New York Coho and Browns Suggestions

Jlafko3

Jlafko3

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Joined
Jun 2, 2017
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48
Hey all,
In about a month my best friend and I are going to be making our first trip to New York for the King run, and again a few weeks later for the start of the Brown run. Neither of us have never been up there before to fish for either species. However, we have spent a good amount of time on the water in Erie for the steelhead there and have been pretty successful. The point of this post is to gather some info and suggestions on some patterns that we can tie up to help us be successful on our trips. We have our standard steelhead patterns that we tie, sucker spawn, white death, blood dots, stonefly, etc... any suggestions are greatly appreciated and anything helps. Thank you all!
 
Not an Ontario trib guy... here but I'd imagine the same patterns would work. Perhaps tie some up on beefier hooks.
 
The only thing I'd really add is some kind of wooly bugger. Any streamer will do, I just prefer buggers cuz I lose flies like crazy when I fish for salmon.
 
I have had my best luck with browns up there on GRHE's.

Also ,I think the flies up there are bigger than most other places .

For the salmon,I think the easiest,fastest flies you can tye make the most sense.
Chenille on a hook with cheap hackle. Bam ,done.
 
Also ,flashy generic streamers size four and six.
You can even just tye clumps of marabou,flashabou and/or bucktail with crystal flash on a hook with no body. Or a tinsel body. Or a chenille body and a bucktail or cheap hackle wing.
 
Eggs for the browns. All colors as they definitely will key on one from day to day. Shakey is right on with the streamers. Use stout hooks and keep them sharp. Keep the flies on the bottom. Where do you intend to fish ? GG
 
The patterns have more or less been covered. I will add that when I fished the lake ontario tribs in college I never noticed different runs of species. I found that in the fall when the run started we had salmon, steelhead, and browns all more or less at the same time. It was always fun you never knew what monster you hooked into. Also don't forget the steelhead run again in the spring in the lake O tribs.
 
I have fished Oak Orchard several times. Huge Browns! My top flies were blood dots, hares ear and spring wigglers. Spring Wigglers have always been my go to trib fly IF eggs are not producing. I mainly used 8 weights. I caught my share in the 12-14# range (both browns and steelhead). I actually was attempting to avoid the salmon. Those beasts are a lot of work. Good luck.
 
Fly doesn't matter so much. The secret is using the right sized leader and just enough weight to drift your leader into the fishes mouth...
 
I have had days up there where me and my crew have just killed them on an egg sucking leech. It's basically a slump buster with a bright orange bead on the top.

Chartreuse streamers are a must for steel. Sometimes they key on that color really well.

Besides that just a ton of colors of estaz eggs and your typical yarn eggs. I just tie a ton of colors in eggs, leaches/slump busters. Really if those aren't catching fish then it's a slow day.

The thing is the fish seem to change the color they want daily or even throughout the day. It's strange. But red or orange seem to be the better producing colors.

I'll be there October 5-8.
 
btw you have to be more lucky than good to catch the cohos. They seem to all run at the same time and blow through the whole river in a matter of days. Kings, on the other hand, will come in in waves and be there for a solid month or 2. Steel and browns will filter in as the water allows through flows and temps, usually the first 2 weeks in October and will stay through the winter.

DSR has a few reports of 1-3 kings being seen in the river now. We need a few colder days and a nice rain and they will start sometime in the next 2 weeks.
 
Not much to add, but a little more on cohos. In my experience they prefer red and black flies or something shiny. Cerise eggs have had their day, but red and black wet flies/ streamers/buggers or even turds have come through.

Fresh cohos are really a blast - they hit well and then go crazy when hooked, but aren't so big that they are a lot of work. IMHO, kings are too big and strong to be much fun on a fly (but everyone should experience a king on a fly) As stated earlier, you need to be there on the right day to get into the cohos. But when it works out, life is good.

And about small nymphs: I like to start with a nice sized #8 or #10 nymph, but some days you need to go smaller, especially in low, clear water or if it is late in the run and fish are getting spooky from all the pressure. 12 and 14 is a sweet spot. They do hit 16 and smaller nymphs, but I have had poor results holding big fish on 16 and smaller hooks. However, one can always tie "anorexic" nymphs where a size 16 fly is tied on a 12 or 14 hook. You can tie nymphs with proportions of a size or 2 smaller to use larger hooks.
 
Not much to add, but a little more on cohos. In my experience they prefer red and black flies or something shiny. Cerise eggs have had their day, but red and black wet flies/ streamers/buggers or even turds have come through.

Fresh cohos are really a blast - they hit well and then go crazy when hooked, but aren't so big that they are a lot of work. IMHO, kings are too big and strong to be much fun on a fly (but everyone should experience a king on a fly) As stated earlier, you need to be there on the right day to get into the cohos. But when it works out, life is good.

And about small nymphs: I like to start with a nice sized #8 or #10 nymph, but some days you need to go smaller, especially in low, clear water or if it is late in the run and fish are getting spooky from all the pressure. 12 and 14 is a sweet spot. They do hit 16 and smaller nymphs, but I have had poor results holding big fish on 16 and smaller hooks. However, one can always tie "anorexic" nymphs where a size 16 fly is tied on a 12 or 14 hook. You can tie nymphs with proportions of a size or 2 smaller to use larger hooks.
 
Egg sucking leeches, eggs, nymphs. Real similar to what you use in Erie.
 
Thanks everyone for your opinions and feedback! I finished my box just the other day actually. Lots of eggs in varying colors, lots of streamers, and nymphs too. Two things on that note, I was told that pink is the key for salmon...? So i tied up some experimental streamers in pink. Also, has anyone had luck on stoneflies in the New York tribs?
 
Yes Stone Flies work. Colors that work will vary from day to day. Just dont get stuck on one fly or color. Keep changing till it works

Work out a plan with your partners . One guy fishes a pink egg the other throws a green comet. Who gets action ? This will help on figuring out what is good.
 
Prince nympths in size#10 hook,good for the Coho and trout.Olive wooly buggers can be good,as stated have lots of flies in many different colors...don"t forget BLUE!
 
My box is done. Loaded with lots of estaz eggs in 5 colors, pink and purple glow bugs, white and olive buggers, pink and sparkly range comets, and green and tan mop flies. We shall see why works!
 

Heard that a lot of big coho are being caught.
 
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