| Well, the
6th annual trip may have been the best yet. The weather was awesome! Yes,
Roger did come along, I guess the curse has been broken. I think this was the
most relaxing trip as well. The first day was cloudy and a bit windy but tame by
Saranac standards. Days 2 and 3 couldn't have been better if we hand picked them
with sunny cloudless skies and no real wind to speak of. I even caught a bit of
a sunburn. The foliage had just begun to turn so the scenery was beautiful. |
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| The water
level was the highest it's been thanks to a very wet summer and the remnants of
3 recent hurricanes. This made for easy navigation on the river and getting into
and out of Weller pond. Just another reason why this trip was so relaxing. After
setting up camp on our island, we hit a few favorite fishing spots. The fishing
wasn't great the first day but picked up nicely (for me anyway). Roger kept his
crown as the Perch King, he always seems to catch a few nice ones. |
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| We enjoyed
a few great nights in camp. There's nothing like sitting around a camp fire
rehashing old Adirondack adventure stories and believe me we have plenty of
them. Now that's a fire ! |
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| On the
second day we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and there wasn't even any fog as I
recall. After a hearty breakfast we headed out on to the lake after the mighty
Northern Pike and whatever else would bite. Mostly though we headed out to
relax, and we did. We spent some time in a creek mouth and Jon scored on a few
nice bass. Roger managed to land a decent pike. |
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| But the
best thing of all was the Bald Eagle encounter. We normally see one every year,
but usually at a distance. This year we were treated to a lesson in how to catch
fish the raptor way. The eagle cruised by us at a fairly low altitude which is
cool enough in itself but then folded his wings, lowered his landing gear and
swooped down on the creek and snagged some lunch. IT WAS AWESOME ! He later came
back and landed high in a pine tree and graced us with his presence for over an
hour. I had to zoom in quite a bit so this picture is not the clearest. |
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| After
having an early dinner back on the island, we headed back out to our secret hotspot that normally
produces some great pike action in the afternoon. Well, it wasn't so hot this
year. I'm not sure if it was the water level change or what but it wasn't like
it has been the last couple of years. As I recall, we got a few bites but didn't
land any fish. So, before it got too late we headed back into the creek mouth
where we did so well the first day. I landed a nice pike and then when the sun
began to set, I tried a bit of surface fishing for bass and it paid off. I
caught 4 nice largemouth's in less than an hour. I love it when a fish blows up
the water going after a lure. You should have seen the guys scrambling for
something that resembled what I was using after I landed the 3rd fish. |
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| That
evening on the way back to the island, we were treated to an awesome site. The
sun had set but a red orange glow remained on the western horizon. The moon had
risen right over Ampersand Mountain and was nearly full. The sky was cloudless.
I attempted some photos but I required a very still set up and we were on the
boat so they didn't come out. You'll just have to use your imagination. The moon
kept us company all night and the chilly air made for great outdoor sleeping
weather. The next morning we awoke to an eerie fog that lifted quickly and
revealed another cloudless day. |
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| Unfortunately,
we had to start the process of packing up after breakfast, it didn't seem like
it was time to go already to me. We made quick work of breaking camp and had
some time to do a little more fishing so we headed back out on the lake for a
while. We saw a loon and watched him as he watched us and called to his mate
with no answer. There's something about the call of the loon, it really speaks
of wild America to me. I love it ! Well, we would have loved to visit with him
all day, but we wanted one last crack at the fish so we headed to the creek
mouth that had produced so well. I decided to try the bass again and had a nice
smallmouth on the line momentarily but he got off. I actually got to see him
come from the depths and make the strike, that was very cool. The water was very
clear this year so we saw many of the strikes on this trip as pike would chase our
lures, hit them, get off and come back and hit them again. Very exciting ! Jon
had a nice pike do this on the last morning but didn't land him. I switched
places with him so he could cast over the weed bed that had produced pike the
day before. Honestly, that was my intention ! I was still throwing my surface lure for bass. Well, wouldn't you
know it, after a few casts and slow retrieves a nice pike hammered that surface
lure and I landed my best fish of the trip. It could very well have been the
same fish Jon just missed. Sorry buddy. |
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| The ride
back to the launch was deliberately slow. The scenery was awesome and we didn't
want it to end too quickly. The mountains were watching over us as usual, the
occasional kayaker would cruise by and greet us as they headed toward their own
adventure. |
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| Another
year is in the records. I can't express how much I love the wild places in
upstate NY, especially Middle Saranac Lake. I look forward to this trip every
year and I can only hope that we will be going for many years to come. |
