How I started fishing the Croton Watershed

I have always loved the outdoors. When I was young I would go camping with the church groups and friends but i didn't really go fishing. When i was young maybe 10 or 12 we lived in the Bronx NY and my Dad took me fishing in a public park called Van Cortlandt Park but it was really dirty but fun. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/61807.html   Me and friends even fished in Central Park in Manhattan.

Later on as I got older about 15 or so I started spending my summers at my aunt and uncles house in Stephentown NY. Its located in Renssellaer county. Me my uncle and my cousins would go fishing in the streams after April first in all the local streams and catch trout on spinning reel setups with worms and spinner baits / rooster tails. We caught Brookies, Rainbows and Brown trout mostly in small sizes 9- 12 inches and if we wanted to catch big fish my uncle would take us to the lake to go after LM Bass.
This continued until 1999, I was about 21 years old.

I still lived in the bronx and fishing Van Cortlandt was not so much a priority or even an option in my head. So I would only go fishing if I visited my uncle from time to time. Lets say I lost interest in fishing and was pre occupied with other things!

When I hit about 29 years of age it all hit me again and I wanted back in. I stared seating this beautiful thing we call the internet. I couldnt find shit. I was not that computer savvy so I could not really locate any near areas near the 5 boroughs on NYC. My family in White Plains didnt know of any areas either.
I was loosing hope and most importantly i was loosing interest in local fishing.

Soon after I turned 30 I had a friend at work (Shevy) that lived in Westchester and told me he thinks he knows areas that we could try. So we decided to explore and we found Sheldrake lake in Larchmont and went bass fishing there. We did well with lures but we both had heard about these NYC Reservoirs that you could fish but needed a permit. We got in the car and went to google maps located a huge body of water in Westchester called Kensico Dam. Me and Shevy got in the car and drove to Kensico.

Kensico Dam all I can say is WOW. It was the biggest body of water i had ever seen besides the ocean and it was crystal clear. I could see fish in the water from 20ft away and there were boats all over the place. I must say we were confused and over whelmed. It did not stop me and Shevy from fishing it. We both caught huge Bass and we were determined to find out more about this body of water.

Manny 2010 LM Bass Kensico

Shevy 2010 LM Bass Kensico

Shevy came to work later on that week with some info from a local bait shop and online forum. This forum would later introduce me to the world of the Croton Watershed. I had no idea of the fishery that we had available to us for all these years that passed and all I needed was a free permit that i could download online and my NY State fishing license. This forum that changed me was www.westchesterfishing.com the website lead me to a forum owned and ran by "VinnyH" . They have done great with community, kids and adults. All the members have have been so supportive, informative and giving. I am thankful to each and every one of them. They have truly shown me the world of fishing in a whole new light. I have also made many friends. Thank you WF

So this is how I got to become an avid NYC Reservoir Fishing Addict, Angler, Nut, or whatever other name you can call someone as crazy as I am about fishing. Thanks for reading my Rant and I leave you with some more Art

 

HATERS

" HATERS "People that try to stomp on your success and make less of your accomplishments. Unfortunately we have these even in the world of fishing. It is amazing how ignorant some people can be. Now if your reading this and thinking "is he talking about me" I am probably not talking about you. But there are a select few people that slip threw the cracks that currently belong in that category. I totally understand and agree with catch and release. I also understand and agree that everyone is entitled    to there personal opinions. I personally have a blog that allows my to express myself and my views on anything I feel or deem worth of posting but I don't force people to read it or agree with me and I cannot say the same about others. I am writing all of this because i have currently dealt with someone that has been following my vids and likes to post negative comments about me not releasing all my fish. I have done some research and I found a video of this person (that chose to judge me on not releasing all my fish) not releasing his own fish in a fishing commercial. Now you all tell me what gives one person the right to persecute another person for an action the he or she has done?

Now this person stated that where he was fishing it was a place that you pay and your not allowed to release any of the fish.  So does that make it ok in his book? Why is he fishing there if he does not support keeping a fish caught with in your NY privilege? All I can say is to all of us check yourself first before passing judgement on others. You might not like what you see.

On a positive note I would like to leave you all with some more beautiful fishing art I stumbled across

Bass Ya Gota Love Em!

These NYC Reservoir Bass are worth there weight in Gold.
Since day one of my love for fishing I have targeted Bass. It took some time and effort but I have become quite good at catching these little green monsters but I still to this day, get happy when I have one on the other end of my line. These are some videos of my 2012 Bass .

Fishing for Seabass & Black fish

Today I headed out to the Robert Moses Captree Park in LI where we fished for Tog "Black" fish and Sea bass. I was unable to catch any keeper size fish so all were released back into the ocean. The weather and views were great. I was accompanied by my cousin Andy. He has been there before buy this was my first time there and also my first time catching Tog / blackfish. I learned a lot and enjoyed my time there. I just wish we could have had bigger fish. Still I cannot complain cause I caught 7 Tog and 3 Seabass. All in a days work and all released!

Crack of Dawn fishing

Seabass

My first Black fish ever

Awesome Sunrise 

Orvis 101

Today I went to my first Orvis 101 Fly fishing class in the Yonkers Ridge Hill Orvis store. I was invited by the Orvis Fly fishing specialist Shawn. The class was taught by Shawn and Store manager David. Two great guys that really love and support the sport of fishing. I was joined by other students of all ages and genders with little to a lot of experience. The class covered all beginner Fly fishing aspects and questions. They taught us about knots, lines, flies, rods, accessories, locations, and even how to cast a fly rod. I also forgot to mention that there was no fee. Yes thats right the class was FREE!
Not only was it my favorite price but they even gave class members some really decent coupons for Orvis stuff.

