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.

"Personal Best Striper" by Alexi

No long drawn out musings necessary here.  I'll get straight to the point.  I had a plan and it worked.

At the end of my last post I was hinting at the fact that some big fish were still around, that our spring run wasn't over yet, and here I had a chance to target them and I took it.  I think Steve even said the night before, this will be your "personal best trip,"  and it was.

I woke up at 3 AM to be at the launch by first light.

one rod, no gear

When I fish in the ocean I take as little gear as possible (which often means I might forget something).  In this case I forgot to bring any extra leader.
I did bring: water, energy bar, one rod, one big popper, one small stretch lure, several snags, one large storm shad, my boga  grip, binoculars, marine radio, the big game fish clip and the fish-finder..  Everything is attached to the boat when I launch and land.

South Seaside Park: view from the ocean

After two hours of trolling around the stretch lure I started to mark the occasional fish in about 50ft of water.  I switch to the shad to try to get down farther in the water column.  The boats were congregating pretty far off, and as I slowly trolled towards them I noticed some splashes.

I immediately switched from the shad to a snag, and pulled up next to the small pod of bunker.  First cast I snagged one.  Reeled in, re-hooked it, cast it out and started to troll it in and around the pod. Minutes later I was hooked up.

After several sounds and views, and thinking this is definitely my biggest fish, I hoist it into my boat.

8:03 A.M.

For those who ask "where do you put your fish?"

Back area of my kayak usually occupied by my crate and cooler bag

I had one other hook up after that but lost it due to user error.  I had a small tangle deep in my spool, and though I spent some time clearing a bunch of line when I was trolling the stretch lure to make sure I had plenty of clear line to work with, apparently it wasn't enough.   The next fish sounded straight down and took line until my spool hit a knot.  Then it just snapped.

After that the sun was showing it's strength, and though I kept my catch cool by covering it with a wet hoodie, I felt the need to get it in the cooler and on some ice.

42" 36.4 lbs