Rain Date

They say that the best time to go fishing is "when you can" and I agree.  This morning was my only chance at an outing in the past couple of weeks so, rain be darned, I set the alarm for a bit after 5 and off I went.

I put the fly rods down as I have been overdue for an early morning reservoir trip so today was the day for the Kensico.

A quick stop for a hot 'cup 'o joe' and a granola bar and up the Saw Mill River Parkway I went, singing along to the sounds of this great tune here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzZnsfe1MFY.  I got some Sawbellies and was excited to use them this morning with my new Okuma baitfeeder reels.  I have had one of these reels since my birthday last July and just acquired two more used outfits for a great price from a friend over at www.westchesterfishing.com.  Today was the first time that I fished with them and I was hoping to hear them "sing" louder than I was singing Springsteen.

The window was short, from about 7 to 9:30 of actual fishing time as I had to rig up three rods and get the boat launched, but it was productive.  The baitfeeders started to sing at about 7:30 and were fairly consistent for the next couple of hours.  In all I had 5 hits.  Two of them I missed but with the other three I was able to bring some trout to net.  I am pretty sure that the first hit that I missed was a Brown Trout as, it seems to me, these finicky fish like to "play with their food".  He tapped at it a few times and then ran as I counted down from 10.  On 11 I flipped the switch and heaved up the rod to set the hook and "poof", he was gone.  So was my Sawbelly.  Call me prejudice but I just don't think a Lake Trout is smart enough to steal bait after running with it for 10 seconds (or two seconds for that matter).  When Lake Trout hit, they hit hard and aggressive.  I had two of the hard hitters come up early in the outing.  One at 18" and the other at 20", both released to gorge and grow.  The third was just before my row in, a nice 24" and 4 and quarter pounder who put up a nice diving fight as Lakers will do.  I kept him for the table.  A nice treat to end a rainy A.M. and another example of the why, no matter what, "when you can" is always the best time to go fishing.