When I pulled into the State Launch today the air temp was 34 degrees, the wind was blowing out of the north at around 10 mph and it was snowing! Only a few trailers were in the parking lot. Gordon wanted to fish 1/2 day today so we gave it a shot. He's an active member of the Long Island Flyrodders and we've done 4 or 5 trips together so far. Rainbow trout fishing was very good today. He started with a nice 17" fish around the northern portions of the lake. Further downlake he landed 4 more fish - a 23", 22", 20" and another 17". The fish fought great for the most part with a 17" fish taking some spectacular jumps. The 20" fish was a picture-perfect female with a beautiful red stripe. The winds really cranked up around 3 pm and we had a fun ride back to the launch. The action was so good we wound up spending close to a full day out on the lake.
The 22" rainbow was missing a huge chunk of its nose/head. Looked like some sort of animal must have gotten hold of it. We could see all kinds of "stuff" where his head used to be. I was amazed that the spawned-out fish was alive. The 23" fish was a spawned out female. All fish were quickly released today. Water temps were around 43 at the northend and 37 downlake. I wore about everything I owned out there - heavyweight long underwear, jeans and a sweatshirt, a fleece jacket, down vest, winter jacket and a Browning Survival Suit. The suits used to retail for $400 at Bass Pro Shops but they went on sale this past winter for $100. Not bad at all!