Reservoir trip swap

[phishahn]

I know it's many moons away, however, I would like to try fishing on Kensico for browns/lakers w/sawbellies. I normally fish Pepacton / Roundout. So, with that said looking for someone willing to take me out on Kensico and I would in return take you out on Pepacton where I have 3 boats in several areas, or Roundout. I strictly live bait (sawbellies only) fish and willing to share many years of experience on the watershed H2O. Let me know, da-phish.

[VinnyH]

phish,
Welcome to the website and forums. Sign me up for an April or spring trip. I have boats on 8 nearby reservoirs and enjoy meeting and fishing with new anglers.  I call my boat at Kensico the "Luxury Liner" it's a 14' wide semi-v with dual oarlocks.

I've made some good friends here and on some other forums just by going out trying to catch something. I'm mainly a bass guy but Tom, one of our members here, has helped me learn about trout in Kensico and Cross River. One day I caught 3 lakers on shiners and another day I got skunked, both days it was a pleasure hanging out with him.

I'd be interested in hearing your take on sawbellies vs. shiners.

Best Always,
Vinny

[phishahn]

Vinny, thanks for the welcome mat. The shiner vs. sawbellie thing is easy, sawbellies hands down, no contest for trout at least, especially browns. I know the disease scare has driven the price in ny up to 9-10dollars a dozen, that's crazy but worth it. I once drove to Pepacton found out no bellies avail. and turned around and went home (120 miles 1 way)As  far as April trip is concerened, we spend that time of year on Roundout, till mid-May then hit Pepacton till August, with possibly a few trips to Roundout in between. I also fish the NJ watershed and have done extremley well w/smallies on live bait. We did so well, I compared it to any smallie water on the north- east. I'm talking consistent fish 17" and up to 22", it was crazy. The crazy thing is it's 15 min. from my house, and I've spent the years fishing Lake George, Schroon, Several lakes in Canada, and even Pepacton  where we have the potential for huge smallies but nothing was like what we did this past year and we didn't start fishing it till late August- Oct. If you really want to catch a big browns try to make some time avail. in early June-end of July. All you will need to do is step in the boat, I'll take care of the rest, God it's going to be a long winter, planning trips in early Dec. LOL, da-phish.

[VinnyH]

phish,
I did catch a 4.5 lb smallie at Kensico while bringing in a sawbellie about 3 years ago. It's the one in my avatar. Kensico is full of smallies, especially at a point where a big dropoff brings you toward the deeper waters that the lake trout guys head for.

Best Always,
Vinny

[phishahn]

Smallies love bellies,in fact you be surprised how deep and over real deep water we have caught them, da-phish.

[Tom]

Phish,
Thanks Vinny for the nice comments on my Trout fishing success. I consider fishing a constant learning experience ... that's what makes it so much fun! The interesting thing about Kensico is that is is really two connected reservoirs that are so large that boats from the Kensico side rarely make it down to the Rye Lake side and vice versa.  Probably a 2 to 3 mile row, one way! Vinny's boat is on the Kensico side while mine is in Rye Lake. I also have a boat on Cross River and Titicus. My trout technique has mostly been trolling with sutton spoons for Lakers and casting for Browns. I would love to learn the finer points of Sawbellie fishing.  April 1st is not that far away so let me know when you want to try the mighty Kensico.
Tom

[phishahn]

Sounds like a plan, I only troll w/motor and have limited experience as my father is the one who has been showing me stuff. Would like to try Kensico bait/trolling whatever dictates the way fish are being had at the time. I've been bait fishing  w/bellies since '71 and have learned much from my dad and invented some techniques to improve what he set forth. He's been up fishing Pepacton since '68 or '69, when the limits were 10 and the browns were being slaughtered. I 'm glad to get some response, I was hoping to open some doors/share knowledge with other anglers. For some reason many resie guys are tight lipped. Have you spent anytime on the northern reservoirs? We were having a pretty good season last year till that freak storm hit and wiped out a good part of Roscoe, it was a tornado that worked itself into full fury around Pepacton and then went up and over the mountain dumping insane amounts of rain on all, killing 6 people. Well after that fishing was crap for a month and never really came to much. Two days before the storm I was out and had a killer day, I had back to back to back fish 25"- 26", however they were built like a sub sandwich and didn't break 7lbs., I kept the biggest and it was 6 and change, after that mud bowl. Anyhow, sounds like we can arrange a trip on each others "pond", stay in touch, it's going to be a long winter,da-phish.

[phishahn]

Tom, I went back in the forum and was reading back in April about guys getting big lakers and not deep, based on experience this makes alot of sense. I find it easier to target lakers in hot weather as they go down. We fish Lake George in May and find lakers mixed in shallow w/ smallies. With the h2o temp cold on top, don't feel like you need to go down deep  with all of your rigs. Try a spread especially one near the top. Leave the trolling stuff home, fish on top will spook/scatter if your trolling up in the water column. Use sawbellies in top 10- 40 feet to start then try to stay at a depth where you got some hits. With the water temp.cold the lakers can be anywhere. One thing I've learned over the years, DO NOT TELL THE FISH WHERE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE!!. My biggest brown weighed 10lbs. 6oz. on a flat line at 10:30 in the am in June of '06. One other thing, you are allowed to fish 2 rods per angler, 2 guys in the boat, 4 rods, gets challenging but we do it, and just alternate hits, da-phish.

