Droughty as its been, there’s a real nice flow in the Oak that yesterday at end of day was about medium when I laid eyes on it. Color is just slightly stained. There’s plenty of water for good migrations and cover to hide most fish thanks to the Canal feed pushing through. Given the time of year and leaf fall, there will be water level fluctuations from hydropower operations. The flow disruptions are usually short lived and fish acclimate pretty quickly. And you can consider hitting the afternoon fishing shift when crowds thin and the flow level changes are done.
It feels like a little downturn in fishing pressure for this mid week period. There sometimes is an end of October change in the guard from salmon anglers to more trout anglers. This year though, for sure, there is more salmon action ahead that should last into November thanks to the continued slow roll of Kings. I wouldn’t quite give up on serious King pursuits just yet!
Check out the nice brace of Kings from the Waterport dam in the pic below. Anglers are still hooking up on fair to medium numbers of salmon at the dam and a few fish downstream too. Just a few fish are showing any signs of zombie-ness. Guys who are not targeting the Kings are getting their fair share of brown trout and coho and steelhead and Atlantic chances too. Check out the good looking Oak Orchard Atlantic in the pic below.
Flows to the east in Sandy are likewise up a bit from the Canal feed so we would expect at least some tardy Kings to be steaming up and most likely more browns. To the west, Johnson Creek is reported to have low-ish flows and at 18 Mile at Olcott, anglers are into decent numbers of browns. Weather ahead looks like another exceptional warmup for mid week and breezy or windy. Chance of showers today and maybe Thursday night but it does not look like enough precipitation to change tributary flows for now.
Last day of a few days of unseasonable warm temps today. Dry weather again too, so it hasn't been ideal weather to encourage fish migrations. Some hot neoprene weather days! The forecast ahead is calling for chance of showers tonight and a nice cool down starting tomorrow and through the weekend. Look for breezy conditions today and off and on ahead with another chance of showers Friday. Droughty as its been, keep in mind that all the trib flows would be in worse shape without the Erie Canal fall water feed. Sure Johnson and Sandy are low but the flows are enough to allow for fair to medium numbers of salmon and browns to migrate or at least stage up in lower river areas for future migrations. And, anglers can make some productive low water drifts.
According to Canal hydro managers, look for a further uptick in Sandy flows starting around tomorrow which coupled with the cool down could be a real nice trigger for more upstream migrations. The good old Oak continues to flow along at almost medium flows and the most consistent action for mostly Kings – but everyday a few more browns and steelhead and cohos and Atlantics are reported in the mix.
We are into leaf fall time so there are the often daily water level fluctuations at the dam from turbine rack cleaning. The windy days ahead will definitely bring on more leaves in the water and temporary water flow changes.
Most anglers hanging in for a better part of a days angling effort could come away with something like 6 – 8 hook ups on Kings if making good presentations. Look for Kings in the bigger holes and some are starting to make redds now too. Spawning Kings means browns shadowing the egg drop.
Check out the big King taken from the downstream fast water reaches of the Oak. And if you want to mix it up with other fishing pressure there are plenty of good opportunities for hookups at the dam.
We have a little more clarification on the access for the NYSDEC parking area at the dam. According to signage posted there, access is allowed 2 hours before sunrise to 2 hours after sunset (non-gated). So that could put you in position 1.5 hours before and after legal fishing times. By default the only direct access to the Brookfield property is from the NYSDEC parking area unless you made the hike from downstream access trekking your way upstream.
There was about an inch of rain through the end of the past weekend for the area. Points south and east of here may have gotten additional accumulations. The Oak and other area smaller waterways bumped up just a touch in flows and the smaller area waterways are back on the retreat with just slightly stained flows. Flows in the Oak are close to medium and more on the clearer side.
The change in flows coupled with the cool down has perked up the action and seems to have put more Kings on the move upstream. There’s favorable stiff westerly winds on Lake Ontario, probably pushing more fish into the tribs too. Another cool, if not seasonably cold night, is in the forecast tonight with another day or two of cool weather. Then the forecast is for warm and clear by the end of the week and weekend.
King migrations should remain good and upstream numbers of fish, like on the Oak and even the area smaller waterways, is building. More Kings are holding in water besides right at the dam for example.
Check out the pic below of a nice big green King hooked up from a smaller waterway by Victor. Fishing pressure was pretty sporty through the past holiday weekend and seems a little less intense so far this week. Salmon are the main target but we are definitely hearing of some brown trout, steelhead, Atlantics and Coho hookups too. King action is underway with lots of good chances ahead and trout action seems to be coming on making for nice mixed bag chances. Lots of Kings to drift through and around for those trout chances though!
A cool down is afoot and hopefully a steady parade of Kings into the Oak and other area tribs! Finally the forecast is for cooler days this week and showers on and off thru Wednesday. Nights are cooler yet into the 40’s°F. Longer range forecast is calling for the chance of even colder weather next week. These drop in temps coupled especially with prevailing westerly winds on open Lake Ontario will hopefully encourage more salmon migrations and could jump start more brown trout or steelhead action too. Colder water temps should encourage those salmon already in the river and fresh migrations to hold some in the fast water reaches below the Waterport dam. So far most of the existing warmer water action has been at the dam. Check out the big ornery looking King from the dam in the pic below. Frog water stretches on the Oak are reported to have some staged up and crashing Kings. And there’s the on and off movements of fish from the big staging hole like at the Bridges. The so far somewhat tardy trickle movements of Kings in the Oak and area smaller waterways has been mirrored in some of the other Lake Ontario tribs. So the opportunities do look spread out and good action might last well into November. Any moderate westerly winds on the open Lake water should make for some nice wave action and good color with corresponding good casting, small boat casting/trolling or jigging action.
It's October now and starting to feel a little more like trib time even if the weather is still on the warm side! The weather folks tell us that September was one of the warmest Septembers ever on record. And by how the salmon "run" has started slowly so far I'd believe that! Trib water temps, especially the Oak, still feel bath water warm to me. There's a slow cool-down afoot though and the forecast is for a cool front passing thru this mid-week period with another chance of precipitation and colder weather yet after that next week.
On the water flow side, the tribs are in pretty good moderate - medium flow condition thanks to recent quarter inch or so of rain seemingly each week combined with the supplemental Erie Canal water feed from the Fall Fishing Program. Fishing pressure only building slowly just like the salmon numbers, although there were a few more guys around this past weekend. On the Oak, most of the action has been at the Waterport dam and Rivermouth at Point Breeze. There are a few reports too of staging salmon action for the casting or skein crowd like in the middle reaches of the Oak or some of the most upstream slower water. That action seems to be mirrored now too at the estuary reaches of the smaller tribs. Check out the nice big green King in the pic below as evidence of that.
The beginning of this week revealed good numbers of crashing Kings at the Oak Rivermouth with some hook ups Monday early AM. Still, mostly clear water out there from do nothing winds so the crashing Kings and hook ups are usually an O-dark thirty bite. Before dusk and after dawn most fish are sliding back to the security of deeper water in the Lake. A few brave fish choose the commitment of the southern route upstream and contribute to the building upstream numbers of fish.
