Jeff's Outdoor Notebook

Water, water everywhere

2009-07-01T23:24:00.002-04:00

I was expecting rain to wipe out most of my outdoor activities on my vacation. As it turned out, I was only partially right.

Based on the forecast, I really didn't expect to leave my brother's house in Massachusetts over the weekend, but I managed to get in a lot of fishing, go to the beach, and enjoy a few cookouts. So things got off to a good start.

I managed to squeeze in a few hours of fishing in Vermont on Monday, as I reported earlier. I got a few hours in Tuesday as well, even though the forecast threatened thunderstorms all day. I've always read that fish feed more aggressively ahead of approaching storm fronts, but apparently the fish didn't get that memo. I fished a local lake for almost two hours but only managed to catch two diminutive smallmouth bass, one rock bass and a perch.

The threatened thunderstorms didn't finally arrive until late Tuesday, but the rain hasn't stopped since. As a result, I spent all day Wednesday inside watching movies, and the rest of the week doesn't look promising either. Which means both fishing and golf are in jeopardy. It seems like June was the wettest ever. I was hoping things might improve in July.

Ah well, the forecast could still be wrong. And if not, at least it didn't rain every day. Still, the extended forecast calls for sunshine and 72 degrees on Sunday. Wouldn't ya know it. I'll be back to work by then.

Getting back to basics

2009-06-29T23:37:00.002-04:00

I have learned, or relearned, a valuable lesson so far on my vacation. Sometimes it's best to keep it simple.

Translated into fishing terms, that means sometimes it's better to trade in all the fancy lures and flies and stick to the old reliable basic nightcrawler.

My fishing got off to a promising start Friday. After spending most of the day on the road, we got to my brother's house around 7:30, leaving me about an hour of daylight to fish the lake behind his house. In that time, I caught two smallmouth bass, one of 11 inches, and a decent bluegill. I thought that was a pretty good start considering my limited time on the water.

Saturday turned into a much better day than I expected, weatherwise, but the fishing did not live up to expectations. Nicky caught a perch and a few bluegills and I struggled all day to catch anything. Late in the day, when the wind finally died down, I pulled out my fly rod and hooked several bluegills.

Sunday started out the same. I spent almost two hours fishing off the rocks Sunday morning, going through almost everything in my tacklebox, including the old worm and bobber. The fish were apparently all in a coma.

Then, late Sunday afternoon, it was like someone flipped a switch...or rang the dinner bell. After trying again without success to attract a bass with a variety of spinners, spoons and crankbaits, I again reverted to the old standby 'crawler on a hook dangled beneath a bobber. Only this time, the fish started to bite.

I started hooking some plump bluegills and a few decent-sized perch. I even caught a 10-inch smallmouth, which I rarely do with a worm. Nicky took notice and started working the same area, also using worms. Over the next few hours, we both caught several "eatin' size" yellow perch and I landed a nice white perch.

Nicky decided to quit after that but I wanted to take advantage of the waning daylight and get in a few more licks while the fish were finally biting. I set my rod down on a rock to go check on the kids, not noticing that I left the hook and worm dangling in the water. When I returned, I pulled out my line and found a 9-inch bullhead hanging off the hook. Go figure. All weekend I couldn't buy a bite, and now I was catching fish without even being out there.

So after a slow start, our weekend in Massachusetts finished on a strong note. And we were fortunate that the rain that was promised all weekend never materialized. I've got some photos but I won't be able to download them until I return home.

The kids and I drove up to Vermont this morning to visit my parents and we'll be here the rest of the week. Once we got settled in, the first thing I did was buy a 7-day nonresident fishing license and put it to use on the West River.

Alas, I only caught a few small perch and a bluegill. Better than being skunked I guess. And I've got the rest of the week. Somewhere out there, a big bass has my name on it. And I intend to find him before my vacation ends. I better go out and get some more nightcrawlers.

Let the vacation begin!

2009-06-25T17:44:00.001-04:00

I've been counting the minutes for weeks.

It's finally time to get out of Dodge.

As I write this, I am at my desk at work, and I'll be leaving shortly to officially begin my vacation. We aren't leaving town until Friday morning and tonight will be a flurry of packing and last minute preparations.

