West Branch Ausable River

Finally decided to get out fishing after my last few failed outings. I headed up to my apartment in VT for the night, since I forgot some stuff when I left a bit over amonth ago, and took advatage of the 2 days I was up there. This spot was day 2 of fishing. I have been eying this section of the AuSable for some time and finally got around to fishing it. The water was low and rather warm, and the fish were only in the deepest runs. I probably missed another 10 fish as well. I landed 5 browns 2 bows, and a wild brook trout. The bows and browns were all the same size, which makes me think they were all stockers. They loved the size 16 and 18 p-tail and I had 2 fish take my size 8 yellow stonefly nymph. I will say I thought I might see one or two larger fish, but it could have been the stretch of river I was fishing. This spot only adds an hour onto my drive between VT and NJ, so I will probably be back in the fall. While Tuesday was great, I did have a failed day of fishing on Monday. I headed up to the Chazy in search of musky, and had a bit of luck. The first pool of the day, I moved a fish that was probably 34". He went after a big glidebait as well as a magdraft, but didnt commit. In the next hole upstream, I saw 2 large gar. One followed my glidebait again, but I couldnt get them to commit on smaller lures. I then proceeded to loose my only 2 musky leaders, and in fear of loosing more expensive baits, I used smaller baits for bass. In the final hole, I saw 2 4+ lb smallmouth that were 10 ft away from me. I was standing as still as I could, but even the smallest movement with my rod tip would spook them a bit. I tried vertical jigging a swimbait out in front of me, and one fish was very interested. However, when it would go in to take it, it would lookme in the eye and dart away. The fish knew better, and I didnt have any super finesse baits that really matched the forage. To add insult to injury, I had busted open the side of my wading boot. I've beat the crap out of them for 2 1/2 years, and I've gotten my moneys worth, but I had to shell out $300 so that I could fish Tuesday. If they wouldve lasted another 3 months, I could've gotten 50% off with my fly fishing club discount. Luckily, I've been working instead of fishing, so I was able to afford them. Probably going to head out Saturday pike fishing, before heading down the shore and fishing the salt the last week of July. Hopefully I can get some nice fluke and finally hook into that shark I've been hunting for.

What a awesome morning during the week I spent with my family in Lake Placid NY. Thankyou Lil Fish for the experience and enjoyment. Ausable River along rt 86. I found a big rock with a pool behind it I let the lure float down and stopped it in the currant for about 40sec. I seen the fish approach and finally take it 💥. I tell ya I had the drag set very lite and he took a bit of line while I made adjustments. good Lil fight for such a Lil Fish. AusableAwesomeness

Nice drive north for a few days. Only got one but it was worth it.