Fishgator - Kayak Fishing Blog

Until the day is Done

You don’t have to look far when you are out kayaking to see the effect man has on our environment…. Coolers floating by, styrofoam cups on shore, the pervasion/invasion of zebra mussels to Northeast waterways, etc…

I’m not one to say we need to stop doing everything, and go back to cave living. (Hell, I wonder how much pollution was created just in manufacturing my kayak). We should be mindful, however, of our lifestyle, and be even more mindful of the impact of the ramping up of the global community. As third world countries join the first world, these problems we create and face will get exponentially worse, unless kept in check. Have a look:

Just some food for thought.

Black Lake June 2008

Just got back from my trip to Black Lake. It was an interesting one.

Sunday and Monday, the wind was screaming out of the Northeast, which made drifting from Lonesome to Elwood a very productive scenario. The walleye were on the ready, and we netted several in the 25 to 30 inch range. Generally, my compatriots were using Mister Twisters tipped with crawlers. (BTW, the crawlers we had were more like snakes. I think one of them measured 13 inches…)

Of course, since there were worms involved, the micro perch were terrorizing us all day. We had to see 200 perch in the 3 inch range. Seriously.

Also, 2 dogfish were boated. I hadn’t seen one of those in person, and I don’t relish the opportunity to see one again. They fight like all get out however. One of them even broke a net, which made for an interesting turn of events, as my buddy Mike had to slip his rod through the net to keep the fight on. He’s pretty agile for an old codger.

3 or 4 big cats were taken as well.

As for me, I was really trophy hunting. I’m not much of a drift fisherman, so by Tuesday I had convinced my wife’s uncle to get me up into the slop by Jennie’s Isle. Used my baitcaster with a frog imitation, and I had a blast missing fish in the weeds. I took 2 largemouth in the 4 pound range (released quickly), and then one 25 inch pike, who had that rubber frog about 5 inches down his throat. That was exciting.

The rest of the crew got into some bigger perch finally on Tuesday, with a couple in the 12 inch range. Found them almost dead across from the Log Cabins.

As for the Black Lady herself, the water level looks very good, and her temperature is ideal right now. I was actively looking for areas with bass nests, so as NOT to fish to them, but I really just found empty nests. I’m not sure if they’re done spawning or not, but I couldn’t find any evidence that they were. Nonetheless, I did my best to use lures that I have previously caught pike on. Since St. Lawrence County isn’t observing the year round catch and release Black Bass regulations, I thought that I would play it safe.

All in all, it was a good trip. I can see where there might be weed issues again in a month though. I hope they are able to straighten that situation out going forward.

Early Bass Regs and Black Lake

I mentioned in this thread about Early Bass Season that the new early season catch an release regulations for bass, in New York, would help resort areas like Black Lake.

Turns out St. Lawrence County isn’t included. Big mistake IMHO.

Having fished bass in the great state of Maine, I saw what year round bass fishing is like, and what it does to the numbers. Nothing. The fishing was fine.

I have half a mind to not bother going to Black Lake tomorrow now. The restriction is idiotic. But then again, we’re talking about New York. A state not known for smart regulation and law.

A few Notes

Heading out to Black Creek in Churchville in a few minutes, which should be fun.  Weather is much better today than I expected.  i assumed that this week was lost, since I have to head to New York City for meetings tomorrow.

Also, it’s almost exactly one month til my kayak trip for pike on Black lake.  Getting ready for that.  If anyone wants to check out a Flatstalker, I might have a couple up there.  I’d be more than happy to head out with someone  so you can try it out.

Third, just updated our Patagonia Clearance section on our products site.  Please check it out!  All the items are available at AltrecOutlet

The product site is the way I get to pay for this site, and I do believe it’s a value to you as well.

Photos when I get back!

Bass Season, Pike Overlap, and Things I didn’t Know

Well, well.

I’ve been buying a fishing license in New York every year for 19 years now, and I don’t know when this little rule changed, but it makes me happy, and reminds me of the year I spent in Maine.

Per our friends at the DEC, bass season is KIND OF a thing of the past.

When I say that, I don’t mean I can take bass from the water whenever I want, but rather that the State has perhaps more clearly defined what they mean when they say “fishing” by changing the wording on bass regulations. And again, I don’t know when this changed, but here’s the skinny:

You can target bass year round now.

You can only take them from the water like always, meaning from the third Saturday in June, etc. But this changes everything.

First, it more clearly states what fishing means in regards to the other species. It means targetting. It means any attempt to in any way hook a fish, as opposed to keep a fish. That was always the spirit of the law, but not necessarily the letter of the law.

Sure, there were some particular stream sections that had “no kill all year trout fishing”, but that was for very specific areas, and very specific creeks. This is an official, statewide “Catch and Release” Bass policy. And it’s great.

Second, it should help some of the resort areas like Black Lake. As choked as that Lake gets late summer now with weeds (and fishermen), this will extend the periods during which they can effectively do tourism commerce. Sure, folks went up the in May and June before and targetted bass, but now they can feel good about it.

Third, it’s going to make my pike trip on Saturday to Black Creek just that much more fun.

I like this regulation. If anyone knows exactly when it went into effect, please comment below.