tipupesox

Woke up early in the morning to the sound of rain. It was decieded the night before to start at a large Lake Erie trib that my friend lives on. Roll into his residence at 7 AM and we drive upstream to an area were the creek splits. We get our gear on and head down to the creek in the dark. Get down to the water and flash the headlamps towards the water, creek is already chocolate. We leave to try some of the medium to small creeks farther south which consist of slate bottoms. First stop is a medium trip that we fished last week and it is running low and clear and we did not see any other cars around. We start fishing our first hole of the morning, no takers. Move farther down stream, hit a nice buck that jumps out of the water like a missile several times and does a tail walk. Fish eventually got off but it was an excellent fight. In the background l hear voices. Next thing I know I see three fly lines dropping from the tressel ledge and two other gentlemen entering behind me. One asks me in a French Canadian accent, how is the fishing. Later found out they were from Quebec. I told him it was okay until you showed up. I am so tired of people crowding your space. I left the pool to them and walked farther downstream to meet my friend. This is the hole where we caught the majority of our fish last week, hole contains several downed trees. My friend hooked up with several fish on a pink Berkley Power Bait trout worm and I had two on a pink and white jig. Unfortunately the fish got the better of us, none landed. Until next time..... Tom

Going to hit some WNY Lake Erie tribs as well at first light. Some of the smaller to med tribs have been running pretty clear this week. Hopefully they will be green in the morning and not chocolate.

The only fishing I will do up in the village is the stretch of water behind the Elk's Club. All of the other portions I fish are farther downstream, within a five minute drive of my house. My mother-in-law just moved into a condo complex in West Seneca right on the Buffalo river. I forgot about all the nice holes in that stretch of creek as well, will have to give it a go when I am under time constraints. Looking at heading back down towards the Southern Tier Saturday morning. Will post a report if we have any luck ...... Good Fishing, Tom

Thanks gentlemen for your responses, look forward to adding more reports in the future. With the dollar strenghtening, I am looking forward to traveling back up to Canada in the Spring. Blaque, My wife used to live in that area on Marranno before we purchased the house on the other part of town. My (2) step sons and daughter both went to Carousel Nursery School right down the road. I fish Cayuga every once and a while when time is short but much rather hit the southern tier tribs just to get away from the urban scene. Do any lake fishing? I own a 19 foot Starcraft Islander and hit Erie for bass and walleye and Ontario for the salmon. maybe i will see you on the water this fall .............

Hey Blaque, where are you located, I am in South Cheektowaga, French and Transit area. Do any steelhead fishing in the area?

Sorry for the late report, fished a well known southern tier trib on Saturday. Water was clear with a little color in the deeper runs. Went 1 for 3 on a pink and white jig fly. Other two fish unfortunately found a few of the logs which lined this run. Here is a picture of the fish landed.

I would try the early light period in the morning. We hit some tribs this weekend and once the sun hit the pools the fish would shut down. Conditions were clear as well. We did have luck on pink and white jigs and Berkley power minnows, but again, early in the morning ..............

I have to agree with some of the comments about Burt, being a local, I will not even think about fishing Lake Ontario tribs until mid to late November. Just to many yahoo's. There is only one area to park at Burt which is the town parking lot, I think they still charge a buck per person to park. Do not park up on the main road, you will be ticketed. Some other creeks for you to consider as options, traveleling east towards Rochestor you have Keg, Johnson's and of course Oak Orchard. Good luck, Tom

charlied, I am sure you have the same type of issues on the Lake O tribs on your side of the pond. I just don't enjoy fishing elbow to elbow with fellow fisherman that lack in ethics. But even with that stated, the pressure on the Lake Erie tribs have increased and you are seeing some of the same unethical fishing techniques. There are a lot of creeks to fish other than the larger flows, only problem is you don't get the large influx of fish. The advantage is fishing the majority of the day seeing a low number of anglers, you just need to get out and investigate. One day you may come across a gem. I have a friend that lives right on 18 mile (Erie) in the event you ever need stream conditions. Good fishing, Tom

I won't even venture to a Lake Ontario trib in NYS until the cold weather sets in around November/December. Not worth dealing with the yahoo's. The Lake Erie streams are running gin clear but are holding fish but they have been pressured over the last week. I generally don't fish the Catt in the Fall but I would say it is probably your best bet under the current conditions. Need some rain to get a new push of fish and to make the fish less spooky.

