Oatka Creek Brown Trout
Sometimes it’s when you least expect it.
I was wading the Oatka in the Park section, just (and I mean feet) below the downed bridge. I had on a big Adams, size 10 I think, skating it in the rapids below the bridge. Unconventional, I know, but I’ve found it to be effective when other things aren’t working.
Anyhow, I’ve got 20 feet of line in the water downstream of me, and I’m staring upstream, looking for risers, as some bugs had started to come off.
GO-WHAM!
The rod yanks almost out of my hand as I’m ignoring it. I turn quickly and do “due diligence”… I fought the fish for a minute or so I’d say, as it was a decent brown trout (12″ and change), and he was firmly entrenched in the heaviest water on that part of the creek.
Got him in and released him quickly, making my day.
So the fly was totally submerged, just drifting in the current from side to side when he took it.
Beats me. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that trout was thinking.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I made a trip to Rochester for an NCAA hockey officiating camp and arrived a night early. I was cruising Rochester about 10 miles north of the Oatka looking for a bite to eat and noticed a couple of guys loading fly fishing gear in their trucks. I swung by and asked where they were headed. Fortunately, I happened across a few friendly folks and they helped me out. What they put me into was the greatest fishing night of my life. I apologize for not knowing my entomology better, but a hatch of off-white to yellow insects was coming off so thick you couldn’t see further than 50 yards in any direction. I caught in the range of 50-60 fish and the only real requirement was that I hit the water with my fly. I was throwing an Adams approximately a size 14 and I slammed fish from 7 PM until 11:40 PM (I arrived at 5 PM and landed a few) when the police officer/ranger came and cleared us off the stream. If you have the chance to fish the Oatka, especially in the evening when one of these hatches is coming off it can be the chance of a lifetime.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Glad to hear the Oatka was good to you. I was out of town this week fishing Black Lake (hence I’m late approving this comment).
I would assume you saw one of the legendary caddis hatches. They’re a chalky little bug, and skitter across the water in a way most flies don’t. Hence, even a bad caster like me can get trout to rise when the caddis are around. In Buffalo, by the way, they’re known as sand flies.
Where you from, Rick?