Up at 6 AM, I packed all of my gear, still wet from the rain, and drove to the Lake George General Store. I stopped at the entrance to the Eleven Mile Canyon State Park and ate a cereal breakfast at a great overlook spot as I listened to Jimmy Buffet on the radio. At the store, I met Zach Tokach, my fishing guide. We drove to Spinney Mountain State Park where we fished the river below the Spinney Reservoir. This part of the river is referred to as The Dream Stream for the monster brown, cutthroat, and rainbow trout that it puts out. The Spinney Reservoir, Zach told me, is one of the top ten fly fishing reservoirs in the world.
We started fishing with a three fly nymph rig. Zach taught me how to cast it and properly mend the line. I hooked two fingerling cutbows. Although it was very cloudy, the sun peeked out for a little while at 9:30 AM. This ignited the trico hatch and fish started hitting the water. I hooked a big fish behind a boulder, but it straightened the hook and escaped. I must have been a monster. Next, I hooked a 20" brown in a pool behind some rapids. He tore off with my line. This wasn't his first rodeo. He ran under a rock and jumped two feet out of the water on the other side of the rock. With ease, he popped the hook out of his mouth.
We fished until 2 PM with no more luck. I really enjoyed fishing with Zach and he gave me a dozen flies before he left.
Now, it was cloudy and raining. I decided to search for a campground. I found one at Eleven Mile State Park at the Rocky Ridge Campground. The set up was perfect. I was able to string my tarp between a small tree and the picnic table and then set up my tent underneath it, as it rained. I made a quick sandwich in my car and then drove back to do some more fishing. I jammed to Jimmy Buffet on Margaritaville Radio as I drove. Although I was far from the sea, there was something about Jimmy's music that fit the environment perfectly. It was the only music I played.
Back on the water, I had a big strike on my foam bodied caddis, but the fish missed the fly. A little later, I hooked a 13" and a 10" brown trout. A beast then struck my caddis and I got a great hook set. Unfortunately, my line broke at the surgeons know I had used to tie on my tippet. I lost all three of my flies and, more importantly, I lost the fish. I tied back on a new rig but had no further luck. As the sun set, it turned the grass and mountains and water into gold.
When I returned to my campground, it took me an hour to start my campfire. Hooray for wet firewood! Finally, however, I got it started and cooked the rest of my hot dogs for dinner.
13" Brown Trout
10" Brown Trout
Golden landscape as the sun set
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