ADK Fishing Report: “Smoker” & “Undisclosed” Ponds – 5/13-14/2018

Made a quick trip to the park, late last weekend, to fish a couple of ponds.

“Smoker” Pond Summary

• The hike in – with a pack and float tube – was a challenge. Tough, final climb after crossing Unnamed Brook. I managed it ok, arrived about 9:20 am. It took me 1 hr, 20 minutes with the pack, float tube, and fishing gear.
  
  
• Two other guys fishing out of kayaks. One was using a Lake Clear Wabler and I observed him catching two fish over the course of a couple of hours…….quite a bit offshore….which ended up being a good data point.
• I started with an intermediate line with an olive AP Emerger and a Denny’s Callibaetis Nymph on the point 2-3 feet below as the point fly. I fished for about 1-1/2 hours with this rig, casting into shore and trolling just offshore…..no fish or strikes.
• A little after 11 am, I added a 3rd fly….a wine, mohair mini-leech and began trolling in deeper water (approx. 8 ft). My strategy was to troll in areas just after the bottom disappeared. I immediately started getting strikes in the pond’s southeast quadrant. The water was cold, but there was one spot in this area where it was colder. I couldn’t see the bottom, but, suspect a spring is present.
• I hooked and lost two fish, near the center portion of the pond, as I was kicking in to have lunch.
• After lunch, I resumed my strategy and immediately caught and released a beautiful Brook Trout of about 16 inches in the deeper water where I’d put in (by the western most lean-to). This was my nicest ADK Brook Trout to date.
  
  
• I ended up catching and releasing another 3 fish using this strategy. I hooked and lost another 4 or 5. Rumor has it these are all Horn Lake strain fish.
  
  
• I hiked out just before 5 pm. It took me just over an hour out. Even though its mostly downhill, I was really hurting at the end.
• I noticed and photographed a few mayfly duns on the pond. These are some sort of stillwater mayfly, but, they are not a Callibaetis. The fish did not appear to be keying in on them.
  
  

“Undisclosed” Pond Summary

• This was my best pond, last year.
• I was in the water a little after 8 am. The shorter hike and elevation gain was welcome after the previous day.
  
• Again, I started with an intermediate line with an olive AP Emerger and a Denny’s Callibaetis Nymph on the point 2-3 feet below as the point fly. I trolled over to and along the pond’s west side with no action.
• Repeating the lesson yesterday, I re-rigged with the wine, mohair mini-leech as the 3rd fly. This time, however, I ran the leader straight down to the Denny’s Callibaetis Nymph and tied the olive AP Emerger on 2-3 ft above as a dropper.
• I moved a little further offshore into deeper water, again, where the bottom disappears and began trolling. I immediately started catching fish and didn’t look back the rest of the day. My very first hook up was two fish…..a Brookie of about 10 inches took the AP Emerger and a larger fish of around a foot took the mini-leech.
• By lunch I’d caught and released 11 Brook Trout, lost or missed about that same amount.
  
  
  
• I fished for about 2 hours after lunch and caught/released another 5.
• I noticed the smaller fish took the emerger and the bigger trout took the mini-leech in deeper water. Of the 16, about 5 were beautiful fish in the 13-15 inch range. The others were 9-12 inches. If my reading is correct, these are Windfall strain fish.
  
  
  
  
• I’d had a spectacular day at “Huggy Bear” Lake, in the Catskills, exactly a week ago. It had been my single best stillwater fly fishing day east of the Rockies. Today, at “Undisclosed” Pond, surpassed that.