“The Red Canoe” was painted by Winslow Homer in the 1880s.
Late season angling is productive because cooling temperatures and shorter days sharpen fish appetites. With the sun rising later, cooler air temperatures, and a lessening of biting bugs, fishing is more pleasant for the angler.
A recent trip to the edge of Thoreau’s Maine Woods proved, again, how appealing late summer and autumn angling can be.
Recently, my friend Bob LaRoche, a landscape architect and Maine resident, wrote and invited me to join him and his friend Cliff Curtis on a camping trip with secret brook trout ponds. On Friday, Sept. 13, Bob, Cliff, and I headed north.
After following part of the route that Benedict Arnold and his troops had taken to invade Canada, Bob and Cliff left the paved road, put their trucks in four-wheel drive and we bumped and lurched over neglected paper-company gravel roads.
When we got to the campsite, we found Cliff’s friend Pete Belanger had arrived the day before and set up part of the camp. Pete, we learned, had beaten the traditionally unlucky 13, catching four brook trout over a foot long. He further underlined how productive late season fishing can be by saying his fishing was better than it was two weeks earlier.
We went to the pond where Pete had fished, a water body so large it could also be called a lake, at the height of the afternoon. Pete invited me to fish with him and fishing was initially slow. But after making yet another sunscreen application, we reached a remote cove and hooked, caught, and missed a few fish.
When the action stopped, we changed flies. I chose a nymph, a fly type fished underwater, that Curtis had tied in a pattern called “Candy Bar,” with glittery tinsel the colors of a Snickers bar.
While retrieving the nymph, something took the fly with a solid hit. The hit instantly brought me alert, and I raised the rod tip and concentrated on bringing in the line.
As the fish rose to the surface, it looked big. When the fish was near the canoe, Pete netted it, a 15-inch brook trout, the largest trout I have ever landed!
This pond, and the others we fished, have a state-mandated slot limit. Anglers may only keep fish in a narrow size range, a “slot,” that requires releasing smaller and larger fish — to keep the fishery healthy and self-sustaining. The brook trout was outside the slot, and I released it as quickly and carefully as possible.
The fishing slowed but became more active toward dusk. Fish began rising, taking insects on the surface or insects swimming to the surface. A small brook trout leapt over six inches out of the water in pursuit of a dragonfly its own size.
We caught and kept a few legal-sized fish for dinner, caught and released many fish, and had so many short strikes that we lost count.
During the next two days, we fished other ponds and a stream flowing from the big pond. We all caught and hooked fish each day — even if they were small fish.
Cliff has a piece of equipment that is part GPS, part fish finder, and part sonar. While fishing, he consulted this item to locate fish and to gather information to prepare a map of the pond bottoms, to provide clues for where fish might gather.
This trip reminded me again of the importance of preparation. At home, I have everything ready for stream fishing. But this trip reminded me that taking a different kind of trip requires more careful preparation.
Bob has camping equipment already packed and carefully labeled. Although it took him time to pre-pack equipment, it allowed him to load his truck in minutes. Cliff and Pete have fished these ponds and streams before; both have a sense of where the fish are more likely to be.
In training videos, one person portrays the right way to do something and another foolishly makes mistakes. For this trip, I was the fool. I packed many things. But I left a warm jacket at Bob’s house, which would have been nice when it got cooler the second night, and I did not have a sink-tip fly line.
When I bought my fishing license, I was in such a hurry that I did not get a copy of the Maine fishing regulations. Cliff and Pete knew the rules, but if I were fishing without them, I might have gotten in trouble.
Similarly, Cliff and Pete shared advice on fly patterns and gave me flies. Having friends or a tackle store to advise on what is working makes the trip more enjoyable and productive. If a person wants to fish in Maine and does not have experienced friends, look for a Registered Maine Guide to bring a full experience.
Many great fishing places are accessible with a regular car. But for this trip, the roads were so poor that a four-wheel drive vehicle was not optional. Around one campfire, Cliff and Bob recalled, in rueful tones, having to help a friend get a two-wheel drive truck unstuck on a poorly maintained road.
Finally, this trip illustrated again that fishing is more than pursuing fish. On the ride home, we stopped at a rest area and 140 acres of open space. Bob had managed the acquisition and development of this place when he was at the Maine Department of Transportation — the views from the place are spectacular.
