40 Rivers To Freedom

I saw the following couple comments on The Anglers Net Blog

Why can’t you say where it is you were fishing at? What, Kind Sir, is the big D??

and

I see no reason why to read this blog when the locations of good fishing spots are not given. Good Riddence.

After reading the second one, I laughed so hard Dr. Pepper sprayed across my computer screen. Then I took pride in the fact that people who read The Day Tripper are the most kick ass readers on the web, and aren’t this lame.

And then I wondered to myself,

Alex, what if there are a few people out there who find your fly fishing blog with a search engine, but can’t figure out where to go fishing? They must be clicking through web sites like mad men, trying to decipher people’s words and pictures to figure out where they caught their fish. Those poor souls!

So this post isn’t really directed at my everyday readers, this post is for all the people out there who can’t read a map.

I am going to show YOU the best fishing spots in New York!!! In Part II, we’ll look at the best fishing spots in the USA, and in Part III I will even share a few international spots for you jetsetters out there.

You can be confident that after reading this, you’ll never have to worry about having to make up stories to impress your friends! No more getting skunked! No more scouring the internet for GPS coordinates! The Day Tripper will set you free!

The Best Steelhead Fishing in New York

Since it’s still Spring, here’s a spot that will always produce monster steelhead. It’s called the Douglaston Salmon Run, and it’s on the Salmon River in New York. It’s so good you have to pay extra to fish there! $30 per day!!! Further proof that it is the best place, not only in New York, but in the whole universe- is that you will have little trouble finding other people fishing there. Best of all, they’re so friendly, they’ll fish right next to you!

Now before you go, here’s a few things you need to know.

• The south mouth counts
• It helps to randomly set the hook, even if you didn’t see or feel a bite
• Try a chuck and duck rig with a leader no shorter than 5′ after your added weight(the more weight the better)
• It is critical to loudly proclaim after each fish, “Yup, hooked em’ right in da mouf!”

The Best Trout Fishing In New York

An Average Lower Hudson River Rainbow Trout

Keeping with a Spring theme, let’s talk trout. You may have heard from people that the best places to catch trout in New York are the Catskill or the Adirondack mountain ranges.

Well they are lying to you!

You see, they really don’t catch all those fish they post pictures on the internet in either one of those areas. Some of the best trout water on the planet is right in your back yard and those selfish bastards are keeping it a secret! Well, here at the Day Tripper, we’re all about sharing. You wanna know where they catch all those trout?

Near the mouth of the Hudson River.

The lower Hudson is a trout factory, with anglers usually limiting out every day! The key to catching all of these magnum trout is to fish in the shadows of skyscrapers and apartment buildings. The trout seem to enjoy the shade they offer from the overhead sun.

To say the hatches are prolific would be the understatement of the year! You know how you see scenes on TV with all the traffic jams in New York City and the surrounding areas? Well these traffic jams aren’t caused by vehicle congestion, they’re actually caused by low visibility from swarms of hatching insects

• Hendricksons(the entire month of April)
• Sulphers(the entire month of May)
• Green Drakes(the entire month of June)
• Grasshoppers(the entire month of July)
• Tricos(the entire month of August)

That’s right, you only need 5 flies to get you through the entire season! If you’re fishing and encounter a hatch you weren’t expecting, don’t worry! The trout are so stupid, they don’t know the difference anyways!

Now before you go, here’s a few things you need to know.

• Learn a few gang signs and show them off to the locals. Often after doing this, they’ll show you top secret fishing spots.
• Learn to say “Fuck You” in as many languages as possible
• Make eye contact with everyone you encounter
• Should you encounter any US Coast Guard vessels, it is important to act highly suspicious. The best thing to do is loudly yell to your fishing buddy, “Hide the dirty bomb!”(even better if you say it in arabic)

The Best Bass, Carp, Musky, Pike, Catfish, and Walleye Fishing In New York

Now for you warmwater fisherman out there, we didn’t forget about you!

There is a secret lake in the center of the state that no one knows about. It’s so secret it’s not even on the map! And even more proof that it’s so secret, this body of water is called, “Secret Lake”.

To get there, you’ll need the GPS coordinates

N 43°9’27″ W 75°25’49″

Not only will you catch a bass a cast, you’ll catch a carp, a tiger musky, a catfish, a pike, and a walleye all at the same time! Fish literally just jump right into the boat, and if you don’t have a boat, they’ll swim right up to shore and let you pet them!

Things you need to know before you go to Secret Lake.

• Secret Lake is a secret, don’t ever tell anyone
• Get one of those sponsor shirts you see the guys on the Bassmasters Tour wearing, they’re proven to make you catch more fish
• Don’t swim in the lake, the fish are so big they will eat you

I’ve never had a fish take me into my backing. There have been a few memorable fish that I haven’t been able to stop, but I usually run them down before my fly line leaves the tip top. I think my tendency to run after a hot fish comes mostly from dealing with all the timber back in Michigan’s rivers. There’s a bunch. The more line a fish has out, the more log jams it has a chance to get you wrapped up in.

