Well I figured I would start a place to put any open water adventures anyone may wish to share.
Yesterday was my first open water adventure of the year. We didn't bring any rods as it was a scouting mission to Gilligan's Island for an upcoming camping/striper fishing trip very soon..
The river looked in GREAT shape from the spring rains and run off a week ago, lets hope she remains cool and the linesiders play nice :)
We didn't see any herring or big splashes on the water but on the Island there was a Bald Eagle guarding the nest and a few other nests around too.. This was one of the first places in New York that they really became established and are still thriving.. Sorry I didn't take pics of them but will next time..  Gilligan's Island is a state island that has been taken over by a small group of squatters in the summer.. I will camp there early but by Memorial weekend I wouldn't even think about it.. Just a 1/2 mile north (you can see it in pic #3) is an established state camping Island called ****head Island which is much more appropriate for summer camping..
So here are a few pic's from an absolutely glorious day in search of Sea Run Striped Bass :)




 

Sounds like a great early Spring day- hope the back gets better soon.

No wonder you like doing that, great looking pics.   I myself am not a yak or canoe man.

Open water..........    Oneida lake is opening up nice and I would not be surprised to see a few boats out there soon

Made it out to Oneida for a few hours toady with my nephew.  Boat ran good with the surging issue from last year gone.   Must have been a sticky needle like I thought,   Ran pretty good on the 91 no ethanol.  Got no Waldo's but switched to pan fish and got a few real big sunny's and some pretty good rock bass.   Nephew also picked up a nice SM bass, was probably the biggest fish to date he has gotten.  THe pannies cleaned up nice.

 
My Puter is toast and at the shop  and my Micro SD card reader is in it I have a few more on there

So the fishing was a semi- bust on the ausable and lake we fished. Water on the river was super high and we couldn't buy a bite on the lake. O my bright spot was that my 2 year old grandson caught more fish in an hr at lake Everest ( tail of river ) then 3 grown men caught in 2 days.
Anyway, just wanted to say that I seen my first ever drift boat on the river. I seen ( used) canoes & kayaks floating there but a drift boat ??? Humm.
So this DB was outta the hungry trout ( guide service ) .
Not that I have anything against them ( well I kinda do ) but man did they kinda rub me wrong again. They floated right into our pool we were fishing and frothed the water. The clients were a man and a woman, the guide was a guy.
To take the cake the guide just whips it out and takes a leak over the side of the boat in the middle of the pool. Now I understand when you gotta go , you gotta go but cripes have a little decency and use a bucket or pull over to the shore at least.
The hungry trout guide service , motel and eatery will NEVER get my business , EVER !!

Let's hope this gets back to the Hungary Trout as well, so they can speak to their guide about the kind of advertising he is doing for the restaurant.  But reading their "stuff" in Magazines, I get the impression that they feel they own the river and have first rights to all this fishing that they invented.  Ray Bergman and Fran Betters were just doing a little prep work, the fishery really didn't "ascend" until they got there. 
 
I have to figure you were somewhere between the ski jump and Monument Falls, I would think the rest of the river would be kind of hard on a boat bottom, and the road is never more than a couple of hundred yards from the river from the falls down through the old Stevens Campground below Wilmington.  Little things like the Wilmington Dam could also present problems for a McKenzie Boat as well.
 
At least you got up there.  The worst day you can experience in the mountains is definitely better than most any day in the flatlands.
 
L13

What a difference a week makes. Hot, no wind and no fish biting. Only got 6 sunfish 1 rock bass, 1 pickerel, 1 small mouth and one tiny perch between the 2 of us. Pretty much shut down at around 900. We should have got there at 6 instead of 745

Clint you oughtta get some smally time in on the river before your surgery bud... Its been good and with the cooler river temps they are mighty tasty :)