Adirondack Pike Bass and Brookies

[NickM221]

Two weeks ago, Luke and I left home early Saturday morning and headed north for a camping and fishing trip at one of my favorite lakes. After a quick stop in Lake George to grab some lunch and break the ice by catching a few panfish and smallies off of a dock, we finished up the 6 hour drive and started packing all of our gear into the canoe to make the trip to the island we’d be spending the next 5 days on. Despite the canoe being loaded down with gear, we couldn’t help but make a few casts on the way to the island. Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock, I hook into a solid pike on one of my homemade baits. Since there was so much stuff piled up in the canoe, Luke couldn’t turn around to snap a pic, but two guys who were watching us net the fish came over to check it out and take a picture for us.

https://i.imgur.com/5ymWEGl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iSI0X0f.jpg

We spent the next three days fishing the lake. Here’s the view from our campsite during the day and in the morning.

https://i.imgur.com/IQn39t5.jpg https://i.imgur.com/GZmYqHw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YgvgfCe.jpg https://i.imgur.com/50N4okJ.jpg

It seemed like the cold snap with nightly lows of 20 had the pike going nuts, but the bass fishing, which is usually great, was very slow the first two days. Here are some of the better pike we got. Luke caught two the same size, but they were so fired up that they both jumped clear out of the net.:mad:

https://i.imgur.com/MU5F2EZ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/74RAUW6.jpg

[NickM221]

On the third day, we fished deeper water and managed to find a bunch of nice bass feeding on schools of bait.

https://i.imgur.com/NXFRzed.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tZQ5Lcn.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/4RlA0wI.jpg https://i.imgur.com/t4kx7OJ.jpg

We decided to change things up on day 4 and hit a wild trout stream. We trolled our way across the lake, picking off some small mouth and then drove to the nearby river that we picked. The water in the river was super low and clear. We saw some nice trout, had a few follows and lost one small brown. What the river lacked in action it definitely made up for in views. Can you spot Luke in the second pic?

https://i.imgur.com/Mj8Ovm3.jpg https://i.imgur.com/p3wsqac.jpg

On our last day, we had planned to fish a lake known to have splake but made a last-minute decision to fish a pond located on top of a nearby mountain. Luke and I made the hike up the trail, carrying both the canoe and gear to the top of the mountain. Despite how tough the hike was, the views and the fish made it completely worth it.

https://i.imgur.com/IFKNW1m.jpg https://i.imgur.com/HvLSee5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AKrr16C.jpg https://i.imgur.com/0iehCuJ.jpg

[bigfishy]

Gr8 report!!! Sounds like alota fun

[thmyorke1]

that was my favorite vacation spent :D ! you took some great pictures of the scenery, thanks for creating the post

[Gerry Zagorski]

Great report and awesome photos. Thanks for sharing them here!

[Chrisper4694]

just two bros camping and fishing alone in the wilderness.... i feel like the title of this post should be 'brokeback mountain fishing' :D sorry had to do it! HAHAHA

but that looks like a seriously awesome trip... maybe a three way next time? ;)

[AndyS]

I fished the Ausable about 6 years ago in June, strange stuff. Got out of the car and started fishing, thought the gnats were very rude. Drove to another spot on the river, man the gnats suck, now I have a wet t-shirt on my head. Fished yet another spot, could barely stand it, got back to car and started peeling the bugs from under my skin and the blood was dripping down my face. This was my first and last experience fishing the Adirondacks, the BLACK FLIES were insane !!
Glad you had a great time, I think Crisper is just jealous :D

[Ken Lyons]

Do NOT go in June.

[thmyorke1]

I fished the Ausable about 6 years ago in June, strange stuff. Got out of the car and started fishing, thought the gnats were very rude. Drove to another spot on the river, man the gnats suck, now I have a wet t-shirt on my head. Fished yet another spot, could barely stand it, got back to car and started peeling the bugs from under my skin and the blood was dripping down my face. This was my first and last experience fishing the Adirondacks, the BLACK FLIES were insane !!
Glad you had a great time, I think Crisper is just jealous :D

Ausable was suprisingly pressured, even for a Tuesday, after labor day, after a cold weekend. We saw guys fishing in most spots.

