JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
I met a guy from New York on a hunting forum about 15 years ago. He invited me out to deer hunt ten years ago, Why would an Iowan want to deer hunt NY? A bear tag comes with the NR deer tag, which at the time was $105. I said why not. His group had a deer camp in the Catskills, we camped for the week. First morning out, less than 30 minutes into season, we climbed up out of a ravine so steep we had to grab onto saplings to pull ourselves up, putting our feet at their bases for traction. We are both sweating by then, sit down to cool off. I hear hoof steps coming our way, turn my head to see a buck and doe coming our way. Of course I needed to get up on my knees to pivot for the shot, hit him high to never be seen again. He said it was the biggest buck he’d seen his whole life. I’ll come back to this later.
I asked if he wanted to come to Iowa for archery and he said the tag was too pricey. I guess sharing hunting and trailcam pics has changed his mind, as he is starting the process now.
Back to the fishing. Last time out, I drove straight through both ways, about 17 hours. Those days are over. I left last Tuesday and stopped in Cleveland for the night. I rolled into the marina in NY at 3 pm Wednesday for a late day fish. We caught 4 of the smallest Stripers he said he’d ever seen. We are fishing the Hudson River for the spring Striper run, them coming in from the ocean to spawn. Get back to the marina to pitch a tent for me, he slept in his boat. We wanted to be heading out as the sun rose the next morning.
Thursday morning finds us trolling four down riggers with two lead core long lines out to the sides. One of the guys from deer camp joined us. First half hour (sound familiar?), a long line pole bends hard. I grabbed it and the fight was on. The fish was stripping line off the reel, adding to the 230 ft that was already out. My left arm was already feeling it 10 minutes in. Unfortunately, we lost it shorty after. My only regrets was that we never got to see it, as we were 100 % catch and release. You can keep fish in the 23-28” slot, but everything I caught was under or over.
Wednesday afternoon was 84F, Thursday was upper 60’s. Thursday night I crawled into the borrowed tent as the rain started. It rained all night and around 4 am I woke up because I was getting wet. Crawled out at 5:30 am to get in the boat, pre-dampened as it was still raining. It cleared off soon, but stayed in the low 60’s. I had enough layers on to stay warm so it wasn’t all bad. Besides, I’m fishing, what’s not to like. Friday fishing was “slow” but we caught one decent fish.
I’m waiting for a store to open to buy a Mother Day gift on my drive home, so killing time with this post. Tapatalk only allows one pic attachment since I’m cheap. I thought about adding one of the “smaller” fish, but if read this far, you deserve the best. I’ll add some others to the thread later.
39” and 28 lbs.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I asked if he wanted to come to Iowa for archery and he said the tag was too pricey. I guess sharing hunting and trailcam pics has changed his mind, as he is starting the process now.
Back to the fishing. Last time out, I drove straight through both ways, about 17 hours. Those days are over. I left last Tuesday and stopped in Cleveland for the night. I rolled into the marina in NY at 3 pm Wednesday for a late day fish. We caught 4 of the smallest Stripers he said he’d ever seen. We are fishing the Hudson River for the spring Striper run, them coming in from the ocean to spawn. Get back to the marina to pitch a tent for me, he slept in his boat. We wanted to be heading out as the sun rose the next morning.
Thursday morning finds us trolling four down riggers with two lead core long lines out to the sides. One of the guys from deer camp joined us. First half hour (sound familiar?), a long line pole bends hard. I grabbed it and the fight was on. The fish was stripping line off the reel, adding to the 230 ft that was already out. My left arm was already feeling it 10 minutes in. Unfortunately, we lost it shorty after. My only regrets was that we never got to see it, as we were 100 % catch and release. You can keep fish in the 23-28” slot, but everything I caught was under or over.
Wednesday afternoon was 84F, Thursday was upper 60’s. Thursday night I crawled into the borrowed tent as the rain started. It rained all night and around 4 am I woke up because I was getting wet. Crawled out at 5:30 am to get in the boat, pre-dampened as it was still raining. It cleared off soon, but stayed in the low 60’s. I had enough layers on to stay warm so it wasn’t all bad. Besides, I’m fishing, what’s not to like. Friday fishing was “slow” but we caught one decent fish.
I’m waiting for a store to open to buy a Mother Day gift on my drive home, so killing time with this post. Tapatalk only allows one pic attachment since I’m cheap. I thought about adding one of the “smaller” fish, but if read this far, you deserve the best. I’ll add some others to the thread later.
39” and 28 lbs.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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great trip story!
