The bridge construction on Route 98 past (or just north of) Orleans Outdoor is done. Phew! Thanks for all your support during the traffic detour away from the shop. We look forward to getting going again for the fall, winter and spring trib fishing season as things begin to develop thru Sept. Also look for the red button above and visit our Big Tackle Sale and New Trib Gear page for other specific tackle sale items. More items added all the time.

Lodging dates are available for fall 2008. Call soon to reserve any of the following available prime dates.

Sept dates available.

Oct 1 thru 3, two rooms. Oct 4 thru 8, three rooms. Oct 9 thru 18, two rooms. Oct 24 and 25, three rooms.

Nov 16 thru 18, three rooms. Nov 19, two rooms. Nov 20, one room. Nov 23 and forward rooms available.

The salmon are coming! Close on their heels will be the browns and steelhead. Thru the end of Aug and now into Sept, lake charter anglers report lots of salmon staged at around 60 feet of water or less off the rivermouth. A few fish have been caught even closer to the river mouth as trollers make a few passes at first light. Spoon casters are getting out now at the rivermouth with a few fish hooked, and there will be lots more action with any cool downs, winds or precip to encourage fish to move closer in-shore. I'm sure some early salmon have "scouted" the river mouth already and come in quite shallow with a handful perhaps committed to running the whole river to the Waterport dam.

Lakeshore waters are calm and warm now with the most recent unseasonably warm weather. Now thru Sept there will be some river mouth and lower river action for the casting and small boat trolling crowd. The warm temps right now may stall any on-shore migrations, but fish may came quick after any change in the upcoming weather. You can get in on the hardest fighting, biggest and freshest salmon of the year by hitting the earliest parts of the salmon migrations. A generally wet year so far means good trib flows and fish hopefully well spread thru all the other trib flows. And there's always the generally consistent flows in the Oak Orchard thanks to the Erie Canal water feed.

SEPTEMBER TACKLE SALE

Be ready for the upcoming fishing action with some great savings on our in-stock items from last season. Lots of great fly gear available. All gear that is normally greater then $99 is on sale for 20% OFF. This inludes most all rods, reels, waders, jackets etc... Hurry this sale will only last till the end of Sept. Call us to see what is available and we might even sweeten the deals with more savings like FREE flyline, mono or tackle. Let us put together a rig for you now when we can really focus on getting it set-up perfect for you.

St. Croix(rods), GLoomis(rods, reels), Redington(rods, reels, waders, jacs), Echo(rods), Cortland(rods, reels), Raven(rods, reels), Daiwa(reels), Sheffield(rods, reels), Okuma(rods, reels), US Reel Supercaster(reels), Ross Worldwide(rods, reels), Bauer(reels), Lamson(reels), Hodgman(waders, jacs, boots), Korkers(boots), William Joseph(waders), Stearns(waders), Chota(waders, boots) and Pacific Fly(jacs).

We're on our summer operating schedule now till about the end of Sept. The shop is open Thu, Fri, Sat and Sun. Lodging is available everyday and all telephone calls will be returned promptly. Thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you this fall.

This conditions page is updated everyday during the fall, winter and spring tributary seasons of October thru April.

Sportman's Archers Club of St. Mary's Catch and Release Fly Fishing Contest on Oct 22, 23 and 24, 2008. Youth division added for 2008. Come experience the fun and hospitality of the Archers Club and join them for the three day contest including breakfast and lunch with lots of prizes and parking. Sign up early and park and fish all week. Niagara County Fish Odyssey 2008 takes place Sept 20th thru the 28th, 2008. A great opportunity for anglers fishing from their own two feet or small boats. Orleans County waters are eligible. We have applications at the shop or email us.

Here's some observations on the past trib season and outlook for 2008/2009.

Back in the fall 2007, the heavens were aligned for Oak Orchard River fishing! Stream access resolved, good water flows thanks to Erie Canal water feed, moderate weather, loads of Sept & Oct salmon, consistent brown trout fishing thru Dec and bonus rainbow/steelhead action thru-out. Were you one of the lucky or observant anglers that took advantage of all the great action? You had good opportunities to catch fish whatever your favorite method the whole fall/early winter; chucking a spoon, drifting skein, fly fishing with an egg pattern or nymph or bugger, float fishing an egg sac or jig or fly, casting and retreiving a streamer - at one time or another any of those methods worked great. Did you stay away and lament about the crowds? Even when it is most crowded say early on, there are certainly still more then enough fish to offer chances at hook-ups. That's without even considering spreading out on other WNY tribs beside the Oak Orchard! Waiting till mid and end Nov thru Dec would have offered you even less crowded angler conditions and some of the best brown trout action of the season. Many fishermen are out chasing venison or doing the holiday thing come that time of year and the waterways are way less crowded.

January was a little tough. The winter that didn't even look like it was going to happen, did turn cold and serious enough that also lead to some frustrating frozen conditions on the smaller waterways that persisted thru the spring fishing.

