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

It's sad but true; I got excited this morning when I saw the gages had climbed all the way to 20th percentile flows. It's been a long, dry summer but things look to be on the upswing...slightly. Should get at least an inch over the next couple days...there's actually a flood watch for the entire region. Could make for a great couple weeks to close the trout season. In other news, EMS Club Days are coming up. Present your ADK (or other applicable organization...wonder if TU counts) mebership card (or sign up on the spot) and get 20% off. I got a pair of boots waayyy outside my price range on hold for Friday, unless I can convince myself they're not worth it...which would be tough. I guess this constitutes free, unsolicited advertising...but high retail prices aside, EMS has got to be the greatest outdoors shop on earth.

Not toooo awful much fishing recently. Headed to the Pulaski Snagfest this weekend. Should be interesting. In the meanwhile, I'll be trying to regularly update with hikes taken. Hannah and I did this one a couple weeks ago. SawteethGothics 9-18-10 Find more Hikes in Keene Valley/st. Huberts, New York I like that we maxed out the steepness scale. Much more of that to come hopefully. And maybe some pics from this hike, as it's about as scenic as they come.

Been a lot of talk about them recently. Clams in Lake George . Carp in the Mighty Miss (and it's surrounds ). Rock Snot...well, just about everywhere. It's understandable that there would be some " backlash " to all these stories...but let's keep it in perspective. The threats are real. Daily Finance (of all places) has 10 interesting invasive stories that have had negative effects on the US economy. It's important to remember that invasives have a real, measurable and direct cost to all of us, not just the ecosystems they can malign (though...really...these things are inseparable, which somewhere down the line we will finally be forced to face the harsh realities of...but thats another discussion altogether). Of course, if the scope of the article were a little broader, I'd be forced to point out a major offender they omitted: Humans. And no, I don't mean just our friends to the South. But again...another issue altogether . Except for the whole inter...

What did the the capital district trout angling zombie cry when he saw the streamflows? After a long-weekend in balmy Florida, the weather up here is downright refreshing. Still, streams are approaching record lows, temps are threatening record highs, and no significant rainfall is in sight. It's enough to make you go carping. OK, extra carping motivation isn't really needed. Free time and work-release would help. Ideally though, it would be nice if there was water in the streams for the next two months, and maybe even something left in them to catch, before the season closes. Oh...and something from the weekend... 2 kids + alligator = 1 kid? Nah

spotted, stalked, caught and released...

1. Long, delicate casts to visible, actively feeding targets on sunny, sweltering days are your best bet. 2. Sixth-sense strike detection is an art that must be mastered. 3. Expect at least one, mile-long, freight-train run. 4. Once hooked, given stout enough tippet, you're unlikely to lose them. 5. Though carp are fickle, once it "clicks", they start to come much easier. I'm sure in general 1 and 2 up your chances dramatically...but so far I can only attest to 3 and 4. Stole 90 minutes last night as the river was "bottoming out" at a cool, extremely turbid, 5,000+ CFS. Though the weather was pleasant (other than a slightly stiff breeze out of the SW), the water didn't look to promising. With the heavy sediment load added to the fairly high flow, no way was crossing the riffles-turned-rapids gonna happen, so a quick tour of the relatively slack water yielded not even a bump from the smallmouth that I had hoped would keep things interesting. Up at the bot...

Last weekend's Spey Nation was pretty sweet for plenty of reasons. In addition to the event itself, it was some much needed relaxation and QT. After a short, somewhat frustrating trip to the UFZ Saturday afternoon, we stopped back on our way out of town Sunday morning. The juvenile trout and salmon (and chubs) weren't at all put off by the sun. The only real frustration was some difficulty in hook removal. To save myself a few dozen trips up and down the bank, I handed her the hemos. With the lady distracted by dozens of hookups, the quick stop turned into over 3 hours. Who's complaining? Not a great angle but it's plain to see her technique is better than mine. We're still working on the wading part.