The Spring Steelheading Season has come to a close and I’d rate it as a good season overall. Starting our trips on April 21 we enjoyed better than average steelheading with multiple hook ups and landings daily with the fishing slowing dramatically by May 13th. Many fish were estimated to be in the eight to ten pound range with a few fifteen pound class trophies and one landed over twenty pounds. All fish were caught by traditional fly fishing techniques; many with my slack line mend presentation and all without added weights to their lines. All fish were released safely back to the system to return for next season, bigger and stronger.
Even though this ‘04 season does not compare to the numbers and size of fish offered during the ’03 or ’02 run in the Salmon River Region, it continued to provide great memories and good fly fishing opportunities as it has for nearly twenty-five years.
Going through my journals, it seems like every third year seems to be a little slower than the previous two and the ’03 season was the one to be the off year, but that’s fishing. This may all be coincidental, but it seems to hold water in both New York and Massachusetts. I’m not sure if it’s the weather, water levels, predators, temperatures, environmental changes in forage bases or the stocking history. It could be one or any of these combined. Also, the fishery is not an automatic renewal every year that’s done by stockings because the raising and planting of fish and wildlife is directly related to finical budgets or worse, personal or political agendas.
It’s not good enough just to be concerned about today’s catch, we all must look forward to tomorrows, this is what keeps sportsmen coming back! Lets all do our part in preserving these great fisheries of the northeast and the world by promoting and educating all who use this valuable resource to practice Catch and Release for the Future. Let’s never allow the already dimmed light bulb to go dark. By generating awareness of our extremely fragile fishery and environment we can keep the light shining brightly for generations to come.
Getting back to the fishing, the presentation is everything for hooking up these very special game fish as the nymph patterns must be first, ahead of the leaders and lines. Hare’s ears, stone flies, steelhead hammers and flymphs were the sub-bugs of choice. Wooly buggers and bunny flies worked well on aggressively acting fish sometimes on the dead drift but usually presenting it on a slight swing with erratic strips resulted with explosive strikes or powerful pulls. Three aggressive steelies were lured into striking and chasing a yellow and white bomber waking across the surface, but were lucky enough not to get hooked up good. Good for them, but it was still exciting for us to watch this happen. Maybe next spring we’ll hook up on drys as we did in seasons past.
To sum up, yes New York’s Spring Steelhead Season was a success! Out of twenty-three days of good to excellent fishing, only two days resulted in no landings. Days are now being reserved for next spring and this fall, so to insure your prime time trip plan ahead and reserve early.
Western Mass Rivers are in full swing with good fly fishing reported most everywhere. Water levels are crucial to providing good to excellent fishing with some of our waterways, but the Deerfield River normally fishes well all summer from the upper sections to the lower ends because of the dam releases. Try mid summer techniques and flies on some of the lower waters, as conditions may dictate this approach.
"World Class Waters"
Carry a camera and a cloth measuring tape then use the formula, which is fairly accurate, if you'd like to have the weight, (length X girth X girth / 800 = lb.) and this should give all the info needed for bragging rights without over stressing the fish. Once you land that trophy fish of a lifetime, it's your choice to kill and have mounted and no one should condemn you for your decision to do so. You can also send a good photo and measurements to a professional taxidermist where they can make a reproduction of the fish that you released.