NY trout fishing tonight - Wednesday

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ganman
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NY trout fishing tonight - Wednesday

Post by ganman »

Tonight I went down to the Black River in Northern New York.

Before I reached Watertown it starts to spit and by the time I'm heading south on Rte 12 it's turned to drizzle and the temperature drops from 26C down to 22C. As I climb in elevation along the edge of Tug Hill Plateau it continues to drop to 18C.

Normally there are some great vistas on the trip down. On some days you can see over 50 miles from the Tug Hill side east across the Black River valley to the the Adirondacks but this afternoon a low mist hangs over the entire valley obscuring the great view.

Fifteen minutes south of Lowville at Port Leyden I turn off 12 and follow the Black River along the River Road. The road hugs tight to the river bank in places and often you can see trout rise as your driving along. Thankfully its rare to meet anyone coming the other way as you're gawking. On many occasions you see deer and turkeys too.

A few miles along I stop at a roadside pulloff to check the water level and see if there are any trout feeding. There are a few feeding but not in the numbers I was looking for. I'm hoping the drizzle and cloud cover will have the insects doing there thing early tonight.

I jump back in the truck and drive another couple miles to where we fished last week. There are a few fish feeding but along the entire stretch for 1/2 mile on either side of the bridge I see nobody else fishing. I decide to give it a try. Perhaps with the drizzle, cloud cover and cooler temperatures they might be active enough.

From the bridge I see a tiny dimple here and there. From experience I know this means the trout are eating something dead in the surface film. I put on a #14 spinner, not the spinning lure but a spent wing mayfly imitation. This particular stage of the mayfly is called that because of its rythmic up and down flying. I rub floatant on the fly and on my leader except for the final few feet. I want that to sink. A floating line throws a shadow.

Within minutes of wading into position a trout rises within 50 feet. I make a mental note of exactly where it rose coordinating it with objects on the bank. I wade within 30 and make an upstream and across cast and drop the fly 10 feet ahead of where the trout rose. As it drifts downstream my leader catches a tiny seam in the current which pulls it off course, pulling the leader quicker than the fly. This is called drag and causes the fly to move faster than the current and sometimes it spooks the trout.

I punch the next cast an extra foot and throw a reach cast at the end, then a quick mend to counter the tricky current. When the fly drifts down it passes into the feeding lane right on target. There it is a tiny sip and I raise my rod tip and feel the intial pulse and throb of a trout. The long fly rod absorbs the initial bucks and runs so the trout, a rainbow comes to the surface and cuts a jagged white scar across the smooth dark surface. Soon I have him in hand. The rainbow was likely stocked last year as a drab skinny 8 incher. Today though he's a plump foot long trout and colourful, shades of olive, pink, purple with a red slash down his side.

I release the rainbow and as I'm drying my fly I hear a splash behind me in the shallows. It's gotta be a little brookie leaping out of the water to chase some tiny (sz 26) yellow stoneflies that have been fluttering around. My spinner is huge in comparison and not anything like what the brookie is feeding on but that dosen't seem to matter to gullible little brookies. I cast to where I saw it jump. The fly drifts a couple inches and true to form the brookie smacks it hard. He puts up a spirited tuussle but at 7" he gets dragged in quick and released.

For the next couple hours it continues to drizzle. I keep casting my spinner to dimples and catch quite a few more trout. Several of the rainbows are 12-13 inches. One of the browns is fat 14".

With an hour of daylight left I leave to try the spot I stopped at earlier. Before I do I bump into an old friend from Kingston and his wife at the parking area. I introduced him to this river ten years ago. From what I see we are the only ones fishing the entire river tonight.

The next spot has some natural advantages for the angler. There is a fast tailout of a pool, a short riffle and a deep slow pool with a rather narrow current tongue flowing into it. The trout are more confined, the feeding lane better defined and the current quicker and the riffles distort the current making it harder for the trout look your fly over or become spooked by line or sloppy casting.

I'm casting into the tailout, still using the rusty spinner. Within a couple casts I'm into a stocked rainbow. Several more follow before I get bored with the dinky bows. I move down to the head of the pool. I see a rise that looks like a good fish. I cast...

It takes and I'm into a nice 16" brown. This trout peels off line and makes several stubborn runs before its netted. After another dink rainbow I'm back into another decent brown, this time a fat 14". Darkness is starting to settle in but I see another rise from a big trout. I cast and he takes. It's not the 20 incher I was hoping for but another very nice 15" er.

By now it is too dark to see but I'm tired, wet and cold anyway. Good time to call it a night. Something hot to eat on the road and I should be home by 11.

Image

A foot long rainbow

[/img]Image

A 14 incher in the net.

Image

A 15 inch brown caught at dusk. CLICK ON PIC TO ENLARGE
Last edited by ganman on Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:24 am, edited 3 times in total.
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DUQ
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Post by DUQ »

Those are nice looking fish.
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Squib
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Post by Squib »

Figures I get stuck at work when the bite is on. Glad you managed to hook into a good one! May the fish gods continue to smile upon thee. Great report!

See what hapens when I'm not around :)
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Scotty Chaos
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Post by Scotty Chaos »

Excellent report Ganman. Those are some beauties!
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Gord
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Post by Gord »

Beautiful colors on those fish! Stunning!! :)
I'm a goin' fishin', mama's goin' fishin' and my baby's goin fishin' too.

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Post by YakFisher »

Beautiful fish (the colors are amazing) and fantastic report! Love the writing style, you should be writing for magazines! :)
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ganman
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Post by ganman »

Thank you Wolfman :wink:

Jeff (Squib)...conditions were good if you don't mind a steady drizzle. The fishing was still not as good as it could have been. I was hoping there would be a good caddis hatch or those big drakes but nothing. Other than tiny little stoneflies that only the small trout bothered with. I think the trout were doing there part but there just wasn't enough to get the feed bag on. When it's going good the surface is pock marked with rises. Last night it was sporadic.

I tried a streamer for a while but I'm sure if I could have seen what was happening below the surface I would have seen trout bolting away from it.
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Squib
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Post by Squib »

Yeah, and the weather gets ugly from here to Monday next week. Water levels on most rivers seems to be rising. The Ausable is blown out again acording to their site.

It would be nice to get some good fishing days in before August :shock:
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wolfe
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Post by wolfe »

Reading your detailed account is more like "watching" the outing. Great read, ganman.

You managed quite a variety of those beauties. I'm gonna call you Mister New York.:wink:

W.

(Now aren't you glad you bought that digi-cam??!! Gorgeous fish!)
Thanks, Dad, for taking me fishing when I was a kid.
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S.M.05
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Post by S.M.05 »

Good report Ganman those look like some real purdy trout to. What time of day did you find the browns most active at early/late eve?
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baz fish
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Post by baz fish »

Good report ganman nice and colourfull trout congratulation.
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Post by Fishboy »

Another great report, Ganman. Well done on the pudgy brown!!
Time's fun when you're having flies.
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ganman
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Post by ganman »

SM05.....you can catch browns anytime. There is alot of pocketwater that you can fish during the day. Pocketwater is rough -bouldery water and the trout are easier to catch there but it's tiring to fish.

The type of water I was fishing (flat) depends on the aquatic insect activity. Early in the season it's midday and as the season progresses it gets later and later until dark. By summer you can do well in the early AM by using flies similar to ones hatched in the night. You can find trout in the back eddys sipping the dead and cripple flies out of the debris.

By late summer, early fall most of the aquatic bugs have hatched for the year but land insects are most numerous and active during the day and so by September they're back feeding at mid-day. NNY gets hoards of flying ants.

Sorry I am unable to give brif answers :lol: :lol:
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