I must say I learned a lot today in the class and i would like to thank everyone that was there today. The  people at the Orvis store and instructors also did NOT pressure anyone to purchase anything at the Orvis store. in fact it is ok if you own other fly fishing brands. They just wanted to promote health practices of the sport. which I thought was great

Fly Casting lessons with Orvis 

  

Fishing in the Fall

Fishing In the Fall is still very new to me this is only the second season that I am attempting to fish after October 15. This is also the first season that I will be attempting to Fly Fish during the fall and it opens all new doors and adventures to my days off. Fishing during this time also increases my studies towards to sport of fishing in general.

I will be joining an Orvis class this weekend on Fly Fishing. I am really excited to be going to this seminar. I still have a whole lot to learn about the fly. Also on Sunday I will be trying out some saltwater shore fishing for "Black" fish for the first time ever and i am quite excited about this. I hope to learn a lot and i am wishing for good weather.

Today I will leave you all with more fishing art I have found in the past week or so that I feel is appropriate for this subject of "Fishing in the Fall"

Go Pro Hero 3

So it looks like I bought the Hero 2 at the wrong time. Today I received an email introducing the new Hero 3. Check it out

http://gopro.com/cameras/hd-hero3-black-edition/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ProductLaunch-HERO3-Preorder&utm_campaign=ProductLaunch-HERO3-Preorder

Little Sis Has talent Check out her Video

My little sister is an very talented singer and here is a video that her and her friend made as a cover to Rihanna's "Diamonds in the Sky" Check it out I hope you like it if so subscribe to her ch. She is a Star on the rise and can use all of our support 

http://www.youtube.com/kimviera

Diamonds (feat. Kurt Schneider) - Single by Kim Viera
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/diamonds-feat.-kurt-schneider/id571687240

East Branch 10-14-12

I headed out this morning to the beautiful EB streams in Brewster NY in search of trout. I started around  9am and I stood out there until about 2pm. I took out my nymphs and gambled on which 2 would work best on the double nymph setup. I shortly connected with two rainbows and later on connected with one more rainbow and a small Wild Brown fingerling. We are so lucky to have a good productive fishery open year round like EB. I hope one day NY will open a couple more streams for year round seasons. Here is a video today I took of my fishing journey with my go pro. I also have found more fishing art I would like to share with everyone

Carp

For some reason not too many anglers hold carp to be a good game fish. Or it doesn't  exactly hold up as #1 on the list of top game fish or even #10. I just want to say that it is an excellent fish to target and the fight is phenomenal. I am also guilty of not targeting these fish for stupid reasons but I have changed my mind about these awesome creatures in the last year or so when I caught this beautiful specimen  last year. I caught it by mistake while targeting Bass and it took me for the ride of my life. They are pure muscle when it comes to the fight on these fish. I will be looking for one again next year on the fly if possible.   

Fly Fishing in Iceland

Today I leave you with some cool Fly Nation Videos from you tube and another cool piece of fishing Art. Fly Nation is a cool TV show I watch on WFN. 

Cool Fly Fishing Gal

Perch

I really like to eat yellow perch. I used to catch perch all the time as a kid and I never knew how good they were to eat until last season. One year ago I caught a bunch of yellow perch in Cross River reservoir with sawbellies. I believe that during this time of year yellow perch can be targeted in about 25 to 40ft of water with minnows, shiners, or lures. Even night crawlers might be productive as well.

Cross River Yellow Perch 2011

Oct 10 2011 caught 11 Perch in 1 hour

Dinner Yellow Perch Fillets 

 

Autumn

The Autumn Season is in full effect. I went up to Westchester and Putnam today just to go look at some  new areas that I have never been to I found a nice preserve to go visit one day. I will you you all with some pics i took. If you look carefully you will see Swan and some deer.

Persistance

I got out on the water today at around 8:30ish AM I had big expectations to catch a lot of fish. Water level seemed a little higher then usual and stronger current but I didn't think anything of it. I started Nymphing, then switched over to streamers of different colors then back to Nymphs and I didn't get one nibble. I didn't see any surface action at all so I did not use any dry flies. At around 1:30pm I started to get hungry so I headed over to another spot and got a sandwich at the gas station at 2pm. I said to myself Im not going home until I catch a fish. and I made a little prayer. At 2:30pm today God gave me a beautiful Rainbow Trout!

Just goes to show that time and persistence can go a long way especially with a little help from the Big guy upstairs!!

Jet Boil, Sunrises and Sunsets

For those of you who love the outdoors and are looking to make a hot beverage while you are out Fishing, Camping, Snowboarding, or just basically any activity outdoors. This Jetboil will be perfect for you. I Just bought it recently and I love it, It can cook food as well but I mostly use it to boil water for my green tea (that I love so much). Its a great buy and it does the job. so check it out. I am def bringing this with me Ice Fishing this year along with my Thermos!

Next year I am looking forward to doing more Camping, Fishing, and Bike Riding. The Three can be combined at times or done separately. It is all up to the person. I hope I can combine all three on a trip next year as well.  Being Outdoors is wonderful and peaceful that is where I feel at one with my thoughts and Etc. Its a beautiful world we live in so lets all do our part to keep it clean and safe!

2010-2012 Season Pic's

My Personal Best Lake Trout 6.8Lbs

My Personal Best Brown Trout 6.1Lbs

I started really getting back into fishing at the end of the 2010 season this is a video of a Pics from season 2010, 2011 and some from mid 2012.

Fly fishing for trout in India

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This is a "Cool Show" I saw and wanted to share with you. Italo is halfway around the world they are searching for trout just like we do in North America. I sometimes think how amazing fishing is to all us people. I hope you enjoy

Monster Brown Video

Monster Brown Video

Silver Creek Gong Show from Silver Creek Outfitters on Vimeo.