Short Hike 5.26.32024 - CVNP

 

One hundred and seventeen days until I return to the great state of Maine for vacation. This is always a physically demanding vacation with all the beach walking and rock scrambling. This year I am kicking it up a notch with two more physically demanding hikes.

Two of them are two remote ponds that I will call Fossholl for all purposes and the other I will call Timbuktu. This is to protect the innocent and I have been sworn to secret squirrel secrecy.

Fossholl has a base elevation of 2900 feet above sea level and my trek will start at 2100 feet above sea level. Needless to say, I need to train up to it so I do not have any major issues.  The round trip to this pond is approximately 5 and half miles out and back. I will also be paddling around all day on this pond, and I need to be mindful of that.

Timbuktu has its own unique issues lol her base elevation is at 2150 and my trek will start at 1572 feet above sea level.  I have selected a route, but I have no idea until I get there how good my route is going to be lol. It’s a short route and if it’s too foul I will just go back and fish in the river.

The area around Timbuktu Pond is close to a section of the Appalachian Trail (AT) also!  I have a back up plan if the weather turns sideways, I have chosen a 6.10 mile round trip section of the AT. There is 771 foot of elevation deviation between that start and end.

Today I chose to take a hike with an elevation deviation of 435 to 453 feet above sea level. The hike was nearly 5 miles long and at the pace I did my average was 3.1 mph and it took me 1:33.23 hours. I did get a great sweat going with my pants on and in a short sleeve t shirt.  The pack I carried today was my 120-liter Sealline backpack. The weight of today’s pack was 26 pounds.

I have dropped weight, and my breathing has gotten better. My physical health has always been American average lol.  It’s my breathing that is my main focus and I know the rest will follow. I know that I am also seeing small lingering effects of my sarcoidosis.

Be well,

Sonder

 

Westside Creekin

 

We have had better weather, at least it’s getting more stable.  Today’s quarry would be some smallmouth bass.  They should still be around in the great lake’s tributaries. 

I headed to Lake Erie to see if I could find some fishy looking water. After a great breakfast and making some fresh ground coffee I then filled my thermos and headed out.

 I hopped onto the breeze and headed west.   The area has had some pop-up showers and I checked the USGS site and saw then no cause for alarm.

Well, I got geared up and I brought my machete today.  Why you ask well some of the trail of river left is overgrown with some type of high growing weed that looks like a huge bush. 

So, after the trail care part of my fishing escapade, I would rig up my light eggbeater set up.  I would also again be only rigged up with lead jig heads and curly tail grubs.

The rod is a vintage Pro Star 6 feet long and rated for 6 pounds to 10-pound line.  The reel is a Daiwa Ballistic MQ LT 4000-C.  This eggbeater for me is the most expensive reel I have bought to date. 

I will also be taking it with me to Maine. It will be rigged on a rod for Pollack. I look forward to seeing how it works.  I have this reel currently lined with 30-pound power pro braid. 

it truly casts like a dream, and I have my very fishy nerd friend to thank for that. 

My starting leader would be the 6-pound test. I cut a 5-foot section of Seagar floro and tied it into the main line.

I then selected a 1/4 oz jig with a 3" curly tail grub.  The curly tail grub was a power grub by power bait in Milky-Shad color and of course they don’t make this grub anymore. Like most folks, when they find something, they purchase extra. Well, I bought 10 packs of them in 2” and in 3” and finally I am down to my last bags. Now, I need to find a replacement which sucks!

The river here has changed so much since the last major rain event. More silt has been deposited here and there and gravel has been moved around.

After I walked over a mile downstream to the first riffle water I could find  I began to swing the grub through the tail out in the pool. Then my skunk would be removed. It was a chunky white bass (WB).

As far as I could tell the strata was all sand here and small pea sized gravel and just right for these spawning WB. After a few more I stopped harassing them and moved up stream to fish along the banks casting to the opposite side.

I heard smallies busting bait up stream near a ledge pool. They ambush the bait wating below the ledge drop off then “wham”.

