Good Start to a New Season

2015 has seen a good start to the fishing season.  The snow pack melted with out the blow out conditions many of the anglers (including myself) feared.  Water is now perfect.  Wade-able flows and temperatures are making fishing great.  My son & I managed a quick outing to one of several creeks that the Warren county fish hatchery stocks annually. 

I fished with father & son clients during the week.  They managed a couple of stocked brookies and the March Browns were coming off in droves.

Next stop, Native brook trout next weekend.  My fly of choice...

Tying for Spring

With the brutality of winter this year came plenty of time at the vice to decorate some hooks.  Here are two of several patterns I use to target Brook Trout.

First is the WHIZ KID

  

Introduced to me by my good friend Al Hammel.  He brought it back with him after his residence in Montana where he befriended Mark Bauman who developed the pattern.  You can read more about the fly here: http://www.fishingwithflies.com/WhizKid.html  It can be tied and fished in several colors, however, I find natural deer hair produces well.

Next is Hugh's MICKEY HORNBERG

This pattern was taught to me by its' originator, Hugh Ruane.  It is a streamer known to experience local fly anglers of the Eastern Adirondack Region.  This streamer is plain poison on brook trout, both in flowing water and the ponds, of the Adirondacks.  I have literally caught 100's of brook trout on this streamer.  Hugh was a no bones kind of guy and if you knew him you will agree.  If you were full of shit he was not afraid to tell you so.  

I can still see him looking over his glasses while we were sitting at our vices saying to me: 

"Now, pay attention, I'm only going to show you this one time."

 I did and it pays!  He tied it for several shops and some of them claim it as their own but make no mistake.  This pattern was born in the jaws of his vice. As a tribute to Hugh, every one of these streamers I tie and card for sale will carry his name.

A Visual Testimonial

Plan "B"

My buddy Al & I planned to fish Cold River (14 mile round trip hike).  That was Plan "A".  We met at the Upper Works Trailhead and discussed the weather forecast that changed to 80% thunderstorms during the overnight.  I have been through Indian Pass during heavy storms, an experience I cared NOT to repeat.

We quickly developed plan "B".

-Six different fisheries with five different target species in 32 hours. 
Al & I managed to avoid the storms and had a bluebird day today. 

Smart fishing pays off.

 

 

  Our last location was a real workout. 

 Big boulders with deep narrow slots & tons of timber courtesy of Hurricane Irene made wading to the perfect spot for the correct presentation a chore.

In HOTWATER

I was in Hot Water this morning at 5:30.  83 degrees at that time in the morning means one thing to the trout angler.  Game Over.

Time to change species, change venues or both. 

Are there still trout in the Schroon?  Yes, a few. 

The thing is... to fish to the "Players". 

Damn few of those at this water temperature.

My fishing is a balance of  time efficiencies. 

Water Time vs. Drive Time vs. Hiking Time

 

Here's a trail marker you don't see too often. 

I like it.

Conditions

The river is super good now.  3.8ft. on the USGS gage.  I am seeing Zebra Caddis everywhere; on my truck windshield, in the bathroom, one even took the "death dive" into my open bottle of head cement last night.

I'm going to the Schroon tomorrow morning.  Full report will be on its' way.

Jim's Grand Slam

Fish with my buddy Jim on Sunday.  We covered a lot of road and a lot of water.  He scored a couple of browns and several salmon at our first stop.  I managed a few myself.  We worked our way up to the West Branch of the Ausable and he popped a nice rainbow.  I saw the take and the hook set.  It made my blood pump. 

He mentioned to me that all he needed for his FIRST Adirondack Grand Slam was a brookie!  OK, so now I'm on a mission to get him tight with a brookie- even if it kills me.  We got back to town and I beat feet for a little creek that I know has brookies.  The mosquitos nearly ate us alive but in 15 minutes, he landed a little guy about 4 inches with bright blue spots.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  Way to go Jim.

2013 Adirondack Waterfest

I got a call from my friends at Crossroads Outdoors yesterday.  They had an unforeseen family event and needed someone to cover their display at the Adirondack Waterfest today.  Sure, why not?  The next best thing to fishing is talking about it.  I got a report the 500 people passed through today.  I tied a few flies, share fish stories and got to see some folks I hadn't seen in a while.  The weather was perfect and the event organizers did a super job making everyone feel at home & making sure the participants had all their needs taken care of.  A good time was had by all.