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In: Central New York Fishing, Trout fishing

  Longer days and strengthening sunshine evaporates the snow on the hillsides and warms the rocks along the lakeshore. The lake ice, built thick in layers from the winter weeks of bitter cold, separates from the shoreline more each day. Most of the ice anglers have put their sleds in the rafters and hung their pack baskets on a nail in the shed. The birds get excited. Woodpeckers hammer away on a dead maple, hollowed and tuned by the years. Calm, cold bright early spring days see the starlings clamber in the eaves of my cabin for a place to build a nest. Bluebirds sing from a perch on the wires and the troutRead More →

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In: Finger Lakes Ice Fishing, Ice Fishing

There exists no fish worth risking ones life for. It is assumed by many that anytime an angler walks on to a frozen lake that he or she is risking their life. That is not true. Lakes, ponds and bays covered with five or more inches of uniform ice are safe places to explore and fish when conditions allow. Ice uniform in thickness and appearance without large cracks and open water pressure breaks five or more inches thick is safe to traverse. Ice sheets on a lake or bay that are subject to warm weather and ensuing run-off caused by snowmelt can still be safe evenRead More →

Professional Guide Service In Skaneateles Lake

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In: Central New York Fishing, Finger Lakes Ice Fishing, Ice Fishing

The business of hunting and fishing equipment has morphed into a “big box” experience run buy corporations. While 25 years ago, the local sporting goods store or hardware store had a limited supply and selection, most of the stuff on the shelves was reliable. Made in the USA. Today… Not-so-much. The corporate buy-out of outdoor gear manufacturers and retailers  has created a homogenized lack of quality. The name of the game is to make more money. Useful, practical, well-constructed, quality outdoor clothing and equipment is tough to find! So much of todays stuff is disposable. If you get three seasons out of a pair of  Cabelas insulated hunting bibs before the crotch blows outRead More →

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In: Central New York Fishing, Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

Each year, peaking in the early summer, I enjoy nothing so much as fly fishing on small streams for wild trout. It is, in fact, the most enjoyable form of angling. Within five minutes drive of my cabin is ten miles of catch-and-release trout stream that is loaded with wild trout.  This creek is small. Very small. The county puts a few thousand run-of-the-mill stock rainbow trout in it each spring. But it is the brown trout that thrive. Wild browns that average 12 inches are common and when approached with a three or four weight fly rod they make for great angling. My guideRead More →

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In: Central New York Fishing, Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

Twice a year trout migrate from the lakes into the streams and rivers that flow into them. Some species travel upstream to spawn in the fall, like brown trout, brook trout and salmon. Another species of trout, the rainbow trout, migrate upstream in the spring to spawn. Anglers take advantage of this bi-annual run of fish and stalk wary lake-run trout in the pools, runs, riffles and eddies in streams and creeks swollen with run-off. In the Finger Lakes on the first day of April each year hundreds of anglers descend upon the creeks flowing into the lakes to catch spawning rainbow trout. In some biological logicRead More →

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In: Ice Fishing

The winter of 2017/2018 was NOT a typical winter in upstate New York. A typical winter around here has become difficult to define. A traditional winter in the northeast is one in which lake ice forms in late December, grows thick in January and  stays solid through February before beginning a slow decay as winter transitions into Spring. Here in central New York we experienced several days above 45 degrees in late January and a couple days above 50 degrees in February. Such warm temperatures were coupled with rain and had a big impact on ice conditions. On some lakes and bays ice went from safeRead More →

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In: Central New York Fishing, Finger Lakes Ice Fishing, Ice Fishing

Fact: As the winter progresses the thickness of ice on lakes will increase. In Central New York…Not-so-much. Global warming, climate change, NAFTA…I don’t know the cause but ice thickness on average has decreased. It was not uncommon for someone to drive up to us in a pick-up truck or a jeep while we sat on buckets jigging walleyes on Oneida Lake back in the 80’s. The ice often grew to two feet in thickness. Those days are gone. The fact is that recent trends in local weather seem to feature more extremes in un-seasonable temperatures.  As an outdoor guide weather is the biggest factor I cannotRead More →

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In: Ice Fishing

Each winter the arrival of safe ice on local lakes is something keenly anticipated by many. As deer season comes to an end and the Holidays arrive, hardcore hard water anglers can be found preparing gear, watching the thermometer and soliciting reports of safe ice from fellow anglers. For those that do not ice fish the following series of blogs will likely not entertain. For those who do ice fish but are new to the pastime, I will share with you some things I have learned in over 30 years of exploring frozen lakes in search of fish. Throughout the following posts I will defineRead More →

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In: Fly Fishing, Trout fishing, Trout Fishing Guide In New York, Trout Fishing In New York

In Leon Chandlers’ boyhood he fished the same waters that I do today. I imagine him a teen with a fly rod in his hand roll casting a hand-tied callibaetis at dimpling browns. He was most likely fishing a nightcrawler at that age. The reason I fly fish the boyhood home of Leon Chandler is due to geography and proximity. Just coincidental. But, if not for Leon Chandler I may not fish with a fly rod at all. Leon Chandler was the catalyst of fly fishing and fly fishing products in America. He was a Catskill fly fisherman, Cortland native, and a gentleman who introduced American flyRead More →