Steelhead near Buffalo

One year, a daughter was going to school in Nashville... I had visions of fishing along the Smoky Mountains on the way down or back. Never Happened. Now I have a daughter up in Buffalo... so NOW I have visions of fishing for, what else (?), steelhead! Apparently there is a top 10 NY steelhead stream in the area..probably never happen for me, but one can hope, right? :) CHAUTAUQUA CREEK What stream has New York’s highest catch rate for steelhead? If you guessed Chautauqua Creek, you must be one of the locals, for most Buffalo-area anglers who drive south in search of steelhead action end their trip at Cattaraugus Creek. Chautauqua Creek, in fact, produces 1.2 steelhead per hour of fishing effort, according to a study of Lake Erie tributaries that was conducted in 2003-2004. The second-fastest fishing occurred at nearby Canadaway Creek, where the catch rate was 1.1 steelies per hour of trying. Cattaraugus Creek finished seventh on the list, with a catch rate of 0.4 steelies caught per hour of angler effort. All of these catch rates are excellent, in terms of steelhead fisheries. By comparison, on the famed Salmon River, anglers catch an average of about one steelie every 20 hours! The numbers don’t tell the whole story, of course. Despite the scant attention it gets in sporting publications, Chautauqua Creek has a strong following among anglers in New York’s southwest corner, and it is heavily pressured on autumn weekends. Further, it is prone to early ice-ups, and anglers who visit it on the first week of December may or may not find it fishable when they return a week or two later. Having said that, readers in western New York would be wise to call the DEC’s Region 9 office, (716) 372-0645, before making their weekend steelhead plans. If the year ends with mild temperatures and soaking rains instead of snow and ice, Chautauqua Creek will be worth fishing right through Christmas for fresh-run steelhead that average about 4 or 5 pounds. Chautauqua flows through the village of Westfield before slipping under U.S. Route 5 and emptying into Lake Erie. The crystalline ledge pools immediately up and downstream from Route 5 are by far the most heavily fished parts of the stream because they are marked “public fishing” on both banks. However, the lower five miles of the creek are accessible to spawning fish, and the anglers who obtain permission to wet a line on private property or who check out the PFR sections between Westfield and Volusia will be glad they did so. The Region 9 office mentioned above has a map showing the location of public fishing rights on Chautauqua Creek. It can also be downloaded from the DEC Web site, www.dec.state.ny.us. Read more: http://www.gameandfishmag.com/2010/10/04/fishing_salmon-steelhead-fishing_ny_1205_02/#ixzz2n0dgujr8