The Earliest Hendrickson’s by JWTrout

The evening sight was beyond belief. There were thousands of them in the air, in their modulating up and down movement.  It looked like a huge cloud that had some kind of like form of its own.  I had never seen such a large cloud of Hendrickson spinners in their mating cycle.  All these May Flies will soon complete their mating cycle and fall to the river and die.  There by becoming food for the many hungry trout.  Becoming so entranced in the mayfly activity, you could loose sight of the reason of why you were there on a trout stream. Yes you were there to catch trout and the sight of the up coming spinner fall meant that the fishing would be impressive in a matter of minutes.  So you needed to stop watching, tie on a #12 rusty spinner and get in your favorite spot to fish.

The Oatka Creek just south of Rochester, NY by Scottsville has one of the earliest Hendrickson hatches in the Central New York region.  The Hendrickson May Fly (Ephemerella Subvaria) is one that normally hatches in late April thru early May each year.  The hatch period is all subject to water temperatures.  Oatka Creek has the unique situation of having the Spring Creek as a tributary.  The water temperature from any spring creek does not fluctuate in temperature like free stone streams.  So in the winter the water temperature does not get real cold and in the summer the water does not get real warm.  The Spring Creek that flows through the Caledonia Hatchery will have a higher temperature than the Oatka Creek water during that winter to spring time period.

The Spring Creek water introduced into the Oatka Creek results in a slightly warmer water temperature as the waters blend together going down stream.  What fly fishers have noticed is that the ideal hatching temperature for the Hendrickson’s will get established about the 2^nd week of April.  I will always be on the Oatka Creek about the 2^nd week of April to witness and fish the earliest Hendrickson hatch of the new season. 

If at all possible, fish the Creek during the week days, weekends can get crowded.  Even on week days, you need to get there early and pick your spot.  You will see the late arrivals walking the bank looking for a spot to get in to fish.  Also keep in mind that there is a good trout population and once the trout get on the Hendrickson May Fly or Spinners there can be very good fly fishing activity any where on the creek.

The Oatka Creek not only has a very good Hendrickson hatch but there are good hatches of BWO, Caddis, Sulphur, and Trico also.  There is about 1.5 miles of “Catch-N-Release/Artificial Lures ONLY” fishing from Wheatland Center Rd. downstream to Union Street.  I and Jim Dygert can be found in this area when the Hendrickson’s are hatching.  We normally run into Rick Kustich and other friends during this time period also. 

You will need to watch the water levels.  Go to <Graph water level> to check out water conditions.  Of all the USGS sites for water flows, this is the only one that I go by gauge height.  On the gauge height chart, if the water level is 3.4’ or lower you can expect good water conditions.  Ideally if the level is in the 3’ +/- 2’ range, the water conditions are good.  I have fished the water level down to 2.2’ and found that the larger fish are hard to locate and most likely have moved to deeper pools for cover.

Above and below of the Catch-N-Release area there is some public access but in most cases you will encounter private property.  My best advice is to respect all private/posted property.  Also, you may encounter bait fisherman in the Catch-N-Release area, respectfully mention to them that the area is for artificial lures ONLY.

I normally go to the Catskills to guide from late April through June.  I have guided on the Oatka Creek in early June and experienced afternoon hatches of Sulfurs that put many fish on the feed and resulted in a pleasant day of fly fishing.

Try it out and good luck fly fishing.

To become more acquainted with the area, go to <http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/oatkaspringcks.pdf>.

See you on the river.

JWTrout

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An Affair with Mother Nature by JWTrout

Fly fishing was somewhat slow.  A light morning caddis hatch brought some trout up to the surface.  The targets that the hatch produced kept us casting and brought some decent trout to the net.  It was June and the flora was lush along Oatka Creek.  The weather was pleasant with a cool morning that was now starting to heat up a little.  Being on a trout stream and casting a bamboo rod to rising trout was a pleasant escape from the life’s normal demands. It was a perfect morning.

Rising trout were getting scarce. The urge to move down stream was compelling.  I let Gary know that I was going down to the old stone bridge pilings.  Gary was moving up stream and we knew that we would just meet up later.

The walk on the fishermen’s path was short and it was good to see that no one was fishing the bridge abutment area. I approached the pool from above and quietly waded into the water.  The stream flow was from right to left. The main pool was just right of the center stone bridge abutment 30’ feet below me.  The far abutment was hidden in the lush tree and brush line on the far bank on the County Park property.  Casting to the current seams, above the main pool, produced some small trout. The hatching caddies were still active here.  As I fished the water above the main pool I kept wading out to get in position to see and cast to the current gently flowing into the main pool.  When I stopped casting to observe the pool, I heard a crisp female voice say that the trout were down here.  Being quite deaf in my left ear, there was no indication where the voice came from.  Looking up stream, down stream, in back of me and along the path that was seeable did not revile the sight of any one being around.  My first thought was that I really did not think god was a female but the eerie situation of the voice from nowhere did confused me.

