Hey all. I thought since the weather has made everything pretty much unfishable and unhuntable for awhile I would take this opportunity to re-hash the 2006 hunting/fishing year .

JANUARY: The year started off quite strong on New Year's Day when Scott Shady and I hit Sandy two or three days in a row and absolutely hammered the Browns and Steelhead. After that January cooled off and I didn't see any more trib action until march.

FEBRUARY: Not too much of anything in February. I did go rabbit hunting once with my dad for an hour and a half and we took three rabbits. Good Day. Silver Lake never froze up, so I never got out ice fishing.

MARCH: As usual March was good for next to nothing. I did hit Sandy a few times and caught a couple browns and steelhead.

APRIL: For the first time in a few years I really hit the Crappies this year. Most of them were taken in Lake Leroy with Scott Shady, Adam, Larry, Jocelyn, Matt, Dad... The Moore's and I also had a great bluegill meat day on Silver Lake. Again in April I hit Sandy several times with great success. Only this time I also caught Smallmouth, Largemouth, and a bunch of pike.

MAY: As usual May was a great month (normally the best) for fishing here in Western New York. I started the month by hitting the last of the crappies in Lake LeRoy. On opening day of Pike season I went to the Genesee River with Scott for Walleys, but all we ended up catching were suckers and I got one 30' or so pike. I also hit Sandy Creek Mouth several times with Scott and Larry and caught some nice pike. Later in May I really hit the spawning bass in Silver Lake several times. As usual, on Memorial Day we went camping in the Adirondacks. That was a ton of fun. Of course their was excessive fishing (and drinking) as is evident by the picture of Uncle John. We really killed the Largemouth, smallmouth, and brook trout again. Over the course of the weekend I probably caught between 75 and 100 bass and 25-30 trout.

JUNE: Bass season began and I hit Silver Lake Several times with Mr. Baker and Larry. Larry and I had some mild success, but Baker and I hit it perfect several times in late June (after school ended). We had several mornings with over 20 - 2-4 pound bass. I also took my baby girl fishing for stream browns in the Oatka several times in June. We had several days with 20+ fish.

JULY: What a great month I had in July for Bass, walleye, and Pike. Hit Silver Lake several times in July with Matt, Larry, Dad, Mr. Baker, Adam, Nicole, Nate, and so on with some great days. Larry and I had a great day on Silver in which we caught my biggest walleye ever ( on a yamamoto worm) and a handful of great bass (picture). I also went fishing with Matt and caught a 20" largemouth that was over 4 pounds. A nice day fishing with Adam and Nicole was also a highlight of July. One of my best days in July was pike fishing on Conesus with Larry and Adam. We were actually bass fishing, but boy did the pike start hitting. The highlight of the month, though, was the largemouth I caught in late July with Mr. Baker. I caught him on Silver lake on a nightcrawler. He measured just over 22" and weighed (estimated by using length and NYS DEC averages) about 6.5 pounds. I wish I kept him to get stuffed, but what are you going to do.

SEPTEMBER: I started the month off having a great day bass fishing with my dad on Silver Lake. We limited out in a couple of hours (I actually ate some of those bass tonight). Also in early September I went out trolling for samon in Lake Ontario with Scott Shady. We ended up hooking up four times, and landing one steelhead (see picture).

OCTOBER: Deer season begins. Opining day I saw three bucks sparring at about 15 yards (no shooters). I ended up taking a doe at 15 yards on the Sunday of opening weekend. Joce went out and helped me track it on the dark. Two weekends later I shot a two and a half year old eight point buck with my bow. I got out duck hunting two days in late October with Mr. Baker and the Steiners and did quite well (Andy is a great caller). Since I got my buck, I also got out
fishing the tribs (Sandy) a couple of days with Scott with great success. In one morning Scott and I caught 25 browns and steelhead between the two of us.

NOVEMBER: Started shotgun season by harvesting two deer behind my new house within ten minutes of each other. I shot another doe behind my house about a week later. Jocelyn and Brilyn hiked the 100 yards back behind the barn in the snow to the deer to help me gut and drag the deer.

DECMBER: On the last Friday of shotgun season I went hunting with Dad, Stryker, Larry and Nate. We hit the east side of Letchworth Park and I ended up shooting two deer. One was a small doe and the other was a nice 16.5" spread eight-point. I ended the deer season by shooting another doe in my backyard with a muzzleloader on the last weekend of the season. After Christmas I hunted geese for several days with Mr. Baker and the Steiners (shot six the first day). I also hit Sandy with Scott and caught a few Browns and steelhead. And now the new year has began...who knows what it may hold?

Hi all, I went to Virginia on my annual trip to hunt with My brother Steve. This year was especially tough and no deer were seen in the field by me. The only action was that Steve's friend Jay shot at a doe and wounded it on the way in to make a drive. The weather was bad as it was 70 to 80 degrees and this made the deer not move. We registered into to hunt in Fort Pickett, a military base. They make you get a permit for 25$ and then you have to check in and out of the area you are hunting daily. If you are not checked out within an hour of shooting light they come looking for you and you are guaranteeed a ticket. The areas we went to looked good and there was alot of territory to romp around on. Only shotgun or muzzleloader can be used in the gun zones. There are alot of Bow only zones too, which was interesting (maybe next year). They have a hut where you check in, a picture board and alot of other information on the deer taken. This year they got a few really huge bucks, an 18 pointer, a 14 pointer and several others like 13, 11, 10 etc. While we there one of the days, two trucks came in with two bucks a nice nine point and a three point which was half of a six. One nice thing about Virginia is that they let you hunt deer one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset! I wish New York would do that for Deer and Ducks/Geese. Anyways here are a couple of pictures of Steves Truck as it was stuck in the mud and of the Hunting gang.