The last thing to go in the trunk of my car will be my golf clubs and my fishing tackle, so I'm hoping and praying for good weather while we are gone. I checked the forecast for Massachusetts, where Nicky and Deanna and I will be over the weekend, and it looks OK. There is a chance of showers and thunderstorms for the weekend but right now anyway, it doesn't look like a serious threat.

As I write this a thunderstorm is rumbling through the area and I hope it's Mother Nature's way of getting it out of her system so that we'll have nothing but sunshine for the next nine days. It can still rain, as long as it's in the middle of the night.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It will be a good vacation in any case. Just getting away from it all for a while and getting to see family members again will make it worthwhile.

But putting a few big bass on the stringer will make it even better.

Bass season opens, I sit it out

2009-06-20T22:48:00.002-04:00

I've already had a great season fishing for bass, even though bass season didn't officially open until today. So it's been catch and release until now.

Of course, it didn't matter much that bass season opened today because I sat home and watched the deluge. Even if the rain had stopped, all of my fishing holes were overflowing.

After a good April and May, June has been slow for fishing, mainly because I have barely been able to get out. May seemed cooler than usual, and June has definitely been wetter. I hope that trend will stop soon because I want nine straight days of sunshine when I go on vacation.

It can rain all it wants, as long as it's at 3 a.m.

The sun came out, the fish didn't

2009-06-19T22:11:00.002-04:00

I spent most of today on the road, but one thing I noticed while traveling is the weather cleared up.

It was cloudy and damp this morning, with showers in the forecast, but by mid afternoon the skies had cleared and the sun was out. I didn't get home until about 7 p.m., but as it was still a pleasant evening, I decided to grab my fishing gear and head down to the Chemung River for an hour or so of fishing.

After all the rain we've had, the river wasn't exactly a raging torrent, but it was higher and faster than normal. I spent an hour plying the bubbling waters with a variety of spinners, crankbaits and soft plastics. Nothing seemed to appeal to the fish, however, as I never got a nibble.

But at least I got a chance to get out. I figured it might be my only shot this weekend, as Saturday's weather looks iffy at best. Maybe I'm just saving all the hot fishing action for when I'm on vacation. I can hope anyway.

Let's get the rain out of the way

2009-06-18T09:36:00.002-04:00

I've been looking out the window the last few days bemoaning the wet weather, especially when I look at the forecast and see that it might stick around through the weekend.

On the other hand, since I'm going on vacation in just over a week, if it has to rain, I'd rather it do it now and then clear off in a week or so.

I remember when I went on vacation three years ago, it rained six of the nine days we were gone. Go back to my blog ramblings from June 2006 and you can read all the details. We still managed to get in a fair amount of fishing, but that was mainly because my brother lives right on a lake, and we could run out for a half hour of fishing any time the rain let up. We had to pass up on the golf though. The course where I normally play while visiting my parents in Vermont was practically under water.

So if it has to rain, might as well do it now. I just hope it doesn't decide to rain now AND while I'm on vacation.

Wet weather leads to dry spell for fishing

2009-06-14T19:49:00.002-04:00

I haven't had anything to report for the last week or so because I haven't wet a line in a while.

Part of that is due to a busy schedule...I worked several late nights last week and I was out of town all day Friday.

And even when I did have some time to go fishing, the weather had other ideas. I was hoping to carve out a few hours to at least hit the Chemung River on Saturday afternoon, but the river was still roiling from heavy rain Thursday night and Friday morning. Plus it started raining again Saturday afternoon, so that put all thoughts of piscatorial pursuits out of my head.

If I've hit a little lull after a great spring of fishing, hopefully it will be short-lived. My annual vacation is coming up in a few weeks, and as always I'm looking forward to some fishing adventures in Massachusetts and Vermont.

It will be as good a time as any to jump start my fishing, assuming it doesn't rain the whole week I'm gone.

Going "green" isn't always a good thing

2009-06-06T21:53:00.002-04:00

It's all the rage, but being green isn't always all it's cracked up to be, especially when it's one of your favorite bass waters that is greening up.

I've had pretty good success fishing for bass and bluegills at Sullivanville Dam in Horseheads this spring. The problem with that impoundment is that it tends to get weedy once the warm weather arrives.

Thus by the time bass season opens in late June, the weeds in many places are so thick you can almost walk across the water.