Observing a rise from a good sized trout along the foam line on the far side put me back into the fishing mode.  After a few casts and no results, I was back into observing the water for a rising trout.  The voice came back, “all the fish are down here”.  I stopped fishing and starting looking up and down the stream, still no one around.  God was diffently starting to puzzle me.  My only recourse was to answer the voice.  “Where are you?”  And the voice came back, “I am up here on top of the bridge abutment”.  “What are you doing?” I am up here reading and I can see the trout in the pool below me.  So it came to be that I kept talking to the unseen person in the foliage across the stream and down stream from me.

I mentally identified with the person as being Mother Nature.  “What are the trout doing was my first question”?  “They are in the pool facing up stream” was the reply.  And so the conversation went on.  I stood there and explained fly-fishing to Mother Nature.  How the hatches occur, the trout feeding habits and the fly-fishing approach.  Yes, there I was chatting to the trees and responding to questions from that female voice in the woods. Any one walking the fisherman’s path would have been completely baffled by the situation. 

As time went on our conversation waned and I eventually moved down stream below the center bridge abutment. Gary came wondering in and started fishing between the bridge abutment and me.  We compared notes as to trout caught and trout activity. With out knowing it, Gary was positioned directly across from Mother Nature. 

At that point I asked Gary if Mother Nature was still there. Gary stopped fishing and looked at me, what are you talking about?  The puzzled look on his face was a sight to see.  Than it happened, the voice from the woods said, “Yes, I am still here”.  As Gary jolted in to an alert condition, he asked, “Who is that?”  “That was Mother Nature”, Gary. He than continued the conversation to this unseen person in the wood. 

When we were back at the car, he wanted to know who that was.  As we both did not see the person, we both agreed with a laugh that it must have been Mother Nature.

JWTrout/6/10.

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Fishing with Mr. Goodbar by JWTrout

We arrived early as usual.  The Union St. parking access was empty.  Jim and I were slowly getting our gear together, trying to make sure we did not forget anything.  A walk back to the car would mean that you lost your spot on the river.  So there we were; fly boxes, floatent, leaders/tippets, food, water, etc, etc, ----- . 

We were loaded up with all our gear and had our fly rods strung and a freshly tied Hendrichson dry fly tied on the end of our tippets.  Yes it was time for the early Hendrickson hatch on Oatka Creek.  It was the second week of April and we figured the hatch had started a few days sooner.

As in past years, it is best to get into position on the creek early and hold your spot through the day.  We headed to the run that was about 100 yards below the walk over bridge.  Jim and I have run this same schedule every April for the past few years.  As luck would have it again this year, no one was in our spot.  The Hendrickson hatch normally starts about 1:00 PM and we were about 3 hours early.

The fishing started off quickly with a moaning spinner fall and rising trout.  The fish in this section of the creek are good sized and will usually provide an opportunity for a few big trout in the 17” to 20” range.  The morning went well and a few of our friends showed up early enough to get a spot lower down on the run. 

The Hendrickson hatch started off slowly at about Noon.  Other fly fisher’s were walking the fisherman’s path looking for a place to get in.  A guy about in his mid to late 30s came by and chatted for a while.  He than moved up stream about 200 feet to the fast water riffle and started nymphing.  The stream flow was from right to left as we fished from the north side of the stream. 

We had enough rising trout targets to keep us casting.  There were not many trout in easy locations; most were under the tree and bush branches on the far bank.  I kept watching the water current seams for rises and noticed that the guy above us was into a trout of good size. He was fishing a deep slot in the middle of the fast water and sure enough he was into a good trout.  As time went on, he started to catch and release trout frequently.  I started counting the number of trout brought to the net.  At 8 trout, I yelled up to him “you’re having a good day”, he agreed and continued fishing.

When he released his 12th trout, I had enough.  I put my fly in the hookkeeper and reeled in my line.  I needed to know what fly he was fishing with.  Moving to his location I asked, “What the hell are you fishing with”.  He responed with,  “a Mr. Goodbar wet fly”.  What is a Mr. Goodbar wet fly, I thought.

I said, “what in the hell is that”?  Well he told me and I could not believe it.  It seems that while he was at a Stop-n-Go gas station eating a Mr. Goodbar candy bar he felt that the yellow color of the wrapper was interesting and felt that it would make a good fly.  So he actually used the wrapper for the body of the fly – thus the creation of the “Mr. Goodbar wet fly”.

Joe contacted me a few weeks later and enclosed a fly that he tied.  The fly recipe is as follows:

·        Size #14 hook.

·        Wood duck tail.

·        Yellow wrapper form the Mr. Goodbar candy bar.

·        Thin copper ribbing.

·        Wood duck soft hackle.

·        Light olive thread.

Keep in mind, it might be better to use fly tying material for the body and not the wrapper from a candy bar.

JWTrout/610710