The ponds and the stream looked as if they came straight out of a Winslow Homer painting. Maple trees turning red and yellow on a shoreline looked exactly like the trees in Homer’s October Day. Homer painted the watercolor, “The Red Canoe,” and I rode with Pete and Cliff in each of their red canoes.
If you cannot make it to Maine, there are many great places nearby. Even parts of Rensselaer County look like the Great North Woods.
But my trip was personally memorable. Thank you, Bob, Cliff, and Pete!
— Photo by C. Borts
Colin Borst displays a selection of the sizes and colors of Zebra midge nymphs. The larger flies are size 14, the smaller ones are size 18.
My 2024 trout fishing season started, paradoxically, indoors.
For the last few years, Black Dog Outdoor Sports in Glenville has hosted a “Fly Tying Social” in the months before fishing starts. I started attending the social in 2023. The experience improved my fly-tying skills. It also allowed me to tie some fly patterns that met local fishing conditions better than commercially tied flies
This year, at a February session of the social, I sat next to Josh Lazarus. When I mentioned a chance to fish in Colorado, he said, “The Zebra midge nymph pattern is effective in Colorado waters.” A nymph, for readers new to angling, is a fly that is fished below the water, like a lure or bait.
By the time of the Colorado trip, I had tied two Zebra midges and had a few that my friend Dennis Greninger gave me. While fishing a number 12 black Zebra midge on a front Range river in Colorado, I caught and released a nice cutthroat trout.
If a person wants to fish with more than one fly, to see what the most attractive fly is to a fish — or to use a dry fly as a strike indicator for a wet fly, many fly-fishing books advise preparing a leader with one or two pieces of monofilament extending from the main leader.
This is done by tying each section of the leader with a surgeon’s knot and leaving four to six inches of leader sticking out from the knot, instead of cutting it off. A fly can then be tied at the end of the leader and then one or two flies can be tied on the extended piece or pieces of the leader. These are called “dropper flies.”
In Colorado, the staff at St. Peter’s Fly Shop advised another way to fish with more than one fly. They suggested tying the larger of two flies to the end of the leader, tying a segment of leader to the bend of that fly’s hook and then tying a smaller fly at the end of this piece of leader.
While fishing in Colorado, I had the number 12 Zebra midge as the larger fly and a number 20 Dorsey’s Top-Secret Midge as the smaller fly, with the Top-Secret Midge joined to the larger fly with a piece of leader tied to the bend of the number 12 Zebra midge.
On April 2, when back in New York, I decided on the spur of the moment to go fishing on a Rensselaer County stream. I did not want to stop for worms and use my usual plan of fishing with a spinning reel and worms. I wanted to just go and I grabbed all the tackle from the Colorado trip.
Many Rensselaer County streams were running high, fast, and discolored from the recent snow and rain. However, I found a spot high up in the watershed of a small stream where the water moved more slowly and was not so high and discolored.
After what seemed like the jillion-th cast, and when I was ready to reel in, I lifted the rod tip — and suddenly felt a fish on the end of the line!
A six-inch brown trout had taken the Top-Secret Midge. While releasing the fish, I lost the fly.
In the great tradition of angling detection, I decided that, if the fish took a small fly, I should try another small fly. I tied on one of the number 16 Zebra Midges, tied in red material, that Dennis had given me.
In quick succession, I caught and released two small brook trout. Unlike the brown trout that subtly took the Top-Secret Midge, the brook trout took Dennis’s Zebra Midge with a strong hit, similar to the way a trout will take a lure or bait.
After releasing the second fish, I left the pool, assuming the commotion caused any other fish to stop feeding.
Arriving at another stream, I saw high, fast, and discolored water up close. This stream, which has pleasant flows and many “trouty” looking places to fish during most of the year, was a flat sheet of fast water that was impossible to wade. After a few casts near the bank, I reeled in and went home.
The Zebra midge is a good fly to include in a fly box. It is a very easy fly to tie. If you are not as lucky as I was to have sat next to an experienced fly-tyer such as Josh, there are many instructional videos for this fly on YouTube.
If you do not tie your own flies, Black Dog Outdoor Sports stocks this fly in different sizes and colors. When I called the store last week to see if it stocked the fly, Colin Borst told me that the bins containing the Zebra midge are labeled “hot fly.”
It was satisfying to write this column and relive the fun and surprise of catching the fish described above. It was also satisfying to catch a fish on a fly that I tied myself and to catch other fish on a fly that my friend Dennis had tied.
