First Meeting for the Season
The Canandaigua Lake Chapter TU
meeting season will start on Monday night, September 15th at 730pm. Same
spot as last year: The Wegmans Cafe in Canandaigua, Routes 5 and 20 going
towards Geneva. Our guest speaker will be Ron Bierstine from Orleans
Outdoor who will offer tips and suggestions for fishing Oak Orchard Creek
and other nearby tribs. The topic should be perfect timing for
your nearby fall fishing adventures.
Please feel free to bring a friend (always welcome).
50-50 raffle with new prizes.
So . . . Remember to bring dollars or flies!
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Canandaigua Chamber of
Commerce Trout Derby
--
David Morrow would again like to say "thank
you" to all of the Chapter member that helped with the June 9 and 10 Canandaigua
Chamber of Commerce Trout Derby. Located on the main docks of the
Canandaigua Inn on the Lake, the tournament, and our involvement, were a great
success.
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REMINDER
NYS renewable fishing
licenses expire on September 30.
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Steelhead Alley
I cast the Black and
Chartreuse Marabou Spey across the pool, mended once, and let the fly swing
across the tailout. I let it hang at the bottom of the swing for several seconds
and was about to pick it up for another cast when my arm was jolted by a strike.
A chrome-bright steelhead shot into the air and jumped wildly across the pool in
its attempts to throw the fly.
I cast the Black and Chartreuse Marabou Spey across the pool, mended once,
and let the fly swing across the tailout. I let it hang at the bottom of the
swing for several seconds and was about to pick it up for another cast when my
arm was jolted by a strike. A chrome-bright steelhead shot into the air and
jumped wildly across the pool in its attempts to throw the fly.
I soon had the 8-pound hen at my feet, reached down and quickly released the
barbless fly and let the fish swim back into the pool. It was an experience I
could not have had years ago, when I first began fishing the Lake Erie
tributaries, but I have been around long enough to see the development of an
entire fishery.
Fishing on New York's Cattaraugus Creek in the early '70s was mainly for
Chinook salmon, returns from a newly created program, and an occasional silver
torpedo that some anglers called a 'steelhead.' They were naturally reproduced
fish, lake-run steelhead with direct lineage to those stocked at the beginning
of the century, and because the run consisted of only a handful of fish, hooking
one was an event. Today during our fall runs an experienced steelheader can
expect to land from six to eight fish on a good day. Throughout the 1980s, the Cattaraugus benefited from steelhead stocking
programs, but three steelhead hookups per day was considered good fishing for a
fly rodder. A lot has changed since then: An aggressive stocking program adopted
by Pennsylvania in the late '80s, combined with the consistent steelhead
planting practices of New York and Ohio, has dramatically increased the number
of steelhead returning annually to Lake Erie tributaries. The result has been a
steelhead bonanza and an area that fishermen call 'Steelhead Alley.'
There are more than 40 rivers, streams, and small creeks that feed Lake Erie
along the shorelines of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Virtually all them
receive some returns of steelhead, either from direct stocking or from strays
from other rivers, and I have fished or investigated nearly half of them. This
experience leads me to believe that Steelhead Alley provides the best
fly-fishing opportunity in the world today for a high number of steelhead
hookups in a day of fishing.
Aggressive hatchery programs have come under attack in other parts of the
country, especially where inferior hatchery fish have replaced native stocks.
But in Lake Erie and its tributaries, a fishery has been created on many spate
rivers that had neither the capability for natural reproduction because of their
bedrock makeup, nor any other native game fish inhabitants.
Pennsylvania floods its small shoreline portion of Lake Erie with nearly one
million smolts annually and has come under attack from some fisheries managers
for such a disproportionate number in relation to its handful of streams.
Admittedly, such stockings can create an unrealistic environment for steelhead
fishing, but stocking large numbers hedges against high mortality in hatchery
fish. And hatchery fish tend to stray from the river in which they were stocked,
causing increased returns in neighboring New York and Ohio tributaries. The
result has been unmatched opportunities for many anglers to fly fish
successfully for steelhead.
