Fishing at Grindstone Creek in Oswego County, NY

If you are looking for a smaller tributary to Lake Ontario to fish during the salmon and steelhead runs Grindstone Creek may be the best option. Grindstone Creek enters Lake Ontario just south of the mouth of the Salmon River. It gets the same runs of fish as the Salmon River just on a smaller scale. Not to say the fish are smaller, but the number of fish entering the creek is less.

Personally I have found the mouth of the stream to have the best fishing. The mouth is very easy to access from Selkirk Shores State Park. The Park is just off route 3 and just south of the Salmon River. Access to the park is very simple. There are maps located at the office to direct you to the large parking lot on the shore of the lake. Just to the south of the parking area is the mouth of Grindstone Creek. The mouth of the creek can be seen just by looking at the shoreline of Lake Ontario.

The stream near Lake Ontario is very placid and normally does not have a strong current. Fly-fishing this section with the normal style of dragging an egg pattern on the bottom is not very effective. This is streamer water. Use different styles of wet flies and streamers and swing them downstream. Remember these are fresh fish straight out of the lake and they are still actively feeding. The strikes on streamers are normally fast and hard. Although the fish don't have a large area to make runs in you should try to avoid the fish running back into the lake.

Upstream of Selkirk Shores State Park there are more DEC designated parking areas. The stream upstream of route 3 to Fernwood looks much more like your typical trout stream. There are long shallow riffles, deep pools, and short runs. The larger lake run fish will often be holding in the larger pools. However, this stream does have a resident population of rainbow and brook trout that can be caught throughout the stream. In Fernwood there is a dam that stops the upstream movement of the lake run fish. So concentrate your efforts between route 3 and Fernwood.

Grindstone Creek can be very productive in certain years and get poor runs of fish in other years. The number of fish that enter the Grindstone depends largely on precipitation and strays from the Salmon River. While it is common to stay in the same spot and see fish all day on the Salmon River, the Grindstone may require some walking to find fish and most holes will only produce a few fish. Productive patterns for this stream are much the same as other Lake Ontario tributaries. Egg patterns are always effective, but streamers and other subsurface patterns will work as well.

For those looking for an alternative to the Salmon River, Grindstone Creek is a great option. It is a smaller tributary to Lake Ontario, but it is still wide enough to fly fish effectively. In wet years the Grindstone Creek gets good runs of fish and can be very productive. From the mouth of the stream to the dam in Fernwood there are numerous fishing opportunities to catch these lake run giants.