A Couple Recent Outings

[westernmas]

Unfortunately I haven't been able to get out as much as I'd like to, partly due to simply being too busy and partly recovering from a procedure.  I really know how to pick days off and sadly had last Friday off.  I salvaged the day off by scooping up some eels and heading to LI sound for some striper fishing Thursday night.  I hit the water later than I would have liked but got out there a little after 8 for a 930 high tide.  And wow what a high tide it was with the full moon.  There was water in the parking lot which made launching my kayak even easier.  I fished until about 1230.  At that point the rain was starting to come down and the wind was kicking up so I got off the water.  I landed 2 schoolie sized stripers and one in the 36" range.  There was also what I believe were blues in the area as I had several eels come back chomped in half (alone in a kayak at night I was convinced it was sharks).

The following day I romped around in the rain, starting at the swift without any luck and then rounding out the day in my neck of the woods in the main branch of the Westfield.  I was able to knock off the skunk with a couple smaller rainbows, one which was colored up nicely for spawning.

[bogtrotter]

Nice fish!

With regard to the bows on the Westfield, do you think they were holdovers, or part of the new batch that DFW has just stocked for the fall (since the Westfield is one of the few streams out here that gets a fall stocking)?

[westernmas]

Nice fish!

With regard to the bows on the Westfield, do you think they were holdovers, or part of the new batch that DFW has just stocked for the fall (since the Westfield is one of the few streams out here that gets a fall stocking)?

I believe they are holdovers.  They typically stock the east branch in the chesterfield gorge area during the fall.  I believe I saw Chesterfield and Cummington which would both relate to the East branch.  Some wonderful scenery in there even if the fish don't cooperate.  You could come in from the Westhampton side as well and hit the Indian Hollow section.  It is a bit more of a hike but you'd avoid driving down the dirty road which can get a bit rough and sometimes heavily used during leaf peeping season.  They do however open some of the gates further into the gorge for hunting season so you can drive a good 2+ miles in from the other end.

[lowaccord66]

I did that drive once and all the granola eaters were looking at me like I had 3 heads. 

[stripernut]

Nice going for some tough conditions!

[westernmas]

I did that drive once and all the granola eaters were looking at me like I had 3 heads.

Yeah I've had some spirited conversations with a few of them.  If you get there early enough you usually only see them on the way out.

[lowaccord66]

Perhaps we do a meet up the three of us?

[westernmas]

Perhaps we do a meet up the three of us?

I'm game.  Jim might have to adjust his tactics as it is an artificial only, catch and release area but flows look reasonable and they just put in some fresh fish.

[manitron]

Way to tough out the conditions Pat. Nice work.

[Bartman44]

good work, I never get tired of looking at the colors of those rainbows.