Just to name a few.

Last Saturday I wanted to scram on down to a creek I really think is pristine. The creek is just outside of Letchworth State Park, about an hour from home. I got an early start and it still was midway into the feeding hours for trout. When I saw them rising I knew it would be a good morning. With no thought of what trout might be nipping at, I went with a caddisfly. Before long I was taking photos of  this 14 inch trout. Released it back to feed, I caught several more. Then the action just stopped. I tried a few other stoneflies and nymphs but no luck. I waded down stream and caught another nice brown hiding under a tree fall in fast water. Large yellow stonefly nymphs work good for this.

The morning light caught my eye on this photo.

Later in the day I found this bad boy in the Genesee river.

I filled my day with fishing, what else is there?




The saturday before last I explored the Canandaigua Outlet, in Phelps, NY and just caught this Chub.

And this Racoon.

Evening out in the kayaks

Kim and I went kayaking in the evening and I brought along just a spinning rod and one Rebel Pop-r lure.

With a few hours of daylight left, I landed these nice bass The largest was 17 inches.

First week of July

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July was hot this year. People were passing out from the heat at the parade. While they were watching our public servants pass by, I was in a stream watching small mouth bass dart from under my feet. The stream is the best place to cool off on a hot day. Wading without waders keeps your feet and legs cool. The shade of streamside trees protects your head from the searing heat. These are the days of summer when I love to fish for the always hungry rock bass and smallies. 

  This stream was stocked with trout this year. I hoped to locate them. It did not take long to find rising creek chubs hitting on brown caddisflies so that's what I started with. I practiced my fly placement and strike reflex. I soon got bored of these 6“ minnows and moved downstream into some very nice flat water. Here, I could get some distance with my backcast.
















 I tied off a black-nose dace and started pulling out a few smallmouth, not big, but fun on the fly.

I continued downstream and fished all morning. Each swell in the river bottom held one or two bass. I found a patch of grass and caught a bass that had obvious scaring from a previous encounter with a larger fish, possibly a pike.
While free wading, I spooked a black bass, maybe 12 to 14 inches in length.

By the afternoon the action shut right down.

I hiked back to my vehicle and reviewed each of my photos.

 Each photo renewed the enjoyment of catching fish where I wanted and when I wanted on Independence Day.

The last week of June

That's Marvin in the background with his new
White river flyrod from Bass Pro shop

In late June, I was able to fish a couple of days with my brothers. Wednesday was pouring rain for most of the day. I spent the morning trying to fish for bass on Sodus Bay with my outboard motor boat. It was raining when we got started and the wind was really churning up the surface. So we stopped at one of the inlets to the bay and fly fished using poppers. Other than just practicing in the wind, this proved unproductive.

When we finally got the boat in the water the rain had stopped. Marvin and I fished with shiners and crawlers for a couple of hours with no luck. As it often happens, I was out of my element when it comes to fishing large bodies of water. Give me 5 feet of river and I can catch fish. Give me 40 feet of lake and I'm at a loss where to find fish.

So when the rain started filling our boat, we packed up and decided to check out some small creeks that flow though Wayne County.

Most of the creeks are just drainage ditches in a dry summer. We found one that I know flows rather heavy in the spring and fall. This stream has a few pockets where fish hide. So I directed my brother to use a popper to coax something out into the open. After a few small creek chubs, we ended up hooking a rock bass and small sunnies.

We'll toss that one back!

When Saturday rolled around I determined I would bag a bass with my kayak and fly rod. It was around 7:00 am when my brother and I got started. 
The temp was already hot when we got out on the water. We found shade along the east banks of the small reservoir we were fishing. I was using a small popper and Paul was using a spinning rod and lures. I caught some sunfish right away on top water. It was about 9:00 before I caught a small bass. 


   Paul did not have much of any success, so we traded rods and right away he was getting hits, and soon a small bass. With the spinning rod I just was playing games with some wary fish. I then put on a Rebel Pop-r top water lure and tossed it behind me. Around 11:00 I began to paddle back to the shore to exit the water. Then I heard a splash behind me. I lifted the pole and hooked a nice 17-inch Largemouth. It felt good to get out on the water and land a big fish.

Great morning with Paul