That's right. The long months of winter are finally fading away (I know, dare I speak that too soon), but the boat is out of storage, and the first trip of the year went off without a hitch (or with one, technically) and it was a success. My buddy Dave and I launched it in the Chenango River, south of my home town in Chenango County, but not until I first enjoyed a fine breakfast and walleye trip with my brother Mike.
Mike and I have been fishing together for years; and while he doesn't share the same level of sickness that I do, he is still a decent angler. We began the day at the spillway in Whitney Point that feeds out of the reservoir. It's an ideal spot for trying to grab Walleyes or Smallmouth Bass. A spot that we've been visiting for years together. We didn't stay there long. It was the last day of Walleye season in NY, and it was a bit crowded to say the least. After an hour and a half, no fish, and we're on the move to another location!
We are en route to a hole in the Chenango that we fish a lot when my brother asks me to show him (again, for probably the 5th time), one of my favorite fishing holes in the Geneganslet Creek. The Genny, as it is more frequently referred to locally, is an amazing stream that is predominantly fished for by trout anglers, but also is known to hold smallmouth, largies, and even walleye. I laugh, and agree to show him.
We get there and my brother lands the largest Brown Trout of his life within three casts. Now, understand that we were not fishing for trout, and we released the fish as it was not yet trout season in NY, and not in the "no kill, fish all year" zone of the Genny, and we would never keep a fish of that size from the creek. They're needed to breed. But Mike would later admit that it was by far his biggest fish of his life, so the stop was well worth it for me.
We leave there and continue to the river. We arrive at our destination and find the water too high to fish from our normal spot, and move to the other side where we stand more of a chance. The water is high, as I said, but not overly, and more importantly: it's clean. High water is ok, dirty water is not. We spend an hour there, no luck, Mikey's done.
I get home, hook up the boat, meet Dave, and we're off. Launch the boat, take off, reach our spot, and it's game on! Dave is messing around with his lines. He hasn't taken the time to prepare yet for the year. I, as usual, am ready to go and fishing with a Live Target Green Crayfish Crankbait, a Strikeking Sexy Shad Spinnerbait, and a Yozuri Tobimaru Red Clown Jerk Bait. The three of them are my favorite river lures. I know the Northern Pike are hungry, the Walleye are active, and the smallmouth must be getting anxious, so I feel pretty good about our odds.
Half an hour in and I get bit. First fish of the year is a 3 lb smallie. The fish hits soft, and is slow and sluggish in its' fight against my Cashion Spinning rod. I had noticed a green crayfish earlier in the day when I was with Mikey, so it made this lure choice a no brainer for me. The fish hit in deeper water, not as close to the bank as I had been looking, but the lure only runs about 5 feet deep, so I leave it on, hoping to find others.
We continue to drift. An hour goes by and neither of us have been bit. Dave's running a jig for walleyes, and I'm switching between the three lucky lures trying to find anything hungry. None of it's working. We keep moving. We come to mine and Danny's favorite spot: it's a small corner of a large hole right before rapid shallow water. We've caught a LOT of smallies there, GOOD smallies. Dave suspects that the hole might not be a good spring hole, but my first cast in there and I get bit again, this time it's a really good fish, and I know it's a smallie by the way it's fighting. Sadly, I lose it. But at least I know the fish is still there. We're running out of time so we keep moving. Dave misses two fish, and I can't get bit again. One fish is all we boat, but the time spent in 70 degree weather on the water in March was totally worth it.
Looking back I can see that we should have spent more time in the places we got bit, but we were cramped for what time we had, and we kept expecting to get into larger feeding schools. This week we'll go again, and I hope that we find better results for smallies. The water temp was 44, and the current was very manageable, something I hadn't expected, but I hope that it will slow down a bit over the next few days.
The lures that I used are ones that you can find fairly easily with exception to the Yozuri. That is a saltwater lure, that I have had a bit of trouble finding, but worth having in your box. I've landed everything from 48" Pike, to a smallmouth so small that the front hook was in the mouth and the back hook was in the fish's ass. It's also dynamite on Trout in the Finger Lakes. Speaking of that, be sure to check in frequently as those weekly trips will begin in less than two weeks and I'll post weekly updates.
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Tight Lines!