That didn't stop Nicky and me from trying our luck there today. Even when it's weedy, it's possible to dunk a worm on a hook into an open area, or use a weedless lure to skim over the vegetation.

As we were walking in today and I looked at the lush patches of lilly pads and other aquatic shrubbery, it occurred to me that even if we did manage to hook a bass in that jungle, the real challenge would be getting it out. That thought turned out to be prophetic.

I started out using a buzzbait because it does a nice job of skimming over the surface and I've caught some nice largemouths in weedy situations with it. I hadn't been casting more than 10 minutes when a bass hammered my lure. I knew right away it was a good one, and of course it did just what I knew it would, buried itself in the nearest patch of lilly pads.

I called Nicky to come over and help and he waded over to where the fish was caught up while I kept the line taut. But while he was clearing away the tangle of weeds, the fish managed to wiggle off the hook and vanish. That was the last bass I had on for the day, although one did take a couple of swipes at my frog.

When nothing else worked, I eventually switched to a worm and bobber, and immediately started hooking bluegills. The first several were small, but as I worked more into an area of open water between the shore and some thick lilly patches, I started hitting some bigger ones. All in all, I caught 11 bluegills.

Nicky, meanwhile was having a forgettable day. He couldn't seem to catch a fish, his line was frequently getting tangled, and his temper was short. Even when he was casting to the same area where I was catching bluegills, he was coming up empty.

I finally broke my line when my hook caught hung up on some weeds, and decided I was ready to quit. Nicky however, continued to flail away, determined to catch a fish. Then he did. It wasn't the biggest fish ever, nor even the biggest bluegill ever, but after an afternoon of futility, he was more than happy to accept that as a good way to end the trip.

A little bass fishing

2009-06-04T23:55:00.002-04:00

The emphasis here is on "little."

After a busy day of running errands, it was so nice out this afternoon I couldn't resist slipping away for a few hours of fishing. I decided to wet a line in the Chemung River, hoping for a little bass or walleye action.

Little is what I got, alright. An hour and a half of fishing yielded exactly one smallmouth bass of about eight inches. In fact, I felt so little pressure on my line, at first I thought I had picked up some weeds until the fish broke water. Maybe it just took him a few seconds to realize he was hooked, because after he finally jumped, he put up a more stiff fight until I reeled him in.

Action on the river has definitely cooled since a few big days last month, but it's a long summer and I'm sure things will turn around. I could just as easily go down there tomorrow and catch a dozen bass. Like I said in an earlier post, it's feast or famine.

Almost washed out

2009-06-01T14:28:00.002-04:00

I'm running a little behind here because I had a very busy weekend, so bear with me. I try not to report on my outdoor activities three days after the fact, but sometimes life gets in the way.

So anyway, I had a fishing rendezvous planned for Friday with a colleague from work who is an avid angler and was quite envious when he saw photos of the hefty smallmouth bass I caught last month from the Chemung River.

The plan was to meet down on the river at the spot where I landed Porky. But as it turns out, we got a lot of heavy rain Thursday night and Friday morning. I drove past the river early Friday afternoon and noticed that it was pretty high and muddy. I called my fishing buddy and suggested the river might not be in the best condition for fishing.

He suggested Sullivanville Dam as an alternative, since he lives nearby. As I have already had pretty good success with bass at the dam, I readily accepted.

Not surprisingly, the level of the impoundment was much higher than normal, but as we walked in to our usual spot, I could see numerous bluegills and a few bass cruising around in the murky water. That was a good sign, I figured.

Good sign or not, none of us caught any fish for a while. Roger was using nightcrawlers, my son Nick was using plastic worms, and I was trying a few different spinners, all of which were getting hung up on weeds.

I finally switched over to a buzzbait, figuring if nothing else, as a surface plug, it wouldn't gather up so much vegetation. And it didn't.

It did, however, gather up a 13-inch largemouth bass, which I beached, measured, held up for all to see and then set free.

The buzzbait didn't yield any more strikes, so I eventually tried a worm and did manage to land one plump little bluegill. Nick also finally caught a bluegill but Roger was skunked.

He wasn't upset however, as his philosophy is the same as mine...a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at the office.

Feast or famine

2009-05-28T12:00:00.002-04:00

I got off to a good start fishing the Chemung River this year, but since then, I've been very nearly shut out.

