West Canada River- NY

[nickj]

I've gained- by marriage- a summer cottage in the Barneveld area. I'm going to spend some time there end of June/beginning of July. I haven't researched it yet, but am told the West Canada is C&R Trophy water. What's needed for that time of year?

 

[dharkin]

You may want to check the canada section of this site. Try Fly Fishing in Canada - The North American Fly Fishing Forum

This may be of some help.

 

[gatortransplant]

Nick, I'm sending you a PM with a few sites that have information on that waterway with regard to hatch charts and the like. I'm not posting them here on the thread only because some have their own message boards/forums attached and due to forum rules thats a no-no. I'm in Buffalo most the year and I'd love to shoot out that way (it's 3-4 hours driving for me directly east, since Barneveld is directly east of Syracuse and pretty much dead-center of Central NY) for a scouting trip for you, but that time of year I'm usually away do to fieldwork. I'll see what I can do!

 

[peregrines]

It's a great stream-- AJ's hatch charts should get you squared away with flies.

Here's a link to NYS DEC web page on West Canada Creek-- on the right you'll see links to maps of different sections showing public access ( stream easments and parking) Fishing the West Canada Creek - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

 

[nickj]

Great, thanks, guys.

 

[dharkin]

Hope I didn't do anything wrong! If I did, please let me know.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[fire instructor]

Talked to a local from the West Canada / Hinkley Reservoir area a couple of weeks ago, and there is considerable concern over the lack of snow, lack of runn-off causing very low water, even this early in the season. June / July could likely be worse!

Hinkley has has drought concerns in several recent years, and those were years with higher snow fall / spring thaw water totals.

 

[nickj]

Hincley's at 1219 today, spillway is 1225. That seems like a pretty big river to be affected enough to cause concern, no. Or is there a drop-dead level at which the water release slows enough to bring the temps up in the river?

 

[fire instructor]

I honestly don't know enough about it as a fishery. I only fished there once, many years ago, before I took-up fly-fishing.

However, with my work hat on (I am Chief of Training & Exercise for NY State Office of Emergency Management), I can tell you that Hinkley Reservoir water release has been a huge political hot-potato in at least 2 or 3 of the last 10 years, with local battles between the Canal Authority, the power producer (Brookfield?)), the county water authority, and several other parties. This has resulted in State Drought Taskforce Meetings, Legislative Hearings, and a handful of legal actions and other administrative and media vulgarities.

As it was explained to me (and I'm not 100% read-into the matter), the ultimate water rights belong first to the power producer, then the Canal Authority, and only THEN to the Water Authority, however the water authority is rapidly expanding and seems to need more and more water every year. So the fishery and the other recreational users, both above and below the dam, are the ones who suffer....

At least twice in the last few years, water levels dropped in late Summer to the point that boat owners couldn't get their mud-bound boats out. One year (2008 or '09?) it happened before Labor Day, and vacation property owners who usually pull boats and docks on Labor Day Weekend were left high and dry.

As the power producer and the Canal Authority draw off water for their purposes, the water level drops to the point that the Water Authority intakes can no longer be safely and effectively supplied. So in the end, it also becomes a health and safety issue....

 

[mattwolf]

I sent you a pm

 

[johnin]

I fished several times and never really did as well as I had expected. If the fishing is not good, the "scenery" above the bridge at the top of the trophy water / catch and release is enjoyable during swiming weather. My home water is the West Branch of the Delaware and the fish there have Phd's. I find the West Canada trout even more selective. I hear if you time the white fly hatch just right, you can do well. Good luck!

 

[nickj]

I fished the West Canada last week. It's a nice, healthy stream full of nice healthy fish. Being that this wasn't a fishing vacation, but rather a vacation where I took some fishing gear, I didn't have quite what I needed... Those of you who've fished it know that it's pretty slippery.I was fishing in shorts and Tevas, no wading staff. There's one nice wide section where I got out as far as I was comfortable and tagged one very nice fish. The locals were wearing chest waders. I was also using my 8'6 Orvis Touch- a nice rod, but not made for that big water. I went up to below the dam- of course the water release horn sounded as I got out of the car- and caught 12-15 nice browns in about 90 minutes. Nice deep, muscular fish, kind of like Arkansas River browns here in Colorado. All were taken on an Elk Hair Caddis with a Bead Head Hare's Ear dropper, probably 3-1 in favor of the dry. Next year I'll bring some wading boots, a staff, and a different rod.

 

[nickj]

A little addendum here... I checked out two other streams while in NY, the Black River and Cincinnatti Creek. The Black is a beautiful stream with zero trout. The Cincinnatti appears to be more suited to warm water fish than trout. We explored a couple hundred yards of it, from the Trenton Assembly Park upstream, found exactly 3 fish- 2 bullheads and 1 big sucker. My guess is that these smaller local streams get fished for stockers until they're gone.