Fall 2006

Outdoorsmen/women's Favorite Season Begins

By ED NOONAN
It's that time of year again when sportsmen and sportswomen are faced with a multitude of outdoor opportunities.For the next several months, shotguns, rifles, handguns and fishing rods will all be finding their way to the woods and water as our conversations turn to fins, feathers and fur topics.

FINS
The cooler air and water temperatures have triggered all our gamefish into their fall activity patterns. They are now feeding more frequently and have left their deep water haunts and headed into the shallows to feed. Add to this a very noticeable decline in recreational boating traffic and you won't find a better time for wetting a line and catching that trophy wall-hanger.
If large and smallmouth bass excite you then the places to be are Saratoga Lake, Lake Champlain, St.Lawrence and Niagara Rivers, Lake George, Oneida Lake, Black Lake and just about anywhere that the number one gamefish roam are all should have a great Fall bass bite right now. For the largemouth fish the weed edges, both shallow and deep, with plastic worms rigged wacky-style, spider grubs on a quarter ounce jighead and a rubber skirted rattling half ounce jig with a split-tailed frog trailer. Swimming that jig and trailer back to the boat slowly usually works this time of the year also
For the smallmouth now is the time to break out your favorite twitching and topwater rod and start tossing those shad-colored Flukes, Fin S Fish, Rattling Rogues and Pop Rs. Any of these baits fished over rocky points dropping into deeper water, shallow shoals, creek mouths, or jerked slowly over sunken rocks and boulder, regardless of the time of day, should bring some great smallmouth bass explosion on the waterâs surface. And when he feels those hooks he will probably do a little tail-walking as well.
The northern pike bite has been getting better since the first time our air temperatures dipped into the 40s. Large half and three-quarter ounce spinner baits will catch them but the big bite right now is on large live bait; the bigger the better. Fish them below a big bobber off any visible or sunken weed line and you should catch fish. The same waters mentioned earlier also hold great northern pike populations and one other you might want to try is the Great Sacandaga Reservoir.
Walleye anglers should begin to find their favorite fish out and about now also. They will be somewhat shallower now and hanging out around the weeds where the bait fish are. The walleye gurus say the best baits this time of the year are crankbaits slow trolled over rocky shoals and outside channel bends. Vary your trolling speeds and try using Rapala stick baits in silver and gold.

FUR
In the big game category the Northern Zone whitetail hunters have been chasing bucks around the mountains with bows, muzzleloaders and now rifles while only the bowhunters can chase them around in the Southern Zone. And should you be looking for a bear rug, that season too is still open in certain parts of the NYS depending upon where you hunt. Three new areas have opened up to bear hunting this year in the Catskill range. They are WMUs 4F, 4G and 4H.
The squirrel season has been open since the first of this month and there are plenty of these bushy tails out there so you might want to dust off that old .22 or .410. And while you are out there, depending upon where you are hunting, keep your eyes opened for both cottontail and snowshoe(varying hare) rabbits Ñ they too are fair game and make for a great stew.
Predator hunters can now try to lure in a wary coyote, bobcat, fox or raccoon in most parts of the state. Hunting any of these critters at night can be quite an exciting adventure. There are some specific rules for hunting, reporting, etc. that apply when hunting these animals so be sure to read the regulations.

FEATHERS
NYS wingshooters can now test their shotgunning abilities on a number of challenging birds. Nothing gets the heart beating faster than a grouse busting skyward from dense cover just a few yards from your feet or that familiar cackling and thundering wings as that cock pheasant lifts off from the stubble of a freshly cut cornfield. Speaking of pheasant, NYSDEC's annual pheasant release sites for this year can be found on their web site at www.dec.state.us and search for ÔÔpheasant release sites.''
The Fall wild turkey hunting season has closed in the north country but it is still open in the remainder of the state. In the Fall turkeys are not as vocal as in the spring which also adds to the challenge but don't let this deter you, they can still be decoyed and called into range. Get out there and do a little scouting and who knows, you might bag your own Thanksgiving Day turkey.
Plenty of choices and reasons to get outdoors right now but before you go be sure you read the NYS Hunting and Trapping Regulations Guide 2006-2007. And for the most up-to-date information go to their web site at www.dec.state.ny.us.