That's par for the course for the river, where I can catch a dozen bass one day and not get a nibble the next.

I thought things were looking pretty good when I caught three smallmouths on my first trip, including one of 13 inches, and then hooked and landed that magnificent 18-inch smallie from the same spot the next day.

Since that time, however, Nicky and I have fished the river several more times in two or three different locations and all I've managed is to catch a few more smallmouths in the eight or nine-inch range and one tiny rock bass. In fact, my last two times down there, I haven't had a single bite, and I tried several different presentations.

I'm sure if I'm persistent I'll have success on the river again. But in the meantime, my one consolation is that my black Lab Shelby still enjoys taking a swim there.

Maybe I can train her to catch fish?

A crappie fishing day

2009-05-24T00:03:00.002-04:00

My first crappie of the season wasn't exactly a state record, but at least it offered a little variety.

I took my son Nick up to Jackson Creek Dam in the town of Erin Saturday. It's a small impoundment but it's off the beaten path and it doesn't get much fishing pressure. There's also a good mix of largemouth bass, bluegills, crappies and yellow perch.

I got at least one representative from each of those species Saturday, except the perch. I actually caught only one crappie and one bass, and five or six bluegills. I really expected more because the water was fairly clear and I could see the fish cruising around in the weeds just off shore.

But most of them weren't in the mood to bite, I guess.

Nicky conked out early due to the heat, but I was still in the mood to fish, so after we went home, I went down to the Chemung River for some late afternoon fishing. I might as well have stayed home and watched baseball.

I went to one of my favorite spots, around the Patterson bridge at the west end of Corning. I've caught some decent-sized smallmouth bass there, but today they were all apparently taking a time out.

I tossed out some of my best go-to river lures but never got a nibble. At least it was a nice time to be outside. In fact, some kayakers passed by and one of them asked if I was having any success, and I said no, but it was still a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I finally gave up and went home and found Nicky sound asleep on the couch. I guess he had the right idea after all.

The teacher learns from the student

2009-05-23T00:21:00.003-04:00

I've spent much of the last six or seven years imparting my vast knowledge of fishing onto my son Nick.

Alright, my sparse knowledge of fishing, but either way, I've tried to teach him in the fine art of angling. Every so often, it's worked the other way around. I'm not too proud to accept a lesson from the pupil.

Today was a perfect example. We went back to Sullivanville dam near Horseheads hoping for some more hot bass action. I hammered the largemouths on a few previous occasions using mostly spinners, but today I wasn't getting a bite.

Nicky, on the other hand, was trying a different tactic. He put a long squirmy plastic worm on a hook and dangled it under a bobber. A few twitches with his rod tip and he soon had an 8-inch bass thrashing on the end of his line. A few minutes later, he reeled in a second bass.

OK, maybe he's on to something I thought. He even suggested I give his technique a try. I must admit, I've never had much success with soft plastics, even though I know they are supposedly the go-to lures for big bass. But I figured I couldn't do any worse, so I switched to a plastic worm and cast out.

On my second cast, my bobber went under and a few minutes later I reeled in a 13-inch bass. While I was unhooking my fish, Nicky got a strike, and ended up reeling in an almost identical largemouth.

Neither of us caught any more fish after that, although I did have one hit on a rubber frog and Nick got another bite on his worm. But that didn't stop him from reminding me -- two or three times -- that for once this year, he outfished me.

Riders on the storm

2009-05-17T20:51:00.002-04:00

After hauling in a behemoth bass on Friday, I tried a couple more times to do some fishing this weekend, but was thwarted by the weather.

Nicky and I went down to the Chemung River Saturday afternoon, despite a severe thunderstorm watch. I checked the radar before we left and it looked like the storm was about an hour away.

We parked close to where we were fishing, and fished close to a bridge so we could run for cover in case a storm sneaked up on us.

I've always heard bass fishing can be great ahead of an approaching storm, as long as you know when to get off the water. Apparently the bass didn't hear that though, because even though we were able to fish for almost two hours before the weather finally turned nasty, we only had a few bites. Nicky and I each managed to catch a small rock bass, and he hooked but lost a smallmouth.

It was so nice and sunny today I got the bright idea to go out again after work, forgetting that we got a lot of rain late Saturday. As a result, the river was now high, fast and muddy. Not exactly the best fishing conditions. And it was windy. Even the ducks had a hard time taking off.

