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There are few fish that are as beautiful as the native book trout. I was first introduced to them as a boy while fishing the central Adirondacks with my father and his buddies. That was 30 years ago. Each Spring and Autumn season since, I make the trek into a select and remote pond to cast for them. A lot has changed in thirty years. To a tight-lipped, loosely knit, community of serious anglers in Upstate New York, a trophy brook trout pond is a Shangri-La, the location of which would never be revealed. There is, however, over 2,000 ponds within the six million acreRead 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 →

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

In 1999, when I transitioned into fly casting on the lakes, I quickly found the medium-fast action eight-and-a-half foot rods I was using on the creeks and rivers to be inadequate. Not enough rod. So I made my way into The Troutfitter in Syracuse, and bought a pair of used nine foot two-piece Sage rods. An RPL five weight and a RPL+ six weight. Both of these were two piece rods. I believe Sage created these rods for the bone fisherman. They are very fast action with strong butts, yet light and accurate for small-to-medium sized flies. But I also think they were not enough rod for the avid flatsRead More →

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

There is more than one effective technique when it comes to fly fishing trout in lakes. Which is more effective is debatable. Which is more enjoyable, well, that  is a matter of preference. Trolling is like wearing my camouflage hunting clothes to the mall. It is just something I don’t do for a variety of reasons. The main reason I do not troll, however, is because it does not fit into what my idea of guiding is about. My only exception to this personal rule is when it comes to walleyes… Another topic altogether best reserved for a blog in June. When I first becameRead More →

Fly Fishing Guide Service In Upstate New York

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The traditional opening day of trout season statewide is April 1st. But on the Finger Lakes trout season is a year round’ pursuit. While the tributaries are closed to trout fishing, there are thousands of acres of open water for boat or shore fishing available for the hardy angler dressed for the unpredictable and often ugly weather. Early season trout fishing on the Finger Lakes lakes means cold water. The trout, however, is a cold water fish, most active in water temperatures that remain between 45 to 65 degrees. The middle of that range being the optimum, representing a trouts peak period of activity. ARead More →

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

Salvelinus Namayacush is a predator. Their world is dominated by light and water temperature. When the perfect conditions exist, like an overcast day in mid May, when the spring turn over has made the water temperature throughout the lake the same, from the top to the bottom, they will hunt and prowl every square foot of lake, bottom to top, to feed. All items of prey that will fit in their mouth are fair game. They only require it to be alive and twitching. So a predator fish that spends a large part of its long life cycle in great depths due to temperature and oxygen constraints, will,  in theRead More →

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Twenty five years ago I found Fly Fishing and it changed my life. I was home for the weekend from junior college and walked into a fly shop that someone told me about on Erie Boulevard.  I was skeptical. Until that point, I had relied upon bait, spinners, and plugs to land trout on the local creeks and lakes, and thought of the ultra-light spin casting tackle I grew up with as refined. I did not buy a thing on that first visit, but became obsessed with the whole idea of fly fishing. And the man with the handlebar mustache and stubble beard tying flies in the way backRead More →

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Sunday morning dawned cold and clear after a strong front pushed by 30 mph winds passed in the night. The temperature at launch on Oneida at 0700 hrs Sunday was -22. The high temp for the day was -5. But the boys were game and we launched. And we fished. Crystal clear and cold. The fish were tough…they were below us, but most would not bite. We iced a few with persistence and patience. And we all enjoyed the challenge. A safe, enjoyable, and decent adventure on the ice for Aiden, Trevor, James and Matt. Thanks guys…I appreciated your focus, your patience, and your goodRead More →