My light in the tunnel is Sept. 29-Oct. 3. Even though its my 4th year going, im still a rookie. Anyone feel free to share some river time and show a new dog some old tricks, let me know.

r3g3
Heyy Charlie- You picked the best time so far this season for early unmolested fishes- hope ya found a few- weather permitting.
Am sure the reports of a few starting will get the circus train started- by the time I get up again will be stumbling over people instead of cobble.

Fish were there in very, very small numbers. Saw maybe 10 all day, and  those just swirls. Never saw a hook-up out of hundreds of people fishing.  Talked to guys that abandoned the DSR in the morning as nothing was happening. Guess it was just off.
Water was warm. Rained off and on  from 10 . We fished below 2a, UFZ, Schoolhouse, Barrel and looked at lots of other places with nothing happening. But, had a great day with tons of laughter and great company.  I'm glad I finally got to fish with Uglyfish, won't be the last by any means. The chubs were everywhere, rising by the dozens and trying to whack your flies on the swing, occasionally getting hooked. I guess  if you use 1/0's you'd never have  to  unhook them. Now there's a reason....
     Walked in the powerlines from Pulaski St. to the bottom  of Schoolhouse.  There's a chopped swath for most of the way, but lots of bungee sticks and stubble. We followed a flock of vultures- shoulda told us something.  At 350 crossing was a non-issue- at 500 still doable if you wanted to cross over from the north and walk down to the bottom of the wire. Jailhouse was empty, looked like a ghost town. They have posted right to the last 50 feet of the land adjacent to Schoolhouse.
Went up and fished the tail of the barrel and saw that it's filled in even more. I could easily wade across in  a good  100 foot stretch, that wasn't so a few years ago, unless you were willing to go a little deep and had some great balance.  If jailwater inmates fish back there at low water they're going to have to duel with those fishing the north. Literally.  I no longer miss it. I'll fish it from the north, much better approach , especially with the changes. The Kiddie Pool had some facelifting done by the DEC?  An excavator put in a bunch of rock at the launch , basically eliminating the red light gravel bar and pushing the channel and  south seam  over past the center bridge pylon.  The prime spot in the pool is gone. Probably eliminated  room for 4-5 guys and makes the fish run a narrow gauntlet without  much space to hold at lower flows.   The Church Pool also lost the gravel bar on the North Bank and straightened out.    It did improve up towards the wire.  The tree at the top of Paradise lost all the branches in the water and has become a non-issue, a few trees are back in the curve- it looks like you could cross at low water but very, very dicey. We tried to cross at the bottom of Paradise, but the deep corner turned us back.  I didn't look at the tail of Purgatory, but I'm guessing it's safer to just walk -in from the LFZ.
We had an amazing incident happen in front of Dawn's where we had gone to peer off the bridge at the zoo. Not many people there. I'll let Wayne tell it, but I missed a prime opportunity to shoot some hilarious video. I may have had one take, as I had my loop I usually keep in hand for swinging rip from my hand, but no hook-up. Would I do it again? Yeah, it was a good trip with lots learned and a good guy met and fished with- well worth the trip.

Had the impression the cobble all over the middle of the low end of LFZ was a result of the South channel being made deeper- likely for the boats to get in off the ramp. It was getting so that every one was scraping bottom for a good distance there in average waters.
Too bad it made such a narrow channel coming out from under the bridge though. That will likely be a popular choke point when the fish stack- or they will just move up much further- will likely change the dynamics of fishing the popular  low end of the pool entirely.
Betcha a lot of the cobble will end up in unemployment next winter.
 
Although most all pro reports are by far and away more accurate than years gone by I think there is a bit of unintended impression given in regard to  the amount of fish in the system. When guys with decades of experience are regularly getting skunked and report of just being appreciative of the experience in general it AINT time for folks to take vacation , spend their time and money, and head for the river.
Its just the beginning of the beginning so far.

fichy

r3g3Heyy Charlie- You picked the best time so far this season for early unmolested fishes- hope ya found a few- weather permitting.Am sure the reports of a few starting will get the circus train started- by the time I get up again will be stumbling over people instead of cobble.