Needless to say, all we caught was flotsam. I guess I can't expect to land a lunker bass every time out.

This one might qualify as a "hawg"

2009-05-15T20:39:00.003-04:00

I got all excited Thursday when I landed a 13-inch smallmouth bass while fishing in the Chemung River. Little did I know today's catch would make that one look like a guppy.

I took my son Nick back down to the same spot where I fished yesterday. While Nick reviewed his choice of lures, I tied on a brand new silver and white roostertail and sent it hurling across the river. It took exactly two casts before I felt a tremendous jerk on my line and the water boiled.

I brought my big net along because we were going to try and catch some carp. I yelled for Nicky to grab the net just in case. I knew it was a bass and not a carp on the end of my line, but I also knew this one was a horse.

I reeled the thrashing bronzeback in close and then he dove under a concrete structure. I thought I was going to lose him but I managed to work him out into the open water again before Nicky got the net on him.

For a moment after I got my beefy friend up on shore I just stared at him and said "Look at that fish! Look at the size of that fish!" I was giddy as a school girl.

I was also thankful I had a digital camera with me. Since opening day of bass season is still about five weeks away, I had to return this bruiser safely to the water, and I knew my friends would never believe me without photographic proof.

So here's the proof, all 18 inches and four pounds worth. It is by far my biggest river smallie, and only a half inch shorter than my best smallmouth ever.

Here it is only May 15, and so far I am on track for a great fishing season. So the next question is, what do I do for an encore?

A river runs through it

2009-05-14T20:50:00.003-04:00

I made my first foray of the year down to the Chemung River today. As you can see, it was a successful trip.

The Chemung has always been one of my favorite places to fish, in part because it flows right through Corning and I don't have to drive very far to fish there. It's a good place to go if I want to squeeze in some fishing but don't have much time.

It's also a great fishery for smallmouth bass, perhaps my favorite game fish. There's nothing like hooking a feisty river smallie to get the adrenalin flowing.

For both of those reasons, I hit the river today. I usually wait until late spring or early summer to fish the Chemung, but I didn't get any free time until almost 7 p.m. today. By then, the rain that came down earlier had also passed and it was turning into a nice evening. So I figured an hour or so of bass fishing was a great way to wind down the day.

It turned out to be a fairly productive hour, as I caught three smallmouths. Two were about eight inches, and the biggest was 13. He reminded me why I love catching bronzebacks so much. He twisted, he bucked, he jumped, he dove. He did everything he could to avoid being caught. At least he sat still long enough for a photo before I released him back to the river.

I've still got plenty of other places I plan to fish this year, but I hope today was the start of a great summer of action on the Chemung River.

Time for an apprentice

2009-05-12T20:52:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking for some time about getting a hunting apprentice. Not for me, for my dog Shelby.

It's been in the back of my mind for a few years now that Shelby is getting up there. She isn't exactly ready for the old dogs' home yet, but by any measure, a 9-year-old dog is not a puppy. By this fall, Shelby will be 10.

There were a few occasions last fall when she seemed to be a little slower than normal recovering from a hard hunt. Shelby will still attack a day afield with as much drive and passion as she did her first season, but will often be gimpy for a few days afterward. (Then again, I can say the same thing about myself.)

If I do decide to get another dog and want it ready for this fall, now is the time. I adopted Shelby as a seven-month-old in May and that gave me all summer to train her for her first fall hunting season. So the time is right to pick up another pup.

I won't be shopping for any $500 purebred bird dogs from a breeder or pet store. For one, I don't have the money. For two, it doesn't make sense to me to shell out that kind of dough when there are so many shelter dogs that need homes.

Besides, Shelby and the other hunting dogs I've owned over the years have all been castoffs that somebody else didn't want, and they all turned out great. I just look for a dog that has a reasonable temperament and appears to have some bird dog lineage. Shelby was clearly all or mostly Labrador retriever so I figured I couldn't go wrong with that choice.

If I can get a pup now and get it under reasonable control by fall, that will offer two advantages. One, the new assistant can benefit from Shelby's years of field experience while getting a taste of its own, and two, as the new guy (or girl) develops, it can pick up some of the work load and Shelby won't have to hunt as hard.

