Click to view image

I have been fly fishing upstate New York in the fall annually since the year 2000. It may seem crazy to fly over 2000 miles to fish. That actually might be true, but for some the prize is worth the effort.

I first started hearing about the large brown trout that were running out of Lake Ontario around the year 1996. The info piqued my interest to say the least. After lots of rumors, I stumbled across a book by Joe Butler about Fly fishing for large trout. The book had a chapter about New York including places to fish. That was all that I needed to plan my first trip.

I decided Oak orchard creek would be my best choice after some research. The creek has a good flow and is the right size for fly fishing. The choice was a good one in that I caught a 30” brown my first year. Since that time I have discovered other places to fish that bring in large browns.

Fast forward to 2012 and many browns over 10lbs, I was able to capture my largest brown. It was my first day of the trip and the crowds were heavy being a Saturday. Walking up the creek was not getting me away from the masses until after awhile.

Then I saw it half of a large trout sticking out from a white water ripple. I threw the crystal meth fly at the trout countless times but the large trout was not seeing it or showing no interest. Having had success with stonefly nymphs with rubber legs in the past, I tied one one. 2 cast into it I was into the very large trout. The fight was difficult and the fish seemed to be overly energized. I was able to net the large trout 10 minutes later and the big buck stuck out the top of my net even though the net is 30” deep. I could tell the brown was massive. I called my friends who were upstream and we got together for some picture taking before the release. The fish measured 32.5” length with a 20.5” girth. My largest brown to date.

Doug