The 100 year flood

As I compose this post, the Schroon River is over its' banks.  The USGS gage reading is 10.52 feet (third highest in history).  Not since 1913 has the river seen this amount of water.  Heavy damage to the area down stream in the Warrensburg area is certain.  The fishing has been pushed back a month at best.  What this will do to the rivers geographic features and the fauna is unknow but change is definate.

I'll be posting this evening with pictures

The beginning of a new season

Alec, my buddy & guide apprentice, & I got into some early season browns this morning.   Eventhough things have started out with a neverending push of snowmelt, we managed to find a few willing stocked browns to play with.  Most rivers are still bank full or more with spring run off.  Schroon Lake opened up this week but most of the ponds are still holding a stubborn topping of ice.  Friends lake just gave up the last of its' ice this morning.  If you venture out, use the buddy system & be safe.  The water is exteremely cold one slip could result in a quick case of hypothermia.  Stay tunes for frequent updates as the season progresses.

Stocking has begun

Found these fine gentlemen while on a family outing today

Pre Season

Fished the river today for the first time in a long time.  Nice to cast a rod and not have to deal with iced up guides.  No fish (yet) but signs of life are starting to show up. 

Winter Stonefly Nymph & Sub Imago:

 

Alec testing out the new Pontoon:

Searching TumbleHead for a left-over:

A perfect day on Schroon Lake

I took the boys out for a day of ice fishing on Schroon Lake.  The weather was perfect and it was an average bite.  Everyone wound up sheding a layer as the temps climbed to the thirty degree mark full sun and no wind.  We iced two lake trout and had six flags over a six hour period.

Slowing down

A picture is worth a thousand words so this photo should speak volumes about the fishing on my section of Brant Lake as of late.

I took a newbie out to cut his teeth cut on ice fishing. We tried a couple other synonyms (feet wet, uh, No. Breaking the ice- definitely not) anyway the fishing was slow.

With the heavy snow cover, the insulation factor has actually allowed some spring fed bottom water to melt up through the surface in shallow bays, USE CAUTION.

Heavy snow on ice makes for some nasty conditions, the aforementioned thin ice and slush, lots of it.

We are predicted for more heavy snow on Wednesday. We will just have to see where this leads us.

I called a buddy on Sunday & he was on the lower end of Schroon Lake in the Adirondack area. He reported 4 inches of ice with slush and snow cover. I would not venture out on that but he made it home alive thankfully. If you venture out, be alert, be safe and expect changing ice conditions as you move about.

A Sunday Surprise

While jigging for perch sunday, I was rewarded with a nice 17" Rainbow Trout.

It's always better to be lucky than good