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.