Tuesday, November 20, 2012

OAK ORCHARD RIVER/18 MILE CREEK TRIP 11/12-11/17 2012

I went up to Olcott NY on Sunday the 11th to fish Oak orchard river and 18 mile creek with some friends.
We went to Oak orchard river and fished the archery club section of water on mon the 12th and found it full of Trout and Steelhead, mostly brown Trout were in spawning with a few Rainbows and some Steelhead and just a couple Chinook salmon.
I was fishing my Winston bllx 7wt rod with a Rio nymph line with a 10ft leader tied down to 2x Fluorocarbon. I tied on a size 10 green Caddis nymph and made short roll casts to the fish that were stacked up. After a short time the line went tight and I was on my first brown Trout of the trip, a healthy 8 lb male.
There was so many fish being caught by other fisherman that it was hard to watch my own line. The guy next to me hooked and landed the most beautiful Rainbow Trout I ever saw!
It was a 10lb male and the color was Incredible!,Crimson red bar down its side, hooked jaw all toothy, it was amazing! I start fishing again and then later hooked another brown trout that pulled the fly out as he was just not havin anything to do with it. The air temp in the afternoon was so warm I was down to my tee shirt.
Then I saw an Atlantic Salmon caught that had to go 12lbs. That did it! I am always going to come up here to fish. Pulaski is great,but if you want less crowds and a more relaxed atmosphere this is the place!!    For instance,
10 LB MALE AND A 13LB FEMALE BOTH BROWN TROUT ON MY 1948 ORVIS MADISON BAMBOO 8WT ROD

 1. Oak orchard has the Archery club where you can park right next to the river rather than hike down to it.

2. They have a new Cooking/Picnicking Pavilion where they make a big breakfast for anyone 5 bucks a pop.
     they do this at 6.00 every morning and at 11.00 am they serve lunch for 7 bucks. This way you can fish   .
 all day long and not have to worry about going off river and drive to find a place to eat or take your waders off.
They also have picnic tables right on the river bank that you can eat your own food on. I bring my Coleman stove and cook my own lunch right there on these tables when I feel like it.
 They are also BEER FRIENDLY!! Thats to say you can BYOB with no problem from club owners. I don't go fishing to drink but its nice to have one or two with lunch!  THEY ALSO HAVE CLEAN TOILETS!!!
9 1/2 LB STEELIE

3. It seems that all the people that fish this place are there to relax and have fun and not kill their limit.
In fact I met a few guys that said take "This run were going up to eat", and one of them gave Me a scud pattern he said worked well.. and IT DID!     

4.The river itself is much easier to wade! there are hardly any stones bigger than an orange in the section right in front of the parking lot. and that has got to be 600 to 700 feet long. You can beach a fish nicely on the bottom in the shallows and not stumble around walking backwards doing it. As I have Gout this is so nice!
ANOTHER BIG MALE ON A 64 YEAR OLD BAMBOO ROD
IF YOU HAVE A BAMBOO ROD DON'T KEEP IT IN THE CLOSET GO FISH IT

18 mile creek is right in Olcott NY. And one mile from the Lighthouse motel where we stayed  is the Fisherman's park. They charge 3.00 dollars to park there and its just a short hike down to the trestle pool.
on Tuesday we found it full of Browns and had great fishing with only a few people around.
the fish were reasonably accommodating, that's to say they would bite the right fly if you threw it in the water enough times. Most Fisherman were using egg fly patterns., orange, pink, yellow, and chartreuse green.
I was using green scuds size 10 that i bought the night before and they were working great!
we would fish til say 10.30 am then go back to the motel and get warm, eat, hang out awhile then go back at 2.00 pm and fish til dark. We caught almost all browns there and after a couple days I really wanted a Steelhead. So on Friday I went by myself back to Oak orchard and fished there for the day.I pulled out my 1948 Orvis Madison bamboo rod for this place as the fishing conditions are so easy that I wont likely fall down and break it. but I have to say this about bamboo, it can be fixed so don't sweat it! Take it and go have fun! This rod fishes an 8wt line perfect, so I use an 8wt Rio nymph line on it. Its lots of fun!
I fish right in front of the lot most of the day and get 5 browns up to 11 lbs.
Finally in the afternoon I hooked and landed my Steelie. She was a 27 inch 9 1/2 lb beauty!
The very next fish was a hook-jawed Rainbow that had to go 8lbs. Against my better judgement I let a guy try to net it for me, it saw the net, had a tantrum and BENT THE HOOK!  OOOHHHHHHHHHHH!

 I JUST WANTED TO HOLD THAT FISH!

  I SHOULD have walked that fish down to the shallows, where it COULD NOT swim well and I WOULD have been able to beach it!
This is where the saying.. SHOULDA..COULDA..WOULDA comes from.
And nothing in life is MORE EXPENSIVE THAN REGRET!
 Oh well I,ll get that fish next year when hes a MONSTER!   

14LB FEMALE BROWN TROUT