West Branch Ausable, Wilmington NY

[AndyS]

Where to begin !! Went up to the Adirondacks for the 1st time in a long time. EJS from the board was heading up too so I figured it would be a good time to go.
Rolled in early Friday morning after following the signs for Montreal (yes, I was that close) and hit the Visitors Center in the town of Wilmington. Got my bearings and set out on mostly an exploratory day. Found my way around so I decided it was time to wet a line. The Ausable is like the Ken Lockwood Gorge only about 50 times steeper, some spots if you slip, you die. First hole I hit without waders and had a few follows. The bugs I thought were pretty annoying. Hit a few more holes without waders and started getting some steady hookups. A few nice browns, a rainbow, not too bad. Bounced around getting a little more upbeat on what I was finding, lots of trout. The air was heavy and humid, not a breeze to be had, the bugs got worse, now I am wearing a t shirt on my head, and my hat. Hit yet another spot with really good results, fat healthy brown trout, wild, crazy, smart and fought like lunatics. I figured this would be a good time to wader up and start beating a stretch of river since I was doing so well at holes right off the road. Here is where I finally found out what combat fishing was all about. Got in the river and started walking.
By the time I got back to car after a one hour work out session with no fish, I finally realized what was going on BLACK FLYS I had swarms of them around me. I got off the water and into my truck, blood was dripping down from both sides of my temples. I was DESTROYED
Now I'm a bloody beat up mess. Scratching the remains of black flies out of my face and neck and bleeding even more. Undaunted I pressed on ! Found a few more great spots and was able to complete the Tri-fecta by getting a beautiful small brook trout. Wearing a soaking wet t shirt on my head at this point. Beat up and tired I rolled into the Hungry Trout Fly Shop and asked if they had any of the head masks, sold out she said, but I got the next best thing, a speed stick type of rub called "Black Fly"
Day was getting on so I waited for EJS at the Wilmington Notch Campgrounds. EJS and company arrived and tents went up with ease. After a burger on the grill it was off to bed for me around 10pm. Having not camped in many many years you tend to forget a lot of things. Thought I would be fine with my bag and a foam mat, wrong. Tossed and turned all night long and the sound of the rain hitting the tent the majority of the night didn't help either, if I got 10 minutes of sleep that was a lot.
Now the sun was coming up. I said that's it. Threw my sleeping bag in the truck and drove off to a spot I had found the day before. Now the air was cool and a nice breeze had set up, no bugs !!! Hooked some beautiful trout in an amazing setting on a very peaceful stretch of water, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ! Looked at my GPS, 5 hours to the front door so I stopped in town, got a large cup of kawfee and put the pedal down, home at noon !

OBSERVATIONS:
The Adirondacks are flat out gorgeous !
If you map out the accessible water and area in Wilmington area you come up with about 8 miles of river. No kill, artificials only. I found it to be crowded.
Many of the pull offs along the river had any where from 2 to as many as 6 cars parked, fishermen EVERYWHERE ! and that was on a Friday. Saturday morning by 7am some spots had as many as 4 cars already parked and fishermen hitting the water.
Campers, backpackers, hikers, bikers, fishermen, and outdoor mecca ! Add on top of that a bike race to begin on Saturday morning and the opening of the summer season for Whiteface Mountain, a very very busy place !!
Maybe I'll stick closer to home in the near future to find wild crazy trout like the Catskills and go over to Pa.

The welts on my face are going down now, EJS is up there till Tuesday, he got some nice trout today. The water was flowing good, clear, but tea colored. Maybe I'll go back but I think early April may be better, hopefully not as crowded. I took a few pics the first day. Tough to take photos while getting mauled, and a few pics of the upper West Branch of the Ausable this morning and one of Whiteface Mountain shrouded in fog.

[AndyS]

Photos really don't do it any justice !

[Esox Luciano]

Great post dude! It is gorgeos up there!! Sounds like a great lil mission in the right place. I was up there about two weeks ago and got to hook up with some nice trout and smallies while volunteering at a religious camp for youngsters. Actually got to stock some trout in their private waters as well. Nice hike to the Hudson Gorge & the OK Slip Falls if you really wanna see some great scenery. But yea, great report and pics to follow!!

no tires??? hahaa!

[AndyS]

Nope, no tires ! A few beer cans here and there and did a small clean up at the entrance to Whiteface Mountain, mostly Gatorade bottles.

[CabesaRoja]

It's certainly beautiful up there! I was up last weekend in the Lake Placid area to visit my college and the Black Flies were brutal as well! I have yet to get over to the West Branch (Or anywhere for that matter) to do any serious in-depth fishing but I'm excited to catch a glimpse of the fish up there! Once the flies buzz off up there it's a lot more enjoyable to be outside though

[FASTEDDIE29]

The mountains and terrain up there is just out of this world. Lots of hikers and ice climbers in the winter. Ive had the privilege of making it up that way quite a few times in the winter. My friends daughter is a figure skater for TEAM USA so I get to go up there for competition and support the team. Hope you enjoyed your time there Andy. It is truly GOD'S COUNTRY. I LOVE NY!!! Try fishing it in the fall. I hear the Trout fishing is AMAZING!!!!! Great report budddddddy. Soak it all in!

[EJS]

I returned on Tuesday, sorry for the delay in my response, I was busy cleaning gear to getting ready for the next trip.

The largest fish of the trip was a 22" bow, caught on a size 4 cone head Olive wooly bugger. The weather really beat us up this trip. The rain, winds, temperature swings and water conditions made it a real chess match on the water.

Currently, size 18 Yellow Stone Flies, size 12 - 14 March Browns, Large Black Stones size 2 - 4, Blue Wing Olives, Size 16 Sulphers and Rusty Spinners are all in play right now.

This was my second trip to this river, so I knew the basic lay of the land. I took this trip to really explore the river away from the access points. The river can go from pond like calm to class 5 water in less than 50 yards, making this river a real challenge to wade. I have seen more people fall in this river than any other river I have fished in the U.S. < Hint, wading boots w/ Carbide cleats & a wading stick should be on the packing list >

As far as the number of people fishing. Its not different than NJ, fisherman gravitate to easy, so get away from the pull-off areas! Hike a 1/2 mile down or up stream, and you will be fishing with no one in sight.

The Black Flies were not bad, I used the Repel 100 to keep them off me.

Saturday - Sunday: the conditions were changing by the hour, so I carried a dry fly rod and a czech nymph rod with me. We could see the March Browns, Sulphers, spinners in the air 15' overhead, but the temperature drops killed the top water action both nights.

Monday, we fished all day in the rain, landing 12+ Browns before dinner time. We took a break to eat and went back out in hopes of good dry fly fishing. The rain stopped at 8pm, by 8:30 the top water action heated up. By 9pm the water was boiling with hits. We put on head lamps and fished until 10:30pm. The average fish for the night was 17".

In all, it was a great trip dispite the challenging conditions.