Cap. District trout lakes

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jkbugger
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2009/10/29 19:47:34 (permalink)

Cap. District trout lakes

Just a thought I've had on my mind for a while and I'm gearing this towards thompsons lake but there are a few others I think this would work.
 
Our small trout lakes in the capital district seem to be brown and bow fisheries...Where's the brookies?
 
A lake like thompsons has no inlets, no place for browns and bows to spawn which shortens there life span, so less big fish. Brookies can spawn in lakes, so less stocking, more wild fish and maybe some bigger brookies.
 
Just curious of what you guys think?

"Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. But teach a man how to fish, and he'll be dead of mercury poisoning inside of three years."
Charles Haas
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    KayderossZ
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/29 19:58:40 (permalink)
    Sounds good to me, but ten again, I'm not a biologist.

    Showing up is 88% of life!
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    deadfishred
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 09:23:36 (permalink)
    well there used to be one brookie lake in the area - Shaver Pond in Grafton - and it was an adequate one for a while, but people kept putting invasives in there. When they were trying to manage the brookies, it was an artificals only fishery to protect them, but any time DEC stocking personel was there, they always saw people fishing with minnows and worms. They rotenoned (reclaimed) the lake twice to keep invasives out, but after the third time discovering bass and panfish in there, they gave up, started stocking it with browns and bows, and allowed live bait.
    #3
    hot tuna
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 09:36:18 (permalink)
    A lot of it may be due to proper PH levels and water quality .There are various strains of brook trout, some are lake spawners such as the horn lake strain or stream spawners such as the temiscamie.
    Besides some lakes and ponds will not support spawning of a brook trout. It must have springs near gravel for them to reproduce. Not all lakes & ponds in the ADK's that have brookies have reproduction (such as the one Z~ hiked up to last trip).

    They might be best served stocking Splake.


    "whats that smell like fish oh baby" .. J. Kaukonen
    #4
    hot tuna
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 09:42:09 (permalink)
    Just to add to what big red posted:
    Bait fish is not always a bad thing for brook trout as long as there is good reproduction. Take 13th lake for example. The state record fish was caught there and for good reason. Basically they are wild (good reproduction) brookies which from their start were imprinted to eating the smelt that are present there. When you have a brook trout that will feed on bait fish they will become HUGE and to fish a lake,pond that the brook trout are insect feeders you would be hard pressed to top a meat feeder for size.

    "whats that smell like fish oh baby" .. J. Kaukonen
    #5
    Neversink Jimmy
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 11:23:47 (permalink)
    I was going to mention 13th Lake too, since it is no secret.  I think a lot of Albany guys don't realize how close that little lake really is...  And the fishery is as diverse as we could hope for in terms of coldwater species.
     
    Salmon, Browns, Brookies and 'Bows...  I haven't fished it once this season, but I typically start and end my open water trout fishing there at 13th...  If you haven't fished it yet- and like trolling streamers (or wobblers I am sure)- it is a great place to check out.
     
    I heard the same information regarding Shaver Pond at Grafton Lakes...  My neighbor said he used to wail on NICE brookies up there- ice fishing too.  I went up there two years ago after hearing his claims and learned quickly that Shaver is primarilly a stockie brown fishery.  If you like 8" fish- Shaver is like paradise. 
     
    I wish Glass Lake here in Rensellaer County would get brookies.  Horse Heaven Brook looks like prime spawning area for brook trout, and I would have to think that lake could grow some nice ones.  Right now the state still puts in a healthy dose of browns and rainbows in Glass- but I wish some brookies would go in there too.
     
    As for huge, fat Brookies, JK?  You should give Madison a call and ask to hit the pond he stocked with fish from his yard.  He and Todd showed me some pics of the brookies they caught out of there while I was at his Halloween Party last week.  Absolute G-I-A-N-T-S...  Fat kypes, giant bodies, and colorful as hell.
     
    He has a goldmine in that springfed pond across the street.  He thinks the giant brookies ate the rainbows we moved over to that pond in June...  Holy smokes...  Some of those 'bows were good size!
    #6
    deadfishred
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 12:10:51 (permalink)
    i will say this much, we don't have any brookie ponds here in the Capital District, but this area, especially the brooks of Rensellear county, have outstanding populations of brookies...big ones too.
    #7
    New York Yank
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 13:45:01 (permalink)
    I remember the first time I ever went fishing, behind my friends house about 30 feet from the Wynantskill.  We used to catch little brookies (and suckers and chubs) all day.  That was the 70s.  Now, I haven't seen a brookie south of Dead Pond in many years.  Probably all the new neighborhoods crushed their habitat.
    RED - are you up in the hills finding those brookies?
    #8
    HookLineSinker
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 14:38:16 (permalink)
    My 1st experience with Brookies was back in college. My boss (I worked in the cafeteria) told me she had a tiny spring fed pond on her property with brook trout, and I was welcome to fish it, as long as I didn't keep many fish. I assured her I wouldn't take any. I never realized what a treat brookies were until I fished it. I just tossed tiny spinners in there, and I had a fish almost every time. These fish never saw a lure before, and I'm guessing they never have again since I left. They were only 6 inches, but the colors astonishing.

    lol, I just remembered her name is Dixie. Do you remember her Jimmy?