Ok Joe, I know I have not been posting for awhile. I created a blog of my own and have been using that as a journal to record my fishing experiences. I figured I would not bore you all by posting too often here. The blog is called Reel Outdoors, check it out if you are interested in more details and pictures (If anyone knows how to copy and paste posts I will put them on here also). Anyways, the fishing has been very good all fall and right through the winter. This weather has been amazing and has allowed me to fish on an almost daily basis. I have had the pleasure of fishing with a bunch of different people and with the exception of one day we have been able to have successful days on the water. To me fishing is not about numbers but more about the experience of time spent with good people in beautiful places. But, for those that are interested here are some statistics for my trips over the past 12 weeks. On an average, I have been fishing four days a week, and have averaged around 5 fish a a trip. We have had four trips when the fish did not want to play but they were forgotten on days like the day Joe and I had when we put over twenty fish on the bank. The fish have been split between browns and rainbows. We have been lucky enough to catch three browns over 14 pounds with my personal best of 19lbs coming in mid October. My biggest steelhead weighed in at just over 15lbs and was caught on a day that nobody else would fish with me. I am always looking for people to fish with and new places to experience so if anyone is interested let me know.

Hi Guys,
Been goose hunting three times this week. Shot a couple more geese, but nothing great. Went fishing at Sandy Creek today for about one hour with "Scott Shady." Caught two and lost two more. All fish hit a number three spinner. It was a ton of fun. The fish weren't huge, but they were fresh and beautiful. One brown trout I lost was REAL nice. Maybe tomorrow...

Hey Joe that sounds/looks like some awesome goose hunting on the last day or two of the season! Larry I was not trying to gross you out by appearing with no shirt on, but that day on Blue Mountain Lake was awesome on 3/31/2006. The ice was thick and the temperature was about 75 degrees with no wind! Late season ice is the best, you have to bring your sunscreen. The first and third pictures are a couple of shots from our annual camping trip Memorial day this year. The second picture is from an alternate location we should try some time if you don't mind the walk of approximately 3.5 miles. I missed an even bigger one as it popped off the hook at the boat. It would have been good to have a partner to net it and it would have been sent to the taxidermist if landed. This location is best early like in April(is better) or May. I believe Joe senior had said we were going to the same place this year however. That location is real good for the whole crew so you can pack in more than the essentials. I am looking forward to it either way. If you are in the neighborhood during ice fishing season call me and we will go. I usually go on the reservoir near the house for Walleye, Pike and Perch but sometimes go up north for Lakers and Salmon.

Merry Christmas All! Went goose hunting this morning. It was a ton of fun. I ran out of bullets and had to borrow some from Andy. In all we knocked down six geese and missed about 200 more. There were geese everywhere. They were coming off the river one flock after another. I gotta start practicing with my gun more. Anyway, it was a great morning. Headed back out to do it agian tomorrow. Sadly, Sandy is blown, so there will probably be no tributary fishing this week. Later.

Here are a few pictures to get you thinking about the winter. That is if we ever get any ice. These are from last season and we had a good year. I won 100$ in a contest with the perch and alot of walleye were had. The ice was just enough and the conditions scared off most of the snowmachiners which resulted in a nice quiet year on the ice. Won't be long now and I believe we will be in shantyland yet again.

Hi all, I was having some serious trouble with the blogg action as I could not recover my pass word to save my xxx. Joe it is good to be able to see all the deer and other stuff on your blog and to hear the stories.
Tom Rebisz and I went Muzzleloading the last week end in the northern zone. I had four days off and I could not get in front of a deer to save myself. I had all intentions of shooting two or three and I ended up not even shooting. Normally I have shot up a storm during this late season. No snow at home and extremely warm weather made it kind of crappy for the deer hunting. I spent two days around the house and saw only a flash of one deer (Thursday and Friday). I went up to the property in Providence on that Saturday night and we started seeing some deer. There was just a little snow, about a half inch- perfect! It was nice getting into the camp and this camp is secluded, it is off the road a couple of miles and when you sleep in it, there are no cars/trucks going by, just total silence. A big difference from the Speculator camp. I love it there and it is big woods, but hearing a car/truck going by is a frequent occurrence. Funny how you notice small things like that. I got into the Providence camp about 9:30, when I went to bed I had it up to 65 degrees and I loaded the stove, it was up to 85 degrees a couple hours later. Four wheeling in on a rough trail is a nice adventure.
Tom saved the day by shooting two, a small one by the house on Saturday and a big doe, on Sunday up on our property. He shot twice on Sunday and I saw three but did not get a good shot so I did not shoot. Tom saw something like nine or ten. Much more deer sign in by the camp though and I kind of kicked myself for hunting two whole days with no deer being had around the house. There have been a lot of guys hunting around the house this year and it seems to be taking it's toll. This year was a slow one for our gang, Tom got the two does with the muzzleloader the last weekend and nothing else. John got none. I got that small doe in Letchworth and my eleven pointer and nothing else (I can't complain). I had my multiple chances in Letchworth and blew it. I did not see anything to shoot up here after that though and I hunted alot.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year hope all is well with everyone happy and healthy-God Bless!

Here are some better pictures of Nathans buck and some of the guys. Thanks for the photos Criag!