Adirondacks adventure

[J.A. Veil]

Gary G organized a kayak fishing trip to the Adirondacks region in upstate New York. Gary, Mark, John Rentch, and I drove many hours on Monday to get to the remote area where we stayed. They stayed in an old building dating back to the 19th century. I stayed in a deluxe camper offered by a local air bnb property.

We fished three days. On days 1 and 3 we fished in a large lake. Day 1 brought wind and intermittent showers. I had my best catching that day, including 4 northern pike, 3 smallmouth, and 2 largemouth.

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The other guys each caught a few fish that day. One day 3, we had calm conditions but steady rain for most of the day. The fish were biting in spots. I managed 1 pike and 4 smallmouth today. Gary had a trip high 30.5" pike. John Rentch and Mark each caught several fish -- some on their fly rods.

On day 2, we fished in a smaller lake that required a 1/2-mile tow of our kayaks over an uneven trail using our kayak carts. We were all tired by the time we reached that lake. It was a beautiful early fall day with blue skies and colored leaves on the trees. John Rentch had the fish of the day with a 29" pike, but the rest of us struggled. The tow back to the parking lot at the end of the day was tough.

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Most of my fish on Day 1 came on a spinnerbait. Today all of my fish came on a Rapala broken back minnow.

Fall has definitely arrived here. On one night, the temp dropped below 40 degrees. The trees show beautifully colored leaves. Tomorrow we have the long drive back to Maryland. The other guys can fill in with more description and photos.

[LivinTheDream]

The Adirondacks are my favorite spot. I typically spend about three weeks there in the summer across three or four trips and locations. There is a whole lot of water to explore, it's not hard to find calm and quiet water, and the bass are dumb. I most often use Adirondack By Owner when I have a group that requires comfort, but most often it's a tent or the back of my minivan for me. We had a bit of a parental dream vacation on a small lake on the eastern side this year. All four of our children and sons and daughter-in-law joined us. I've already rented another spot for next summer. I'm finding that if you rent it, they will come. Twenty-somethings love a free vacation. Twice during the week, all of the kids with the exception of my large with child daughter-in-law joined me on the water at 5:00 a.m. I never felt so loved. SOme of my favorite pics:
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If anyone has no ADK experience and would like a free guide of sorts next summer, I might me able to show you some nice places.

[Mark]

My sincerest gratitude to Gary G. (Gary Grey) for organizing and inviting me on this outing. True, it rained buckets on two out of our three days. But there are no complaints when the view from your 1860s-era cabin is this:

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Plus we had tasty homecooked dinners, excellent wines and interesting conversations each night in the cabin. It was a just a superior get-away and well worth the 9-hour drive.

As to the fishing, visiting a new place is always a challenge. But fish are fish and their inclination to relate to structure and current is the same in the Adirondacks as it is here in the Chesapeake. Finding those spots in unfamiliar waters is the challenge.

I was pleased with my results. I got a dozen fish into my Ultimate 12 and hooked and lost half as many more, and that counts our second day on the water which had bluebird skies and a very tough bite. In fact, I had one bite all day. It was an 11 inch largemouth that I caught on a weedless paddletail. An unimpressive fish for sure. But the scenery that day in a very remote pond was astounding:

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What I cannot show you is a loon on the pond that was very vocal. I do have a recording of its call and it's stunning -- like a soundtrack from a wilderness film.

Here are Gary and John Rentch ready to start the 1/2 mile uphill trek through a narrow path back to our vehicles after our outing on the pond:

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There were areas where we had to portage our boats because the path was too narrow for our carts.

It took us almost 1/2 hour to reach the parking lot. I will never again complain about the hill at Homeport Farm!

Now to the rain. Our third day in particular was drenching:

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Here's Gary in the downpour, always smiling and not a letting the elements dampen his spirits:

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I tossed a fly rod often on this outing and caught three species with it -- largemouth, smallmouth and pike. In fact, this was my first ever pike on any kind of tackle:

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It hit one of my foam bass poppers.

I caught another that was 20 inches on a weedless paddletail. And I lost two pike boat-side on a popper. (I'm not a net-carrier but I may rethink that on a return visit.) I also had one pike strike a Rapala X-Rap and come unbuttoned almost immediately. The water was so clear that I often saw the fish before their strikes.

I caught largemouth and smallmouth on the fly rod popper. Here's a largemouth:

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My largest bass was this smallmouth that hit one of my homemade jig spinners:

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Unfortunately, I had left my Hawg Trough in my van that morning so I don't know how long it was. But it pulled much harder than any of the pike I caught.

At heart I am a freshwater angler and I felt I was in my element. The Adirondacks offer ample opportunities for kayak/canoe fishing. I look forward to returning.

So again, it was a fantastic trip, well worth the travel. My thanks again to Gary, John V. and John R. for their good company.

[J. Rentch]

This trip for me was definitely a Bucket List event. Great fall scenery, good fishing, and great company. My goal on this trip was to catch SM and LM Bass on the fly, and a Northern Pike-accomplished all. Our first day of fishing was rainy and windy as mentioned in other posts. I brought my waders thinking the water would be colder, but they definitely helped in the rain.
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i managed to land my bass that morning, not on the fly, but a Walmart Spinner Special.
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The second day was bright sunshine and warm. I still managed my one goal- a Northern Pike. Was also caught on the Walmart Spinner. John V posted a picture in his post.
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The third day was again rainy, but little to no wind. I again managed to land bass, but this time on the fly. I was using a size 2 Guggler. This is a post trip photo-still wet
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That same day, Gary Gray managed to land his Pike- by trolling in deep water. It was over 30"
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As I said above, was a great trip, except for the return, Maryland traffic that evening was horrible. Thanks for my fishing friend John V, Mark, and Gary for inviting me along.
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[DanMarino]

Thanks for the great trip report and photos. Looks like a beautiful place to fish.

