FoulHooked...(how'd that get there?)

According to Colin Cowherd, all the greats got great by rolling the dice. I tend to agree. If you never take a chance, don't ever expect good things to just come your way. The key is knowing the right time to roll. Still, I'm pretty damn cautious generally speaking. Yesterday had Mohawk flows appear to be nearing a return to something more reasonable, and I decided to risk life, limb, and a fishless day in hopes that levels would drop into prime smallie levels (anywhere near 1,500 cfs ). Sadly they stayed up (5-6,000 cfs ), and I had not so much as a tug in the raging waters. Joe did manage one little guy, so I didn't feel too bad for abandoning a perfectly good plan in favor of some risky wading. Hey, you win some, you lose some. It was still nice to have 360' of casting room, despite a bit of wind. Tonight, methinks it's about time to check in on the creek again, see how she held up throughout all the rain, and if the trout that seemed absent during my l...

In desperate need of some fishing (haven't been since the 22 nd , and after a stressful weekend...), I headed into the (relatively) unknown yesterday, despite residual high-waters from the unrelenting rains we have seen for the past, what is it, 6 days now? The goal was to scout a nearby reservoir for a bass outing scheduled for today. I had been to the res. before, trolling for walleye, but only ever caught (massive) sunfish. However, as listed by DEC and evidenced by the juvies near the cartop -launch, there are smallmouth and largemouth there. Unfortunately, the area around the reservoir is completely wooded, so I thought it prudent to confirm that casting room existed from the dam. Short answer; it does. So, all the way to the end of the dam (and to the top of the spillway), and low and behold, I immediately spot a 12" LMB cruising along the top of the spillway ("WHAT ARE YOU, NUTS? YOU COULD BE SWEPT OVER IN A SECOND!"). Anyway, the water was moving pretty g...

Couple pieces of (what I consider) great news this bright and beautiful Monday (well, Monday's always suck...but at least I'm home) morning. If you want to skip the BS for the really important stuff, head towards the bottom. "Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are 'What might have been.'" -Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle (finally read the second half Friday afternoon) That may be true, but right now, all I can say is, "Thank god it wasn't." Long story short, I will never have to visit (much less re-locate to) Oklahoma again. It's always sad when something ends, especially something you've given so much of yourself to. But today is looking so much brighter than recent weeks, and for so many reasons. Even disregarding the personal reasons and sticking strictly to the practicality of it all... -I will not have to leave my beloved trout. Our renewed relationship (by way of the fly) would have been something very hard to part with. ...

How fitting. As the Pacific salmon populations crash (so dire, apparently, that brown bears are turning to humans as food ), news on Atlantic salmon continues to improve. See Ted Williams' Blog for more info on this "Great Salmon Year."

I'm headed out west sucka! You guys hear of this new artist, Kid Rock? Pretty cool stuff, check it out. Anyway, see you Monday ("And when I say see you, I mean see you, buddy! Because potatos have quite a number of eyes."), with some news and announcements...perhaps more than you bargained for. Till then, careful wading...the rivers are coming down, but they're still high.

Patterson signed the bill. Times Union called it " risky ." I don't think that headline is appropriate. Or rather, I think it is ambiguous. The point is, as stated in the article, the "streamlining" process approved by Patterson is to go hand-in-hand with updated guidance documents (the scoping document and impact statements mentioned). I am lucky (or perhaps, unlucky) enough to be in a position to understand essentially what this will entail...and it will likely include additional volumes of material by which applications must be measured. Yes, there are potential threats here. But I, for one, am satisfied (for the time being) with how the state is handling this. The provisions set out by Patterson (which were likely influenced by the concerned voices of the masses, good job guys) should help set the groundwork for "responsible development of the resource." And if you followed the conversation at all, these were ideas under consideration by NY...

Singlebarbed got me laughing with a post about "camping" vs. roughing it ...and also got me thinking about how I never recapped our April weekend. Figured at the very least, I could post a few pics to help prove some points (namely, that my friends and I are still young-and-dumb). -Just got in...not sure what the BOTTLE is that's getting PASS ed...might be Wild Turkey. That's me in the bottom right. Before the trip I told the big guy (to the left of me...dead) it was about 1.5 miles and mostly downhill...once we realized the road was closed, it became 4 miles and mostly uphill...my bad Brian. -First morning...leanto holds a lot of man...did a job on a couple of the bottles...still plenty left for the coming evening. Hey! A-holes! Get up, it's 6:00 and 35 degrees already! There's plenty of empty ponds to fish! -NO MERCY! See those rocks on the ice...yeah, they didn't just "appear" there..."someone" had to "throw" them at ...

