MONROE, NY — This is probably my third or fourth time fishing this lake and I’d like to figure it out because it holds some nice smallmouth bass.  Went fishing with my buddy Bill, the anointed, but instead of catching fish we simply enjoyed a day long boat ride around the lake.

Fishing as I expect is tough this time of year but considering I haven’t fished as often as I used to since 2007, it’s really time for me to get back in the saddle and put my game face back on.  Today clearly showed how “rusty” my skills are so that means I need to get out much more often.  We tried just about everything with several fish chasing our lures but no takers.

The highlight of the day was a crawfish we found when we were leaving. Wish we would have found that sucker when we started because that could have been the game changer and I would have fished jigs despite the vast amount of rocks in this lake.

MONTGOMERY, NY –

We fished the best we could with the limited structure the lake had and landed only a small fish. The lake also had a greenish tint to it and the northern section smelled like raw sewage; yuck! After about 4 hours of not a single nibble we decided to just head home. Despite the single fish I had a blast getting out on the water with my son for half a day. It was relaxing!

GREENVILLE, NY –

I was pretty upset this had to happen so far from home, not so much getting wet but the water was so filthy it was almost sickening (see photo). After I composed myself I realized I had some stinky gym clothes still in my car from my recent visit to the gym. Some sweaty clothes seemed like an upgrade from the filth I was wearing at the time. After cleaning myself off and putting the stinky gym clothes on, we were off.

I’d like to say that falling in the lake was worth it but the fishing was so terrible that falling in the lake was NOT worth it! The lake is loaded with lilly pads to the point of congestion. I managed to pull one fish out and across the pads but lost several others. Fishing the pads as thick as what we were up against is no easy task. I lost several frogs and nearly lost my mind earlier when I fell in the lake. After several hours we only saw the one fish I was able to boat and lost a bunch in the thick pads. Not my favorite lake but a nice frog fishing lake.

NEWBURGH, NY – Had my buddy out on the lake already fishing from early morning when I joined him at 12:30pm only to bring a stroke of bad luck because the fish were just not biting. We were fishing the weeded areas of the lake with not as much as a nibble. We then changed tactics going toward deeper water near the rocks since the past few weeks the fish seemed to be keeping near the rocks. I quickly picked a fish off a rock point but that was the last of any fish we saw until about 2:30pm. We made our way to a rocky area that had a nice rock wall below the surface of the water and this is when our golden opportunity presented itself! We fished this particular rock wall for over 4 hours because the fish were in a feeding frenzy and apparently schooling in the immediate area. Bites were aggressive and consistent netting us well over 2 dozen fish within the four hour period we stood pretty much anchored in the same area.

We ended the day about 6-6:30pm with so many fish caught that we lost count after 10. I love days when I can no longer keep count because the action is just so great!!

NEWBURGH, NY – Considering the weather was supposed to take a turn for the worst today I wanted to be relatively close to home so decided to re-visit Chadwick again since last weekend it was really tough even though it was a beautiful day. Today is the complete opposite, freezing cold and wet.

Launched the boat about 8:15am and began working on figuring out where the fish were hiding, if that’s even possible as I doubt that at times. We tried searching the weeds but the water is still cold and weeds are not fully developed (healthy) yet so our search yielded poor results. After about three hours the fish seemed to “turn on” but based on the locations we were picking them off it seemed the fish were relatively close to rocks with each successful strike.

A few of the early fish came from a slow spinnerbait just passed some nearby rocks. We could only deduce the fish were staying within the proximity of the rocks. We tried using some softer slower baits but the smaller pan fish were the only fish type to nibble.

Later in the day about 1pm rattletraps ripped through weeds fast seemed to entice a strike. We were able to put another few fish into the boat with rattletraps for about an hour; action was pretty good for the short period of time. After about six hours into our day and six fish later we decided to call it a day and leave as the rain started moving in and water was getting very rough. A very good day despite bad weather in comparison to last weekend.

NEWBURGH, NY – Friend and I are hardcore anglers that have been like caged animals for the winter and with Spring beating the door down we simply had to get out on the boat to fish!

We arrived on the lake about 9am with calm seas (actually it was a lake) and beautiful weather. We did not have sonar so we are uncertain what the water temperature was like but I’m sure it was still very cold because it was a challenge finding fish for a photo op. We must have gone about 2-3 hours before one of us hooked into a fish. I believe all the fish chased after the good ‘ol spinnerbait which this lake is notorious for.

Wind was not much of a problem although at moments it did kick up a notch. We tried tossing some soft plastics lures but I don’t recall either of us getting any nibbles, the spinner was the ticket especially when the wind picked up later in the day by 3pm. We fished until about 3-4pm with a total of 4 fish taking a photo with us and 1 eluded us by spitting out the hook before getting to the boat.

