NBC Sports highlights Oak Orchard, pilot fishing program with canal water

This screenshot from “On the Water” shows program publisher and host Chris Megan and Bill Sweitzer, marketing director for the Canal Corp., fishing in the Oak Orchard River. Megan caught a mammoth brown trout that day. The Oak Orchard benefited from a pilot program with canal water released into the tributary in November and December. That improved the water flows in the Oak Orchard and extended the fishing season.

Press Release, NYS Canal Corp.

CARLTON – The New York State Canal Corporation on Friday announced the Reimagine the Canals initiative was recently featured on the NBC Sports program “On the Water: Angling Adventures.”

The television show highlighted the successful launch of a pilot program that strategically used water from the Erie Canal to enhance already renowned fishing opportunities in Western New York during the fall of 2020. The full episode can be seen by clicking here.

“The Reimagine the Canals initiative is making an outstanding positive impact on Western New York’s fishing communities and canalside businesses and we are thrilled that NBC Sports chose to showcase our recent pilot program that enhanced the angling experience along tributaries supplied by water from the Erie Canal,” said New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian U. Stratton.

Chris Megan holds a big brown trout he caught in the Oak Orchard River. He praised the fishing opportunities in the Oak.

“The Reimagine the Canals initiative, first announced by Governor Cuomo in his 2020 State of the State address, is committed to supporting many recreational opportunities along the Canal system to ensure it remains a driver of economic development and tourism across Upstate New York,” Stratton said.

Filmed last fall, the episode features the fishing experience on Oak Orchard Creek and Sandy Creek in Orleans and Monroe counties. Through the Reimagine the Canals program, the Canal Corporation increased regulated water releases into the two streams from September to early December last year.

As seen during the episode, the higher flows successfully enticed more brown trout, steelhead, and Atlantic and Pacific salmon populations to run up these streams, improving conditions for the fish and expanding opportunities for local and visiting anglers.

“The New York Canal system presents anglers with world class angling opportunities steeped in American history,” said Chris Megan, publisher and host of “On the Water.” “An engineering marvel, the Erie Canal has been in operation since 1825, opening the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River. Hand dug by immigrants and farmers and enlarged twice, its effect on commerce was dramatic. As an avid angler and history buff, I jumped at the opportunity to spend two days fishing Upstate New York.”

The episode also includes a look at the history of the waterway with canal historian Art Cohn, a boat trip through the Cayuga-Seneca Canal onto Seneca Lake to troll late season lake trout, and a visit to one of New York’s hidden fishing gems where anglers come from all over the world to target the common carp that swim in the Erie Canal’s lakes and locks.