Very cool opportunity at Orvis Rochester next week.  At 1pm on March 22, Rochester native, 2011 Fly Rod and Reel Angler of the Year and Orvis Rod and Reel Marketing Manager, Tom Rosenbauer will be presenting information on small stream fly fishing and reading the water.  A question and answer period will follow.

Tom has fished many of our local fisheries and is always eager to share his experiences.  Tom has a great way of simplifying fly fishing in his podcast - Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast - and his many books.  Hope you can make it out!

Visit the Orvis Rochester page for details.

We are excited to offer two fly fishing camps in 2014.  These camps are great for beginners, folks looking to get back in to the sport or maybe just need a refresher.  Very affordable and full of great information.

Please find additional details at Fly Fishing Chronicles.

Wide Sky is excited to announce we are partnering with Craig Dennison on another Fly Fishing Camp.  The Camp will be held at Black Creek Park in Chili next Sunday, September 22 from 10am-4pm in the Pathfinder Pavilion.  Participants may register by visiting Chili Recreation Department.  The fee is $50 and is for ages 12 and up.  Please see camp description below:

Have you always thought it would be fun to try fly fishing? Fly Fishing Camp is a unique, hands-on program designed for the beginner or less experienced fly fisher. Enhance your fly fishing knowledge, improve your casting, identify aquatic insects/prey, understand tactics for various fisheries, learn new fly patterns, tie your own fly, determine what gear you need for fly fishing and compare notes with fellow anglers (program itinerary may change due to weather conditions). Time will be spent casting and fishing the pond at Black Creek Park (Pathfinder Pavilion). Some gear (rods, reels etc.) will be available, but we encourage you to bring your own. Also, please bring your own snacks and lunch.

Hope to see you there!

Shared some time on the water with Tom McDermott.  We were able to catch some fish, but the low water is making fish weary and difficult to put a fly in front of.

Tom was able to land this nice brown on a midge pupa under an indicator.

We saw some tricos, but nothing in great numbers.

This picture was from a couple weeks ago.  Seems as though the trico fishing has picked up since then.

Barb and John called to inquire about 2-hours of on stream instruction - in all places, Spring Creek.  We had a blast!  Very little pressure from other anglers and we were able to work on some of the things that were important to the two of them.

Small weighted flies with an indicator produced several beautiful wild browns.

Thanks for coming out with Wide Sky, Barb and John!  See you on the water!

With most of the inland streams blown out, I drove to a familiar creek that I
was sure would be low (and clear!). It’s not often I get out alone, especially
this time of year, but today I had the stream to myself! I got comfortable, tied
on my favorite scud pattern, and second cast hooked a beautiful 12 inch browns.
I fished for over an hour, alone, and the fishing was great!

 Before too long, a group of three anglers arrived. They were new to fly
fishing and it was nice to share in their excitement as they enjoyed the beauty and peacefulness of Spring Brook. Once I got back to fishing, it was brown trout after brown trout; then this happened…

A 16 inch (fat) rainbow! Rainbow trout haven’t been in Spring Brook in a
number of years (20 or so…). I have never caught, or heard of anyone catching a
bow out of here.

 I did some research and called the hatchery to see if they might have an explanation. The hatchery stocked some of their 2-year old surplus brown trout on Thursday (I wasn’t aware of any stocking in the stream). She must have tried to make a “getaway” and found herself in the creek.  Funny the things you learn when you ask a couple questions….

We’ve gotten soaked the past couple of weeks.  Streams are on their way down so have fun and CHUCK STREAMERS! Big buggers, including articulated patterns work great and produce large fish.

A little over a year ago I started a part-time job at LL Bean.  It’s a great moonlighting gig and diapers are expensive!  I help customers make decisions on gear, fly selection, tools etc.  Last fall the active department manager and I talked about the possibility of having regular fly tying events at the store.  I bounced the idea by a few guys and I’m excited to inform everyone that it’s finally underway.

For the next few months we will have several of the area’s most knowledgeable fly tyers demonstrating some of their favorite flies.  Demonstrations are the second Wednesday of every month and start at 6:30pm.  Our lineup is as follows:

March 13 – Brian Bradfield (Brian on the Fly)
April 10 – Jim Strong (Seth Green Chapter of Trout Unlimited)
May 8 –  Micheal Simmons (Guys, Flies and Pies)

We started our series a couple weeks ago with special guest, Cal Curtice.  We had great crowd and Cal shared some awesome information.  Cal tied a prince nymph variation he uses for lake run fish and a midge emerger he ties for inland trout.
trout.

Brian Bradfield will be our next tyer.  I’ve fished with Brian for many years now.  His knowledge of fly tying and fly fishing for all Western NY species is amazing.  You can find a lot a great information on his blog – Brian on the Fly.

This is a Hendrickson variation that does very well at one of our local inland trout streams.  What stream you ask…?  Well.  You will have to come in to find out.

In addition to the special guest demos, we will be hosting fly tying clinics – designed for beginner/intermediate tyers.  These clinics will be conducted by yours truly every Wednesday (every Wednesday we DON’T have a special guest) through the month of May.  Clinics are also 6:30-7:30pm, and will be held in the Outdoor Discovery Area.  LL Bean will provide the vise, tools, material etc., but feel free to bring your own equipment.  We encourage you to ask questions, tell stories and tie a few flies!

Hope to see you at the BEAN!

Jessie Hollenbeck
Wide Sky Fly Fishing
[email protected]