    When hell freezes over, I'll fish there too.
    #9
    Neversink Jimmy
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 14:48:54 (permalink)
    Quaken Kill has some nice brookies...  But don't tell anyone that I told you!!! 
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    Neversink Jimmy
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 14:54:26 (permalink)
    Dougie- did you work in the Snack Bar at the student union?   If so, I think I do remember her.
     
    And I remember a crazy-looking guy with poofy hair (and hairnet, of course) who drove a two-toned extended cab pickup truck all over the place.  It was like lime green, or light blue, or something odd.
     
    He once stopped and watched me fishing the Tioghnigioa for browns and brookies right behind the P&C Supermarket/Friendly's parking lot near I-81. 
     
    He told me he lived there all his life and never knew there were trout in there.  Truth is, I caught some of my all-time best trout out of that place.  I still stop by a few times each year on my way to or from Auburn/Ithaca.
     
    I am amazed that one particulr shopping cart has remained submerged in the creek all these years.  Right behind the Wendy' drive-thru window.  And I catch a 10" brown behond it virtually every time I send a caddis on by.
     
    Cortland has some sweet fly fishing within 10mi of campus- but no one knew it, apparently.
     
    I, on the other hand, spent away too much time in the Cortland Line Factory Store hanging out with those guys.
     
    You'd be amazed with the amount of information you can acquire when you are handing out free Pudgies Pizzas!
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    deadfishred
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 15:08:34 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: New York Yank

    RED - are you up in the hills finding those brookies?


    some of the creeks are, but the biggest I've caught came from a creek that ran through the middle of a development.

    Lets just say that a good portion of the tribs of the Hoosick, Little Hoosick, Kinderhook and Poestenkill have wild brookies in them...I've caught wild brookies in 18 different brooks in Renn County...and still have alot more to try.

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    jkbugger
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/30 16:47:33 (permalink)
    yah NJ, Glass and thompsons were exactly what I had in mind. Thompsons is a sprind fed lake so I think it would be worth a shot, and besides most of the browns and bows that seem to come out there aren't that big anyway, and if we're comparing a 12" brookie to a 12" brown I know what I'd rather catch.
     
    i have found a few nice brookie streams around since I move up hear, I was just curious what you guys thought of brookies on the local trout lakes.
     
    NJ, Mads did tell me about those fish, wish I as at the party but I was watching 3rd graders play a full regulation football game with kickoffs and everything!!! we didn't even kick off in jr. high.
     
    Off to the esopus one day and hopefully hit thompsons one day.

    "Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. But teach a man how to fish, and he'll be dead of mercury poisoning inside of three years."
    Charles Haas
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    got em
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/31 07:51:18 (permalink)
     Shaver pond at grafton..oh the memories... back in 71 or 72..mom dropping me and a few friends off to fish...actually the whole grafton area..we went to Shaver...we caught zip..artificials only..we used spinners,spoons..oh well..but we watched a older gent casting flies and getting them left and right...sweet...Crystal lake same years while swimmg there I remember seening the "truck" pull up and dump.. I mean release bow after bow..sweet....next day we rode our bikes from troy (pawling ave. area...yeah south of sacred heart school...)....and caught a few......I doubt their like that now...
    #14
    HookLineSinker
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/10/31 19:46:21 (permalink)
    Yep Jimmy, in the student union. Got paid minimum wage, but I could eat all the food I wanted before, during, and after my shift. I'd basically eat one HUGE meal a day. Dixie was the manager, short hair and glasses. Probably graying a bit by the time you got there. And the strange guy you are talking about. His name was Jim also. He used to ask me every day if I wanted to go bar hopping with him. Nice enough guy, but certainly wouldn't attract any cuties my way.
    I'm assuming I fished the same river you did. I just never knew the name. I'd just toss tiny spinners all day. Wasn't unusual to have a 25 or 30 fish day.

    When hell freezes over, I'll fish there too.
    #15
    Last Cast 69
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    RE: Cap. District trout lakes 2009/11/01 09:37:04 (permalink)
    hmm, anyone think glass lake could support brookies? It is very deep, doesn't get much pressure, besides a few locals and a once a year ice tourney. Some of the small Lakes in Cape Cod that i've caught brookies in have surprised me, they are small, sandy, and not over 30' or 40'. Although it is mostly put and take there some of those fish were deffinately holdovers. Also Glass Lake is rumored to have some MONSTER browns but they are so far, elusive to me.
    #16
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