October.....Some Successes and Some Shortfalls

[Jim C.]

October used to be my favorite month of the Fall.  Always looked forward to "Rock-tober", whether it be here in Maine or road trips to the Great Lakes.  Now it seems that many of the bites don't peak until November or even December! 

I started out the month looking for holdovers before they were overtaken by an influx of new stockies.  Splake were Target #1, and I hit several spots early in the month that hadn't been stocked in at least half a year. No doubt there were some quality fish roaming the drop-offs, and the scenery wasn't too bad either.  The fish wanted nothing to do with bobber and jig, with spinners out fishing spoons.
















A little later in the month, I focused on browns in flowing water.  Action was off and I didn't get any real solid fish.  That has been a trend for me on flowing water in 2019 and even a few years before that.  This has especially been true for lake run browns    With that said, I did get into a few fish that weren't new recruits.







A few times, large fallfish had me thinking that a solid trout was pinned.  Ran into a few apparent pods of these.



I closed out the month training chasing stocked fish on the ponds.  I guess if you can't beat them, join them.  Some of the fish were pretty solid, giving good exercise to my 5-weight.  Egg patterns weren't as effective as usual as pond levels rose, but streamers got it done.  Brookies predominated.







With only about 1 fish in 25 being a splake.





Onto November.  Hoping for big fish movement and maybe a N.Y. road trip

[TightLinesMaine]

Awesome report & pics Jim

Any of the splake on the fly? Or just hardware.  I still haven't caught one.  I wouldn't mind trying that place you showed me once the "bigger recruits" show up 

[bogtrotter]

Gorgeous photos!

I have to confess I've never heard of "splake" before. 

Your pix make them look like normal (albeit unusually large) brook trout.

From the Wikipedia article, I gather "splake" is just another name for what are called "tiger trout" here in MA - - although I don't see the distinctive tiger-stripe pattern in your photos.

Anyway, very impressive report - - I particularly like how you worked in one photo of a carp (just to make sure we were "on our toes" while reporting your account, no doubt).

[deerhunter]

those are some nice splake there, jimbo

[Jim C.]

Just hardware for the splake, Randall.  It would be good if the pond levels drop some.  The high levels make it virtually impossible target splake by sight as they follow around the brookies to dine on their eggs.

Awesome report & pics Jim

Any of the splake on the fly? Or just hardware.  I still haven't caught one.  I wouldn't mind trying that place you showed me once the "bigger recruits" show up 

[Jim C.]

Thanks!

Splake are a hybrid cross between a lake trout and a brook trout.  Yes, they can be hard to distinguish from brookies sometimes.  Tiger trout are a hybrid cross between a brown trout and a brook trout. I've tried, but never caught one.

Gorgeous photos!

I have to confess I've never heard of "splake" before. 

Your pix make them look like normal (albeit unusually large) brook trout.

From the Wikipedia article, I gather "splake" is just another name for what are called "tiger trout" here in MA - - although I don't see the distinctive tiger-stripe pattern in your photos.

Anyway, very impressive report - - I particularly like how you worked in one photo of a carp (just to make sure we were "on our toes" while reporting your account, no doubt).

[Jim C.]

Thanks.  I hit some real good ones early in the month.  Then they vanished for the most part, probably chasing smelt in other areas of the lakes.  It can get tough on foot.

those are some nice splake there, jimbo

[zwiggles]

Great report as always! It’s a bummer the larger browns have eluded you, but the brown in the third picture looks like it has some amazing colors! The orange on the pictorial fin is really striking, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such vibrant orange/red on an adipose fin like that before! It even looks like all three have the same color pattern on the adipose, very neat.

Also the second to last photo, does that fish have a claw mark or a wound left from a predator, or is that a fly?

[Jim C.]

Thanks.

Regarding the second to last photo, my camera occasionally kicks out some weird random red marks in the images in certain light.  I don't get it.  Nothing was actually there.

Great report as always! It’s a bummer the larger browns have eluded you, but the brown in the third picture looks like it has some amazing colors! The orange on the pictorial fin is really striking, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen such vibrant orange/red on an adipose fin like that before! It even looks like all three have the same color pattern on the adipose, very neat.

Also the second to last photo, does that fish have a claw mark or a wound left from a predator, or is that a fly?

[MG39]

Hi Jim,
Nice to see you aren't sitting around in that retirement chair. Keep it up and your wife won't recognize you.
I thought I was active until I read of your escapades.
I may be getting another order of flies together, while I know the source is still available. When it comes to items with
a forever shelf life, I take advantage of it. I do admit that I have quite an inventory.
Nice photos of those beauties.

[Bartman44]

Great report and some handsome fish. Beautiful colors.

[NBourque]

Great report, Jim. I agree with u about the October fishing lacking the last few years. November is definitely a more productive month IMO.

[franklin fisher]

  Nice post Jim. Great bunch of fish.

[Jim C.]

Thanks, Bob.

I hear you about the inventory.  My inventory of spoons took a bit of a hit the other day when I dumped a box wading deep on a steep drop off.  I didn't think twice about dipping down over the top of my waders to get back as many as I could.  The tight wading belt kept my feet dry, and I got quite a few back.  But, wow, do I ever hate losing stuff

Hi Jim,
Nice to see you aren't sitting around in that retirement chair. Keep it up and your wife won't recognize you.
I thought I was active until I read of your escapades.
I may be getting another order of flies together, while I know the source is still available. When it comes to items with
a forever shelf life, I take advantage of it. I do admit that I have quite an inventory.
Nice photos of those beauties.

[NBourque]

Thanks, Bob.

I hear you about the inventory.  My inventory of spoons took a bit of a hit the other day when I dumped a box wading deep on a steep drop off.  I didn't think twice about dipping down over the top of my waders to get back as many as I could.  The tight wading belt kept my feet dry, and I got quite a few back.  But, wow, do I ever hate losing stuff

Haha sounds like you’ll need to order a few more from Chris.