Water looked lower than normal too. despite it we had few hits but from small trout.

I'll stay away from June... i dont wanna wear a beekeeper suit while fishing :D

[thmyorke1]

just two bros camping and fishing alone in the wilderness.... i feel like the title of this post should be 'brokeback mountain fishing' :D sorry had to do it! HAHAHA

but that looks like a seriously awesome trip... maybe a three way next time? ;)

LOL

Yes as long as you bring the boat. :D

The canoe could only hold so much gear; had to do two trips between the campsite on the lake to the boat launch.

Not too bad tho since we caught fish on both shipments :cool:

[FASTEDDIE29]

Great report and pics guys. Live it up and fish as much as you can! You guys are always making it happen and I love it. Awesome pics from another one of my favorite places on earth. Hell yassssssss!

P.S. Next weeks trip will be much different. Hehe!!!! TIGHT LINEZ!:D

[Hookmanski]

These guys put a good bag together wherever they go!! :D Nice work boys!!

[akoop]

That looks like a great trip!

[ALK11]

Looks like an amazing trip. Nice pictures.

[ScowardNJ]

Love those backcountry ADK waters! Great report! Nice catchin!!

[NickM221]

I fished the Ausable about 6 years ago in June, strange stuff. Got out of the car and started fishing, thought the gnats were very rude. Drove to another spot on the river, man the gnats suck, now I have a wet t-shirt on my head. Fished yet another spot, could barely stand it, got back to car and started peeling the bugs from under my skin and the blood was dripping down my face. This was my first and last experience fishing the Adirondacks, the BLACK FLIES were insane !!
Glad you had a great time, I think Crisper is just jealous :D

That sounds horrible. Definitely not going to go up there in June. Luckily it seemed like the cold killed everything including the mosquitos :)

[NickM221]

Great report and pics guys. Live it up and fish as much as you can! You guys are always making it happen and I love it. Awesome pics from another one of my favorite places on earth. Hell yassssssss!

P.S. Next weeks trip will be much different. Hehe!!!! TIGHT LINEZ!:D

It's definitely one of my favorites too!

Looking forward to this week! I think there may be a few more people on the water there than in the adirondacks lol but at least we can fit more beer in the trunk of my car than in the canoe :D

[Esox Luciano]

Awsome! Great report, great pics, and some fish to show for it as well!! Stellar report!

[Chris_JC]

That looks like memories to last a lifetime!

What size trolling motor do you have on the canoe and how is it mounted?

I have 2 old town canoes (one Stillwater that I love and got on this site about 15 yrs ago and a 1 man that I got this May).

[Doug Vitale]

I spent five days in Vermont in early September, and I returned home feeling that I had gotten my "outdoors fill" for a while. Now I see this thread's photos and I'm dying to go back up north. Looks like I'll have to plan a new trip. Gee, thanks a lot!

[NickM221]

That looks like memories to last a lifetime!

What size trolling motor do you have on the canoe and how is it mounted?

I have 2 old town canoes (one Stillwater that I love and got on this site about 15 yrs ago and a 1 man that I got this May).

Those sound like great set ups! I took some old scrap wood ( I think 2x4s) and sealed it with a few coats of wood sealer. I used some long bolts to basically make a clamp that fits under and over the gunnels and used some rubber pads to keep it from digging into the canoe. You can kinda see it in the first pike pic if you zoom in.

I use a 55lb thrust minn kota max TM. The thing works great - 4 full days of trolling and fishing on 185 Amp hours.

[Pondhopper8]

Can’t beat that view!! Beautiful bunch of fish

[NickM221]

Can’t beat that view!! Beautiful bunch of fish

Thanks man!