Best time for Steelhead in NY?

Planing a trip up after a couple of days deer hunting upstate nov 18th till the21st.I like to wait till all the salmon madness is over then go back up when there is a short warming trend in late dec or jan
 
Should be great then. I go usually on columbus day for a couple days. Its not nearly as bad as the holiday weekend. We keep saying we want to come back in Dec or Jan for steelhead but we never make it back.
 
I miss fishing up there my grandparents used to live 20 minutes west of sodus bay. We used to get huge browns and steelhead mixed together right around Christmas time in the small tributaries around there. I did one trip with a guide and we fished the warm water outflow by the nuclear plant and it was the most amazing freshwater fishing I’ve ever seen. It has been closed since sept 11th I would love to go back
 
I used to fish it in Dec/Jan/Feb. Amazing in that there isn't a ton of pressure but man it's COLD and there aren't a ton of fish. You work your butt off few bites most days.
 
flounderjoe said:
come jan and feb that is true .you earn your bites then the hardest part is keeping confortable enough to concentrate
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It's BRUTALLY cold for sure. The worst part is standing in the river. That water is freezing.

I actually had a horror story up there in Feb. I was fishing the preserve above School House pool and finally hooked a fish. The fish went down river and as I was chasing him down I cut my boot on something in the river and my waders filled up. I was 19 so I didn't have the good sense to forget about the fish and kept fighting it. I eventually lost it and by the time I got out of the river I couldn't feel my foot at all. That was a LONG climb up the bank and back to the car. By the time I got to the car my foot had started to turn black. My buddy took me to the hospital where I had frost bite. I was super lucky I didn't loose my foot. When I finally started to get feeling back man that burning is something I'll never forget. To this day that foot is a nightmare if I'm snowboarding or fishing in the cold.

All that being said being up there with snow all over everything, no sound at all, no people around and the chance at the only fresh water fish worth catching IMO is truly magical.
 
SoCalFishMan said:
It's BRUTALLY cold for sure. The worst part is standing in the river. That water is freezing.

I actually had a horror story up there in Feb. I was fishing the preserve above School House pool and finally hooked a fish. The fish went down river and as I was chasing him down I cut my boot on something in the river and my waders filled up. I was 19 so I didn't have the good sense to forget about the fish and kept fighting it. I eventually lost it and by the time I got out of the river I couldn't feel my foot at all. That was a LONG climb up the bank and back to the car. By the time I got to the car my foot had started to turn black. My buddy took me to the hospital where I had frost bite. I was super lucky I didn't loose my foot. When I finally started to get feeling back man that burning is something I'll never forget. To this day that foot is a nightmare if I'm snowboarding or fishing in the cold.

All that being said being up there with snow all over everything, no sound at all, no people around and the chance at the only fresh water fish worth catching IMO is truly magical.
Click to expand...
All I can say is wow
 
Guess you gotta freeze your #%$@ off to catch steelhead.Very tough fishing on the salmon river the last 3 days beautiful weather near 50 every day between thw bluebird weather and the bit of runoff from snow melting turned them off.For me one brown trout and a swing and a long distance release on a looked like preety bright steelhead .Checked out the wall in oswego not much happening there either .Next time.
 
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