2014 NYC DEP Reservoir Trout

[rakerdave]

Nice ones .

[mr.clean]

Jager61 have you thought of becoming a guide .Enjoy your posts and photographs beautiful group of trout.
Steve

[jager61]

Jager61 have you thought of becoming a guide .Enjoy your posts and photographs beautiful group of trout.
Steve

Thanks for the kind words Steve but then I'd have to reveal all my secret stuff! LOL! 

Mike

[dps37x]

Anybody know the best depths for getting the browns this time of year in the deep reservoirs(browns). Had them figured out till july now I notice a lot of marks any where from 35to 75 and cant quite seem the best place to even start..anything up higher seems to be schools of smallmouth even in 100+ fow

[jager61]

Anybody know the best depths for getting the browns this time of year in the deep reservoirs(browns). Had them figured out till july now I notice a lot of marks any where from 35to 75 and cant quite seem the best place to even start..anything up higher seems to be schools of smallmouth even in 100+ fow

The brown bite has slowed down on the reservoirs now due to the increased water temp but they are still being caught here and there. The key now is to find their comfort zone and that means finding 58-62 degrees. That and a lot of patience!

Good luck!
Mike

[Gino@Rondout]

Went out on Pepacton Friday and did a combination of trolling and smallmouth fishing. The fishing was totally dead! Absolutely nothing! I was trolling Michigan Stingers about 38-45 ft down (lots of turns, changing speeds, I definitely wasn't just rowing straight)and was using senkos, weightless and drop shotted, jerkbaits, topwater, no bass at all. Either the fish aren't biting up there, or I'm doing something wrong.

[dps37x]

What area of the reservoir were u fishing?

[Gino@Rondout]

My boat is out of Miller Hollow, I was heading down towards the dam from there.

[Gino@Rondout]

Went out on Pepacton yesterday. Between my dad and I we caught 8 smallmouth on plastics and on dink 12" brown trout trolling.

[RIVERRAT2]

Went out on Pepacton Friday and did a combination of trolling and smallmouth fishing. The fishing was totally dead! Absolutely nothing! I was trolling Michigan Stingers about 38-45 ft down (lots of turns, changing speeds, I definitely wasn't just rowing straight)and was using senkos, weightless and drop shotted, jerkbaits, topwater, no bass at all. Either the fish aren't biting up there, or I'm doing something wrong.

THE FISH ARE THERE,change,change,change,SO MANY THINGS,[just change every 15 or 20 mins. if you are not
getting them.YOU KNOW THEY ARE THERE,[YOU NEED A FISH FINDER]--KNOW THE WATER TEMP. WHAT THEY ARE EATING
WHAT COLORS,AND WAY,YOU ARE IN A BOAT this is maybe 50% of the battle.
 
RAT

[Gino@Rondout]

Had a nice day at Rondout. Took my boat out for the first time. Trolled for a few hours without a hit, switched to casting and my dad caught a 12" brown. surface temp 56. Got lunch and fished from shore from 1 to 3. My dad caught 2 more small browns, and I caught 2 small browns and a 16" laker. By small browns I mean 12-14", seems like they haven't been too big lately?

[Gino@Rondout]

Trolled today all the way up to the mouth of Rondout Creek (I'm down below the sullivan county line in area 2) nothing on the way up. Casted for about an hour up in the bay and my dad caught a 12" brown, also had a small hit trolling a spoon. Talked to a guy who was casting a jig who caught 5 browns, all small ones except a nice 5 pounder. On the way back, my dad got two smallies (14", 16"), and I got two smallies as well (16", 18" - 4.5 lbs) Flatlining near shore with size 18 rapala floaters. Going to head back out tomorrow, probably try trolling down to Trout Creek, and do some casting in there, usually some nice lakers. I had absolutely no complaints with the lack of trout. I have been totally skunked for a long time, and to actually get some quality smallies made it well worth the long troll. Water temp 53-54 degrees.

[Gino@Rondout]

Went out again today. Nothing trolling, but caught 2 nice smallies on kastmasters (16", and 19" 5.5 lbs) and my dad caught 2 18" lakers and 2 small 12" browns on kastmasters and another 12" brown after dark on a glow little cleo.

[Gino@Rondout]

[Jimmy]

Nice chunky Smallies, Gino!

Other than the shallow-water Browns around early to mid April (blue/silver Crocodile spoons were lethal near the creek mouth), it seems the real shore-fishing action in the Rondout (and the Neversink, for that matter) are the trophy Smallmouth.  I used to fish the evenings and nights down off Cooneys Point and had some EPIC smallmouth outings.  What bruisers.

Topwaters like a small Jitterbug, or a Super Spook Jr. nearly always produced some big fish.

It always seemed to me like the Smallmouth fishery in the Rondout was totally overlooked and undervalued.  Sure, there are some behemoth Browns in there, but weather/wind/season always seemed to dictate if it was even possible to fish for them.  Plus, of course, they require a lot of rowing 

But man alive, those Smallies were almost always willing to fight, and rarely required more than a nice gentle walk through the woods.  I sort of miss those nights on Cooneys Point sometimes.