Listen to this . Feel free to ask Mr. Patterson to hold off on signing the bill, if that is how you feel...though it may be too late already. How do I feel? I don't know. I don't know exactly what the bill entails. My understanding is that this so-called "streamlining" is more of a combination of an update to NYS policies to include/allow for newer drilling technologies and a "standardization" of the process to allow for a more effecient review of applications. Both of these could be very good things. Still, there are many remaining issues that have not been specifically and satisfactoraly addressed in any media that I have had the chance to look at: -Surface water usage There are in fact safegards in place to protect against excessive surface water withdrawls...however, whether the bill itself addresses how these safegards apply to gas well applications, I do not know -Surface water contamination Same deal -Groundwater contamination via hydrofracking Hydrof...

"But she did..." So much going on, so little time. Perhaps, if it is storming tonight when I get out of work, I'll forgo the Mohawk in favor of the "virtual river of information," that great, ubiquitous internet . The way things are shaping up though, that is not a foreseeable alternative. In the mean time... Newcomb was fun. Short version-3 bass between 4.5 fishermen hitting the water Friday night and all day Saturday. None of them on flies. But it's all about just getting out there...right? Hit Cohoes again yesterday with Brian, lots of fish including a few ~12 inchers and one over. Geoff over at The Angler's Net sent this my way...great topic that I've been following (from a distance) for a while...I may have to weigh in if time permits. Always good to see fisheries articles in the hometown pape ... Post Star will have something tomorrow on switching landlocked salmon strains for stocking purposes...implications....?????? (Should we be st...

Met Alex in Cohoes yesterday...apparently he was expecting something more "gentlemanly" than a scruffy unshaven twenty-something...that's ok though, I was expecting him to actually put a fish or two on the line...his or mine, wouldn't have mattered. I kid...but seriously. Actually, I had a blast. He took us to the carp, and they were plentiful...and hungry...just not stupid I guess. He tried to spot me to a few, but I think they were in a particularly spooky mood (or maybe I just smell worse than I thought) where we started out. So we switched tactics to work our way through the deeper (relatively) water, mixing up blind and sight casting. The fish out nearer the channel seemed much more at ease (I had two boil on either side of me, within arms length, immediately after my cast, within 10 seconds of each other), but not enough to take our offerings. There were carp rooting, cruising, splashing and sipping off the surface, but nothing we came up with got more than...

I had a history teacher in high school who would always reference that movie . I've still yet to see it. I'm so uncultured. But it's hard not to think about the rich colonial history of the Hudson-Mohawk river basins when you're standing knee-deep in them. Granted, the 18th century Mohawk Delta had little resemblance to today's, what with all the dams, bridges, roads and buildings...still, as I waded out onto the shale bedrock flats, alone but for a few geese and gulls, it was a nice moment. That moment was shattered as I approached the first hole, and immediately felt a twinge of panic run through my body as an apparent sea-monster was headed at me, about to devour me whole. OK, it wasn't quite that dramatic, but I will admit to feeling a bit of a fight-or-flight primordial reaction upon seeing the back and fins of a massive (I mean MASSIVE...we're talking likely approaching 4') carp, and not realizing exactly what it was at first. As soon as my heart c...

The Adirondack Almanack brought this story to my attention this morning. Essentially, EPA got smacked down by the Supreme Court in their attempt to regulate further reductions in mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions. (Everyone knows mercury is bad...SO2 and NOx from the mid-west are why so many absolutely gorgeous Adirondack ponds are completely devoid of fish.) Question: What is the role of EPA if not to protect the health of Americans (CAIR was "predicted" to save 17,000 deaths/year) and our environment from pollution? If they overstepped their bounds so be it...hopefully the legislature will take note and get something through in short order.

Someday...someday I will make a pilgrimage to the Pac NW. How can you not...especially when Bacon over at BWTF waxes literary over it in his Dean River salmon series. "so laser. ultron badassness."

Spent all day Saturday wading the Grass River up in Massena for smallies. I learned several things; -I can indeed still cast my 5/6 wt (hasn't been done in quite a while) -Smallmouth don't tire nearly as quickly as I thought -In additon to slower/stillwater pools, they will also hold in and aggressively feed from trouty-looking lies -Setting the hook on a 10" creek chub with the same vigor as a 12" smallmouth will likely propel it directly at your nether-region -The Grass River has some really beautiful riffles -I love fishing for smallmouths and will make it a point to get to the Mowhawk this week -I still hate deerflies and horseflies -Beaching is often a more reliable alternative to a landing net

A week of swimming in the ocean, relaxing on the beach, soaking in the hot tub , watching friends funnel beers at the pool, attempting to discard the farmers tan, pounding the sand into submission with my body in attempts to dig volleyball spikes, a bit of fishing...takes more than a day to come back from that, but I'm trying. Apparently, Alex is back at DayTripper ...it's good news but I just don't know if I trust him yet after his previous declaration . Too much catching up to do, in work and reading...as I'm a little behind, here's (likely) the best video of the year if you haven't seen it already, from MoldyChum .