Fish were there in very, very small numbers. Saw maybe 10 all day, and  those just swirls. Never saw a hook-up out of hundreds of people fishing.  Talked to guys that abandoned the DSR in the morning as nothing was happening. Guess it was just off.Water was warm. Rained off and on  from 10 . We fished below 2a, UFZ, Schoolhouse, Barrel and looked at lots of other places with nothing happening. But, had a great day with tons of laughter and great company.  I'm glad I finally got to fish with Uglyfish, won't be the last by any means. The chubs were everywhere, rising by the dozens and trying to whack your flies on the swing, occasionally getting hooked. I guess  if you use 1/0's you'd never have  to  unhook them. Now there's a reason....     Walked in the powerlines from Pulaski St. to the bottom  of Schoolhouse.  There's a chopped swath for most of the way, but lots of bungee sticks and stubble. We followed a flock of vultures- shoulda told us something.  At 350 crossing was a non-issue- at 500 still doable if you wanted to cross over from the north and walk down to the bottom of the wire. Jailhouse was empty, looked like a ghost town. They have posted right to the last 50 feet of the land adjacent to Schoolhouse.Went up and fished the tail of the barrel and saw that it's filled in even more. I could easily wade across in  a good  100 foot stretch, that wasn't so a few years ago, unless you were willing to go a little deep and had some great balance.  If jailwater inmates fish back there at low water they're going to have to duel with those fishing the north. Literally.  I no longer miss it. I'll fish it from the north, much better approach , especially with the changes. The Kiddie Pool had some facelifting done by the DEC?  An excavator put in a bunch of rock at the launch , basically eliminating the red light gravel bar and pushing the channel and  south seam  over past the center bridge pylon.  The prime spot in the pool is gone. Probably eliminated  room for 4-5 guys and makes the fish run a narrow gauntlet without  much space to hold at lower flows.   The Church Pool also lost the gravel bar on the North Bank and straightened out.    It did improve up towards the wire.  The tree at the top of Paradise lost all the branches in the water and has become a non-issue, a few trees are back in the curve- it looks like you could cross at low water but very, very dicey. We tried to cross at the bottom of Paradise, but the deep corner turned us back.  I didn't look at the tail of Purgatory, but I'm guessing it's safer to just walk -in from the LFZ.We had an amazing incident happen in front of Dawn's where we had gone to peer off the bridge at the zoo. Not many people there. I'll let Wayne tell it, but I missed a prime opportunity to shoot some hilarious video. I may have had one take, as I had my loop I usually keep in hand for swinging rip from my hand, but no hook-up. Would I do it again? Yeah, it was a good trip with lots learned and a good guy met and fished with- well worth the trip.

Nice report Charlie :) glad you guys hooked up and shared some water, with us too.

Thanks for the intro Charlie. We'll here it goes not sure if I can do it justice but will give it a try. Well were at the bridge walking back toward the car and two guys are near the car. Figure dawn had some goons harassing us for parking on her street. We keep walking and the car behind us lights keep going off and a guy is trying to open my door this goes on for a bit then all of the sudden one realizes it isn't their car it's ours. Got to love it these guys were feeling no pain by no means. We get there and one guy left his coffee on my bumper he comes back looking like I stole his coffee pole in hand headed to river while the other idiot almost hits us while he pulls out. Charlie and I look at each other and that's why we fish where we do. It's early and I think we actually saw more beer cans left on the shore than fish.

Thanks for the stories guys.
 
Dam when you started I hope that tale was going to end with you guys blowing in a couple of the pill heads that have been ripping people off there lately.
 

Don't think they were trying to rip off it was a silver SUV like mine they were just so messed up they thought mine car was theirs.

Thanks Ug.
I got that from your post.
Its just that there has been a LOT of ripping off around lately from what I have been reading.
 
Just hoping that you guys were lucky enough to catch them in the act and get a couple of losers off the streets for a while.

Nice report guys and good read. I've owned for 12 years now and have lived for over 2. Its the 25th season of fishing the Area for me. As a child I always noticed the goons... Especially my fathers take on it In situations that formed when younger...and the lack of disrespect from many. I think there is a change taking place honestly... But, since owning property for the number of years and now living formore than 2... I can really see where the term fish head came from... Just another word for **** head...most folks who live here gain nothing from the fishery and folks (fisherman) that think that the fishery is the only thing that makes this place survive is in a dream world.. Sorry for the rant... Too many hours of work will do that to ya :)

Yep, fishhead is a common term for me and it is another wired fir $#it head. I have moved past the stereotype of a fishhead being None with an out of state plate.  Here is my criteria for a fshhead.
1: anyone who litters
2: anyone who is intoxicated on the river, drinks and drives between spots. It's ok to have a few cool ones, but when you  start at 9 am...........  I will include firing up on the river bank Creech and Chong style in this one too.
3: anyone whose outfit costs more than the sum of all my gear put together
4: anyone who feels that they own the river, especially  just because they drove a few miles  to get here
5: most anyone who fishes the local tribs, you know the ones with surf poles and thirty pound test.
6: anyone who is disrespectful to the residents of the community, their fellow fisherpeople and the fish/river