Mostly sunny, a high of 55 F, west wind 10-15 mph at the lake, no complaints there for an early April day in western New York. My dad and I hopped in the car and headed for 18 Mile Creek.
The flow was a bit on the high side, but visibility was pretty good at 3-4 feet. We walked almost down to the mouth to fish.
It was my dad’s first time out for smallmouth, so I spent most of the day showing him the ropes. I had him working a heavy jig-like fly I tie. Fishing can be challenging at 18 Mile, especially early in the season. You need to keep your fly as close to the bottom as possible without getting snagged; easier said than done.
After about an hour of fishing, my dad turned the rod over to me. After a few dozen casts, I hooked and landed my first smallmouth of the 2020 season. A nice size fish, but nowhere near the size of the real slabs you can pull.
We fished for around 5 hours and finished the day with one smallmouth landed. The spin guys I saw out that day didn’t do remarkably well either, only a few fish here and there. Unfortunately, my dad got skunked. As I said, fly fishing the mouth is difficult. With practice, he’ll eventually get it down and catch his first smallmouth.