Of course if I know my dog, she will probably want to stomp the crap out of the new arrival a couple of times until she's convinced he knows who the boss is. After that, they should get along fine.

The turkeys were uncooperative, the fish -- not much better

2009-05-08T22:29:00.002-04:00

Yes I actually did manage to drag my tired old body out of bed at 4 a.m. today. I might as well have stayed put, although it was a lovely morning to be outdoors.

I drove back to where I did most of my deer hunting and where I got my doe last November. I saw a flock of turkeys hanging around there several of the times I was looking for whitetails, so I figured that might be a good place to stake out this spring.

It might have been, if the turkeys had complied. I set up in a location where I had plenty of concealment, just a short distance from where the birds were roosting in the fall. When I didn't hear any activity by sunup, I did some clucking with my slate call and waited for a response.

For the next hour and a half, I heard a few faint gobbles, but they sounded like they were coming from the next township. It wasn't likely they were going to come running over hill and dale to answer my feeble attempts at a turkey love ballad. I did, however, hear plenty of other bird calls, including a mallard quacking, geese honking and crows cawing. If I had been hunting ducks, geese or crows I would have been all set.

Not seeing any likelihood of an appearance by anything resembling a tom turkey, I packed it in for the morning and headed home to catch a few hours of sleep. I planned to sneak in a little fishing this afternoon and hoped they might be a little more accommodating.

Unfortunately, by the time I got all of my errands and appointments wrapped up, the weather had deteriorated considerably. Despite that, Nicky and I decided to head up to Sullivanville Dam, where we've had some hot bass fishing action lately.

I figured if the bass were biting when it was bright and sunny, as it was my last two times out, then they should be doubly aggressive on an overcast, drizzly day. It sounded good in theory, but apparently the bass didn't get that memo. I hooked a pretty good one on my first cast, but lost it before I reeled it all the way in. I never had another bite.

After a while, I switched to some live bait, and eventually caught several bluegills on mealworms. The bass apparently had taken the afternoon off.

Now I'm looking at Saturday's forecast and it doesn't look much more promising. It might be a good day to sleep in.

Trying again for turkeys

2009-05-07T20:42:00.002-04:00

I haven't really had a chance to get out for turkeys since my nonexistent washout last Friday, so I'm looking at the forecast again for tomorrow.

Of course it looks wet. But unlike last week, the early morning forecast isn't calling for thunderstorms, just showers, which I think I can handle, at least for a few hours.

Now if I can handle getting up at 4 a.m. and staying awake long enough to call in a gobbler, I'll be accomplishing something. Being somewhat of a casual turkey hunter and not a real hardcore gobbler fan like some of my friends, it's a little harder to drag my body out of bed that time of day.

Of course, it will be worth it if the hunting gods smile on me and a tom actually wanders into range. But if not, well there's always fishing. Lucky for me, trout aren't early risers.

Walking to stamp out Lyme

2009-05-05T16:08:00.002-04:00

If you are like me and enjoy being outdoors this time of year, it's a good idea to be aware of a tiny stowaway that can carry big problems.

I'm talking about the deer tick, the primary carrier of Lyme disease.

I've had the opportunity twice to sit down with Victoria Wilcox, a Horseheads teenager who knows first-hand what Lyme disease can do.

Wilcox, who recently turned 18, contracted the disease in 2005, and she's been in and out of hospitals ever since.

Wilcox organized the first area Lyme Walk last summer to raise money and heighten awareness of the disease. The first walk attracted more than 300 participants and raised about $10,000.

Wilcox and others are doing it again, with the second Lyme Walk planned for later this month, which also happens to be National Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

This year's event will be held May 31 at Holding Point Park on Wygant Road in the town of Horseheads. Registration starts at noon and the walk starts at 1:30 p.m. Proceeds from this year's event will stay in the local area to help families with costs associated with Lyme disease treatment.

For more information about the walk, or to pre-register, go online to www.lymewalk.org.

I only hooked fish this time

2009-05-02T23:19:00.002-04:00

I'm glad to say I survived another fishing excursion today without impaling myself on any sharp objects. I did manage to impale a few fish, however.

After my fishhook debacle Friday (see my last post), my main goal today was to get outdoors for some fishing and not catch myself.

Thankfully I managed to remain hook-free for the entire afternoon.

