Utica,NY

   Fishing has a way of dissapating the thinking mind and bringing a person more into the moment.
    Warm breezes, intricate foliage, birds singing "I am", "I am"   Sparkling sunlight and clear blue skies   A fine spring day   Met up with friend Steve Longo to fish falls in North Utica.  We targeted mainly Pike using larger minnows and a few different lures.  Steve caught a few Small mouth Bass on a spinnerbait by casting out into the rapids. He also managed to hook a TIGER MUSKIE by casting a Charttreuse/Orange colored spoon into the slightly stained water. He actually saw the fish follow the lure in a few times before getting it to commit. It was quite exciting.  He worked the fish to within a few feet from shore before it became entangled with some submerged vegetation. Steve put up one heck of an effort, and almost made a very graceful save but the fish's will to escape won out.  Both of us did manage a good look at the fish. It was certainly a Tiger... I had a decent Northern locate and eat one of the bigger minnows I was using for bait. Had an exciting run to the pole, and time working the fish to Steve waiting with our net. 

   Back from a wonderful experience... Decided to go out at first light for Turkeys. No gobbles, so I decided to make a pillow out of a rain jacket and get some comfortable sleep.  Was woken up to a bird flying down into the field I was looking out at. It was a Hen.  It seemed to be the only bird around.
  

Steuben,NY

   Got a couple hours in at first light before heading out for vacation. No birds vocalizing this morning anywhere??   Checked all over in the fields & didn't see any birds either!??  
   Off to the Caribbean :)

Hudson River
Troy,NY
Striped Bass

   Jigging up herring for bait was a little tough in the early morning. Once we managed to get a good supply of bait things took off! So much went down that it's hard to recall it all. Line was screaming off the baitcasters every so often. The hookset would lead to a serious session of tug-o-war with some serious ass fish! These stripers have some shoulders on em'
   I managed my biggest Striper to date, it was an absolute dream come true. A friend of the family will doing a mount for me. My friend John who has showed me the ropes the last couple of years put on an exhibition...
   Have learned a ton from him about fishing for these large ocean run fish... He put us on some drifts near the end of our outing together that were producing fish after fish. In fact after I left, he went back out and was still sending pictures to my phone of huge ass stripers!  Blown away...

Tom Gobblers
Steuben,NY

   First light had gobblers sounding off in several direction. I was definitely in business. None of the birds were right on top of me, but a FEW were well within calling range.
   A few soft yelping sequences and a few purrs were all that I threw out there to start the morning off. A weaker gobble (sounded like a Jake bird) seemed interested in my calling. Other's seemed to be randomly sounding off.
   Birds could be heard coming down off the roost all around the same time...
Two birds came down about 75 yards from my location. I thought for a minute that they were gonna come right to me, but they strolled on by to my right where other birds were gathering as well.
   I could see a big tom gobbler out in the field a couple hundred yards away struttin. And a group of younger gobblers (Ones with like 8" beards) sparring with each other. They were really going at it and eventually disappered out of sight in the middle of a 5 bird brawl... 
  I moved a little closer to the big gobbler and made a couple series of yelps. He was with a group of hens and seemed as though he could care less about the sounds I was making. Then  out of the corner of my eye; here comes a strutter out of no where!!   Good Tom.
  At 30 yards I pull the Hammer back on the H&R sinle shot 10ga., line up the beads and squeezed the trigger. "Click!"  Gun didn't go off!!!  Bird hears it perks right up,  I pull hammer back again line it up "Click!"  Again nothing! 
   I break the gun open to re engauge everything, but he sees me and takes off putting toward the gobbler.  The Alpha gobbler out in field sees him comin and takes a good look around along with the hens, but once he gets to close to him, he just chases him off and continues strutting for the ladies.
   Staying positive, I make an aggressive move trying to guess where the birds are angling there movements toward. Guessed wrong, and they moved on out of sight...
   Figured they'd be back in sight before long, so decided to check the back end of the hayfields just to see and give the birds a little time to come back. 
   As I get close to the area to where birds often gather in the back, I can see deer. Then, amongst the deer I see a huge tom gobbler strutting!?
   I got down on my belly and crawled like a soldier in the soaking rain to the edge of the field. Finally after I inched along undetected for a decent amount of time I popped my headed through some low lying brush on the edge of the woods out into the hayfield.
   There was a group of 6 Jake birds amoungst a group of 6 deer?  Didnt see the big tom gobbler though. Deer eventually strolled off then the jakes started to.
   I started calling rather aggressively and managed to grab two of the birds attention. They eventually couldn't take it anymore and started V lining for me. When the birds got to within 60 yards I could see the big Tom Gobbler come up out of a dip in the backround. He was still 90 yards away but he was very interested in the calling.
   The jakes were decent birds 5-6" beards. I already had a mishap and don't plan on getting back out for a couple weeks.  Lori and I are going away on vacation...
   So the decision was made to take one of the jakes if it came within range. Agressive calling was what panned out to be the ticket. They got to within 30 yards, the hammer exploded the shell this time, and I cleanly harvested one of the birds.