And then there was Saturday

I meet up with Geoff, Robin, and Wiley on the Salmon River. It wasn’t supposed to work out that way, we planned on meeting at a nearby town and carpooling. After getting to the rendezvous point and waiting for about 10 minutes for them to show up, I realized I was supposed to be there an hour earlier. I had to make a decision. Do I stay local and go after warmwater stuff, or drive up solo and try to hunt the other guys down. As I pondered, I heard a knock on my window. I looked over and it was a 6′ tall steelhead.

“Can I help you?” I asked after rolling the window down.

“Yrgle, dloobo grgle dlub wub kulb glub kulb Altmar?”*

*If you don’t know steelhead, that translates to Yeah, do you know how to get to Altmar?

I don’t know how most people would have taken it, but to me, it sorta seemed like a sign I should head up to the Salmon River solo.

After scanning a few parking spots between Pulaski and Altmar for Geoff’s truck, I decided to fish the Upper Fly Zone in Altmar. About 5 casts in I hear, “What are you doing down there!” And look up to see Geoff, Robin, and Wiley coming down the bank. We said hi and all that stuff, then headed upstream.

5 casts later, my indicator hesitates, I set the hook and a descent steelhead flies out of the water. My reel dizzily spins backwards as the fish is taking it’s first run and it isn’t slowing down- the fish or the reel. I didn’t know the fish was going to take me into my backing, but instead of chasing it down or trying to stop it- I reached into my chest pocket and turned on my camera to get some video of the still spinning reel. I watched my fly line to backing connection fly off the reel through the viewfinder and figured I better try and fight this fish. I took off after it, picking up as much line as I could as I ran when the line went limp. I reeled all my line in and saw that the fish had broke me off. As I was making the decision to go up to 8# test, an ear to ear smile appeared on my face. It was stuck there as I walked back along the bank to rig back up.

A couple missed opportunities later, my indicator is bobbing along the current seam when my indicator didn’t even get a chance to hesitate. It just took off downstream. I set the hook and the fish just swam faster. I put heavy pressure on the spool as I palmed it only to get that good/bad feeling of the reel knob jackhammering my knuckles. With line still flying out, I took off after it. I was running as fast as I could, half keeping the line tight, and half trying not to fall on my face as I ran and hopped across the boulder strewn bank. After I made it downstream about 30 yards, I stopped and made a half hearted effort to turn the fish that now had rapids on it’s side. If it made it another 30 yards downstream, it would be taking me through what I call “the chute”. A spot where an already raging section of river narrows from somewhere around 80′ across, to about 20′ across.

You want to avoid the chute.

I’m already well into my backing despite chasing the fish and the chartreuse dacron is just whizzing off my reel. As I’m starting to run after it I turn to Robin and yell with a big shit eating grin across my face,

“It’s gonna take me through the chute!”

As I’m running I suddenly feel like I’m about to fall on my face unless I run faster to get my bottom half back under my top half. After windmilling my arms for what seemed like eternity, I regain my balance and to my surprise the fish is still ripping line off the reel. There are a couple guys fishing the opposite side of the river just below the chute. As I sprint past I hear

“See you in Pulaski!”

Out of breath, now laughing, I run another 30 yards and decide enough is enough. There are heavy rapids everywhere, but I spot a small pocket of slower water near the bank and decide this is where I’m making my stand. Everything goes perfect while my fly line slowly builds back up on the reel. Just before Robin and Geoff finally catch up to me, I pull the fish into the slack water and find out why it took so long to get it under control. It’s tail hooked.

All that for nothing. I could barely talk, I was so out of breath. My throat felt like it was on fire with each breath. With numb legs and sweat dripping off my face in the 80º heat, I made my way back upstream.

10 or so hours fishing, and I didn’t take any pictures(pics above courtesy of The Anglers Net Blog) I did get about two dozen video clips to add to a video I’m working on. I started editing yesterday, and surprisingly, have way too much quality content. A good problem to have I guess. To get to my target time length, I’ve had to cut stuff out that if you would have told me I’d be cutting it out after I filmed it, I would have called you crazy. Hopefully water levels will stabilize within the next few weeks so I can get some smallmouth and trout fishing footage for it. It should be good.

Is there anything more hypnotic than an open fire?

In anticipation of actually keeping a few trout this year-GASP!, I’ve been on the lookout for some descent recipes. Here’s a couple I found at allrecipes.com I’ll be trying out that I thought I’d share.