I took my son Nick back over to Cayuta Creek, hoping for more of the hot trout action I waded into Tuesday. Unfortunately, the intervening four days and rain Friday night cooled things off. I caught two small trout and Nicky only had a few nibbles.

So we shifted gears and returned to Sullivanville Dam, where we had some great bass activity last Saturday. Thankfully, the bass were still biting, at least for me. Nicky was fishing with a worm hoping to catch a bluegill that he could turn around and use for bait, but most of the bluegills he caught were big enough to choke all but really huge bass.

That didn't stop him from trying of course. Nicky can be single-minded that way. I told him if he hooked a bass big enough to swallow one of those bluegills, he better hold on with both hands, and strap himself to a tree.

I, on the other hand, went back to the spinner I used last week and immediately started hooking bass again. Overall, I caught eight largemouths, ranging in size from about four inches to 13 inches. I switched to a buzzbait before catching the last one, pictured above. On the first cast, he hit my lure so hard it nearly jerked the rod right out of my hand.

The funny thing is the four-inchers hit my lure hard too, considering it was almost as big as they were. I guess bass learn to be aggressive early. I hope I can use that to my advantage more often.

The Unhappy Hooker

2009-05-01T23:13:00.004-04:00

I had a most interesting day of outdoor activities Friday.

Well it started with some inactivity. I got up at 4 a.m. as promised, started getting my turkey hunting duds on and checked outside. The weather looked good, but I thought I should check the forecast just to be on the safe side. I went online to the Weather Channel Web site, and when I looked at the radar, I saw a big green blob heading in our direction. And the forecast called for thunderstorms by 7 a.m.

Not wanting to be caught outdoors in the middle of a maelstrom, I opted to return to bed. I awoke several hours later and of course discovered it hadn't rained a drop. And all the turkeys were probably out there laughing at me. Oh well, maybe I'll go after them Monday.

Having missed an opportunity to start May with a gobbler, I turned my attention to trout. After checking the forecast and assuring myself that the afternoon would be dry, I picked up my son Nick and headed north by northwest to the Conhocton River, which was scheduled to be restocked with brown trout this week.

I was expecting a repeat of Tuesday, when I hammered the brownies on Cayuta Creek, but it was a lot slower. In over an hour of fishing, I managed to catch and release two small trout, while Nicky wasn't having any success. I suggested we move to a different spot and see if our luck would change.

It was slow there too, until I cast a little too far across a pool and my lure got caught on a branch on the far side. I gave it a good yank, and suddenly the lure came loose and snapped back toward me. I instinctively ducked, and was thankful the lure didn't hit me in the face. My finger wasn't as lucky.

I didn't feel anything at first, but looked down and realized one of the tines from the treble hook was buried in the flesh of the middle finger of my left hand, between the first and second knuckles. This is NOT good, I thought to myself.

I tried to pull the hook out with a pair of needle-nose pliers, but the barb held fast. I asked Nicky to go to a nearby house and see if they had any wire cutters. He came back and said they didn't, so he asked them to call me an ambulance. I was in a sticky situation, but I really did NOT need an ambulance. So I went up to the house and thanked the owner but asked him to cancel the ride.

We gave up fishing after that and I drove back home, where I finally managed to get the hook out after numbing the area with some ice and pulling like crazy. Thankfully it came out without taking half my finger with it.

I told Nicky to take that as a lesson why you should always be careful with fish hooks. And it's a lesson to me as well. I much prefer hooks where they belong, in the fish, not me.

Turkey of a forecast

2009-04-30T17:11:00.002-04:00

It's only in recent years that I've gotten into turkey hunting. For me, spring usually means trout fishing, but after a friend invited me to join him for a few early morning hunts about three years ago, I realized listening to clucks and gobbles in the pre-dawn woods is kind of fun, and exciting

On top of that, I regularly saw flocks of turkeys last fall in a couple of places where I was staked out hunting whitetails. And while waiting for the deer to show up, I took the time to study the birds' movements.

I haven't bagged a gobbler yet but I've been close enough to feel the adrenaline rush. So it was with a fair amount of anticipation that I awaited May 1, the first day of spring turkey hunting season in New York.