More importantly, for readers, my experiences suggest general factors to increase your success in early season trout fishing.
First, before leaving, have a Plan A, a Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C for places to fish. If your first destination is not fishable, your trip is less likely to be a washout.
Second, be willing to experiment. Nearly all of us drive when we fish. Even a compact car has room for extra gear. If you like to fly fish, take a spinning rod and some lures or bait. If you like to spin fish and have a fly rod, take that. If one method does not work, perhaps the other will.
Finally, even if it does not look like a great day to fish, if you have the time, go anyway. With preparation and luck, you may have more success than you expect!
If a person plans a fishing trip and it is rainy, rainy, rainy locally, it might be tempting to cancel the trip and sit on the couch.
However, my wife, Dorothy, and I discovered this past Friday that it’s better to just go and see what will happen. It was rainy and gray in our neighborhood. There had been so much rain that it appeared the trout streams would be too high.
Our plan to fish the Catskills looked to us like it could be a rain-out, after we heard a weather forecast that suggested New York City and the southern part of the state would be swamped.
But after renewing our fishing licenses, we decided to head out anyway and see what the conditions were like. We stopped at the Guilderland Public Library and took advantage of the library’s ability to renew or issue fishing licenses. We also saw the new coffee shop in the library, which looks appealing.
As we drove south, the rain tapered off. By the time we got to Stamford, New York, in Delaware County, the rain had stopped, and the sky was partly sunny. Water in the trout stream was on the higher side but not a raging torrent.
The plan for this trip was to fish for trout with dry flies. Conventional fishing wisdom is that dry fly fishing greatly limits angling success, as fish consume most of their food below the surface.
When fishing below the surface, with a nymph, wet fly, or streamer pattern, the fish takes the fly with a varying degree of firmness. Sometimes, it’s a solid hit, as might occur when fishing with bait or a lure; other times, it’s a whisper of a strike.
If fish are rising to flies, dry fly fishing can be more rewarding as the angler feels and sees the strike.
Before going to the stream, we stood on a local bridge over it and watched to see if fish were rising. On the upstream side, the water was as flat as glass. For the first few minutes, it was the same way on the downstream side.
But then we saw a small ring of a rise. Looking down into the brownish water, a nice-sized trout was sinking back down after rising to a fly. Then it came up again.
As I kept looking, suddenly I could see fish that were not previously visible, a flotilla of them. They seemed to fade into view the way a ghost might in a haunted house.
It appeared the fish were rising to nearly invisible flies, flies that were so small they would make a BB look gigantic. But we cast to them anyway. Sadly, no fish took our offerings.
Nevertheless, it was a great day on the water. The weather was nicer than it was in Guilderland. We got to see autumn wildflowers, such as several kinds of asters and several stands of wild sunflowers. On distant hills, we saw that leaves were starting to change.
If you head out this week or next, the sights may be different. The flowers may be past their prime, or leaves might be fading. But you could very well see something equally delightful. And who knows, if you fish subsurface — or bigger insects are coming off the water — you might catch fish!
In the most recent fishing regulations, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation made a big change. Weather permitting, you can enjoy this change between now and April 1, the traditional opening of the statewide trout season.
In the past, DEC, which sets fishing regulations, established the statewide season beginning on April 1 and ending in either September or October. According to Pat Festa, my friend and retired New York State fisheries biologist, at one time the season closed earlier — on Sept. 1.
Then, Pat advised, the season was lengthened, first to Sept. 15, then to Sept. 30, and finally to Oct. 15.
In addition to changes to the statewide season over the years, DEC began setting special regulations for specific streams. For example, it set regulations allowing catch-and-release year ’round on some Catskill streams, extended the season on the Kinderhook, and allowed year ’round fishing on a segment of the Battenkill, in Washington County.
In the latest changes to the regulations, from April 1 to Oct. 15, anglers may fish for trout using all allowable methods and may keep fish — unless special regulations say otherwise.
From Oct. 16 to March 31, anglers may pursue trout, but must release any fish caught and may only use artificial lures. As with the rest of the state regulations, this general regulation may be superseded by regulations applied to specific streams.
With this change, New York joins other states, such as Colorado and Massachusetts, in having, in effect, a year ’round trout-fishing season. John Gierach once told me that Colorado has had a year ’round season since the 1960s.
He went on to say, “The state thought: If those maniacs want to get out in February, let them!”
