Syracuse.com - Trout stream profile: A look at Chittenango Creek (last of three-part series)

HuntingNY-News · May 31, 2012

This spring alone, Dan Morgan has caught and released five brown on Chittenango Creek in the 20-plus inch range. Watch video Year-round streams Since 1996, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has permitted anglers to fish year-round in designated sections of more than 30 trout streams. Three of those streams are in Onondaga/Madison counties: Butternut Creek, Limestone Creek and Chittenango Creek. Today: Chittenango Creek May 25: Limestone Creek May 18 : Butternut Creek Dan Morgan was quietly and patiently fly fishing a pool on Chittenango Creek, a few hundred yards above Chittenango Falls.Suddenly, a fish smacked his tiny, hare's ear nymph.“Nice trout,” smiled Morgan, as his rod arched and bobbed repeatedly. He soon landed the plump, 16-inch brown. He held it for a minute, savored its bright spots and colors, and then let it go.“I love this stream,” he said. “There’s the scenic beauty, along with a variety of water and landscapes that it passes through.”Morgan, 32, of Cazenovia, has caught and released a good number of “nice trout” on the section of this creek that’s open year-round. On occasion, he has snowshoed out to fish it in the dead of winter. This spring, he said, he’s caught and released five browns in the 20-plus inch range.Morgan works as social media manager for Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a national, non-profit group that assists in the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active duty military personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying education and outings.He described the stream as extremely accessible. He said the upper part resembles a narrow, slow-moving, meandering western stream, where the fish are easily spooked. Further on down, it’s more like a classic northeast, New England/Adirondack stream – rocky and fast moving, with lots of riffles, pocket waters and pools. Below the falls, it eventually flattens and widens out, emptying into Oneida Lake.“Trout are an indicator species. I’ve caught brook trout in the upper stretches and a lot of large fish (browns) in the lower sections,” he said. “Their presence is a classic sign that this stream is healthy.”CHITTENANGO AT A GLANCE: Chittenango Creek starts southeast of, and flows through the village of Cazenovia. It then flows northward through the village of Chittenango, turning westward to merge with Limestone and Butternut creeks, and empties into Oneida Lake. The year-round section, where fish can be kept year-round — limit of five fish, with two no longer than 12 inches —stretches north from Route 20 to the Conrail Railroad line, north of the village of Chittenango. Fishing is prohibited, though, from May 16 to opening of walleye season from the creek’s mouth upstream to Conrail Railroad Line because of spawning walleyes from Oneida Lake. Type of fish: Chittenango offers stocked and wild brown trout and wild brook trout. The stream is stocked annually with 14,300 one-year-old brown trout (8 to 9 inches) and 1,900 two-year-old brown trout. Public fishing: There are a number of easy access points. For maps and more, see the DEC Web site .Catch-and-release area /Handicapped access fishing platform: There’s a 1.8 mile, catch and release/ artificial lures only section from the Town of Fenner/Town of Sullivan town line at mile marker 1219 on Route 13 to mile marker 1237 south of the village of Chittenango. There is a also a handicapped access fishing platform on the stream in the village of Cazenonia. For the fly guys: The best spots are from Route 20 north. Good insect hatches, but the most successful anglers fish wet flies or streamers, and often get them down with sinkers.

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