Skaneateles Lake Fishing Guide

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In: Central New York Fishing, Fly Fishing, Professional Guide Service in Upstate New York, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Upstate New York Fishing Guide

It’s August in Central New York and the daytime air temps are lingering in the mid 80’s and low 90’s. The dog days of summer are here! Summer Fly Fishing is in full swing. In the northeast, when we start talking about summer fly fishing, we are not talking about trout. The stream flows are low and the water temps are high. In the best interest of the trout, fly fishers leave the trout alone. Summer fly fishing in Upstate New York begins around mid-July. And while it may be a second-best choice to fly fishing for trout, it is still fly fishing. Done rightRead More →

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In: Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

On a tailwater river I fish often the consistent and large hatches decline in early July. By mid August there are just a few reliable species of mayflies hatching each day. As the month progresses these hatches become unreliable and can disappear. The flies tied to replicate these mayflies are dressed on size 18 to 22 hooks and consist of sulphur, olives and tricos. Mid summer will find the river quiet. The bulk of fly fishermen have abandoned the banks. As summer ends and the shorter days and cooler nights begin, the insect activity begins to pick up again. Angling pressure does not. In theRead More →

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In: Central New York Fishing, Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

Each year, peaking in the early summer, I enjoy nothing so much as fly fishing on small streams for wild trout. It is, in fact, the most enjoyable form of angling. Within five minutes drive of my cabin is ten miles of catch-and-release trout stream that is loaded with wild trout.  This creek is small. Very small. The county puts a few thousand run-of-the-mill stock rainbow trout in it each spring. But it is the brown trout that thrive. Wild browns that average 12 inches are common and when approached with a three or four weight fly rod they make for great angling. My guideRead More →

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In: Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

In Leon Chandlers’ boyhood he fished the same waters that I do today. I imagine him a teen with a fly rod in his hand roll casting a hand-tied callibaetis at dimpling browns. He was most likely fishing a nightcrawler at that age. The reason I fly fish the boyhood home of Leon Chandler is due to geography and proximity. Just coincidental. But, if not for Leon Chandler I may not fish with a fly rod at all. Leon Chandler was the catalyst of fly fishing and fly fishing products in America. He was a Catskill fly fisherman, Cortland native, and a gentleman who introduced American flyRead More →

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In: Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

Fly fishing is something that you evolve into. I have yet to come across a fly casting toddler. Most of us started our trout fascination (fishing altogether) with something other than a fly rod. You evolved… Evolved into someone who relishes how a fish is caught and less on just catching fish. My “Old Man” as I like to call him in a blue-collar way was a blue-collar trout fisherman. For catching trout, he liked nothing more than letting a fresh, juicy, hand-picked night crawler, roll along the bottom of a deep eddy with a split-shot. And he caught plenty. The finer points of wormRead More →

Admiring a Spring Rainbow

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In: Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

A popular early spring technique for fly casters is throwing streamers. It is suitable for fisheries that harbor good populations of baitfish…Forage-based lakes and rivers. A large eastern Finger Lake that I fish often is unique in that it has escaped (so far) becoming a forage-based lake. No introduced baitfish are present. While sculpin and immature yellow perch are a staple of the lake-dwelling rainbows’ diet in this natural lake, the trout are keyed in on insects, crayfish, and scuds. But matching the hatch, on big trout lakes, is often unnecessary in early spring when water temperatures hover in the low 40’s or below. In fact, theRead More →

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In: Fly Fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

  So I began this blog, weeks ago, to describe and introduce a technique I have refined that I call dead drift float fishing. But I have lost my way. And the whole topic of fly fishing lakes for trout is a voluminous one. One that I could write a book on. And these blogs may be the seed of what will grow into just such an endeavor. I will soon come back to the components of dead drift float fishing, both for the fly rod and the spinning rod, but here today I digress into “The Other” kind of fly fishing on lakes. ThereRead More →