I fished too every piece of downed tree in the river in the hopes of hooking up and I would be rewarded over and over with a feisty smallies. That’s not to say I did not lose any jigs. I donated plenty of jigs this day into said wood.

There was a nice hatch coming off from the mud and I believe them to be hexs.

These rivers are all teaming with life no matter what cards they are dealt with in their lives.

I side stepped up stream and casted and cranked the jig. I approached the ledge pool. I fan cast up stream and slowed down my retrieve just a hair.

Then I thought I hooked the shale ledge and then she jumped out of the water. I brought my rod back down to the water to decrease the slack in the line.

She darted into the heaving current coming into the ledge pool from the shallow riffle. I applied side pressure to her to keep her off balance. She did not like that and breached out of the water again and brought my rod down again to the water surface to increase the tension of the line.  I got my net so I could take some photos of her. I first noticed how battered her tail was from making her nest.

I got some great photos of her and then released her.  I continued up stream and saw snakes sunning themselves and folks playing in the river.

After walking close to 4 miles it was time to get this old bag of bones to the car and head out.

Be well folks and safe,

Sonder

Maine Appalachian Trail Planning (a tiny part of it)

I will be close to the Appalachian Trail (AT) while in the Baxter State Park area while I am in Maine. Now, being older, I know I have some limitations to what my body does well with and what my body does not. Lol So, if for some reason I don’t fish one day out of the three I am going to take a hike.

I have invited a friend to go with me and if he does, I will be going to hike up to 45.897828, -68.937245 this is also known as Thoreau Spring (TS). The story behind it can be found here

I would really like to keep going to the summit of Mount Katahdin found here 45.904397, -68.921612. It’s an additional 0.9 miles but the elevation would be 589 feet more. The elevation at TS is 4621 feet and this would be an 8 hour hike out and back for me.  For reviews and downloads of trails I use www.alltrails.com

I would be starting at the toe of the mountain at 1302 feet and climbing to 4621 feet in 3 miles. That does not seem like a lot but after all the rock scrambling and a 56-year-old man would most likely be wore the hella out. If my friend comes with me, I will be more confident in my abilities and obviously safety is a huge factor.

If I need to go solo on the AT I will take a much tamer route.  Out at the road the elevation will be 593 feet here is the starting point 45.835302, -68.971724 and 3 miles later it will be 728 feet here is the stopping point 45.818685, -69.019361. Will it have the views of being on a mountain no, but it will still be amazing. I can also say I hiked a tiny part of the AT in Maine. lol

I have begun my regiment of getting back into better shape. So, baby steps and we will see how this all plays out. I know it’s a win win, but one needs to know their own limitations.

"It's up to you, New York, New York"

Today on 5-12-2024 I headed to New York to chase some pre-spawn smallmouth. I plotted a course to the upper Niagara River.  I was greeted by two Saint Bernards, and they were just curious and happy dogs. After a brief visit I got dressed up for the dance in the river.

So, the Niagara River as a rule of thumb is not a wading friendly river. You can die quickly if you do not use extreme caution.  That’s my PSA for today!

I arrived at her shore and when I got into the river mid-thigh I then realized holy sh!t this is really cold.

The rod I brought today with me was my good old trusty St. Croix 9’ Med-Heavy Avid. This has been my spinning rod work horse and I have strapped it with a Daiwa Ballistic MG LT. I have 30# braid on it that has a 8# monofilament diameter. Off that I have a 2-foot section of 15# test flouro and then I have 4 feet of 4# test flouro. I used 12# mono for my leader section when I was throwing big baits earlier in the day.  Now, I could have gone much heavier and gotten away with it but chose not to.

Even with the waters being so cold I elected to throw a 90 Choppo in Perfect Ghost. My thought process was there could be a musky cruising these rock, mud, sand, and silty loam flats.

The weather dude and NOAA said it was going to be 64 degrees and 5 – 9 knot winds!  Well, they were off no shocker, but I anticipated it.  The river chop was 4” to 6” near shore.  The bass boats peppered the shoreline but were totally manageable. Here in another month the fiberglass hatch will be ghastly.

