Tuesday broke clear and cool. We arrived at the creek just before dawn and made our way down the access path. To our pleasant surprise the large pool at the bottom of the path was vacant. I favor fishing this pool especially when the creek water is low and running clear as it was today. The four of us spread out from the top of the long pool to the tail out. It wasn't too long before I broke the early morning silence with “fish on”! After a short battle, I brought a 7 pound steelhead to net. Great start! After each of us had a few hook ups, Pat and I headed upstream to check out the Archer Flats Pool, a long wide gravel bed area. There, we spotted several salmon working the beds. Mixed in and just behind the salmon were several very nice sized browns working along the structure and current seam. It wasn’t long before we both hooked up a couple of 5 to 6 pound browns. Pat put his flyrod down and got out his Canon and began shooting some great images. The browns were a mix of males and females, all colored up in their fall spawning suits. It was instructional for me to watch Pat work the camera and subject to get the best possible shots. After awhile we headed back downstream to the access pool to check on Dave and Joe. Pat shot some images of Joe hooking and landing a good sized male.

After a short break for lunch, the four of us set up in same pool that we had started the day in. The afternoon fishing was pretty good with a mix of browns and steelhead. It was getting on in the afternoon and with the light getting dim, I tied on my favorite low light fluorescent yellow cluster fly. On my second cast, just as the fly line swung down stream, I felt a super hard take and set the hook to the side. “Fish on “I blurted out. My 6 weight bent over like a twig as line screamed off the reel. This wasn’t the typical 5 to 8 pound trout by the feel of it. My gut instinct said that this fish has got to be a fresh, late arriving salmon, but it’s fighting more like a brown. After about 5 or 6 minutes I was able to get a reasonable look at the hard pulling fish. As I strained to view the fish some 10 feet from me I quickly realized that this was not your average or even a large Oak brown trout, but a huge female! The fight went on for another 10 minutes before I managed to get the cow to the net. The four of us looked down at the trout with amazement, it had to go over twenty pounds. Other anglers who had gathered around were all saying “that’s the biggest brown trout I have ever seen”, same here, I exclaimed! The trout measured up at 31” long by 24 ½” in girth. Using the standard length/girth calculation the trout weighed in at 22 (+) pounds! I was careful to keep the big girl well oxygenated between photos and spent several minutes reviving her before she swam off well recovered. Great end to a fantastic day on the Oak

Dinner that evening was filled with discussion about the fantastic fishery the Oak was. Super browns, Chinook, Coho and Atlantic salmon, steelhead and domestic rainbows are all possible in this small spate river. Hat’s off and praise to the NY fisheries folks. We made plans for the next day. Dave and Joe were staying at the Oak and would fish till noon time and then head home from there. Pat and I would drive west to meet up with Paul Jacobs and his clients at the” Catt”.

Wednesday morning had us up at 5 am. We said goodbye to Joe and Dave (and wished them good angling)and headed for the thruway. As we was got closer to the Cattaraugus, we called Paul for directions to where he would be. As it turned out I had fished this area two weeks earlier so it was no problem locating them. Pat and I headed down the path to the river bank and as we approached, we saw Paul netting up a nice steelhead that one of his two clients had hooked. Pat immediately got the Canon out and began shooting images. Paul Jacobs is probably the best guide in that region of W NY. His fishing resume was extensive for a guy young in years. He has several other guides working for him and they all have significant angling skills. Visit their web site: Reel Action Fly. Paul, with clients Stan and Kevin, who are skillful and experienced anglers, hooked and landed a dozen or more real nice steelhead each. It was evident that Paul was expert in these waters; he knew the what, where, and the how to this creek.He also impressed me with the real affection that he displayed for the fish in the way he handled and released them. As Paul got time, he worked with Pat and me and put us on quite a few steelhead as well. For me, the opportunity to observe Paul and his techniques were invaluable. The ride back east to the Oak went by quickly as we reminisced about the terrific fishing that day. I look forward to coming out and fishing the Catt again. When we returned to Albion, I called Dave and asked how the day went for them. Dave reported that he and Joe had had a great day; each of them landed several browns a few steelhead and he believed that we would have a great day as well on Thursday.

The morning broke clear and quite a bit chillier than the past few days. Pat and I were eager to get down to the creek and get a line wet. We lucked out again and got into the big pool at the bottom of the access path. Pat was first to hook up, a nice chunky steelhead. I followed that up with a nice brown hook up but lost it before getting it to the net. That pattern of hooking up and losing fish continued all morning for me. On the other hand, Pat was having a great morning hooking and landing several browns. It seemed that the only luck I was having that morning was hooking and landing the very same female king salmon twice! By late morning we noticed that the creek level and water flow had dropped off to just about nothing. I speculated that the folks at the dam were preparing to begin the Erie Canal fall water release. Within the next ½ hour, the water flow came up strong with a great deal of stain and tree leaves flushing downstream. We decided to break for lunch and hoped that the water level and stain would return to normal. When we returned to the creek, we were happy to see that the creek had cleared. We lucked out again finding the access pool vacant. Pat asked what fly I was using and I replied; you know the small blue cluster egg. And on the very next cast, my line went tight and the reel began to sing, loudly! Before I knew it, the fish had run me into my backing and was well down and across the wide part of the creek. I put the rod down low and applied heavy sideways pressure. The fish stopped and slowly I managed to gain back most of my fly line. I got the fish close to my side of the creek when it decided to head out again and quickly I was back into my backing. I applied and held the sideways pressure again until the fish relented and slowly regained my line. This time the fish was more tired and I got my first glimpse of another huge brown, this time a male with a magnificent kyped jaw. I carefully played the fish to the net. Wow! By this time Pat was ready with the Canon and he took several good shots while I made sure that the fish had plenty of time back in water to maintain good oxygen level. The trout measured 30 inches in length with a girth of 19 inches. By calculation, the brown weighed in at 16+ pounds. I couldn’t have been happier to release that magnificent trout back to the stream. We fished for another hour before calling it a day and (a trip).

Dave, Joe, Pat and I had a great trip out to W NY; we caught lots of quality trout, got several hundred photographs, and many memories that will last a lifetime. It was great fishing with Pat again and I look forward to fishing with him in the future.