Once in a Lifetime

Once in a while, you put yourself in the right place, at the right time doing the right thing.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I spent the day fishing tributaries of lakes that hold landlocked salmon.  To make a long story short- this fish took a Shushan Postmaster streamer on the swing.  When things came tight, I knew I was into something really good.  Seven heart pounding jumps and twenty minutes later, I landed this anomaly.

Notice the hook? Someone hooked and lost this fish

Specs.
Rod- Orvis Access 5 wt. Mid Flex
Reel- Orvis Battenkill Mid Arbor
Streamer- Shushan Postmaster
On the Scale- 4.89 lbs
Lenght 24 1/4"

As a rule, I'm a Catch & Release guy but this one is headed to the taxidermist

 

A Good Weekend in Pulaski

I had been reading posts all week from Pulaski about the "Big Run".  I have seen this before only to get there and find a stray fish or two but when I read "biggest one day push of Kings" on the DSR website, that is some pretty "Tough Talk" so there must be some fish to back it up.  When we stopped at the gatehouse of the DSR Saturday morning the employees were buzzing with excitement.  Yup, it must be good.  Trevor & I got our passes and marched down the stairs to the Meadow.  We waded to mid river and my first cast produced a nice hen.  Nirvana has found its' way to the Douglaston.  I landed 7 of 16 and kept 3.  Trevor battled several and managed to fill his stringer too.  We made the death march out at 11:00.    

Sunday was a bit slower but we had a goal to get Trev to hook, fight and land his own fish.  Once he got the hang of the drift, he was hooking fish consistantly but had a lot of break-offs.  Persistant; he poked one right in the jaw around 10:00.  He battled the big buck on an upstream run that took him to the backing.  After a brief chase, Trev managed to get his head to turn downstream and beached the brute near the place where he hooked him.  Nice Job boy!!!  I ended the weekend in the front yard with 18 king fillets in the cooler all iced up and ready for the smoker, canning and a few fresh steaks to friends and family.  What a Weekend!

Big appreciation for Smallies

Any experienced angler will attest to the fact that, pound for pound, small mouth bass are one of the most tenacious-hard fighting fish in fresh water. I have always been one of those trout rule bass drool guys but the drought conditions this summer have forced me to reexamine my angling values and give smallies another shot.

Fishing the past two weeks has changed my paradigm. I have targeted smallies in rivers, something I would never do as a rule but, things are shaking out to my advantage. I have found they readily take a black bugger so "match the hatch" is not a requirement and a one pound smallie in moderate riffles will put a good bend in a 5wt. rod.



Yesterday I got into a bunch of 3 and 4 pounders (sorry no pix) and put the 8wt. away in favor of the 5wt. Gearing down will test your limits and keep you sharp. 



When clients call I am going to encourage them to take a trip for smallies. I’m sure they won’t be disappointed.

Client Trip - Friday, July 6 -

I fished with Jim this morning.  He did really well for probably one of the toughest days of the year.  Jim picked up a rainbow from the river first thing this morning then I took him into the woods for some brook trout and he caught his first ever brookie from a very technical situation.  Well done Jim!  We worked like hell for a brown as the morning wore on but were denied the triple.  Water conditions were our limiting factor.

Conditions are SUPER BONEY DRY.  WE NEED RAIN. 

I have resolved not to trout fish until we get some serious precipitation. 

The browns are schooling up and they are very spooky.  Not a great time to be harrasing them with the hook, not they will take one anyway.

Some pictures from the morning:

Sunday Afternoon

Had a great time with Christian, a first time fly angler from Texas!  He was roll casting and doing a water loaded cast like a champ in no time.  I moved us upriver and he was getting rises all night.  As with all dry fly fishing, it took him a while to learn how to pull the trigger but once he did, he was sticking them in good shape!  One of the best parts of this "job" is meeting new people and discovering how much we have in common.

Big Fat Brownies

I fished the river this morning and got into some nice browns.  Big Dries saw ALL the action this morning.  Best producing flies were an Ausable Bomber and Yellow Stimulator.  My client tomorrow night is in for a real treat if these guys make another apperance.

One of 5 Rainbows this morning.

Check out the rose color on the gill plate!

Creel total this morning:

7 Brown Trout

5 Rainbow Trout

1 Smallie

&

A Pumpkinseed  :)

all released.

Superior Dry Fly Conditions

The river is at optimum summer condition.  Running at 2.50 on the USGS gage, temp about 75.  There are still penty of stockies to catch and they have had a chance to spread out.  So walk the banks and look for rise forms upstream to cast to.  The substraight you will encounter in most of the river will be boulder size and smaller.  For that reason I usually walk the banks up river and look for fish rising then carefully wade down stream casting at a 45 degree angle down & across, swing wets and streamers.

