Get out and enjoy the beautiful foliage before it’s gone

If you haven’t been out and about lately you have missed some great leaf peeping. The leaves were falling right along with the rain today (9/30).

Fishing for trout used to end on September 30, but now you can fish an additional 15 days (for brooktrout anyway.)

Many of our lakes are never closed for trout fishing, but check the regulations as things change from year to year.

Bow season is now open so you may—or may not—see some guys dressed in camo out and about. A small cub has been seen wandering around the area by a lot of folks, so someone must have taken a female during early Bear season.

It was under my feeder for part of a day and then went over to my neighbor’s and licked off his barbeque grill.

The little guy is only about fifteen pounds at the most and may get picked up by another mom before winter sets in.

The birds have really been on the move this week. I have had new birds at my feeder every day. I’ve had several Rose Breasted Grosbeaks around this week and put bands on a few of them.

I still had a female around today but she missed my net and went away without a band.

Friday morning I woke up to see several Sparrows and Kinglets dancing around outside my bedroom window. I got my net up before breakfast and had five White-throated Sparrows before I had a chance to eat.

I never have caught a Kinglet but they are still around so I may get one yet.

Lots of Purple Finch and Goldfinch are coming by so I would have to say they had a good breeding season to the north of us.

I had a couple Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder and caught a couple Pine Siskins yesterday.

The Kingfisher was still splashing after minnows in the pond today and Flickers were feeding on ants on the dam.

Michele deCamp still had a Hummer at her place in Thendara on Friday. My last sighting was on September 16. Last year they were reported well into October.

I would like to thank Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve for the beautiful refraction picture of Jenny Lake (in Saratoga County) and the recognition award I received during their annual meeting held at View last Friday.

I’ve done a lot of fishing this week but not much catching. It’s a good thing I still have some Elk left in the freezer because I’m sure not eating fish.

I fished at Bug Lake with a friend on Monday (10/1). He had one hit and the fish broke his line.

We marked several other fish on the fish finder but they sure didn’t want what we had to offer.

The Loons and two chicks were around most of the day.

Those chicks are now big enough to fly.

Then on Thursday my son and I went to Pine Pond north of Tupper Lake to fish with my brother Bob and his friend Chet. They did most of the catching that day.

My son caught three that had to go back in the water because they didn’t meet the 12-inch minimum to keep. Bob and Chet ended up with three keepers and threw back nine.

I had a couple bites and did a lot of rowing but did not catch anything.

It was a beautiful day and I got some nice late day pictures of the sun sparkling on the water.

On the trip up and back the fall colors were dazzling no matter which way I looked. The reds were just about perfect along every body of water and on every mountainside.

It always amazes me how beautiful the leaves can be, but only for short time.

Everywhere along the way people were pulling over to capture the scenery with their cameras.

The big marsh area where the Raquette River crosses Route 30 is a great place for a sunrise or a sunset shot.

DOT has even made a couple turn-offs for people to stop and take a few pictures or enjoy the view.

Locally, the DOT should have planned for the same parking opportunity close to Bald Mountain Pond.

A year ago they moved the guardrails back at Otter Bay in Raquette Lake to make space for cars to park, so it is possible to move them once they are in place.

Brooktrout are in spawning colors, but that’s another story.

See ya.