Pre-season bass fishing from my Native Watercraft Multisport 14.5 Propel kayak last weekend on Canadice Lake in Western New York out on a day-trip with several guys who are in the WNYKFA – Western New York Kayak Fishing Association.
Fishing
28
Mar 10
Pike, Deep Pond at Mendon Ponds Park
I went fishing with a bunch of guys who fish together in a group called the Western New York Kayak Fishing Association (WNYKFA) today. I caught one nice pike on a crank bait in Deep Pond. It wasn’t very cold but it was windy. No bass in my boat today. One other guy we were fishing with landed a smallmouth out in the middle of Hundred Acre Pond.
15
Mar 10
Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Propel
My new Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Propel Kayak (or is it a canoe?). It is supposed to be in the 60′s this weekend. I can’t wait to wet a fly line from this boat!
25
Jan 10
Searching for Steelheads
Searching for Steelheads, on Irondequoit Creek in Penfield, NY on 23 January 2010.
20
Jan 10
Beginner Fly Tying Class
Four of us started an eight-week beginner fly tying class at the local parks and recreation center here in Fairport, NY last night. We were told that we’d be learning the basics by tying “classic” patterns that “work in Western New York”.
I need patterns that work in Western New York!
Although I’ve tied flies for a while, I’ve never taken a formal class. I’ve read a lot of books, bought a lot of fur and feathers, watched a few instructional DVD’s, but mostly gained my knowledge to date watching videos on YouTube!
The class was educational, interesting, occasionally entertaining and most importantly fun to hang out with my fishing buddies.
I’ve already picked up a few tips (ie: hold on to your scissors while you are tying) and we completed two patterns – both steelhead jigs – tied on large hooks with molded heads.
Stay tuned for the whole series!
Chartreuse Marabou Steelhead Jig
Brown Bleeding Bucktail Steelhead Jig
2
Dec 09
Fly fishing at Oak Orchard in Western, NY
I’m changing shirts! I always seem to have on this orange Filson moleskin!! I’m sure next time I’ll catch more fish with a black shirt.
This is Oak Orchard Creek in Western, NY, right below the point where the fish can’t go upstream any further – about 2.5 miles from Lake Ontario. (I don’t think they can scale this falls).
I didn’t catch anything but I hooked one and bent the #8 hook pretty good and I did cast at a nice brown and a 4-year-old rainbow (they call them steelheads here) but neither were hungry or I scared them off with the big 8 wt. and #2 hook on a 1x leader!!
Next time… smaller gear!!
I did see 3 steelhead caught on spin gear. They looked like 13-inchers and didn’t put up much of a fight for the guys reeling them in.
Beautiful day here with 53 degrees in December! Nice! Next trip will require steel studs on the boots I’m sure!
20
Oct 09
Fly Fishing for Salmon on Sandy Creek, NY
Caught a nice female Chinook Salmon this morning on Sandy Creek on the West side of Rochester, NY in Monroe County. I was using a 5 weight Winston Boron IIx fly rod with a 6 lb. leader and tippet fishing with a pink imitation single egg fly. The fish took the fly on the second drift then proceeded upstream for about 50 yards and then acted like a log for about 15 minutes. My friend Bret helped me land her because we didn’t bring a net. Next time… a big net! After the photo op, I let her go.
8
Aug 09
This little guy followed me all morning
Blurry iPhone shot of the little fawn that followed me down Oatka Creek for about a mile this morning. His mom and sister stayed quite a ways back in the woods but this one was within 20 feet the whole time.
19
Apr 09
Cold day of fishing on Honeoye Lake
Cold day of fishing on Honeoye Lake, originally uploaded by sailorbill.
I caught a few small bass today on Honeoye Lake. Morning temps started out in the 30′s but warmed into the 50′s by early afternoon, but the wind really picked up keeping a chill on. Had a good time though. Beautiful lake.
2
May 08
There aren’t any fish in this spot
My friend Howard Owens and I went fly fishing on Sunday on Irondequoit Creek in Perinton, NY. We didn’t catch anything, but we had a good time. The fishing report from the morning records the water at 59.5 degrees (very warm) and almost muddy. We’ll get ‘em another day!
9
Nov 07
Western New York Fly Fishing
Winter has started to creep in to the Western part of New York and the ‘Browns’ are thinking about grabbing their last meals before slowing down for the winter in the creeks near Rochester.
We had a our first little flurry of snow yesterday. The temps are dropping too but wearing layers seems to be working just fine as I actually got too hot the last time out – except for my fingers! I have to figure out what to do about gloves. Any suggestions are appreciated. My next approach will be to take several pairs and when the first pair gets wet, switch to dry ones.
The bass boat is getting winterized next week. I may take it out once more to mix up the Stay-bil in the tank before shutting things down for the cold weather.
Tracy just bought me a 8’6″ 3 wt. Winston Boron IIx fly rod for my 40th birthday, so I’m now walking the area’s freezing creeks hunting for fish.
I might be addicted to fishing.
15
Jun 07
NuHull boat cleaner is simply amazing
I’ve been messing with boats for over 17 years. I’ll spare you the full story and just say that if you have a boat with stains on the gelcoat, NuHull is the only cleaner you need.
I’m rarely 100% satisfied with anything. This stuff is amazing. Before I could wipe off the spray, the stain had already disappeared.
The cleaner has a slight rotten egg smell and you need to wear a pair of rubber gloves.
I ordered a gallon jug online and used about 15% of it cleaning a stained white hull on a 20 foot boat and the full job took about 30 minutes. Last week, I spent 3 hours trying to clean the hull with other marine and household cleaners, scrubbing while laying on my back getting soaked in the process.
If you order a bottle of NuHull, you won’t be disappointed and I bet you won’t go back to regular cleaners for your boat.
The instructions also talk about diluting the solution in water and using it for all type of cleaning situations. I’ll give that a try at some point and report back on that as well.
One note – rinse your driveway really well if you are on pavement because if not, you’ll have a large clean spot underneath the area where you were working.
26
Apr 07
Canton Repository Building HDR Photo
I’m still trying to figure out this HDR photo process. Here is a shot of the front of the Canton Repository in Canton, Ohio. Howard and I drove over for a visit on Tuesday and the light was really nice when we arrived. I had my tripod in the car so I figured I’d try the process where PhotoMatrix combines multiple exposures. Maybe I’m not picking the right scenes to get the extreme effects I see on pics tagged with HDR on Flickr. On the other hand, this is about what the building looked like in real life. The other thing I think will help is a cable release because at these long shutter speeds using a high ISO, I’m sure camera shake is still happening when pushing the shutter release, even on the tripod. Stay tuned…
Rumor has it that there a gold Pulitzer medal, won for coverage of a crime scene a year earlier, embedded in the cornerstone that was placed in 1927 for the Canton Daily News, the first paper to work out of the building.
27
Feb 07
2007 Bassmaster Classic
My mother-in-law called this past weekend to say, “There are a lot of boats on the Lay Lake today”. Well, the story is that the 2007 Bassmaster Classic was held on Lay Lake in Shelby County, AL last weekend.
My in-laws have their waterfront house for sale on Lay Lake, so hopefully one of those fisherman noticed the sign out front!
Now, if there were only some sort of sporting event in the northern part of Shelby County where I know of another “for sale” sign!
(The photo is a shot of my mom, sister, my nieces and nephew on my boat where we were getting ready to head out for a ride on Lay Lake last summer.)