So then all that snow began to melt in fits and starts Feb and Mar. The weather was up and down. You were waiting for perfect weather and water conditions that never materialized. And the economy started to falter. You might have been busy paying off Christmas, working more, trying to save money and had less time off. Then gas prices began to tighten the economic noose even more. Want to hear something that probably won't make you feel any better now? The steelhead fishing was pretty good and next to no one was fishing on the Oak Orchard. I mean there were never any serious crowds this past winter and spring. Regulars were amazed at how little fishing pressure there was thru prime steelhead conditions. Those anglers enjoyed some great unharried fishing, hooking some big steelhead in the high water flows. Here's a point to consider. The fishing pressure thru the winter and spring here is cut more then in half compared to the fall action, and at a time (winter and spring) when the water conditions could support even more angling pressure given the higher and stained flows. Do we have steelhead numbers say like some Lake Erie tribs? No. Are you going to catch any 15 - 20 pounders on a lake Erie trib? Also no.

Thanks to generally cool if not cold weather, there was good steelhead action in the Oak Orchard till at least the end of Apr. The drop back steelhead lingered and offered angling opportunities for those hard fighting, aggressive fish. If you hung in till May even you still would have caught some along with fresh arriving smallmouth bass. Then thru May here in WNY you could have kept into the steelhead action by hitting the largest waterways that were still hanging on to cool water temps like the Catt, Niagara or Genesee Rivers. Lastly for some big trout action you could have caught brown trout to 10 plus pounds from the rivermouth and shoreline areas easily thru May with this angler landing the last good fish the begin of June.

What does the Oak Orchard River, Lake Ontario and WNY offer? The chance to fish from your own two feet for trout and salmon you measure in pounds, not inches, for 7 - 9 months depending upon weather and water conditions. Sure these recent economic times may make it more difficult to make a fishing trip to WNY. We would point out though, that a day or few day trip here to the Oak Orchard River and WNY to fish for World Class trout and salmon is still easily the best bargain in trophy fishing. The working man's big trout and salmon trip is still here, and it's not even a contest compared to the other exotic, far off angling destinations. The 2008/2009 trib season prospects look good. King salmon action has been good out in the Lake this summer so the fall trib action should follow suit. Brown trout action seems to be on a bit of an upswing the past year or two and there should be some big fish around this fall evidenced by the nice size fish caught this past spring. Oh-yeah, and the steelhead fishing. That's for sure improving over the past couple years for those who get out and fish the high water steelhead conditions.

Lastly one more point about these web reports. We don't make this stuff up. Everything reported in 2007/2008 was the real deal to the best of our knowledge. Our reports are the straightest poop by far about Oak Orchard and most WNY conditions. When we said the Oak Orchard was loaded with salmon in the fall of 2007 we weren't making it up. When we said the brown trout action was best thru Nov and Dec 2007 we weren't just trying to get you here to buy tackle. When we said the Jan 2008 winter conditions were challenging we weren't just looking for some time off. When we said the 2008 high water spring steelhead fishing was good for some trophy sized fish under little or no angling pressure, we weren't trying to get you here to fish a blown out muddy trib. When we said you could catch some nice shoreline browns thru Apr or May 2008 we weren't just hoping to sell you a few spoons. When we said there was still chances at steelhead action thru May 2008 in the larger tribs we weren't hoping to just book a few days lodging. We are living and experiencing all this action directly or thru trusted reports of other die hard anglers as it happens, so consider a fishing trip here to the Oak Orchard or any of the other WNY tribs this 2008/2009 trib season. Orleans Outdoor and the angling opportunities here are still easily the best value in trout and salmon sportfishing.

Tributary Fly Fishing class on Oct 04, 2008. Beginning and intermediate fly fishers can learn how easy it is to get started fishing for the trophy sized trout and salmon of the Great Lakes tributaries. The all day class includes a power point presentation, fishing techniques, casting, lunch and on the water demos. Call or email soon to pre-register for the fall class. Spring 2009 class also offered.

The NYSDEC concluded a two year Lake Ontario tributary angler creel survey started in the fall 2005 through 2007. The survey will help DEC to continue to effectively manage the important trib fishery and gather info on population trends, habitat preferences, angler effort and more. Many anglers voiced their opinions about brown trout creel limits in the tribs with support for a regulation change (similiar to the current steelhead trib limit) building for the next appropriate reg cycle.

So how do you know if trophy trout and salmon will be catchable upon your travels to the Oak Orchard and WNY area? All the best web info, bulletin boards, angler skill and top notch equipment cannot replace getting out there and actually fishing! The nuances of fish migrations is an inexact science and we cannot predict the future. Fish as soon as reasonable conditions allow instead of waiting for supposed better conditions that may or may not materialize. Be one of the lucky few that experiences good fishing as it takes place instead of hearing that famous quote, "you should have been here yesterday!"

Tight lines and smooth drags!
Licorice Man