Cold Day to Fish

Chris Stiles and I headed up to the Indian River today to try and hook into any hold-overs left from the stocking done this year. Usually there is a chance to hook one, even during the cold northeastern winter. It was no doubt a freezing day to fish. The low temperature last night was 6 degrees and even when Chris and I got to the river the temperature was only 16 degrees. However, the sun was out and it was a nice day. The water was a little high but we decided to give it a go. We both had double nymph rigs and split shot to dredge the pools below the dam.

Chris began fishing the first big eddy below the dam while I went downstream and started nymphing a nice seam. It only took a few minutes for my guides to begin freezing up. I didn't have any chapstick but my line didn't hold up to bad through the guides anyway. I fished down the entire run with nothing but a few snags on the bottom. I watched Chris fish the same seam that I did and then we decided that our time would be better spent if we started looking for a few ponds that are ice fishable.

The rest of the day we checked out a few waters including Brant and Schroon lake only to be disappointed that there wasn't fishable ice. The lake that we found the most ice on was actually Tripp lake (in my back yard), which had about and inch and a half of ice. I'd say its only a few more cold days until we'll be able to ice fish. Until then though, I think I'll be trolling a few of the local open lakes with streamers for landlocked salmon.

It was a good day on the water, even though Chris or I didn't hook up with any fish. It was the first time I've fished with him since August and it was good to be back on the water with my fishing buddy. I'm going to try and get out to fish tomorrow and hopefully will get a Christmas fish or two.