11/14/12

WEEEEELL,   today was an all day affair with very little results.  We went not knowing where we were going.   Went to the LFZ and was a bit too crowded for us (yes on a freaking wednesday).   Could of shoe horned in, but there were other options.    Went  up north,  fished for a while.   Water was up and looked good, but there was NOOOOOO fish up there, talked to a few guys and zip,zero, nada, ziltch.   Hopped in the care tried another.   Water looked even better so we took a small walk.  Caught a small skipper and that was it.
  
Off to the river to my not so secret spot.   Just as we are walking up, across the river  I see a boat parked upstream a bit and the guys are sitting in the boat and BSing. I started to cross the river a little below them  and as soon an they saw me they quickly grabbed their gear,   needless to say I reached the other side and set up in the  best part of the run  and started casting, my buddy was right behind me.  The group is behind me by maybe  45 seconds as they had a 100 yard  walk from where the boat was parked.   The guide gave me a look that could kill and said something I quite could not hear, I did not encourage with any reply other than "any luck".   They set up down stream from us  and were none too happy. They left after    15 minutes.  Fished for 2 hours seeing only  only one steel jump.   Although I find it hard to believe I hooked into a moldy old male king he gave a bit of a tussle and I wanted to get my fly back.   I was shocked to see the hook under his snout in the jaw,  I am guessing I lined it as the thing was pretty bad but you never know.   For the next hour from 4 to 5 pm I managed 2 pulls one was quick and one I hooked and the fish stormed right at me ,  jumped out of the water not 5 feet in front of me,  with all the slack in my line he popped the hook  on his next run and that was that.   
Tried everything from sacs  to stones to estaz to sucker spawn.  The fly again today was a steelhead hammer in pink  for the skipper and in blue for the 2 pulls in the river.
  All angling pressure was  in town (both ends,  Altmar a bit busier than Pooolaski ),  there also seemed to be alot of cars the compactor  when I peeked down .  From Ellis up to the ball park there were folks, but it was spread out.         
I have a pic of the salmon, but I left the camera in my car, maybe tomorrow for a laugh.    Will go out tomorrow or Friday and be done until next Wednesday as I will not deal with the crowds on the weekend.

You know it Lucky, it is VERY hit or miss. Sometimes the water can look good and the fish are not there.   Just thought what the hell .   Never fished Stony, but it is on the list, went by it many times.   I didn't think by the picture anyone could tell where I was, but you did very well.

Yep- increased late season crowds of "those' kind of fishermen lead to 'those' kind of issues.

One of my sources place a small # of ho's up north last Saturday, saw pics to boot all nice and silver.
 

Clint too bad i missed ya... something tells me north is prime RIGHT NOW!!! but hey, one fish was worth my minimal effort yesterday... i imagine there is some pretty intense pressure there at this point as well... believe it or not ive caught some fiesty sharks in november... id be completely content with your day... you managed to get your hands wet and avoid the crowds.... nice report

you guys are so lucky to fish up there.. it must be rough at times but, the air even looks clearer in the photos than gray nj..lol.. Next time the kgb gives me my papers, i'm heading up but only 70 miles to a secret place. I'll be up trying some walleye while my friends deer hunt , i'll likely be rap trolling the bottom of trophy walleye lake turkey weekend, cheers!