Syracuse.com - Fishing the brown drake hatch on Skaneateles Lake is challenging, but fun

[HuntingNY-News]

Conditions vary from one evening to another. Meanwhile, anglers are catching trout, bass, Atlantic salmon, rock bass, perch -- even bullheads -- on the surface with dry flies.

Fred Touron takes fishing the annual brown drake hatch on Skaneateles Lake seriously.

The Cato resident, who uses a Hyde drift boat with a small motor attached, has been on the lake fishing nearly every evening since the hatch began in mid-June. He fishes from about 7:30 to dark, which sometimes means being on the water as late as 10:30 p.m.

"I'm adopted the philosophy I have to be down here rain or shine. You never know. I figure I put in about 30 hours a week doing this, sometimes getting home as late at 11:30 p.m.," he said, adding so far this year he has caught a couple of rainbow trout in the 23-inch range.

This annual insect hatch, which starts each year at the shallower, warmer northern end and works its way southward down the lake, Is not unique to this waterway. However, its size is really something to see and draws anglers from throughout Central New York and beyond.

Other lakes have similar hatches, but the size of the hatch on Skaneateles is huge -- drawing anglers each year from around Central New York and beyond.David Figura | [email protected] 

This annual insect hatch is not unique to Skaneateles Lake, but its size is something to see. Each year, it attracts fly fishermen from throughout Central New York and beyond.

The brown drake (Ephemera simulans) is a type of mayfly. This bug is dinner for a multitude of fish on the lake -- trout, bass, perch, rock bass, Atlantic Salmon, bullheads.

The preferred fishing gear of choice is a 5-7 weight fly rod with a floating line, with a 9-11 foot leader. Bring several artificial brown drake flies. They can get beat up badly by repeated catches, or broken off if you luck into a big rainbow, bass or Atlantic salmon.

Prime time to fish are windless nights from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. -- or as Touran says, "as long as you can see your line."

Anglers fish out of kayaks; canoes; drift boats; inflatable, one-person pontoons - craft that enable the fishermen to use stealth in approaching the fish and that allow room for fly casting.

Be forewarned. There's no guarantees. Sometimes there's too many flies on the water, or not enough, or the wind is too strong. Of the more than half dozen anglers fishing around the DEC boat launch on lake's northwestern end Tuesday evening, none reported catching any trout.

That didn't mean, though, that those anglers didn't get any action. All reported hooking up with perch, smallmouth bass, rock bass -- even a few bullheads.

Dave Wheeler, of Camillus, holds up a 13-inch perch he caught on his dry fly during the brown drake hatch on Skaneateles Lake.David Figura | [email protected] 

Dave Wheeler, of Camillus, was fishing out of his kayak. At one point he was sitting still in the water with no action. He saw a huge, 20-plus inch trout cruise by his kayak sipping flies, but it quickly disappeared.

Suddenly, he was surrounded by a school of nice-sized perch, and began catching and pulling in one after another - all in the 10-13 inche range.

"I've caught perch doing this as big as 14 to 15 inches," he said, holding up one of his perch for a photo. "One year I caught a 19-inch smallmouth bass. I had a lot of trouble, though, getting him off the bottom. He didn't want to come up."

Ray Axtell, of Ithaca, fishing out of a kayak, tried a different tact Tuesday. He was casting a bead-headed olive wooly bugger, which sank instead of floated.

"I got into a number of perch," he said. "As it got real dusky, I moved closer to shore and started casting along the edge of the overhanging trees. I landed more than eight nice smallies that I couldn't just pull right in. Almost all were in the 13 to 14 inch range. It tired my arm out so that I had to switch hands and land them lefty."

Touran said the hatch is past its peak, and will begin quickly fading soon. He said his friends are aware of his obsession, and in the past few weeks have been constantly calling him for updates.

"I just tell them you just have to get out here and do it. It's not a science. You never know," he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog