A couple friends and I headed west to fish the Hoosic in Hoosick Falls from about 9 AM to 2 PM today.
A nice day - - mostly sunny, on the warm side (90 degrees), but the stream levels were decent and the water temps seemed reasonably cool.
We hit three spots without success - - unless you count the four crayfish that I reeled in - - and then adjourned to Brown's Brewery for beers and snacks,
On the way home, I stopped to fish the North Hoosic in North Adams from 4 to 6 PM, from below the roll dam past Old Glory Rock and then down below the Eclipse Mill dam.
(We took two cars, since one of my friends was "on call" and might have had to call it quits early - - although, fortunately, that didn't materialize - - but in any event taking my own car gave me the flexibility to make a detour even as my other two compadres headed straight home).
I didn't have any luck as I waded downstream from the roll dam.
(A rainbow did "follow" my line as I reeled it in a bit above and across the stream from Old Glory Rock, but once it spotted me it turned around and swam away)
On my way back upstream, I concluded desperate measures were in order to "reverse the curse" of a fishless day.
Clambering up onto the roll dam, I slowly edged my way out from its "left" (west) side along a horizontal crack in the concrete just above the waterline.
Perched precariously on the crack, and leaning backward onto the roll dam, I cast across the waterfall that runs over the center of it and slowly reeled my line in.
After a half dozen or so attempts, I finally hooked a 13" rainbow directly beneath the waterfall, and was fortunately able to land it where I stood, although it was awkward as heck.
I tried a few more "cross waterfall" casts without results, so I cast a bit further out from the roll dam, and let the current carry it in a long swirl downstream and to the right (west).
I then managed to turn myself around and edge back toward the west side of the dam, allowing my line to trail behind me.
As I approached the west bank, I felt another tug on my line, so I gave it some slack until I could get near the shore, lowered myself into the water and reeled in a smaller (12") and remarkably lethargic rainbow.
Figuring I had pressed my luck enough for one day, I called it quits and drove home.
