Hold the Line Outfitters

Every trip here is on foot. Nothing is fished from a boat: anglers hike into the gorges and glacier-carved waterways of the Steelhead Alley country, and Cattaraugus Creek is the declared specialism, fished alongside the lower Niagara River and the Oak Orchard, with smaller tributaries including Chautauqua, Canadaway and Eighteen Mile picked up when conditions send the party elsewhere. Lake-run steelhead, brown trout and salmon are the quarry, and smallmouth bass come into the same water in season. Traditional presentation leads and the guides rate spey and switch rods as an advantage on many of these streams, but they also fish a range of nymphing and less orthodox methods to cover water and find fish when the conditions turn hard. Rates are $400 for one angler and $600 for two, with half days at $300 and $500, and a third rod can sometimes be accommodated depending on ability. Flies, leaders, tippet, lunch, snacks, drinks and photographs come with the day; the licence and the gratuity do not. Bookings take a $100 deposit, refundable in full on thirty days’ notice.