 I fan cast short and long looking for defined shadow pockets in the underwater river structure.  These are obstructions that provide current breaks due to the gradient of the riverbed here. Fish will move through here and will seek shelter to escape the current.

After 30 minutes and trying to redefine the definition of insanity I changed to a 3” white with silver flake paddle tail swim bait and a Mustad 3/4 oz jig head.

I then waded out into the river mid-thigh, and this is where I stop. If I go deeper the current could push me over if I lose my balance on the river bottom and then get swept away.  

I would not get a bump or a swipe but did manage to collect some weeds. I would have been better off with 1/2 oz jig heads but only brought 3/4 oz.

After 60 minutes I decided to go look at a few other rivers and or creek west of here. 

I went down low on the next river and found here to low for me to fish, but did witness a few smallies busting bait. I decided to make one last ditch effort and head to the next largest Lake Erie tributary.

Here are some websites I use to help me look into water temperatures around the Great Lakes.

National Data Buoy Center

Great Lakes Water Temps

National Weather Service

Also, some of the USGS site have water temps with them for example:

USGS Site 1

USGS Site 2

There are several other variables that could ruin a trip and here to help is a few great weather links.

Weather Site 1

Weather Site 2

I like this for the reel time road weather conditions.

NY Real Time Road Conditions

Ohio Real Time Road Conditions

I then arrived at the next body of water. This is a creek I hold near and dear. She normally has produced the best fishing memories for me over the decades.  It’s no secret it’s the Cattaraugus Creek and thank goodness with each flood she changes. She has in some section’s gradient is so steep that you better not be there if the river comes up.

I cut off my 12# test flouro and put on 5 feet of 4# test flouro. I then went in and grabbed a 1/4 oz Aberdeen jig hook and my favorite powerbait power brub the 3” Milky Shad.  Because men do nothing in moderation when I worked part time at Bass Pro I bought about 20 packs of these in 2” and 3”. Needless to say this is all I have left. Lol

I need to find a replacement here very, very soon. I walked up river right and I had to use my wading staff because no one wanted to step off in a six foot hole lol.

I fished every bucket “small hole” I could find. I saw a guy on the opposite side of the river catch a few fish and I was happy as a lark to witness that. The fish had pushed up to this point.  Historically The smallies stop at this section of the river.  I don’t know why but I believe it’s a mix of gravel and the bait that’s in this section of river.

I did really good here on this section of the river. I hooked and landed a few 4 pounders and one 5 pounder. The other fellers were between 1 and 2 pounds.

The retrieve had to be slow because of the temperature of the water. Looking at the water temps on the USGS it was 57 degrees at noon and the fish would be more attracted to a slower bait presentation.  The good ole ST. Croix had a great work out and my arms did as well. My arms were tired and both of my thumbs were showing signs of a epic day.

Be well folks,

Sonder

 

It’s a New York state of mind

Today I am headed out to New York in search of some lake run small mouth.  I will be up on the upper Niagara and then later in some smaller tributaries as I head back home.  I missed last year because of the move. I will only be taking the egg beater on this trip because I want to cover alot of water quicker!

Prior, Planning, Prevents, P!ss, Poor, Performance

I will be returning to Maine this year and I have 135 days until my departure.  All the reservations have been made and cabins have been rented. I will be headed up into the Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area. Because of the remoteness of the area, one needs to be prepared.

For this reason, I am hatching a backup plan. I will be up here for two days, and I will not allow the weather to dampen my plans. If the winds are too bad or if the rivers are blown, I will take a hike.

I have chosen to hike maybe one or two short sections of the Appalachian Trail.  You can find information on these short sections here

Going on a hike will also allow me to get some great photos and obviously if it’s raining moose’s I will not be able to take any photos. It’s all about being prepared just like my Montana trip a few years ago.

Down Home Under The Stars

 Its great to be home and helping family with chores. Their is something about it that makes my soul feel whole.  Here are some photos from the yard from the house at night.

The above exposure was over a 3 hours