Fishing Report 7/5/2014 - Lake Chautauqua

Spin fishing with La's Uncle's equipment. Caught a Yellow Perch and a Pumpkinseed on nightcrawlers. Marlon saw a gar hanging out - and with a landing net, we were able to catch it. Lake Chautauqua trifecta! Catching fish in New York - check!

Fishing Report 6/18/2014

I went to get the minivan serviced this morning. It just so happens the place we get it serviced at is not that far from Goose Creek. I was being efficient by going fishing and getting the oil changed at the same time. The water was a little high again - I was a bit concerned that the fish wouldn't be around. I was really hoping to get into some of those king sized redbreast sunfish again, but that wasn't the case. I lined up the Barclay Glass 3wt with a RIO Gold and worked the bank where the water was a lot slower than the middle channel. I ended up catching a bunch of these small greens and pumpkinseeds (which I am beginning to think are juvenile redbreast). Small - yes, but super feisty! They didn't pull drag, but they did put up a larger than proportional fight!

Fishing Report 6/7/2014

Saturday morning flyfishing at Goose Creek. I brought the Yomogi 7'0" 3 piece 3wt and the SA Supra DT3F line. The water was still a tad high to fish this place easily (lower water tends to concentrate the fish better - especially the bass), but definitely WAY lower than the last time I was here (epic flood conditions). The Yomogi is a rod that forces you to cast well. When you dial it in, it is a wonderful partner. If you are sloppy with your casting, it makes you look like the village idiot. "Catching some rays" - yeah that's corny but I am on sabbatical and very happy - expect the corniness to increase exponentially. I started catching these small pumpkinseeds early on, but eventually I found the hole where these huge redbreast sunfish slabs (thanks for the ID Chris B) were hiding out. I pulled these guys almost every cast for a solid 30 minute period - they pulled like tractors and put serious bend in the yomogi! Check out the turquoise coloring on the flank... really cool fish! Look at those round bellies!!! These are well fed fatties!!! Super fun fishing session!!!

Fat Pumpkinseed

I caught a few of these guys, but this one was pretty plump for a March fish. Must have been some extra "nutrients" coming out of the 4MR WWTP Outfall... An interesting difference between Pumpkinseeds and Bluegills - pumpkinseeds seem to have a thinner slime coat, you can feel their scales a lot more than a bluegill's. The colors on these guys were getting more vibrant as well - a good sign that spring is coming (despite the 8 inches of snow we got today).