The colors are getting to their peak in most parts of the Adirondacks. While flying over the southern part of the park last Friday the reds were brilliant by old beaver ponds and small bodies of water.

They were duller at higher elevations but there were some bright spots with still a lot of green in the birches and beeches.

The wind and rain over the weekend didn’t knock down or blow off too many of them.

The weather report this week appears to be very nice so there will still be a chance to catch some nice color on the landscape this weekend.

In the flight over the southern part of the park I was with Jim Payne. He went over to Piseco Lake to stock ponds with trout for the DEC fish hatchery people.

Tom Helms was also there with his floatplane and they moved several thousand fish in a few hours.

Each plane holds four separate tanks hooked to a six-inch out-flow pipe that comes out under the plane. Each tank is filled with some water.

Then the trout are measured by weight and added to each tank depending on how many are going to a specific pond or lake in the surrounding mountains.

These smaller fish can survive the splash down into these water bodies from a flying aircraft.

Sometimes two or all four tanks are required to do some of the bigger lakes. Some smaller ponds get only a few hundred fish and bigger lakes get a few thousand fish.

These trout are only two- to four-inches long and raised this year at the hatcheries. Some were from Chateaugay and some from Warrensburg.

Most of the trout were wild strain Horn Lake or Tzimisce brooktrout with one lake, G Lake, getting some brown trout. Some people were there from the Rome Hatchery though none of the fish came from there.

They had a disease in their water system so fish can’t be raised or released from there for five years.

On the return trip back to Seventh Lake we stocked Little Indian Lake in the Moose River Wild Forest with 3,900 Horn Lake trout.

It was the first time the lake was stocked in thirty years as the ph of this lake is again supporting fish life.

Now all we have to do is get the road reopened to this lake in wild forest.

During this week helicopter stocking will also be done by the State Police helicopter from the Old Forge Airport, Lake Clear Airport and the DEC Shop in Indian Lake.

Thousands of trout are stocked this way and many grow to trophy-size in some of these ponds and lakes.

This is some of what your hunting and fishing license pays for—your payback is you get to catch some of these fish.

I took a couple of hikes during the last week. I went to Falls Pond, clearing the trail and cleaning out plugged culverts that still cross under that trail.

My intention was to go on to Deep Lake but there was so much stuff down in the main trail I didn’t get that far.

There were a couple Loons on the pond but I could not see them as there were white caps hiding them. I knew they were there because they called to a seaplane flying overhead.

The other trip was into Shallow Lake to catch a few smallmouth bass. The trail was wet at the Beaver Brook crossing earlier this year, but it was okay this time. It took me a while to locate a canoe that would float—which is important. But after that it was non-stop catching.

I got one that was four pounds that was caught on a silver floating Rapala plug. The big one I got while trolling nearly took the pole out of the canoe.

Though there are not many birds around I did have two barred owls call along the shoreline and a cormorant and a kingfisher were both fishing near me.

I paddled up the inlet and took some neat refraction pictures. On the way out I saw where a bear had walked in the mud in the trail while I was at the lake.

There have been several reports of Moose moving around the area. Some tracks have been photographed but no Moose shots that I’ve seen.

With big game hunting season for deer opening today for bow hunters there is a warning about Chronic Wasting Disease from DEC. The disease has been found in the wild, free-roaming deer in Pennsylvania and several nearby states.

There are restrictions about parts of animals being brought back to New York State from these states so check the regulations.

I know where we hunt in Colorado there is some wasting disease in both the mule deer and elk populations. Therefore, only processed meat can be brought back into New York.

If you bring a set of antlers back you have to remove all of the brain matter from the scull plate. Let’s keep Chronic Wasting Disease out of New York.

Waterfowl seasons are set in New York and early goose season closes today, but that’s another story. See ya.