TROUT OPENER RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER

We are just three weeks away from the spring Trout season opener. Of course just when our hopes start running high, we get dumped on with another two feet of snow. Winter just doesn’t seem to want to give up this year.
But it does give us a good lead time to get ready for the opening day of fishing. Who knows what the conditions might be on April 1^st. All I know is that I haven’t missed an opener in a number of years now and unless there are really severe conditions, I don’t plan to miss this one.


(fishing creel I made at a class by Mick Jarvis of Adirondack Basket and Heritage Design)

Last year was a real slow start. I fished a number of hours without a single nibble. When I finally got a strike, there was no fooling around with Mr. Brown Trout. He was a nice 17-18 inch brown that hit the spinner hard. I was using small trout worms for bait with a gold spinner blade that day. What a way to start the season.
I went on to catch a few more trout during the early season before starting on other species as the summer started out.
I bought a 7 foot single piece rod with a sensitive tip, specifically for trout fishing last spring. It was a joy to use and certainly helped a number of times when trying to detect those light bumps and taps on the line. Getting around in the woods and vehicles wasn’t really all that bad once you learn to watch the tip. This year I am also adding a new open faced spinning reel to complete the outfit.


(college friend, Don Mauer, with stock trout from Spring 2010)
(my new rod on right side of photo)

It isn’t that I don’t have a number of reels, but most of them are a few years old and don’t have the right balance for this particular rod. Once you balance rod and reel, you take a lot of arm fatigue out of fishing all day. Looking into my tackle box, I find need of a few more lures. Doesn’t every fisherman need another lure or two? Some new, fresh line on the spools and I think I will be ready for opening day.
Since I had some luck with walleye this past year, I am also looking for that opener later in the spring. I hooked into a rainbow trout and a walleye, both over 15 inches, in the same pool last spring on one of our local rivers. 

(large brown from 2010 opener)


Now is the time to get things in order. The openers will be on us in very short time. I have a couple of sportsman shows to speak at these next couple of weekends and then there will be just a little over a week until trout season. Sure hope it warms a bit more before that time!

SMALL GAME HUNTING SEASON WINDING DOWN

Got a break in the lousy weather of the past few weeks, just before this last storm hit. I took time to get out hunting the snowshoe hare.
This is always fun and even though I only had a couple of hours, I thought the dog would like the exercise. We went just across the road into a cedar-evergreen swampy area that usually holds a number of snowshoes.

(a snowshoe sitting )


I had seen the trail of a fisher going back and forth across the road, into the swamp a couple of times on my walks. I was wondering if there would be any snowshoes left in there, but shouldn’t have worried. There was plenty of sign and as the hunt progressed, a number sighted.
It didn’t take but ten minutes before my beagle jumped the first snowshoe. He started running and I could tell he was on the usual trail that would take him right past a funnel of thick stuff on the other side of the swamp. I hightailed it for that corner and sure enough, after a few minutes, got a glimpse of the hare streaking through the downfalls. I never got a chance to shoot.


(snowshoe taken on previous hunt)


I saw two more hare during that hunt, one in front of a strange beagle that showed up and then I found his hunter not long after. I was on my way out anyway, so I wasn’t upset that they might spoil my hunt this day.
I finally collected my beagle and headed home with no heavy load of snowshoes to carry, but there was the pleasant time listening to the beagle music and seeing a number of the hares.
It started raining soon after I hooked up the beagle to head out and I was a bit damp by the time I got back home. But I was content and happy with the hunt.

Only a couple weeks left of rabbit hunting.

SPRING SPORTSMAN SHOWS

My apologies for so long between posts. I have been doing some preparations for these two spring shows, plus getting ready for some of our spring openers.
There are a few sportsman shows coming up this spring. I am doing seminars on small game hunting at two of them. The first is this weekend at Altona, New York.


(A small show display at one sportsman show)

 I will be speaking on “The Forgotten Art of Small Game Hunting”. This deals pretty much with hunting the snowshoe hare, but I also touch on a couple of other species as well. There is a photograph presentation with the speaking. These are outdoor and nature photos that I have taken dealing with small game and big game animals and hunting.
I will be presenting the seminar on Saturday, March 12^th at 11:30a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and then again on Sunday afternoon, March 13^th from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30p.m. The entrance to this show is only $4.00 and there is much to see at this show. You can check out the show site at: www.altonashows.com


(another look at a display)

The Adirondack Sportsman show is the next weekend of March 19^th in Schroon Lake area. I will be doing the same seminar, on small game hunting, twice during the course of the afternoon. You can see the information on this show at their site: www.SportsmensDinner.com.


(sights you might see at a larger area show)

I hope you take the time to get to these shows or one of the many others in the area. They are great times to see some of the new things coming out in the outdoor sports and a time to swap a few tall tales with other sportsman.