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Hudson Ice Breaker 3/7

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Nick 
#1 ·
Well, not quite. No sign of ice in Croton bay but quite a bit on the lakes on the drive down - not as much as this time last year. Air temp was in the high 40s and water temps a shade above 40 at Croton yesterday. Jim Wesley, Steve Liesman and I paddled up the Croton river for some exploratory paddling. I had the rod rigged but never made a cast - I was actually enjoying the scenery too much :D

Jim and Steve both wet their lines and also continued exploring out into Croton Bay. I'm not sure how they fared since I retired early with an over-tight dry-suit neck seal which was doing a number on my carotids after a couple of hours. I guess 24hrs stretching on the paint kettle wasn't enough!

Back at the ramp a guy in a tin boat reported a few fish just before dead low the previous day - one a respectable 33 inches. Also sporadic reports of twinks coming in from various locations.

It was nice to get out onto the water!
 
#2 ·
Latex seals?

Adrian...
You've got me thinkin' about getting my Yak wet!

BTW
If your dry suit seals are of the thin latex rubber type, stretching probably won't achieve the desired results...
If there are concentric rings around the opening (wrist/neck) you can carefully trim the opening with sharp scissors...a little at a time, until the opening is large enough not to restrict blood flow to your mellon but not so large as to let in the ocean...
A fine line between happy dry and unhappy wet...
After the suit is dry, for longest seal life, apply latex conditioner and dust with talc powder before storing in a dry/dark place.
Cheers!
 
#3 ·
Yes, time for yak immersion.

The stretching thing helped a little bit but I resorted to surgical removal of concentric rings. Big improvement after two rings. I'll try living in it around the house for a day or two before cutting any more. I figure that I'm about right since my head doesn't turn purple after 30- seconds :eyecrazy:

Zapping the seals with 303.

SeeyaSunday!
 
#6 ·
Greg

I'm a newbie to the Hudson fishery myself. Jim Wesley has done well with clouser type patterns early season. Big herring type flies are purported to do well when the herring are running.

We are breaking new ground here - weather and water temperatures are a major consideration early season. In three trips the only thing I've hooked so far is a big carp. The fish are definitely there - we just got to crack the code ;)
 
#7 ·
Greg,
From mid-March through about mid-April last year I was finding schoolies tightly packed in abt 12-16 feet of water. 1/0 olive/yellow or chartreuse over white half/halfs with some peacock on top worked well. Once it warmed up a bit they were on the move and it was hard to locate them. I got a lot of skunkings trying to follow them up the river once the herring were thick. As Adrian said, it's like breaking new ground. Maybe more rattles, more bright colors, something to push even more water, big bead eyes, try them all. By early May I was fishing some CT rivers and then "out front" and simple herring patterns 8 inches and bigger got a few nice fish for me. All on sinking lines from the yak.

Good luck.
Jim
 
#8 ·
And to think this morning, my yak is still wrapped in a tarp under about 5" of fresh snow...come on spring!

Nick
 
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