For more information on these regulatory changes, please visit the following place on the DEC website: https://www.dec.ny.gov/press/123901.html. This part of the website has a link to the DEC fisheries research, which supported making the change and the DEC plan for evaluating how the change affects trout fisheries.
Although these regulations open many more trout fishing opportunities, an angler’s luck still depends on weather and water conditions. On several St. Patrick’s Days, I fished on catch-and-release waters. On one stream, I hooked and landed a 17-inch brown trout. Another year, I caught a 10- or 11-inch brown trout on the Battenkill. In other years, angling on special regulation waters ended fishless.
If your schedule, water levels, and the weather allow you to fish this year before April 1 — or after — I hope you have a fun and safe beginning to your fishing season!
I opened the 2019 fishing season on two small streams in Rensselaer County.
Before describing the trip, I want to share a newly discovered fishing resource. If you are fishing with bait or lures east of the Hudson and discover you forgot something, Tremont Lumber, on Route 43, in Averill Park has a well-stocked fishing section with an in-depth selection of hooks, sinkers, split shots, lures, spin cast rods, and assorted other tackle.
My first stop was a small stream where, some years ago, I watched with awe when the water came alive with trout hitting caddis flies on the surface. Even though I was likely in view of these fish, they were recklessly rising, coming up out of the water and eating the fly from above, rather than a delicate, Downton Abbey sipping rise.
Since caddis hatches begin appearing in May, I returned to this stream. No caddis. No rising flies. In fact, it was almost no stream. A beaver dam had blown out, leaving a confusing set of muddy flats, braided stream and mud on tree trunks showing the former depth of the pond.
After seeing no opportunities, it was on to another stream. When I got there, it was windy, and the water was high and discolored. On the first cast of a Woolly Bugger, the current caught the fly and shot it downstream.
When a fly rides high in the water, the angler must add weight to the leader, even though that ruins the smoothness of casting.
After adding a BB-sized split shot, on the second cast, the fly stopped moving. When fishing weighted flies, this usually means the fly has snagged the bottom.
But then, “the bottom” started moving. A fish, and not a rock or twig, was on the end of the line.
I got the fly line on the reel and played the fish from the reel, which led to anxious moments with a stubborn fish, strong current and light leader.
When the fish came into the shallows, it was a fat brown trout, about 13 inches long.
After releasing the trout, I went upstream and fished awhile longer. While it was great to cast and prospect for places where the fish would be, the fish were either not there or not interested in the way I was presenting the fly.
An issue with fishing small streams is that there is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of places where the fly gets hooked on a back cast. Also, a weighted line makes it harder to cast. If anyone has any advice on that, please write in.
Mid-spring angling can be windy but the weight on the line seemed to offset the fly blowing off target from the wind.
On the way home, I saw a noticeable number of boats on the Hudson River. It is likely that anglers on these boats were pursuing the migratory run of striped bass that graces the Hudson each spring.
If you do not yet have a fishing license, or need to renew your license, you can do either transaction at several nearby locations. Guilderland Public Library on Western Avenue sells licenses. The library also has a good selection of maps and fishing books. If you do not yet have tackle, you can check out a spin-cast rod from the Library.
Licenses are also available at Phillips Hardware on Route 146, Guilderland Town Hall on Route 20, Dick’s Sporting Goods in Crossgates Mall, and WalMart in Crossgates Commons on Washington Avenue. Phillips Hardware also sells some fishing tackle.
A New York State fishing license is issued from a computer-generated system with an online connection. Before going to buy or renew a license, it is worth calling ahead before going to a place to buy a license. Sometimes, the computer is down or the printer for licenses is not working.
If you plan to pursue migratory fish in the Hudson River, remember to ask for a Recreational Marine Fisheries Registration. This credential is free of charge and, if you request it, can often be added to the document that is your freshwater fishing license.
The weather can be discouraging for fishing. For example, this weekend when I was pond fishing, it was a struggle to fly cast with a steady, off-the-steppes-of-Russia kind of wind.
But if you have time, please go out and see what happens. With a combination of skill and luck you too may experience the pleasant surprise of connecting with fish!
Location:
The Enterprise — Michael Koff
John Rowen, Capital Angler columnist, displays some of the fishing gear he has that would make good holiday gifts.
The great thing about giving holiday gifts to anglers is that there are so many options for any budget.
Choosing a gift depends on what you know about the angler and your budget. Before choosing something such as a fishing rod, tackle box, lures, or waders, please ask what is needed before buying.