Nearly a quarter of the rivers and streams of Steelhead Alley experience some
natural reproduction. And in some cases the wild adult steelhead contribute
significantly to the run. At least a half-dozen small tributaries of the
Cattaraugus are producing significant wild steelhead smolts. A recent study on
the Cattaraugus shows that as many as one-quarter of the adult fish returning in
the fall of 1997 through the spring of 1998 were wild.
The western New York Chapter of Trout Unlimited, working in cooperation with
the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), in 1999 began
its fifth year of the Cattaraugus Wild Steelhead Project, designed to study and
analyze the wild steelhead potential of the watershed and to develop wild
steelhead management practices, if they are feasible.
~~ Rick Kustich
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Sucker Spawn
Tying Instructions:
- Start the thread at the middle of the hook. If tail is desired, tie in 3-5
strands of Flashabou or Krystal Flash. Cut-off so the tail extends past the
bend about as far as the shank length.
- Cut a piece of yarn for body about 8 inches in length. Separate the
strands. Tie-in the end of one strand of yarn at the bend of the hook. Wrap
the thread to the eye. Wind the one piece of yard around the hook to the eye,
tie off at the eye and cut the end.
- At the eye, tie in two to four stands of your wing yarn. Cut off the loose
ends. The number of strands of yarn you use depends on the size of the hook
and the thickness of the yarn. On a size 14 or smaller with heavy thread, two
or three strands should work. Hold all the strands along the top of the hook
and wind the thread to the bend, tying the strands to the top of the hook.
- Make a loop with all the pieces of yarn about 1/8 inch above the shank and
tie them back to the hook with two wraps slightly ahead on the shank. Make
another loop the same size and again tie back to the hook. Alternate this
process by laying the yarn first to the far side of the hook, tying the loops
on the right and left sides of the hook shank at 90 degree angles. Keep moving
forward toward the eye of the hook making loops and tying them to the hook.
When you reach the eye with a loop, tie-off and cut the ends of the yarn.
- Whip finish and lacquer the head.
This pattern is tied in a variety of colors, with cream being the most
popular. Try to keep them on the pastel side, pinks, very pale blues, yellows,
and greens all work well. There are many varieties. Many do not use any tail.
Some use fluorescent thread. A bead head can be added. This is a "heavier"
version of this pattern. Some tie it much more sparsely by skipping the single
strand wrapped around the hook from the bend to the eye, and some skip the step
of tying all the strands along the top of the hook to the bend before starting
the loops. The sparsest version is made by just tying in the strands of the yarn
at the bend and making the loops to the eye. 
Hook: Size 4-18 Salmon Hook, Eye Down
Tail: Flashabou or Substitute (Optional)
Body: Yarn of Desired Color (Optional)
Wing: Looped Yarn of Desired Color (Preferably Angora Yarn or UniYarn)
Head: Matching Wing Color (White if No Matching Color is Available)
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Prez Sez . . .
A very
special thanks to Steve Coleman for all the work on the Chapter's Annual Picnic
held at the Powderhorn Lodge in Powder Mills Park. Steve and Merrill Lynch
provided the wine tasting for the evening and those in attendance had a great
time. Raffle prizes were a big hit as well. Thanks to Carl Coleman
who provided a "dollars-off guide trip that was won by Brian Pitre.
Last month, Norm Brust, Steve
Coleman and myself met to plan the 2008-2009 calendar. I think that you
will find that we have an enjoyable schedule put together. As I write,
there are only a few open months. If you have an idea for a meeting, now
or in the future, please voice your opinion. the easiest way is to send me
an email at jpc@travela.com.
I don't know whey this next items
gets so few calls, but we will continue to help you sell fly fishing items that
you would like to turn to cash. All you have to do is email me at
jpc@travela.com with the details and it
will go in Tight Lines without charge. It is as simple as a free
want ad listing can be!
I'm goin' fishin' . . .
~~ C
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For Sale: ???
Email jpc@travela.com with the details and
we will list your item(s) for sale.
How else can we say it?
It's a free Want Ad.
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