Fish In Foil

You’re supposed to fillet the fish then bake it at 400ºF for 15-20 minutes, but I’m going to try just gutting the fish before adding the ingredients, wrapping it in foil, and cooking it over an open fire.

• 2 Rainbow Trout Fillets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced

Rinse fish & pat dry. Rub fillets with olive oil, and season with garlic salt and black pepper. Place each fillet on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Top with jalapeno slices, and squeeze the juice from the ends of the lemons over the fish. Arrange lemon slices on top of fillets. Carefully seal all edges of the foil to form enclosed packets. Place packets on baking sheet.

Grilled Montana Trout

• 2 trout, cleaned and head removed
• 3 tablespoons cold butter, thinly sliced
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lemon, halved and thinly sliced

1. Place each trout onto a square of aluminum foil. Open them up so that the flesh is facing upwards. On one side of each fish, season with salt and pepper, half of the garlic, half of the chopped rosemary and half of the parsley. Top each fish with thin slices of butter, 3 rosemary sprigs and a few slices of lemon. Squeeze one of the remaining lemon slices over each fish. Enclose the seasoning inside each fish and wrap securely with the sheet of aluminum foil. Wrap each fish in an additional piece of aluminum foil.
2. Place fish in the coals of a campfire or on a grill over a flame and cook for about 7 minutes on each side. If you can easily stick a fork into the fish, it is done. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your fish and the fire. Allow to cool for a few minutes before opening to serve.

This is me sportin’ a brand new Dr. Pepper fishin’ cap

I’m so pumped up I don’t even know where to start! After a slow start to ’08, I’ve been out 4 times the past seven days for everything except for troutski’s. That’s 10 notches on the log book for the year of the rat. This is my first season doing the blog thing while on my annual quest to fish more than the previous year- and finding the time to edit pics and video is something I’m gonna have to figure out how to do. Cause right now, I haven’t. Between work, family, and fishing, there’s just enough time left to sleep.

a feisty crappie

Enough blog talk. Let’s talk about how the fishing has been.

Geoff’s second fish

Outfuckingstanding!

Let’s start off with Sunday’s Mohawk scouting/fishing expedition with Geoff. Geoff meets me at my house at 9:30 in the am with his canoe strapped to the top of his ‘yota. The plan is to spot my car then head upriver and fish our way back through a completely foreign section of river to the both of us, other than countless hours scouring it via aerial maps. Through lunch hour scouting trips along the banks of the upper reaches, we knew we’d encounter respectable numbers of golden bones. The only question though was what stage of the spawn were they in? From our experience, spawning carp won’t touch food, let alone fur and feathers, so the plan was to target bass and be ready to switch over should we encounter feeding carp.

As we started our float the silence of our gliding canoe would be violently interrupted by 10#-20# footballs shooting up out of the water and smashing down on the surface. The plan to watch for feeders was easier said than done. Water clarity was maybe a foot and a half, tops, in most places. The only time we’d actually see signs of Carp in the area, were the massive boils as we spooked them coming past with the canoe. Add the moderate chop on the water from the steady south/ southeast wind, and the odds were definitely in the fish’s favor.

As we moved downstream, we came into a little side bay off the main river. The wind direction was pushing warm surface water into the shallow, weed choked bay. Plus, as we would later find out, the whole thing averaged 2′-3′ deep. Even earlier in the day, water temps were a good 10ºF warmer than the main river. Despite knowing it was warmer than the main river, I don’t think either one of us had any intentions of spending a serious amount of time there.

The first signs of fish were from little bass or sunfish nipping at Geoff’s popper. Then as we moved along the bay’s southeast shore line, we spotted carp activity right on the bank. Geoff switched over to a fly that no carp could refuse while I tied on a Mixed Media. A few casts later Geoff yells “FISH”, and a gorgeous pre-spawn Largemouth erupts out of the water as I’m digging my camera out of my pocket and putting it in video mode.

chunky largemouth

A couple panfish later we pretty much lost confidence that the carp were in any sort of mood to play. That didn’t stop them from teasing us. We couldn’t move 2′ without seeing a carp or two moving out of our way. It was worse than being waterboarded. We moved up the eastern shoreline, catching another largemouth and a few panfish along the way when shit hit the fan. Geoff was stripping in a bugger and out of nowhere a 10#+ carp smashes Geoff’s fly at the edge of some submerged cat tails- just crushes it! Water erupts as the two of us are going nuts knowing that the first carp of the year is on! Fortunately for Geoff, the fish surges out toward the middle of the lake away from the cat tails. The next thing I know, I can feel the weight of the fish as I slide the net under it and bring it into the boat.

Seconds later the fish is back in the water and Geoff can’t contain himself

“First Carp of the Year!”

“WhooooooooooHooooooooo!”

And just like that, we had 100% confidence to specifically target Carp.

