November 20, 2008
Some of the Bass Pro Shop boys invited me along to go Float Fishing in New York State. This was a totally new experience for me. Despite attending a great concert by Great Big Sea (click
here for video)the night before at Hamilton Place along with my fellow FishGut members, I was up at 4:00 am and we rendezvoused at the border and 7 of us headed for Olcott, NY in 3 vehicles. This time of year is a float or fly fisherman's buffet with the creeks offering a combination of Coho, Chinook, Steelhead, and Brown Trout. There were vehicles in the parking lot from Delaware, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Although everyone was wearing waders, they made sure that a newbie like me could manage to fish from shore.
The weather was much milder down by the water and was a winter wonderland.
I got a new found respect for those that use float reels. I tried to get a handle on the float reels, but it mostly ended with some frustration. My left hand was just not communicating with my right hand.
The boys caught a few fish at our first location at 18 Mile Creek and after some discussion it was decided to move to Oak Orchard. Unfortunately, the 30 minute drive took a little more than an hour as the lead vehicle tried to remember how to get there!!
The second location was a little more difficult to access. The thing I discovered today was that all creeks are always at the bottom of the hill, never at the top!!!! lol I did a lot more climbing than I anticipated.
Christian is seen here with the equipment of choice. A float reel attached to about an 11 foot rod. The line has a float (they didn't like me calling them bobbers) about 3 to 5 feet above a tiny, tiny size 16 hook that is hooked into a small bag of roe (that you can see just above the cork handle). The line between the float and the hook has a series of small split shot attached to it in order to allow the roe to drift at the right depth according to the current.
I also got a new found respect for those WWI soldiers that had to slop through all that mud in Europe. I was told that if I walked to the end of the island it would be clear enough for me to cast without leaving land. What they didn't tell me was that I would have to walk for a mile through a path of muck and to get there!! You should have seen my boots and pants when I finally returned (up that steep hill) to my van.
By this time I had resorted to putting a spinning reel on my float rod which worked out a little bit better for this "rookie".
Niko was the one with the hot hand landing several browns and a steelhead that I just missed getting a picture of.
One of the things I noticed was that there was a lot of retying involved. This was not easy in the cold, especially if you had just had your hands in the freezing water helping to release a fish.
As the sun was setting we returned to our vehicles and Niko, Jason, Christian, John and myself returned to Buffalo to enjoy a meal at Smokey Bones.
We had to stop at our competition (Gander Mountain) where everyone found some hot deals.
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John couldn't believe that they had squirrel skins for $5.00!!
Although I didn't catch anything, it was still a great day shared with a great bunch of guys. I would do it again next year.
Thanks Guys.
