Well, the season certainly had its ups and downs.
I didn't start fishing at all until mid September. Even then it was marginal for releasing fish. Surface temperatures were in the high sixties and the fish that I did catch looked like they hadn't been eating through the long, hot summer. They lacked their usual Fall heft. A check with the DEC confirmed that what I saw was endemic throughout the Adirondacks - thermocline depth was a month behind where it should be.
I took off the last two weeks of the season to fish and was impressed by how much weight the fish had put on. That said, the larger ones were not in pre-spawn mode and definitely not as available as in past years. UpstateDave did catch a beauty of a female, though, that was past the 20" mark and in perfect condition.
He and I fished a number of ponds, some more successfully than others. Two of our favorite bigger fish ponds were unkind. Others, not so bad. Then came the last three days of the season. Cold, a storm and then high pressure. I fished hard sunup to sundown each of those three days. One thirteen inch male. One. Pretty, but just one.
I actually have high hopes for the Spring. We're starting with warmer than average water temperatures so I don't expect ice until December. That gives plenty of time for those brookies to feed and bulk up. Long term, I'm concerned. If the trend of longer, hotter summers continues we'll have ponds that no longer hold brook trout within a decade. Scary
I didn't start fishing at all until mid September. Even then it was marginal for releasing fish. Surface temperatures were in the high sixties and the fish that I did catch looked like they hadn't been eating through the long, hot summer. They lacked their usual Fall heft. A check with the DEC confirmed that what I saw was endemic throughout the Adirondacks - thermocline depth was a month behind where it should be.
I took off the last two weeks of the season to fish and was impressed by how much weight the fish had put on. That said, the larger ones were not in pre-spawn mode and definitely not as available as in past years. UpstateDave did catch a beauty of a female, though, that was past the 20" mark and in perfect condition.
He and I fished a number of ponds, some more successfully than others. Two of our favorite bigger fish ponds were unkind. Others, not so bad. Then came the last three days of the season. Cold, a storm and then high pressure. I fished hard sunup to sundown each of those three days. One thirteen inch male. One. Pretty, but just one.
I actually have high hopes for the Spring. We're starting with warmer than average water temperatures so I don't expect ice until December. That gives plenty of time for those brookies to feed and bulk up. Long term, I'm concerned. If the trend of longer, hotter summers continues we'll have ponds that no longer hold brook trout within a decade. Scary
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