WNY Fly Fishing Private Lessons

I offer private lessons for fly casting, the cost in $60.00 per student for two hours for casting, equipment, knots and general fly fishing. E mail me at jimguida@hotmail.com











I work with Project Healing Waters as well as Women In The Outdoors

Flies For Sale

My Patterns are as follows: Guida's Mirrored Minnows $2.50 ea, Guida's White Lighting/Black Thunder $2.00 ea, Guida's Emerald Shiners $2.00 ea, Hairballs, sucker spawn, single eggs $1.00 ea all orders must be in Qty's of 5's or 10's per style
e-mail orders to jimguida@hotmail.com

WNY Fly Fishing Trout Camps

Trout Camps are in the spring for inland trout. The classes are six hours and cover casting, fly selection, and reading the water. We provide lunch, guides, flies/leaders/tippet, rods and reels if needed, you must bring waders and wading boots, sunglasses. This is the best way to start out fly fishing and learn from some of the best instructors in WNY.

Cost is $250.00 per person $350.00 per two
Please call Brian Slavinski
716-834-4331















Tuesday, January 26, 2016

WNY Fly Fishing - Trout fishing off? Hungry ducks may be reason

CALEDONIA - When it comes to fishing for wild brown trout in New York, the Adirondacks and Catskills have nothing on two serene waterways traversing Monroe, Genesee and Livingston counties a short drive southwest of downtown Rochester.
Many stretches of Oatka Creek and all of its smaller sister tributary Spring Creek are renowned for an abundant population of wild brown and some brook trout, and the state has made certain access is also abundant.
The area is so idyllic, Rochester’s Seth Green established America’s first fish hatchery on the banks of Spring Creek a little more than 150 years ago.
“You have to work hard to catch the fish but there is real value in a wild trout fishery," said Mike McNulty, 66, of Rochester, who has held a fly rod in his hands since he was a teenager. “The beauty of the fish, the color of the fish. There are other areas you can catch larger trout, like the Lake Ontario tributaries. But the quality of the fishery here is just terrific.'
Well, it used to be. Today, concerned and some outright angry anglers say something fishy is going on.
For two years, fishermen have reported a severe drop in catching success on Oatka and Spring creeks and haven’t been shy about sharing the news with the Department of Environmental Conservation, flooding the Region 8 office in Avon with emails, letters and phone calls.
Hearing those voices and knowing how important the Oatka/Spring creek fishery is to the state’s $2.7 billion sport fishing economy, DEC launched a 15-month study that confirmed anglers' fears: The number of adult, catchable fish in these creeks has declined “significantly’’ and the number of yearling fish, while still high, should be higher.
The reason? It appears the problem may be in the air and not the water.
Flying in for feast
According to DEC aquatic and wildlife experts, who spoke recently before a packed auditorium at Caledonia High School, the decline of trout in Oatka and Spring creeks is likely due to depredation by common mergansers,  voracious fish-eating, diving ducks.
“I don’t think we’re definitive on anything, but it’s been identified as potentially (a cause)," DEC wildlife biologist Josh Stiller said.
Over the past two decades, mergansers, loon-like in their behavior, have expanded their breeding and winter range from mostly the Adirondacks to most of the state. They are cavity nesters and have found new habitat in western New York.
In winter, they gather on the embayments of Lake Ontario and larger inland bodies of water of the Finger Lakes, wherever there is open water and food — preferably trout smolt (4- to 8-inch fish). They can eat up to half their body weight in fish per day.
During the harsh winters of 2013-14 and 2014-15 — which included two documented polar vortexes and the coldest February on record in Rochester — most bodies of water froze over completely, forcing the mergansers to find any open water they could in which to feed. They found it in the spring-fed sections of Spring and Oatka creeks that don’t freeze and at the Caledonia Hatchery and its fish-holding ponds.
Hatchery staff and residents living streamside reported flocks of mergansers feasting daily in each of the last two winters.
“I’ve been at Caledonia Fish Hatchery for 25 years and my assistant for 30 and neither one of us had ever seen a merganser until the last two years," hatchery manager Alan Mack said.
Tom Wermuth, whose home fronts 700 feet of Oatka Creek on Scottsville-Mumford Road that includes three prime pools, said mergansers began showing up in sizable numbers the last two winters and some nested.
“The last two winters they just decimated the main creek," Wermuth said. “I’ve seen 35 birds in one section and all diving and eating and coming up with fish. But I also have a bald eagle there and some young osprey working the creek and taking fish. So I believe it is predation and maybe a little bit of water quality."
Oatka Creek and Spring Creek were some of the few bodies of water that didn't freeze due to polar vortexes, and Merganser ducks, who eat mostly trout, ravaged the waters at the popular fishing spots. Video by Shawn Dowd.
Some fishermen at the public forum were skeptical that ducks are to blame for the drop in their fishing results and believed it had more to do with pollution, particularly in Oatka Creek where there have been plenty of anecdotal reports that hatches of aquatic bugs are off.
However, minnows and crayfish, other main food sources for trout, appear unaffected and young fish, which are most impacted by poor water health, are still present.
In the mid-1990s, wild brook trout in Spring Creek did test positive for whirling disease, and rainbow trout in the hatchery were affected. But Mack noted that the water at the hatchery, which is rerouted from Spring Creek, is tested monthly. The Caledonia hatchery produces most of the state’s brown trout for stocking.
“If it were a water quality issue, then our fish would be dying," Mack said. “I physically saw mergansers in our facility on our long narrow ponds where they could land and fly off eating our fish. And in our round ponds, they couldn’t get in or get out of, those ponds were fine with numbers. The ponds they could get in we were short fish 15 (percent)-20 percent."
How bad has fishing been impacted?
Wermuth said he normally fishes 60 to 80 summer days in his backyard but last year spent only five days of effort because the fishing was so bad.
“The young of the year are there, natural reproduction," Wermuth said. “But three years ago I had 15 spawning beds in my backyard and this year I had two."
McNulty’s experience is similar.
“My experience on Oatka is that the fish population is down 90 percent," he said. “That’s based on 15 years of fishing in low water conditions. I’d go to a certain pool in the morning at 8 o’clock under certain conditions and expecting 100 fish to come up and I’d see two or three. And that’s over a four-, five- week period."
MORE: Columns by Leo Roth

