Brook Trout pond fishing in mid-July? Probably not the best idea, but, stillwater trout fly fishing is my first love. I've been looking at maps for potential spring-fed pond candidates in the park. The idea was maybe to find a couple of ponds which stay cool enough for summer fly fishing. I recently ran across some info indicating "Skinny" Pond, in the north central Adirondacks, is one of those.
So, I made a quick trip up from PA, staying in Albany, Friday night. On the drive up from Albany, I was strongly tempted to stop and try a couple of ponds off RT 73 which I'd read about, but, decided to stick to my plan. Despite an early morning rise, I didn't get to "Big" Pond until 9:30 am. Weather upon arrival was cloudy with occasional, very light showers.
I spent about 20 minutes talking with an older gentlemen who was heading home. He'd arrived at 7 am and had caught several nice heritage Brook Trout which he showed me. These appeared to all be in the 12-16 inch range. He'd also indicated he'd taken 18 and 20 inch trout, from the pond, in the last couple of weeks. A glance in his canoe showed two spinning rods, both with Wabbler set ups. One had the traditional copper/silver blade; the other looked to be the blue/red/white variety.
I hoisted my pack and float tube and started the hike to "Skinny" Pond. The trail was unexpectedly slow going in spots. Just after the lean-to on "Big" Pond; there was a large tree across the trail which forced me to crawl under it. The trail undulates up and down and, as I found out, is quite slippery after rainfall (the exposed tree roots). Eventually, I arrived at "Skinny" Pond in the midst of a downpour and spent quite a bit of time talking with two more guys who had portaged a canoe in. The older one has been fishing these ponds for 30 years and indicated I'd have problems catching trout on flies. Finally, I continued on, stopping at a lean-to at the upper end of the pond.
Noting no surface activity and because the pond is shallow, I rigged up with an intermediate line and two flies - a sz10 Little Brook Trout streamer on a dropper - and a black/red micro-leech about 18 inches below it on the point. I trolled back and forth - and across - the pond's upper end for a few hours with not even a hit. The other two gentlemen left after about 1-1/2 hours, also with no success. At about 2:15 pm, I got out, packed up and headed for the lower pond, figuring I'd try an hour or two's worth of fishing on the way out.
At "Big" Pond, I ended up putting in at the lean-to near the outlet bay. Due to my lack of success at the upper pond and because I knew this pond to be deeper, I changed over to a Type 2 sinking line with a sz10 Grey Ghost on the dropper and a sz10 Denny's Stillwater Nymph as the point fly. I spent a couple of hours trolling the water beyond the lean-to. There is small, stunted tree point jutting out from the opposite shore line where the pond narrows into the outlet bay. There is a long, narrow, shallow shoal associated with this point. I had several strikes as I trolled just off the west edge of the shoal. Most were soft - as if the fish were perhaps inhaling one of the flies - but one was hard enough to jolt me to life. I was so startled that I did not strike. I also had several snags which told me I was getting near the bottom. Sometime after or about 5 pm, I noticed a couple of very big, light colored mayflies coming off the water. There were only a few, but their size made me notice. I eased out of the water around 5:45 pm and made the final walk out.
Arriving at my car; there were 2 other vehicles which were pulling in. It was 6:10 pm. I talked with one of the occupants - a young man who fishes the pond several times a week and has been doing so for a few years. Again, he fishes with big Wabblers and always pulls out lots of nice fish. He indicated fly fishing is not very productive on the pond save for late evening and then "only on top", though he did mention the Grey Ghost is a good choice on this water. He also indicated the pond fishes well through the summer.
I've been fly fishing (exclusively) for 30 years and have been specializing in stillwater trout fishing for the last 10 years. 7 of those 10 years have been out in the northern Rockies. The last 3 years have been lakes/ponds in the upper Midwest and now, the Northeast. Despite many trips; I've had very limited success on pond/lake Brookies. Most of the time, I get skunked. As a data point, in NE Minnesota, I use to routinely fish two Rainbow Trout lakes to keep from getting skunked on a fishing trip! One of these is a drive-to, special regulation, trophy trout lake (Thompson Lake). There were several trips where I'd fish a Brookie lake, in the morning, get skunked; fish Thompson in the afternoon and usually average at least 2 fish per hour. There's usually surface feeding throughout the day and I was never skunked there. So, I'm not quite the amateur with stillwater trout (unless its Brook Trout).
