Saranac Lake Fishing Adventure (part 2)
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May 29-31, 2020
So, unless you were living in a cave in 2020, you know that the spring in New York State and the rest of the world was anything but normal. Since Canada was not going to welcome us this year, at the last minute we loosely planned a trip to Saranac for our spring adventure.
It would start with a day trip (recon) the week prior to see if the boat launch was even going to be open as the state had not officially opened camp sites yet. The weather was forecasted to be great and I was able to invite my oldest Ian to come along (allegedly).
On arrival at the launch at Second Pond, we found the docks in and the launch was open so we headed toward Middle Saranac to see if the Pike were biting. I also wanted to try out a new navigation app on my phone; doesn't hurt to have a backup, you just never know when you might need to navigate at night.
App says this way to go around the grassy shallow spot.It was indeed a beautiful day, it actually got quite warm and we all sustained a little sunburn even with applying sunscreen multiple times. The water temps were still pretty low however considering it was the end of May. We did have a very cool spring and some late snow so I wasn't too surprised. There were no fish to be had at our first attempt in one of our favorite spots in a bay so we decided to dock the boat and enjoy the scenery from land for a while. The lake was eerily quiet, I think we only saw 1 or 2 other boats all day. The Eagles and Loons were present as always.
Ian taking in the wild scenery from Windy Point.So after chilling for a while, we decided to head back out and try fishing in some shallow water. The creek mouth proved to be where all of the Pike were, and we could actually see them in many places just sitting on the bottom trying to warm themselves I suppose. They were not very aggressively feeding but Ian managed to convince a few to chomp on the spoon he was casting.
Here he is with the Captain and a very nice pike.After Ian landed this next fish, it squirmed out of his hands and escaped back into the lake. When I mentioned we didn't get a picture, he said, "he's still right here sitting on the bottom". I used the net to just scoop him up and Jon snapped a photo. They were that lethargic!
I also managed to land one of the sluggish gators using a very slow
approach.We caught a few more, Ian had the hot hand for sure, he might have ruined any chances for a return trip invitation :)
All in all a good day and a successful scouting trip and it was great to get outdoors after so much isolation.
So the following week we planned to return with Wyatt and camp a few days to keep the annual tradition alive. The weather forecast was not as nice as the week before, but we were hopeful that the recent warm weather had activated the fishing, and it had.
DAY 1
We were greeted by this Yellow Swallowtail the first morning in camp and he stayed close by most of the time.
There were T-Storms in the forecast so we fished at every opportunity and the pike cooperated pretty well. They were still isolated to more shallow water for the most part but they were much more active. A slow retrieve still seemed to be the best approach.
My first of the trip was a pretty good one, that's my blood believe it
or not, he sliced my little finger pretty good.Here's another good one. They were all decent sized on this trip and I seem to have found another spoon that's been in my box forever that has finally earned it's keep. Michigan Stinger - Chicken Wing
Wyatt is on the board, can you tell the barber hasn't been open in months? Get a haircut, will ya?
Shortly after this, those puffy white clouds in the background turned dark and ugly, but of course we had all of our rain gear with us .... back at camp. We got caught in it and by the time we got back to camp, we might as well have jumped in the lake, we were that soaked!
A good a time as any to build a tarp shelter, we are already wet. It
would take the whole weekend to dry out our clothes.If I recall we hunkered down in camp for a few hours while preparing for the next deluge but eventually headed back out (this time with rain gear) when the storms ceased.
Captain is on the board! The rest of the day it either rained or threatened to but we had our rain gear and the fish were still biting.
Another nice healthy pike in the rain.Just off the eastern shore of Shaw Island, I captured this image as Wyatt appears to be contemplating the meaning of life. I know the meaning of those clouds in the background though.
Um, I think it's time to head in boys.DAY 2
If memory serves correctly, day two was cloudy to start and we were in no hurry, we had the whole place to ourselves after all. I think we all slept in by Saranac standards as well. After enjoying breakfast and hanging in camp for a while, we headed out around noon with the sun shining and the promise of some good fishing. I half expected to see some more fisherman since it was Saturday, but like I said we had the place to ourselves for the most part.
A nice shot looking back at Windy Point and Hungry Bay.This pic almost made the banner for this page but the shot Ian captured the week prior with the suns rays shooting down won.
I think we may have tried a few casts close to the bay but it was still evident that we needed to head to the creek mouth and shallower water.
It was time to show the young'un how the big boys do it. I did warn Wyatt earlier in the month that I was going to get him back for catching so many and showing us up in Canada last year. It looks like it must've been a cooler day too based on our attire. Here's the Captain with a nice hat trick.
I was not going to let that happen without an answer and a hat trick of my own :)
The brief time we caught all of these was some of the best action we've had up here in a long while. It was clear the pike were still in the shallow creek mouth and very active. If there was any positive at all to the current pandemic situation, it was in the form of low fishing pressure all spring and we reaped the benefit.
What a whopper! Who's the Perch King now Roger?By this time Wyatt was getting a little grumpy :) I figured he'd had enough torture so I focused my efforts on coaching and eventually coached him into probably the biggest pike of the trip, certainly his best. Very nice!
All kidding aside, while it's always fun to have a little competitive spirit in the boat, these trips have always been about adventure, not just who caught the most fish. It wasn't Wyatt though. Sorry, I just can't help myself :)
We eventually decided to leave some fish for the next time and we headed out on to the main lake again.
What an awesome day in an awesome place, I never tire of it.
Jon got this hefty Smallmouth right off the surface near a deep ledge riddled with underwater structure in the form of fallen trees. We almost always get a few bass from this spot when we decide to try it.
Eventually we would head back to camp and cook supper and enjoy our last evening. Here's Jon and Wyatt having a debate about something car related undoubtedly. Our tarp shelter served us well even though we needed to adjust it from time to time.
DAY 3
Sunday dawned cloudy with a threat of more rain so we didn't waste too much time getting our stuff cleaned and packed up, we always try to avoid having to setup or tear down in the rain. Throughout the weekend we had another little visitor beside the butterfly in the lean-to. On the last morning we decided to share a little of our food with him, (Figgy Newtons). We assumed he was pretty hungry with the lack of campers this spring. Here's a short video.
See ya in the fall God willing