 

Oriskany Creek
Brown Trout

    Water was already cleared up from recent rainfall. Cold lately too... Put in an hour at a favorite spot drifting and soaking Worms and Salted minnows. Wasn't a real ambitious outing, just "getting out."  No fish.
   Really meshed in with all... Just being

Adirondacks
Brook Trout

    What started out as a rainy morning, turned into a near blizzard once I got into the back country of the the Dacks. It was rather "funky" for the 25th of April. It felt like fall...
    Close to an inch of fresh snow in the woods revealed deer and turkey movement. Wearing only a hoodie and running pants, staying in motion was essential to keeping warm. Not bringing gloves along brought on the stinging, burning, & numbness.
    After the 3-4 mile hike in (After driving 4-5miles into the woods) the view of the final destination was awesome. The snow added an outline of white to an already breathtaking setting.
    3rd cast of the outing drew a bite, but I missed it on the yank. 4th Cast received a hard strike, and it was on!  Hoppin, doggin, fussin, heart poundin-fish fightin... It was a real nice girthy Brookie with beautiful Halos and those wicked cool white tipped fins. This one did grace the lense of the camera, and I had every intention of bringing it home for dinner, but it's will to escape won out while packing up and it lives on to be another day...
   It was one of my biggest brook trout to date; A real nice fish!  After landing it, I couldn't manage another bite. Fished for about an hour afterward. Cold fingers and time restrictions made for the quick trip. The hiking in and out was as much a part of this outing as the fishing.

Troy / Albany,NY
Hudson River
Striped Bass

     Jonathan and I Met up with John & Kerry in the early a.m. to fish for stripers on the Hudson River. John had been sending me pictures from the past week from the hot action they had been experiencing. With the exceptionally warmer weather this year the fish showed up a bit early than usual.
     John and his friend Kerry both had small boats and brought us out to a favorite location of theirs. Didn't take long before we were jigging up herring. I managed two nice two foot long catfish on chunk bait before we switched all the rods over to live herring.
     First Bass of the day came from John's boat. The drag was screamin' the pole was poundin and the battle was on! John let Jonathan take the fish, and we all sure got a kick out of the little guy battling that big ole fish. With John's help Jonnie managed to bring the 15lb fish to the net; His biggest fish to date. Jonathan had a blast today, not only did he catch a his biggest fish ever, but he also saw non stop action from jigging up herring and even managed a two foot long Shad!
     Kerry and I also got into a few bass, but only managed to land one. I was tickled to bring a chunky two footer into the boat. Two of the others we missed came minutes apart! Drags were screaming as the fish tore out line. I missed mine on the hook set and Kerry lost his after a short rod bending battle...
     Hoping to get out again soon...

Beaver Meadow Brook
Steuben,NY

   Cody & I put in about an hour at our secret hole on Gramma's creek this morning. First cast produced a nice 10" native brown with big red dots. Cody was all smiles and spent quite a bit of time just admiring the fish.
   We had a few other bites, but didn't manage any other hook ups. It was a tad warmer today and the birds were singin away. Was enjoyable being there on the bank of that small steam...

Moose River
(Remsen Falls)
Adirondacks

     Hooked up with my old friend Jim for a backwoods trout trip. We hiked back in 3 miles to a nice looking stretch of river. After about an hour of fishing, it was the old lake clear wobbler and worm that drew the first bite.
     The fish fought hard and was full of fiest. I couldn't wait to get a look at it, and to see what it was. When I finally did, I was thrilled!  It was a real nice Brook trout that ran about 15-17". 
     Pulling the fish from the water, it landed on the rock I was stading on, way out in the middle of the river. As soon as it hit, the hook popped out and the fish took one bounce back into the water. I dropped my rod and leaned over the rock grabbing for the fish, but it was in vain, and the beautiful brookie was gone.
     Pressing on, I hooked two other fish.  One the lined snapped? :(, and the other spit the hook during the fight... I caught a glimpse of the latter, and it looked to be another big trout in the 15-20" range. Possibly a Rainbow...
     Once the action slowed down, we decided to explore up river. The adventure led to a river crossing that went horribly wrong. Jim decided to take his shoes off and half way through the river he began losing his footing on the slippery rocks. Unable to regain any foothold, he was crawling and flailing about on all fours.
     I watched on in hysterical drouling laughter. The veins in his neck were throbbing, and his face had this awkward tense look, as if he was having a bad bout on the jon...  The humor quickly dispersed when I went down myself.
     Almost immediately, the ice cold water was paralysing every muscle in my body. I'm sure my face took on the same look as Jim's (If not worse). It was a painful struggle to get out of the river. Between the slippery rocks and heavy current,  it just sucked...
     When we hit the bank, I quickly grabbed a lighter that somehow managed to stay dry and frantically tried starting a fire. The ground (leaves & grass) was so dry, that the fire immediately started spreading in every direction, and threated to start a full blown forest fire! 
    Jim cut the flames off by sweeping leaves into the flames, leaving bare ground out in front of it. I ran to the river filling my boots with water and tossing it on the flames...  It could've been a disaster...
   We pressed on through some excrusiating discomfort and even managed to get some more fishing in. Jim managed a large sucker.
    The story went on to see us wading through another stretch of river then drying off next to a much better prepared fire. The three mile hike back out was very tiresome. The soft seat of the truck was home...