My appetite was whetted some this morning when the editor of New York Outdoor News, with whom I spent a pleasant if unproductive afternoon of trout fishing last week, sent me a photo of the beautiful tom he shot on the first day of Pennsylvania's spring turkey season last Saturday.

Thus you can imagine my dismay when I looked at the forecast, which calls for rain and thundershowers both tonight and tomorrow.

I still plan on laying out all my camouflage clothing, checking my calls and getting my shotgun ready tonight. And my alarm will still be set for 4 a.m.

But if that alarm goes off and the first thing that greets me is the drumming of steady rain off the roof, then Mr. Tom may have to wait a few more days to meet his Maker.

Hammer time

2009-04-29T20:17:00.002-04:00

For all the times I've spent hours fruitlessly thrashing one piece of water or another hoping for a fish to bite, I occasionally have a day that makes up the difference.

Tuesday was one of those days. I had a day off from work to take care of some personal business, and I was hoping I would have some time later in the day to squeeze in some fishing.

I wasn't sure if I would get that opportunity, because the early forecast called for showers and thunderstorms most of the day. But when I checked again by mid-afternoon, the worst that was expected was some showers by 7 p.m. So I figured maybe the rain would hold off long enough for me to wet a line, without getting myself wet.

I drove to Cayuta Creek in Van Etten, hoping I wouldn't make the 40-minute drive from Corning only to get rained out. Cayuta is one of my favorite trout streams, and I know it was scheduled for restocking Tuesday.

As it turns out, my timing was perfect. It took no more than five minutes before I hooked a decent-sized trout. Unfortunately, it slipped of the hook and vanished just as I was pulling it up on shore.

Thankfully, that was not my last encounter with the elusive browns. I caught an 8-incher a few minutes later, and 10 minutes after that, hooked another 14-incher. This one stayed on the hook until I had him safely on dry land.

Over the next hour, I landed seven more trout, including four more in the 13 to 14-inch range, and hooked several that got off before I could reel them in. I kept two of the bigger ones for the grill, as you can see from the photos. The rest were released unharmed.

That was the start of what I hope will be a big week for outdoor activities. They are also restocking the Conhocton River with brown trout again this week. So I hope to hit both that water and Cayuta Creek again this weekend. And of course Friday is opening day of spring turkey hunting season.

Now all I need to do is sneak out Friday morning without my dog seeing me.

Bassmasters

2009-04-26T00:41:00.002-04:00

I may not qualify as a master yet, but my first stab at bass fishing this spring turned out pretty well Saturday.

After my trout fishing excursion Friday ended up as little more than a nice walk, I decided to see if I could do any better with other species of game fish Saturday.

My choice of waters was Sullivanville Dam in Horseheads, in part because the variety of fish includes bass, bluegills and crappies. It was also in part because one of my work colleagues reported catching a dozen largemouths in the space of an hour last Saturday. That was good enough for me.

Things were slow at first. Both my son Nick and I started out with the basic worm and bobber, just to see if we could catch a few bluegills and get the ball rolling. But I was a little concerned when neither of us got a nibble for the first half hour or so. Then I finally landed a small bluegill, and then another, and then Nicky caught a few .

After I had hooked and released five bluegills, I finally decided to switch to a lure and see if I could get into some bass action. Boy did I! In fact, I regretted not going that route sooner.

I tied a spinner on and cast no more than three or four times before I got a hit, and pulled about a 10-inch bass out. My very next cast drew another strike, and this time an 11-inch bucketmouth emerged. Nicky had switched to a soft plastic imitation bluegill, and I suggested he might want to try a spinner.

A few minutes later, something pounded my lure. Something BIG. At first, I thought I was caught on some weeds. I was reeling and the line wasn't coming in. Then I finally realized I had a hawg on the other end.

I reeled hard and called to Nick. He and the bass arrived about the same time. I hefted him (the bass, not Nick) out of the water and knew right away I wanted to get a few pictures and a measurement. He was a 16-inch beauty who was happy to pose for photos, but even happier to be returned to the water.

A few minutes later, Nick hooked one of his own. I watched with excitement as his rod bent over while he fought in another lunker. His turned out to be 13 inches, not as big as my bass, but still a very nice fish.

That was the only bass Nick caught, while I hooked a few more in the 9 or 10 inch range.

Next week, it will be back to the trout, but for now, it was nice to be able to master the bass for an hour or two.