Spring steelhead

[Art Friedlander]

Looking for advice on guides for floating the Salmon river and any experience with the spring run on the Salmon and also the Erie tribs compared to the fall run in terms of quality and quantity.

Thanks

Art

[Rob Snowhite]

Deyo’s Guide Service. Mike is owner. Aka ‘Dirty Bill’. 

From what I’ve learned the spring steelhead are skinny and worn out from spawning and a winter in the river. I went a few years ago with no luck. Ramps grow wild along the stream if you are into foraging. 

You can here Mike explain the drop backs on this podcast: 

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 7, 2026, at 2:54 PM, Art Friedlander <just...@gmail.com> wrote:



Looking for advice on guides for floating the Salmon river and any experience with the spring run on the Salmon and also the Erie tribs compared to the fall run in terms of quality and quantity.

Thanks

Art

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http://www.tpfr.org
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[Sean Steele]

I’ve done the fall run twice and if the spring is anything like the fall, fly fishermen are working incredibly hard for very little payoff — while the hundreds / thousands of guys looking to foul hook or snag a fish as it works upstream are the ones “winning”. Maybe targeting steelhead on the fly in the spring is better or different, but salmon fishing was a colossal bust for us.

-Sean 

 

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From: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Rob Snowhite <r...@robsnowhite.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 7, 2026 10:15:34 PM
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Spring steelhead

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/A3B5BC93-ABB2-491F-9D8E-7DD592E842A2%40robsnowhite.com.

[Yambag Nelson]

Right now the water is pretty cold and high on the salmon.  Fresh fish should be coming and and fishing should pick up into april but by may you will mostly be seeing dropback fish which can be very aggressive  but skinny.  

On the Erie tribs the fish can leave pretty early depending on the system, especially if there isn't a ton of rain.  The Catt usually has fish through april and into May (when large lake run smallmouth can also enter) but so much of the river is off limits now I don't know if I would go with that as my target stream.  The smaller and shale bottom type streams will have fish for the next few weeks but it isn't unheard of for those fish to be done by April.  I was in Buffalo this weekend and the erie tribs up that way are all up and high which should bring fish.  

For both Ontario and Erie I prefer the fall fishing but you can definitely have good days in the spring.  Conditions and fish behavior are just more variable.  

[Art Friedlander]

I greatly appreciate all the advice.

I know it's always dicey as to when the fish are in, having experienced that previously.

Since I can take off on short notice, are there any good websites that give reliable information about the daily conditions.

Also, does anyone know if there are any guides that float the Cattaraugus?

Thanks again

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