Although these items are not like underwear or other intimate clothing, they are personal. They need to have the right fit and feel. For example, each category of fishing rod, such as spinning, fly, or bait-casting, has rods with a different feel.
While casting some are stiff, others have more play; some are long, some short. An angler usually has a fishing rod that he or she feels comfortable with and it’s hard to duplicate the feel in another person’s head or muscle memory.
If you think that choosing a bigger-ticket item such as a rod, tackle box, or waders is a good idea, consider setting some money aside and offering to take a shopping trip where the angler can look at a range of items, determine the trade-offs, and make a selection.
When I asked my California friend, Steve Posner, about holiday gifts, he wrote back, “Best Stocking Stuffer (Huge Stocking Category)” and included a link to Flycraft USA, which makes inflatable fishing boats ranging from $2,995 to $4,605.
Despite this advice, I still like to give small fishing items as holiday gifts. I usually buy things that are tried and true — but sometimes buy something that sort of jumps out at me from the shelf or the rack.
After speaking with Mark Loete, the Catskill angler and photographer, I realized smaller gifts, too, like lures may be too personal for the person receiving the gift. When I asked Mark about Christmas, he wrote, “Assuming there really is a Santa Claus ... How about a new magical fly that no one in your circle of fly fishing friends has ever heard of, that catches fish almost every time you use it? OK, failing that, for the fly tiers amongst us, how about a Whiting Silver grade dry fly rooster cape in the elusive blue dun color?”
My favorite tried and true lure is the Acme Kastmaster, a shiny, lozenge-shaped lure that has a treble hook, and sometimes feathers, as a skirt at its back end. This item comes with a silver or gold finish and is made in a variety of weights.
It fishes well in salt and freshwater. It might be made by the company that makes the anvils and explosives so prominently featured in the Roadrunner cartoons. Animal lovers need not worry: while fishing this lure in the last 50 years, I have never caught a coyote or roadrunner with it.
For under $5, our local stores have good selections of Kastmasters and other single lures or flies. In the same price range, it is possible to buy hooks or sinkers. For between $5 and $20, shoppers can purchase a boxed set of lures or flies.
Wilderness Adventures Press has an attractive and informative set of 11-by-17-inch maps of rivers and river systems, which cost $9.95 each. Three maps in the series cover New York waters: the Beaverkill and Willowemoc Creek; Salmon River; and the Delaware River: East and West Branches. If your angler wanders out of state, Wilderness Adventures publishes maps for 120 rivers in 21 other states.
Beth Waterman, coordinator at the Jerry Bartlett Angling Collection at the Phoenicia Public Library, on the banks of the Esopus, said her Christmas list includes “Books and wool socks ... But I have too many of both of them!”
If your washing machine is a death vortex for socks, I found three appealing types for anglers. My wife’s niece, Kelly, recently bought me Dockers socks from Kohls. They come in a two-pack and one pair has a southwestern, possibly Navajo, design on them.
When wearing these socks, you will feel as if you are walking on air. They are made of cotton and spandex. If they got wet, they might be uncomfortable. But they are great for the drive to and from fishing.
Eastern Mountain Sports’ Smartwool Socks are 80 percent Merino wool, 19 percent nylon, and 1 percent elastic. They are great for cold weather and cold-water fishing. The wool keeps working as insulation — even when wet.
If Smartwool Socks are too thick, Darn Tough Socks from Vermont makes a thinner wool sock. My friend John MacDonald bought me a pair; they are great for people with leaky waders who fish on cooler summer nights.
If you want to buy these socks at a real store and have the time, John bought the socks at Shaffe’s in Bennington, Vermont. It is a classic men’s store and, if you visit, you just might come back with something else!
Speaking of travel, if an angler has everything, another gift idea is a gasoline gift card or a hotel gift certificate. With access to another full tank of gas in their wallets or desk drawers, anglers may be inspired to venture beyond home waters.
Finally, a membership in a fishing organization is a great way for an angler to strengthen skills and help protect clean water. The Bartlett Collection is a font of Catskill fishing information. Capital District Fly Fishers has great instructional programs each year.
Trout Unlimited’s Clearwater chapter has programs and a new-member incentive. According to Kirk Deeter, who edits the organization’s Trout magazine, each Trout Unlimited membership includes a subscription to Trout, which now has a regular column by John Gierach, author of Trout Bum.