Jesus fishes Upstate NY

A trip of different sorts was in order for November 15th. Having fished our home trib exclusively with great success this fall we felt the need for a change of pace. That change of pace was to lead us to Upstate NY. 18-mile creek, more commonly known as "Burt Dam", was to be our starting point for the day. Now we had only fished "The Burt" once prior in the dead of winter and really didn't know what to expect in the prime of fall steelheading season. We were going in blind and what was to unfold on a midweeks morning neither of us would have predicted. We arrived at first light to find a parking lot full of vehicles. One SUV's plates declaring that Jesus himself was also fishing at Burt Dam. We geared up and made our way down to the river. Looking up towards the tressel we could see there was a tremendous amount of pressure on this river. Fish were rising all over the place but were not responsive to our offerings. We managed a brown and a steelie before heading up towards the dam where we were to be greatly disappointed. The disappointment was not only with the masses of "anglers" but with the lengths at which they would go to catch a fish. There must have been a dumpster at the parking lot where everyone deposited their ethics prior to heading down to the river. Snagging and lining were prolific. 9 out of 10 fish hooked were fouled and I suspect that the remaining 10% were questionably hooked. We quickly decided that this was not for us and we made a call to hit Oak orchard. This decision proved to be a turning point in a day destined for despair. We had fished The Oak last year with great success and we suspected that it may not have the pressure experienced at 18-mile. Boy were we right. We encountered a stretch of river with virtually no angling pressure whatsoever. It didn't take long to get into a beautiful fall NY Brown and shortly after a magnificent NY Steelhead.



The remainder of the afternoon dwindled away quickly with multiple hookups of steelies and browns. Our day couldn't have taken a turn for the better. What was shaping up to be a great disappointment turned into yet another Classic November outing.