We paddled over to the west side of the bay where there seemed to be a little more carp activity than the rest of the lake. What we found when we got there was a small “bay within a bay” where the warmer surface water being blown across by the SE wind was getting trapped. The water was about 10 shades of mud darker than the rest of the bay from so much fish activity.

“A TAIL!”

“ANOTHER ONE!”

I guess you could be logical and assume the warmer water being blown into the area, coupled with the hot sun, had finally warmed the water enough to trigger a little feeding activity. But if you ask me, we willed those fish to eat. Geoff laid his rod down as I set up on the tailing fish. I dropped a bugger into a small plume of mud and a few strips after letting it get down to the bottom was rewarded with the savage bulldog first run of a pissed off carp.

My first carp of ’08

There’s an age old question. What happens when an unmovable object is hit with an unstoppable force?

I don’t know about all that physics stuff, but what I do know is that when you take an unmovable object and combine it with an unstoppable force, you get a Carp. I don’t care if you’ve got a 10wt and 50 pound test, you aren’t going to make one of these fish do anything they don’t want to. You’re just along for the ride as you hold on for dear life praying the hook doesn’t pop.

After finally getting the fish to the boat it buries itself in the mud right under the bough. I reach out, grab the leader and lift straight up as Geoff fills the net with weeds, mud, and about 5 pounds of thrashing Carp. As he lifts it out of the water mud and scraps of weeds are just flying everywhere. It was like standing next to a wet dog as it shakes itself dry.

Only fishing for carp can you get filthy while sitting in a boat all day.

Now it’s Geoff’s turn, and despite the commotion that just occurred, there are still fish rooting for migrating dragons and damsels near the bank. Geoff is hooked up almost immediately with a brute of a fish. He gets it close to the boat and just as I tell Geoff to let me know if he needs me to move the net and my rod sticking off the bough, the fish rages clockwise around the front of the boat. A split second later Geoff’s rooster tailing fly line rips through the water, taking the rid and the net handle with it as I grab them and spin them out of the way.

“That went way too smooth” we laughed

As I lift the fish into the boat, Geoff laughs and says

“Just think, we could be fishing for stocked trout right now.”

“Yeah right” I laugh

Geoff got one more carp before we moved out of the bay back into the main river. While it’s probably one of the funniest stories of the day, I’ll keep it to myself and let the video do the talking…

I’ve had that shirt since I was 13

We floated down, fishing some, but mostly paddling around scouting as much water as we could before the sun dropped behind the tree line. We found some absolutely HUGE flats that will definitely get another look when the carp have finished spawning, and water temps bring more activity.

Last Night

Monday I got an invite from Dan to come fish for Smallies with him about a half an hour away on Tuesday after work. Once permission was obtained, we made arrangements to meet up at the fly shop and I’d follow him to the fish. This was my first time fishing with Dan, and I was as much looking forward to getting to know him as I was to getting into a couple of the ready to explode pre-spawn smallies he had shown me pics of from a trip a few days ago.

We geared up and made our way down to the river. Dan showed me around the place and I set up with a floating line and one of Dan’s weighted estaz buggers that was a little to much for my 6/7. Dan started fishing downstream and after about three casts is hooked up with a nice pike in the 30″ range. I watched the fight through the viewfinder on my optio w30 in video mode before congratulating Dan on a nice fish. A few minutes later my rod was jolted, actually I take that back, it was more like my fly just stopped and then the fish realized it was hooked before my rod tip buckled into the water. I leaned back on it, the fish came to the surface, slashed, and dove back for the drop off. And just like that, my line goes limp. Next cast, I get a good thump, set the hook and slack. I wasn’t getting bit off, it was more like my rod just didn’t have the backbone to get a good hook set into the fish’s bony mouth. A few fly pattern changes, and bad hook sets later, my fly just gets obliterated! I set the hook as hard as I can and feel the fish’s fury as I’m leaning back on the rod. It boils at the surface, turning for deeper water. I’m set to give it some line and my rod goes limp again.

missing four letter word

I missed about three more hook sets when Dan and I figure all the pike have pushed the smallies out of the area we were fishing. I think Dan felt bad I hadn’t landed any fish yet, but it was no one’s fault but my own- and those ruthless pike that were having fun at my expense. We decided to head to another spot where there should be bass. As we packed up, I respectfully whispered to the river,

“Wait till I come back with a real rod bitches”

The conditions were good at the next spot, except for the fish seemed to be concentrated out of casting range. We fished it hard anyways until the sun fell behind the trees. Afterwards, we chain smoked cigarettes and had a beer on the bank as we BS’ed for a while before parting ways with plans on fishing together again this season.

So that’s how my last 3 days have gone. My fly boxes have taken some casualties, I’m so sunburned I can barely move, my right index finger is notched with line burns, my lips are chapped, and I’m loving it…