Middle lake Saranac trip 2017, by Alexi

   

KGB

 Mostly this blog is about salt-water fishing, but sometimes we do this other thing: They call it the "Sweetwater. "  Fresh water.  Middle lake Saranac in the Adirondacks, NY.  It's where some friends.....

fire Barry

 ........go to get away from it all and meditate and lose their minds for a minute, leaving the stinky, smelly, rotten city of Philadelphia behind, entering a vortex into the mind, crossing into the heart and soul of the effervescing pine line, and ever swirling, morphing clouds.

 Others go to spin yarn....literally.

Wendy Spinning yarn

It's where I go to fish.

     Every year friends, friends co-workers, and friends of friends plan a trip to Middle lake Saranac in upstate NY in mid to late July.  We drove up a day before and stayed at the Faust Motel.

We (me and Wendy)  skipped last years event,  but this year we made sure we had time to go.  It's about an hour paddle to the remote campsites with a canoe full of gear and food for a week.

Wendy and Maisy and the gear

    For a more eloquent view into the land of the Saranac lake chain, please check out Martha Reben's "The Healing Woods" .

 

Steve and Janessa stayed at her first campsite 

Now to fishing:


In the seven days I was there I caught over 20 fish.  My go to lure was a small crankbait with rusty hooks.  In the mix were spinner baits, poppers, popping flies, jointed rapalas....you get the picture...   Some days I caught nothing.  I wouldn't say that the fishing was good or bad.  I had what I considered to be a successful trip with some pleasant surprises and personal victories.  I caught many more Pike than I had in previous trips.

my biggest pike this trip at 29.5"

When put to the "sitting around the fire in the evening" challenge I produced a 16" dinner smallmouth within minutes.

the hot bite was just at sunset/ and after

  I also caught my first fish on my fly rod.

4" rock bass

Steve on the Fly

   

Steve drains his boat at sunrise

There are other stories that can't be told, not because of their lascivious nature, but because the facts remain a mystery.  Like when you arrive at a place and don't know how you got there.  KGB awoke on top of his upside down boat.  The only plausible explanation is alien abduction, so we'll assume the implausible happened with flooded boats and lost friends.   The lake ate many things that night and it only regurgitated a few, luckily two of those things were KGB and Steve.