A Trip to the Great Lakes with the Mailman

Steve and I made a trip to Western New York in search of some large lake run brown trout. With the fishing reports all reading on the positive side, the fishing pressure was very high. However fishing the great lakes is often times very busy but if you walk a little further or get up a half hour earlier, you
can always find water. With large trout swimming all around you, sometimes you just forget about the people fishing next to you.

Most of the time when people think about Great Lakes fishing its all about bright and flashy flies. Sometimes you need to think more on the natural side, or the trout side if you will. Large oversized trout flies with very little flash often times make the difference between a good day and an amazing day. Stonefly patterns always take up a whole side of my fly box, and are a go to pattern anywhere I travel for steelhead. The other side is full of oversized trout flies such as franchies, caddis larva, and hares ears. You always have to have some bright stuff, but brown, black, and olive are always the first choice in color for me.

Steve and I had a killer time, check out the photos.

Schuylkill River mixed with Salmon River

Five days, two states, and I'm still tired. The week started off with a couple awesome bass trips, and ended with two days in New York on the Salmon River. It is fall, and the smallmouth are putting their feed bags on, with the water low and clear, this is the perfect time to sight fish to monster bass. The only problem with watching a big fish eat your fly, is when you jump the gun and pull the fly right back out of its mouth. This happens all the time, but nothing gets me more jacked up then, watching a 16 inch plus smallmouth suck down your fly sitting on the bottom. So when you connect and that fish goes ballistic, you may find me dancing in the middle of the boat.  

So, its the end of September, and the Salmon River should be filled with fresh King Salmon, and the added bonus, steelhead. After two days of pounding the water, and teaching four new fly anglers the art of casting a switch rod. All we had to show for it was two baby steelhead, a broken leader (from a salmon), and a bunch of empty beer cans. The one good thing about all that, it equals four smiling clients that just had the time of their life floating down the river, fishing for salmon and steelhead.