Now is the time for Stimulators with a dropper, big Zebra Caddis  & flying ants.  Popping a stimulator on the surface will bring good results.

Chris

Schroon River May 21

I fished the Schroon with Alec tonight from 7:30 till almost dark.  It was stupid.  Stockies rising every where and taking everything we threw at them.  I fished a black ADK Ugly Bugger on the swing for a while with good results but I just couldn't resist all the rising fish.  On goes the elk hair caddis & let the good times roll.  I love skating the caddis.  A little animation make the stocked fish go crazy.  17 in an hour.  Alec had nearly the same.  Nothing big but just fun to catch.

The water is about 60 degrees and I did see a few Light Cahills coming off right at dusk.

Be careful wading.  The river is still up pretty big.  I only had a few inches of free-board on the waders tonight.

Sometimes ya' win- Sometimes Ya' loose

I spent the last two nights fishing with Alec who is home from Montana for a brief stay before returning to his summer job at The Trout Shop in Craig.  The first night we hit Starbuckville Dam.  The bite was pretty slow for me until I tie into a fair size Landlocked Salmon.  I was nymphing with a 5x tippet.  ( I guess you already know where this part of the story is going ).  A heavy fish of about 18"+ inches, he made 4 fantastic jumps while heading for the swiftest current of mid river.  I was into my backing faster than I have ever been before.  I turned up the drag one notch and against better judgement; put my hand ever so gently against the spool to temper the drag a bit more.  He made his last jump and everything went slack.

Night two was redemption.  Alec and I headed for one of our usual spots.  The water was up and the caddis hatch was thick.  We spent the first part of the evening with Alec scoring all the hook ups.  I decided to put the new Orvis Access to work and pumped out a 50' cast to mid-river, made a heavy mend to pop the fly off the water for a split second to give it a bit of animation.  Just as it bounced back to the waters surface, I saw the telltale flash and I was on. A good size brown with lots of fight in him.  He bulled the drag hard and tailed up trying to rub the hook on boulders and timber in the river bottom to no avail.

Sometimes Ya' win- Sometimes Ya' loose.  That's fishing.

West Branch of the Ausable

I fished along route 86 this morning without so much as a tug.  All the anglers I spoke to were in the same boat as I.  Not much of a surprise, Hurricane Irene really  flushed the river but good last fall.  I spent most of my time looking at water and searching for fish.  No rises even though there was a pretty good hendrickson hatch as the morning sun warmed the river into the noon hour.  Route 73 was closed along Cascade Lake this morning so I didn't bother to go to the Iron Bridge.  I guess we will have to wait for the state to bring the goods this week.  

I stopped at Schroon falls on the way home and managed to hookup with a 10" landlock.  He was a bit camera shy but I managed a quick snap shot before he spit the ADK Ugly Bugger and took his leave.

Brookies & Bows

I fished Starbuckville Dam again this morning.  23 trout in 2 hours.  Finally!  The water is super low but plenty cold enough to keep these fish going. 

Don Lehman with the Post Star writes that the gates will be closed sometime this week.  A good move.  this will make more water over the dam & ladder and less pumping through the spillways.  That should help the fish spread out and get them finding more food.  Here's a link to his article http://poststar.com/blogs/adirondack_outdoors/starbuckville-dam/article_dead753c-8aef-11e1-b646-001a4bcf887a.html

I caught plenty of rainbows this morning.  I think they just needed a couple more days to acclimate to the new surroundings.  After 90 minutes of fishing the nymph with good success, I changed over to a dry fly (Uncas Emerger) when I saw a trout swirl on the surface.  No hatch but, no matter.  The rainbows were taking/ trying to take the dry.  It is funny to watch trout feed on the surface when they are not used to eating that way.  I had bows jumping over my fly trying to take it but miss it by a couple inches only to come back and try again.  I think I landed 6 or 7 on the Uncas Emerger this morning. Fun-Fun-Fun!

Kuddos to the Warren County Fish Hatchery for producing some very nice health fat trout for this years stocking.  Well done.

IT IS ON

I fished Starbuckville Dam this afternoon and found some very nice brookies have been stocked.  I also have knowledge of 2 landlocked salmon in the three pound class that were caught there today as well.  I can only assume that the Warren County Fish Hatchery made a stop at the Schroon River this week. Hurray!
My best flies of the afternoon were the ADK Ugly Bugger, Trout Retriever and Woven Lace Nymph.  I have tied up a supply of those flies for the Crossroads Country Store http://www.crossroadsoutdoors.com/index.asp .  I will be tying up more to keep their supply full.  So if you are looking for the right fly, stop there before you hit the dam.


I don't keep fish from the Schroon River.  It would be like burning your golf balls after playing 18 holes.  It just doesn't make sense.


Here are some pictures of the trout I threw back today.

Best get here before the worm dunkers kill them all

Chris