[JroTull]

Hi Tom, 

I see you mention you have a boat on Titicus so I have a question for you.  Any suggestions on where to put a boat there?   

I live in Rockland and spent a few hours yesterday on a pre-season exploration trip with a fishing buddy.  (We want to move my rowboat on the West Branch to a more productive reservoir.  We fished the West Branch four times last year and caught a few yellow perch but no trout and not even a single bass.  We marked plenty of fish and went in April, May and June and still struck out.  Well, after speaking with several other fishermen last season, I found that the "locals" like the West Branch more for ice fishing and much less for open water fishing.  They couldn't put their fingers on the problem, but they say everyone has a hard time hooking up with trout there, and also with the stocked landlocked salmon).  So back to Titicus Reservoir..... we drove around the reservoir yesterday and liked Area 13 a lot.  It's close to the deepest part of the reservoir and the walk from the car to the boat would be short and on a flat trail.  Do you know this Area? 

I'm a fairly good open water brown trout fisherman (not bad in rivers either!).  In my picture you'll see one of the two 8+ pounders I caught in the Cross River Res. last year.  I also caught several in the 5-7 lb. range.  I bring spoons for occasional casting to splashing fish, but I almost exclusively use sawbellies and shiners with slip sinker & swivel rigs.  Besides Titicus, I was strongly considering the Rye Lake section of Kensico, which we also liked during yesterday's tour, but I see from these forums that the DEP won't accept new boats there.  I'm a little bummed because the area near the Airport looked good and I heard the deep hole there is home to some decent lakers (as well as browns).  Oh well..... maybe someday! 

If you could give me some insight about Titicus, Area 13, how the reservoir "fishes" for trout in general, etc., I would certainly appreciate it.  I also heard it coughs up the oddball Brookie.  My guess is that could likely happen near the eastern end during the heavy spring flow, but from what I saw yesterday coupled with the depth map, it's too shallow on that eastern end for summer trout fishing.  I'll stay west.

Thanks Tom!!         =George=

[VinnyH]

George,
Did I hear that West Branch might have some tiger muskie? I know they didn't take in Croton and some other places they tried to introduce them to.
Thanks,
Vinny

[Tom]

JroTull,
I have my boat on the Reservoir end of Titicus ... I believe it is section 13. It is a short row to the reservoir and the deep end is rather small in front of the dam. Being an experienced Brown fisherman, you know how difficult they can sometimes be to catch. However their are plenty of nice sized Browns there.  Titicus is also a very peaceful and beautiful reservoir with a minimum of road noise.  Many times there are only a few boats out on the reservoir at the same time.  I believe there are spaces open on Titicus. Good luck.
Tom

[JroTull]

Hi Vinny,

I didn't know that the West Branch had Tigers.  The state regulations book even lists Lake Trout but I've heard they only have a few that wash down the tube from the Rondout.  As I mentioned, I fished for 4 long days with barely any results, and after speaking with a few locals, I was officially "turned off" and want to move my boat.  Based on what Tom told me above, I'll definitely be hitting Titicus.  I like any trout including Browns, and I like the tranquility he mentioned.....sounds really good.  In fact, from what I saw and what Tom told me, it looks like a miniature Cross River!

If you're seriously targeting Tigers, they're stocked in the lake less than 1/2 mile from where I grew up..... Rockland Lake.  Now I live about 3 miles from there, but I go to the park to run around it a couple of times weekly.  In the spring, I've seen on several occasions what I told others were "splash fights" in the lily pads.  They were huge commotions, and when I stopped to watch one of them, I saw the large fishtails pop out of the water..... they turned out to be Tiger Muskies battling for territory, females or whatever.  I confirmed this with another fishing buddy and also a call to the DEC/New Paltz.  Very interesting!  I haven't fished there in 10 years, but it used to be $15 for the sticker and you had to bring your canoe or rowboat there for a 1 minute inspection. 

Take care and have a great day..... off to work 4 me  !!     ++ G-Man George ++

[JroTull]

Hey Tom....

Many thanks  for the Titicus info.  I like the peaceful setting you described also new places to fish.....  I haven't been on that reservoir yet in a boat.  I'll be scheduling a DEC boat spray as soon as I can get one of my buddies to help me make the move.  Good luck with the fast approaching new season.  Personally I can't wait!    One of my buddies has been doing well from shore at Cross River along Rt. 121 on the east side but I haven't been able to free up my weekends to join him..... so my fever is rising high when he calls with his catch reports!!  Anyway, I'll be on the water soon enough.

All the best...... George 

[phishahn]

G-MAN, saw in your post you used to fish Roundout, how did you like the place? I currently have 1 boat there and 3 on Pepacton.If you dig the quiet then Pepacton is where you would like to be, bald eagles, virtually no  car traffic noise and lots of h2o, deer all over, beavers working the shore and just plain beautiful country, OH yea did I forget Monster BROWNS? Last year was a bust after the tornado went thru, it was good up till then.Talk w/you soon, Da-phish.

[VinnyH]

Guys, I was mistaken and should have said there are supposedly tiger Muskie in Middle Branch. Had my branches mixed up. Arthur and I are moving our Muscoot boat there as soon as we can get DEP on the line to make an appointment.

Best to All,
Vinny