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

WNY Fly Fishing - Winter Projects

The winter is upon us now and the colder temps have put a damper on the fishing for now, so there is no better time than now to fill up the fly boxes that have been depleted from the season. I love coming up with new flies or tweaking last seasons triumphs or failures. I have played around with micro jigs and found them to be very deadly and easy to make and fish. I have given out quite a few to my buddies to play with and they have had a great time with them and so have the fish. The first one is a easy crayfish pattern to make and it fishes very well.


Thursday, January 7, 2016

WNY Fly Fishing - Good Read

We’re On The Same Team


I’ve never considered myself an authority on fly fishing but I’d like to think I’m pretty good at observation.

Stonefly Nymph
Photo: Rich Duda
One thing that I’ve noticed: This invisible stigma of how other people chose to fish. The private judgement of nymphers from the swing guys. The uppity laughs given to streamer huckers from bobber pros.
The alarming part of all of this is that its growing. The smugness toward opposite sects of fly fishing is becoming deeper and deeper . The first question to ask is, “why?”. Is it for the ever evolving social media fame that seems to be plaguing our precious pastime? The internet is flooded to massive proportions with fish porn of all kinds. Maybe it’s just that the accessibility is there, so why not, right? Would the old timers have done the same thing given the technology to be there? We see old photos of their accomplishments. We hear their stories of folklore and legend…
Steelhead
Photo: Justin Damude
So why the segregation? Maybe it comes down to competition. Maybe its pride. Maybe its just
that you’re doing it the one way that most others you know don’t. My area is notorious for this. Swinging a fly is now “mainstream” and if you’re not doing it that way you’re just not doing it “right”. It’s especially prevalent when the nympher comes along and cleans house when the swung fly just isn’t producing. I’ve even found myself doing it sometimes. The premature judgement when you see that Thingamabobber bouncing against the rod as they make their way towards your pristine run. “How dare this S.O.B come and muck up my run with that garbage. Why can’t he swing a fly like I’m doing?”
When I find myself doing that I nowadays try to stop and just let it go. Why do I have this sick sort of entitlement that I’m doing it better than the guy down the run? The thing of it is, I’m not. We that indulge in this awesome thing called fly fishing have get back to our roots.  Forget the guy down the run slinging a dropper rig or the guy upstream swinging intruders. Remind yourself that everyone has their own personal reasons why they fish the way they do.

 Jim Guida Yepper that just about sums it up, fishing is fishing and its up to the angler for what style he or she prefers. There is no right or wrong way to fish as long as you are out enjoying the outdoors, natural or stocked, river or lake, small brook or anything else, just get out with friends or if you enjoy the solitude get out and have fun.

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WNY Hatch Chart

Name Size Dates
Stoneflies 10-18 April - September
B.W.O 18-22 April - September
Hendrickson 12-14 April - May
Black Caddis 16-18 March - May
Caddis 14-18 April - September
March Brown 10-12 May - June
Grey Fox 12-14 May - June
Sulpher 14-18 May - June
P.M.D. 16-20 May - June
Lt. Cahill 14-16 June - July
Green Drake 8-10 May - June
Isonchia 12-14 June - August
Yellow Stonefly 12-14 June - September
Hexagina 6-8 June - July
Trico 20-24 July - September

Ants 16-22 June - September
Beetles 12-16 June - September
Flying Ants 16-18 June - September
Hoppers 10-12 August
Crickets 10-12 August

USGS Height Gage

USGS Height Gage

Flow Rate Guide

Oatka Creek
2.60 – 2.80 low water flows·
2.80 – 3.00 moderate flows·
3.00 – 3.20 good fishing flow·
3.20 – 3.40 starting to rise·
3.40 – 3.60 High Water


Genesee River near Wellsville
100 – 200cfs Summer Flows Low water
200 – 300cfs Summer Flows Good Water
300 – 400cfs Spring Flows Fishable·
400 – 500cfs Spring Flows High Water·
650cfs + Stay Home


Cattaraugus Creek

Cattaraugus in Fall
100 – 250cfs Low Water Flow·
250 – 400cfs Good Fishing Flow·
400 – 650cfs Fishable Flow·
650 – 800cfs High Water Flow·
800 – 1000cfs Very High Water Flow·
1000 – 1200cfs Stay Home Tie Flies


Cattaraugus in Spring

100 – 250cfs Low Water Flow·
250 – 400cfs Good Fishing Flow·
400 – 650cfs Normal Fishing Flow·
650 – 800cfs High Water Flow·
800 – 1000cfs Very High Water Flow·
1000 – 1200cfs + Stay Home Tie Flies

Followers

Mirrored Minnow

Mirrored Minnow

Rainbow Runner

Rainbow Runner

Emilee's Spey

Emilee's Spey

Thunder Creek Minnow

Thunder Creek Minnow

Simple Sculpin

Simple Sculpin

Hairball

Hairball

Rabbit Leech

Rabbit Leech

Hare's Ear Wet

Hare's Ear Wet

Peacock Emerger

Peacock Emerger

Sulpher Emerger

Sulpher Emerger

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