I would let my AVG software check for tracking cookies. No reason why sites need to track your browsing, also can be a form of spyware. Tom

It is actually quite common for people to catch muskies in the Fall while casting for kings in the gorge. I had a friend that fish's the lower river often, he caught (2) muskies last Fall in the Whirlpool area casting for kings with glow spoons.

Actually I beleive I have read that the Patriots have the softest schedule in the league this season. Being a home town fan, the Bills do show some promise. Hard to jump right on the band wagon, but I am enjoying what I have seen so far this year. I would like to see the offense start a little stronger, it has been tough the past few weeks watching the games being determined in the later stages. The Bills make me want to shout ................

Seriously, there a number of hotels around the airport area (Holiday Inn, Days Inn, Comfort Suites, Mariott). If you are coming up with a siginificant other, try the Garden Place Hotel. They have nice jacuzzi suites ........

Unfortuantely those types of places in Buffalo are just topless, you have to go to Fort Erie to see the real deal. Most of the strip clubs are located around the airport ...............

If you tell me what area you will be visiting, I may be able to offer some recommendations.

Personally, I prefer the Erie tribs. Nothing better than catching steel in the Fall and Spring than those mud sharks. Also, without sounding prejudice, salmon fishing bring out a totally differnet kind of people up here in New York.

I know New York hasn't stocked salmon for years. There are a few straglers that show up form time to time in some of the local streams but not like the runs that happened in the early 80's. Average fish size in those days ranged from around 5-15 lbs. Forage base and competition is what primarily kept these fish smaller than Lake Ontario fish.

Some of the traditional spots for muskie are Goose Bay, Long Beach, McConell Island and Hawker's bay and trolling around Sturgeon Point. Have caught eyes drifting off the weed edges in these areas as well as fishing the various shoals and humps around the lake. If I had a map in front of me I could give you more details. I know Big Cliff and Ecmilly live on the lake, hopefully they can give you additional information. It is a great lake to fish, have fun and good luck ........... Tom

Very nice cabin, they remodeled the inside a few years ago with pine boards. You won't be disappointed with the views from the deck. The lodge owners are great to deal with as well, top notch. Tom

Dipsies and jet divers will put some strain on standard fishing equipment. I would suggest purchasing some cheap downrigger rods or a rod specifically designed for a dipsey. You may also need to purchase trolling reels if the current level winds you have do not allow the line capacity needed to get your lure down to the fish. I use 20 lb mono on my dipsey rods but have heard that the best way to go is braid, less stretch making it easier to pop the release when reeling in your line. Hope this helps ........... Tom

If you flick the switch on your dash you should hear a humming noise coming from the livewell, indicating that the pump is working and trying to pump water. If you hear the humming and no water is entering the livewell, try putting your boat in reverse, sometimes the pumps get an air lock restricting the flow of water. If you hear no humming, either pump is faulty or electrical issue ....... Tom

Have to agree the Gouin is a beautiful body of water and a great fishery. We have fished the area twice with another outfitter and have never been disappointed, the place is a walleye factory. Best of luck on your adventure ........ Tom

I have a EZ loader trailer with surge brakes. Yesterday after arriving home from the lake, I noticed that the coupler on the trailer was pivoted at a 30 degree angle. I was unable to unlock the coupler from the hitch ball, it was clamped on. After reviewing the situation, I removed the nut on the hitch ball and raised the trailer up. Once the boat was released from the truck, I was able to manually rotate the coupler back to its normal position and was able to raise the coupler lock to release the ball. The brake fluid seemed a little low so I filled it up to the fill line. Could there be a problem with the acuator? Thanks, Tom

Unfortunately my trips to Sturgeon lake may have come to an end. The resort we stayed at in the past is no longer open. Looks like our group may move down Buckhorn lake. If you purchase a chart of the Lake, you will find some additional areas, humps, weed beds, that will hold fish. Good luck, Tom