotta get a bigger spin rod. My UL was nearly breaking just casting these small jigs.
This year I'm trying something new. I'm going to spin fish for steelhead instead of using my flyrod. I feel I can get deeper into the water column and closer to those fish quicker by using a jig instead of a fly. These two jigs I think will be good for those Chromers and Landlocked:
The Shimmer Shad: should give me the advantage of hooking onto some Steelies!
I know the landlocked Salmon of the Finger Lakes love white patterns as an imitation for smelt so I think my white electric jig will do well:
Fall is definately my season to fish. Cool temps, not a lot of biting bugs to annoy you, the colors of the leaves, and hungry bass and trout make fall fishing simply the best time of year... in my humble opinion!
But football will take over some of my fishing time. Especially when Penn State is being broadcasted on the tube! (BTW this Saturday 9/26 is the Big 10 opener with PSU playing Iowa at Beaver Stadium at 8pm on ABC)
GO PSU!!!
Yeah, I'm a fan... can you tell? I like the Steelers too!
Ah fall... football and fishing! Is there no better combination?
Particularly in the deep holes the Clouser Deep Minnow works like a charm:
For the trout and bass who have been looking to gulp down a big meal got fooled on my Fat Head Minnow Fly as well:
I even got a few walleye and pickerel too on a chartruese/white fat head minnow fly:
I have seen some topwater dry fly action as well, with #14-#16 Slate Drakes and #18-#22 flying ants if you must play "match the hatch". Grasshoppers are still hopping off the banksides and a few of the fish still will key into them along with a few beetle patterns. I've tried just a Jassed pattern and just a grasshopper but my Dave's Double Gurgler pattern a variant of Gartside's Gurgler, Jassed pattern, and top water frog combined seemed to work the best. If only I could find that one magic fly to work on everything....
I have had luck with deer hair poppers. Smaller ones mind you... not the huge LM hair bugs regularly thrown in the dog days of summer. I've been spinning deer hair bugs on a 2/0 hooks but trimming them into very streamlined bullet shaped bugs. The profile of them are smaller and seem to elicit a lot of smacks by hungry fish.
But the big showcase of fall fishing is the start of the Salmon and Steelhead season if your a big fan of the Salmonids. Coho's and Kings are running now up on the Salmon River. My Producer Fly has been my most successful fly in gaining a few King's/Coho in those cold Upstate NY Rivers:
Steelhead are just starting to come up the Lake Erie tribs on their first big push. All we need is a little rain to get things moving. My SR Express hairwing streamer is my first go to fly for the Steelhead:
In Central NY the Landlocked Atlantic Salmon are beginning to nose up into the mouths of the Finger Lakes tribs. Smelt and baitfish patterns seem to get the big fish excited. Big brown trout are starting to get their spawn on. They have been moving around in the creeks searching for suitable spawning grounds. I saw a few yesterday looking like big submarines in the water. They don't seem that spooky either. Here's my favorite baitfish pattern to use for Landlocked Atlantics and the big brownies that follow them in, A.K.'s Sparse Baitfish Streamer:
Flyfishing isn't my only bag o' tricks.... My spin rod also get a lot of use too! Some of my local rivers are just too big to flyfish. That's when I break out some jigs and cast 50-60 feet into the big deep pools. My Shorties have taken quite a few bass for me this year as the water got skinny. But I gotta get a bigger spin rod. My UL was nearly breaking just casting these small jigs.
This year I'm trying something new. I'm going to spin fish for steelhead instead of using my flyrod. I feel I can get deeper into the water column and closer to those fish quicker by using a jig instead of a fly. These two jigs I think will be good for those Chromers and Landlocked:
The Shimmer Shad: should give me the advantage of hooking onto some Steelies!
I know the landlocked Salmon of the Finger Lakes love white patterns as an imitation for smelt so I think my white electric jig will do well:
Fall is definately my season to fish. Cool temps, not a lot of biting bugs to annoy you, the colors of the leaves, and hungry bass and trout make fall fishing simply the best time of year... in my humble opinion!
But football will take over some of my fishing time. Especially when Penn State is being broadcasted on the tube! (BTW this Saturday 9/26 is the Big 10 opener with PSU playing Iowa at Beaver Stadium at 8pm on ABC)
GO PSU!!!
Yeah, I'm a fan... can you tell? I like the Steelers too!
Ah fall... football and fishing! Is there no better combination?