Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Night Out (Original Post Date: May 27, 2010


It's 1:30pm: I'm driving around Buffalo. Dad's alarm on his car is broken so I'm given the task of taking the Smart car to the dealership to be fixed. That however, is just fine with me because it means a chance to swing by The Oak Orchard Fly Shop, in Williamsville, NY, (http://oakorchardflyshop.com/) and Gander Mountain, in Tonawanda, NY (http://www.gandermountain.com/) to pick up a few things. My phone buzzes and Josh wants to know if I'm up for some night fishing. I answer back "Of course!" I'm always up for late night fishing on such a beautiful day. We make plans to meet up around 8:30 tonight. Gander Mountain has fishing lures on sale for half price so a I grab a few, toss them in the passenger's seat next to me, and head for home.

It's 7:30pm: As I load up my car I have a terrible realization, I'm out of dough ball sized hooks. I put the rest of my tackle box in the car and run to Wal-Mart. I pick up half a dozen number 4 size hooks and head for Josh's.

It's 9:30pm: Josh and I have just arrived at the Quaker outflow. There is already someone on the south side of the outflow so we take the north. Our weapons of choice: hot dogs, dough, and Spam (of course we forgot the Spam in the car). Through out our various high school and college fishing days none of these have ever failed us on night fishing adventure. If we'd have had chicken scraps lying around they'd be included too but I haven't eaten at home enough and Josh forgot to call Reid's. Within the first hour Josh lands a fairly good sized Carp. I get a good bite but fail to set the hook in time. The man across the way has had no success.

It's 11:30pm: We move on to the Quaker inflow. There's little luck but its nice just to be able to plop down in a chair and throw a line out. However, rather quickly the bugs begin to get bad and the fish aren't biting. We pack everything back into Josh's Jeep and head for home.

Eighty Something and Sunny (Original Post Date: May 25, 2010

I simply couldn't let another 80 something degree day go to by the wayside. I woke up around 8am and immediately decided fishing took precedents today over a run. I grabbed my fly gear and threw it in the back of the CR-V (the spin casting setup was already there from last night). After picking up a couple new lures from the store I headed out for Allegany State Park.

Since I’ve been to State Park more times than I can remember I decided today would be strictly devoted to fishing Red House Area. My first stop was the stream on the downside of the dam. I tied on a Kinzua Hares Ear, threw on my vest and glasses and waded into the stream barefoot. The water was cool but not cold. After fishing the area for about 45 minutes with no luck I decided it was time to move on.

My next stop was the dock in front of the Administration Building. I switched things up and went for my spin casting real with a medium sized Jitterbug. The second cast in I hooked a large mouth. It was only about 4-5” in length and not nearly anything worth keeping. I landed him, snapped a quick shot then tossed him back. I spent the next 30 minutes seeing little more then some fighting CanadianGeese.

After another couple unsuccessful stops, first on the dock by the boat house and then at a small stream along ASP 2, I decided to call it a day. I packed all the gear in the back of the Honda and headed over Thunder Rocks Road pleasantly satisfied with my morning of fishing.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Old Photos (Original Post Date: April 25, 2010)

 Kinzua Fly Fishing School of Bradford, PA (http://users.penn.com/~skvarka/)

My trusty Honda CR-V

 Man O' War Deep Sea Charter Fishing Boat out of Bud 'N Mary's Marina, Islamorada, FL (http://www.budnmarys.com/manowar.html)

Fishing underneath an unknown bridge in the Florida Keys