Overall not a bad trip if you ask me but heck we had a blast! I’m on track for this season and I’m looking forward to getting out more this year.

NEW PALTZ, NY – Launched about 7:15am and began fishing some lilly pads just off the break near the launch. Had an immediate slurp (not hard blow up) on a frog. My PIC (partner in crime) Bill nailed two pretty fast but because he was using inferior equipment he lost both fish. I handed him my $800 fishing rod combined with my $400 electronic reel spooled with the most expensive fishing line known to man and he landed an 8lb bass.

Ok, seriously Bill did hook into two bass shortly after we launched resulting in a loss but a quick change of his hook and he was landing bass like a pro. Some fish came from under the pads as they seemed to be looking for shade from the blistering sun. I managed only one fish on a frog in the area near the boat launch but it came from a small patch of open water between some lilly pads. We caught 2-3 near the lilly pads and decided to head toward the shoreline that seemed to have the most shade cover.

There was a strip of shoreline that I recalled seeing on the sonar as having lots of rocks or some form of cover under the water in about a 10ft depth so we fished that area and it was killer. At one point we were both pulling fish in together so that made for the highlight of our day. Numbers increased on the shaded shoreline quick but the sun continued to come up just as quick.

We ended the day with about 13 bass for about 5 hrs of fishing with no real significant sizes. Most of the fish were really small, however we did notice a posting near the boat launch that the water was treated for algae. We did see a green substance floating all over the lake which is very likely an attributing factor to why only the little guys were active today. All in all we had a great time despite my trolling motor burning out (the thing was literally smoking). I should have taken a picture of the motor on fire; sic!

NEWBURGH, NY – My nephew & his dad have been wanting to take up fishing for some time now with no guide to get them started so I took them out for a day on the lake. I demonstrated like a pro how to use various baits and techniques, will they work…well that’s a different story!

We arrived about 8am when the park opened for business and we quickly launched our boat. In the first five minutes I had 3 misses on a topwater lure which really had me thinking we were going to have a grand day if the fish were already hitting a lure in less than five mins. However, we struggled to find fish today…well the adults did but not my little nephew the new bass pro. The first fish was dad with a shameless blue gill but then my nephew who asked for a “napkin” to hold the blue gill completely takes us by storm by landing fish back to back!

See for yourself…

My nephew really nailed ‘em today! If you noticed in the video his dad had his own rod in his hand so everyone can clearly see my boy had control of his own bass baby! I’m still fired up from seeing him pull in that fish. We kinda let him fend for himself to see if he could get used to it since he seemed to be doing well on his own and boy he really showed us. By the time he landed his bass his dad and I were still skunked!

After the thrill of seeing my 5yr old nephew land his fish we continued searching tirelessly for the elusive bass. We tried just about everything to no avail until finally we decided to call it a day about noon and that’s when my nephew’s dad started landing his bag of bass.

We ended the day with about 6 bass, 1 crappie and a blue gill. All the bass were small in size but my nephew and his dad have a new found love. I can’t wait to see them both land their next bag of bass.

Here is dad’s bass…

NEWBURGH, NY – Friend & I decided to hit a mystery lake this morning which we called lake “x” today as part of an ongoing joke we have. We launched about 5:15AM with calm waters catching crappie almost immediately. The lake was small so we fished slow and even ripped out the dash board to the boat and tossed it in to see if throwing the kitchen sink would hit a fish on the head & get us something. Unfortunately that didn’t work because a fish didn’t come up belly up after we did the toss.

About an hour and a half into fishing my buddy John FINALLY pulled what looked like a bass into the boat.

We fished until about 11am and the day turned into a Pickerel fest! We caught pickerel on top water, plastics, frogs…EVERYTHING! By end of day we only found about a handful of bass and about 100 pickerel. I won’t embarrass my buddy and mention the lake but heck his photo is embarrassing enough since now you can see who he is. Hehe! )

We had a great time despite the terrible choice of lake which was my buddy’s idea so we’ll just blame him. Had it been a great day then it would have been MY idea. LOL!

WAPPINGERS FALL, NY – Uncle & I had a bad itch to get out and fish, and that we did…Well he did! We launched about 8am fishing slow with some jerkbaits, even smaller profile plastic baits; Nada! We fished shallow for a while, then focused on deeper water (about 12-15FT) for the rest of the afternoon. My uncle finally hooked into a nice fish about mid-day and boy was it a nice fish. He managed to land a really nice size smallie which was a real pleasant surprise since I’ve fished this lake a few times and have never personally pulled out a smallie of significant size.

After catching the smallie we kept seeing perch in the immediate area following our crankbaits so I naturally, not wanting to have NO fish for the day, stopped my cranks at the side of boat to allow the perch the opportunity to have a meal. So by 1pm we ended the day with my uncle’s nice size smallie and I got two perch. I still say perch don’t count but what the heck at least I got something other than a pan fish. )