I'll confess I've had some thoughts about picking up a ultralight spinning rod and some Wabblers. I never thought I'd hear myself say that.
So, I made a quick trip up from PA, staying in Albany, Friday night. On the drive up from Albany, I was strongly tempted to stop and try a couple of ponds off RT 73 which I'd read about, but, decided to stick to my plan. Despite an early morning rise, I didn't get to "Big" Pond until 9:30 am. Weather upon arrival was cloudy with occasional, very light showers.
I spent about 20 minutes talking with an older gentlemen who was heading home. He'd arrived at 7 am and had caught several nice heritage Brook Trout which he showed me. These appeared to all be in the 12-16 inch range. He'd also indicated he'd taken 18 and 20 inch trout, from the pond, in the last couple of weeks. A glance in his canoe showed two spinning rods, both with Wabbler set ups. One had the traditional copper/silver blade; the other looked to be the blue/red/white variety.
I hoisted my pack and float tube and started the hike to "Skinny" Pond. The trail was unexpectedly slow going in spots. Just after the lean-to on "Big" Pond; there was a large tree across the trail which forced me to crawl under it. The trail undulates up and down and, as I found out, is quite slippery after rainfall (the exposed tree roots). Eventually, I arrived at "Skinny" Pond in the midst of a downpour and spent quite a bit of time talking with two more guys who had portaged a canoe in. The older one has been fishing these ponds for 30 years and indicated I'd have problems catching trout on flies. Finally, I continued on, stopping at a lean-to at the upper end of the pond.
Noting no surface activity and because the pond is shallow, I rigged up with an intermediate line and two flies - a sz10 Little Brook Trout streamer on a dropper - and a black/red micro-leech about 18 inches below it on the point. I trolled back and forth - and across - the pond's upper end for a few hours with not even a hit. The other two gentlemen left after about 1-1/2 hours, also with no success. At about 2:15 pm, I got out, packed up and headed for the lower pond, figuring I'd try an hour or two's worth of fishing on the way out.
At "Big" Pond, I ended up putting in at the lean-to near the outlet bay. Due to my lack of success at the upper pond and because I knew this pond to be deeper, I changed over to a Type 2 sinking line with a sz10 Grey Ghost on the dropper and a sz10 Denny's Stillwater Nymph as the point fly. I spent a couple of hours trolling the water beyond the lean-to. There is small, stunted tree point jutting out from the opposite shore line where the pond narrows into the outlet bay. There is a long, narrow, shallow shoal associated with this point. I had several strikes as I trolled just off the west edge of the shoal. Most were soft - as if the fish were perhaps inhaling one of the flies - but one was hard enough to jolt me to life. I was so startled that I did not strike. I also had several snags which told me I was getting near the bottom. Sometime after or about 5 pm, I noticed a couple of very big, light colored mayflies coming off the water. There were only a few, but their size made me notice. I eased out of the water around 5:45 pm and made the final walk out.
Arriving at my car; there were 2 other vehicles which were pulling in. It was 6:10 pm. I talked with one of the occupants - a young man who fishes the pond several times a week and has been doing so for a few years. Again, he fishes with big Wabblers and always pulls out lots of nice fish. He indicated fly fishing is not very productive on the pond save for late evening and then "only on top", though he did mention the Grey Ghost is a good choice on this water. He also indicated the pond fishes well through the summer.
I've been fly fishing (exclusively) for 30 years and have been specializing in stillwater trout fishing for the last 10 years. 7 of those 10 years have been out in the northern Rockies. The last 3 years have been lakes/ponds in the upper Midwest and now, the Northeast. Despite many trips; I've had very limited success on pond/lake Brookies. Most of the time, I get skunked. As a data point, in NE Minnesota, I use to routinely fish two Rainbow Trout lakes to keep from getting skunked on a fishing trip! One of these is a drive-to, special regulation, trophy trout lake (Thompson Lake). There were several trips where I'd fish a Brookie lake, in the morning, get skunked; fish Thompson in the afternoon and usually average at least 2 fish per hour. There's usually surface feeding throughout the day and I was never skunked there. So, I'm not quite the amateur with stillwater trout (unless its Brook Trout).
I'll confess I've had some thoughts about picking up a ultralight spinning rod and some Wabblers. I never thought I'd hear myself say that.
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