The Schroon River is a special place to me because it is where I caught my first trout on a fly. The Schroon is a decent size river that flows in the southern Adirondacks of New York, and it eventually meets up with the Hudson River. The river contains trout and landlocked salmon as well as smallmouth and northern pike in the lower reaches. The only downside to this fishery is that there are no regulations on the trout fishing. The state and county supply a heavy amount of stocking every year; however, most do not make it to the next year due to either overharvesting or extreme summer temperatures. The famed Battenkill and Ausable rivers are both within an hour drive, so the potential for a great trout fishery is there. However, the Schroon remains primarily a put and take trout fishery. The trout fishing is still worth a trip from April through June, and I also plan to explore the river for the large pike that are rumored to thrive in the lower reaches.
I haven’t fished the Schroon in about a year, so I tried several popular spots to get my bearings back. The water is still high from run-off and this is not a wader friendly river. Fishing streamers upstream was the call of the day given the conditions. There were lots of small stocked trout in the river. I picked up a mix of around 15 bows and brookies, with a lot of half committed follows. All fish were cookie cutters of the pictures listed, in the 8-9” range. A size 6 slumpbuster was all that was needed. It was nice to just get back to where my fly-fishing obsession all started. I did see a small hatch of Hendrickson’s coming off, but no noses breaking the surface. It is still a little early up here for the trout to focus on the surface insects.
Hook: 6
Bead: Medium Tungsten
Thread: Black 70-denier
Body: Flashabou
Ribbing: Red Ultra Wire
Tail/Wing: Natural Rabbit Strip
Collar: Natural Rabbit Strip
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