Fishing in Oswego

Troy here.  This is my report from my fishing trip to northern New York with my brother Brett earlier this week. Overall, I would characterize it as a nice, manly break from office and domestic responsibilities.  The primal instincts re-charged, all that good, atavistic stuff.  

It all began several months ago with a suggestion from Brett about the fabulous runs of giant brown trout in the great lakes area this time of year.  We made plans with a guide he knew and locked the date into our calendars.  While it was touch and go there near the end when some work and family needs threatened to de-rail us, somehow the clouds parted and the way was paved for northern adventure.  I caught a flight after church Sunday and said a tearful goodbye to the family, including the kids from the Ukraine, who were themselves leaving the next morning.  Marina and Ivan insisted on riding with me to the airport, which I confess was pretty touching.  OK.  Enough sentiment for now.  

Timing worked out perfectly, as I landed in the Syracuse, NY airport within 10 minutes of Brett arriving via automobile after a long drive from his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  He picked me up at around 9:3o pm, and we were off to accomplish mission objective number 1: find me a local fishing license.  I had some scribbled directions to a local Wal-Mart that purported to be open 24 hours.  Brett scoffed at my low-tech approach and geared up both his car's navigation system and his iPhone.  Between the three devices, we somehow were able to arrive at the nearest Wal-Mart (which turned out to be less than 2 miles away from the airport and prominently situated on the only main road in the area).  A bit of a scare when we learned that the fishing-license-printing computer at the store was down, but a grizzled no-nonsense sporting department worker directed us to the next Wal-Mart a few stops down the highway.   There, we had success with the license.  As a bonus, Brett stumbled upon a small tire he'd been on the lookout for, to replace the spare on his trailor.  He seemed quite pleased with his find, and it sat in the back seat of his bmw for the remainder of the trip.  We frequently commented on the pleasant (really) smell it left in the car.  Hey, better than the smell of damp fishing boots.

Also, be sure to check out Brett's link in a few days.  He will be adding his report.

The mighty Oswego River.  It feeds into Lake Ontario about one mile in the opposite direction of this snapshot. Thousands of fish swim upstream until they run into these  barriers.  It was running a little high for this time of year, so Brett and I fished on local streams most of the time, but spent a few relatively productive hours here on Tuesday morning. 
Brett and I looking over the Oswego.  We primarily fished at the base of the waterfall you see in the distance, toward the right of the river.  The raging water honestly seemed a little scary to wade out into, but it wasn't as bad when you were in it.  Still, one wrong slip...  Our guide re-assured us that people hardly ever died when fishing this river.
King Salmon caught by Brett on Tuesday.  This was actually the last fish of the trip.  We stumbled on a little channel of the stream that was no wider than 6 feet across and maybe 60 feet long.  There must have been a dozen kings tooling around in there.  

My big fish of the trip.  Caught on a fly rod, egg pattern, 3X leader.  While we went hunting for browns, they were nowhere to be found.  We clearly missed the window.  Nonetheless, we caught a nice mix of king salmon and steelheads.  

This is a picture of the nice steelhead Brett landed on the Oswego.  Fine looking fish.  

The one that got away.  You will notice that this hook has been bent and broken off.  I fought a gorgeous steelhead for about 10 minutes, and then the line went slack.  Aargh.  I cursed for a moment at the universe.  Then when I drew in my line I noticed the hook had actually broken off.  Incredible.  The fish came out of the water twice right in front of me while I was fighting it.  It was similar to the one Brett had caught shown above (though I will say a good bit thicker--why not--hard to dispute now).