[gliebig]

Great trip. I'd love to do that some day.

[DanMarino]

I would like to catch some pike on the fly rod one day. Probably my best chance near home would be at Rocky Gorge.

[Mark]

Tom, gliebig,

It's a canoeist's and kayaker's paradise. I saw more plastic boats stashed in yards and tied on vehicles than any place I've been -- and for good reason. We fished only 2 sites but our choices were many. Access to the water is not an issue, as long as you are willing to traverse a long wooded path. At neither location could merely we drive up to the water and drop our gear. It takes some work to get the water but the effort is worth it.

You won't find schools of breaking fish where every cast yields a catch. Your counts may not equal those of tidal waters. But like here, it still amounts to fishing structure and fishing currents. The two locations we visited had feeder streams where the inflow created moving water. They were good target areas.

A major difference from our watershed, however is that nature's sponge was on full display in the Adirondacks. The rain we endured would have severely muddied our local waters. That did not happen during our trip. During and after downpours the waters remained clear. The surrounding thick forest captured and filtered runoff. There was no mud ring around my Ultimate's hull despite hours in the water. A single trip through our local tributaries after a rain requires me to scrub slime and brown film from my hull. I simply slipped my boat back into its rack in my garage with no need to wash it when I came home from the Adirondacks.

So thanks to you both for your comments. It is indeed a worthwhile fishing destination in my opinion. You can practice the kind of fishing you enjoy from tossing flies, to using spinner baits and crankbaits, to finessing soft plastics. I caught fish via each of those methods. You can also troll. Gary caught the largest fish on our trip, a 30.5 inch pike, by trolling a deep diving crankbait down the center of a lake.

I hope to return next year.

[Mark]

I would like to catch some pike on the fly rod one day. Probably my best chance near home would be at Rocky Gorge.

Precisely the same method as fly fishing for pickerel. I used a 40 pound mono bite tippet.

[mchottie]

We fished only 2 sites but our choices were many. Access to the water is not an issue, as long as you are willing to traverse a long wooded path. At neither location could merely we drive up to the water and drop our gear. It takes some work to get the water but the effort is worth it.

I wish the same could be said for our AA CO home waters!

[LivinTheDream]

I wish the same could be said for our AA CO home waters!

Funny how perspectives can be so different given where we are from. I live in central PA and generally make the drive to fish in the Annapolis area 3 or 4 times each fall (probably this Saturday) and spring to get to experience what those of you in that area have. I make the 6.5 - 8 hour drive to the Adirondacks 3 or 4 times in the summer for what's been described in this thread. I drive to FL with the kayak on the roof most winter and spring breaks (I'm a teacher). I would guess that some would say, "Are you crazy, you live near some of the best trout fishing in the country and not far at all by comparison to the Susquehanna River." It's funny, I often find that I also paddle long distances for what might be greener grass (blue-er water?) when fishing though this year I've worked hard to have a "love the one you're with" sort of practice and take the time to really figure out the water rather than spending lots of time getting to other water. Still, I haven't yet decided to apply that thinking to home waters versus all the long drives. I guess for me it's the adventure in the less familiar that is a big part of the prize.

[J.A. Veil]

Bill - As much as I enjoy fishing close to home in the Severn, I also greatly look forward to my frequent trips to Florida. There I get cleaner and clearer water, many different species that I cannot find at home, and just being in a different set of habitats. I understand your urge for wanderlust. Last week's trip to the Adirondacks was my first visit there. It allowed me to pursue some different species and to see the great natural beauty. I am fortunate to have the time and resources to fish often and in many different locations.

[Mark]

Bill,

There's nothing wrong with traveling to pursue something you enjoy. It's great living close to fishable waters. I'm minutes from a beautiful launch at Downs Park in Pasadena. I'm 30 minutes from the Severn. But I think nothing of driving 90 minutes or more to DE to fish one of its many ponds.

During the past 5 weeks I've fly fished for reds in Laguna Madre, TX, caught LM bass in a southern VA river, and visited NY for the trip that is the subject of this thread. (TX and VA were not kayak trips, hence I posted no reports here.) That flurry of travel was a scheduling quirk. I took advantage of opportunities as they arose. However, one thing they had in common is that they each involved shallow water fishing where I could target structure with casts. For me a good cast is almost as much fun as catching a fish. I just love to throw line on fly rods or conventional tackle. In the case of TX, I targeted specific fish with a small shrimp imitation fly. I was sight casting and that was a blast. I had never done that before. In VA I was dropping weedless soft plastics into the knees of cypress trees in tannin-stained water. In NY I cast to rocky shorelines and fading vegetation where the water was so clear I could see the fish hit my lures and flies. Again, all shallow water and that's what I like the most.

So I fully understand your desire to travel to fish. The good news is something I have mentioned on this forum before. The fish we typically target behave similarly in a variety of locations, especially in how they relate to structure and current in shallow water. The angling skills you hone in MD or PA transfer easily to other locations.