As was previously mentioned, the storm that hit them Wednesday's really slowed the fishing. The res is over 5700 acres & even though they dumped water prior, it was running 4' high. That's a lot of water. I saw some 30 & 40' trees go by! The jamboree is held at the tail end of peak season. Fishing might be better a week or 2 earlier but this is free fishing weekend. That means if you are from out of state or want a friend from out of state to meet you or you only fish salt water or haven't bought a fresh water license in years you can fish this event without worrying about any permits other than the free NYC permit available on line. Outside of 1 day last year I never used lead core before. Pat & Taurus were very helpful getting me up to speed. I will try to do a post with in a few days about equipment in case your thinking about next year. All of us that were there last year could not believe that it didn't double in size from last year. To get a quality small mouth & trout fishery like this you would probably have to go to Canada. The cost of camping at the Roscoe Campsite during the jamboree is covered with the entry fee. I went up a day early & when I asked Scott (the owner) what I owe him he said " Nothing, you are our guest". He & Frank work hard to make sure everything went as smooth as it does. Any time during the day you can stop by Frank's trailer & talk kayaking & fishing with good company & everyone is very sharing with info on the res & fishing it. The pulled pork Frank cooked up was great! I guess he pulled cooking duty a lot as a fireman. Nights were great sleeping at 54 degrees & it would start to get almost hot during the day. You couldn't have asked for more perfect weather for fishing. Right as it ended the wind picked up & Rick & Steve had some J-bay conditions to push thru to get back. We shared fishing with 4 bald eagles, 2 adults & 2 juveniles. A few times they scared the you know what out of me taking off & knocking down branches right above me. I was too far away to get to see the bear when Taurus called on the radio. I landed 2 nice trout trolling Rapalas on lead core. I lost another good one when it fouled the 2nd rod before I could get it in. That took 1/2 hour to untangle.
I lost another while learning to liveline sawbellies. I wish I spent more time fishing for small mouths as they fought like made. Many came up with scrapes as they would try to wipe the hook off on rocks. They fought so hard that 15" fish brought to the boat would see it & run pulling drag & pulling the top off the light rods under water just like stripers. On the water I was envying Rick who had the focus just to stay with small mouths the whole time & having a blast catching fish after fish after fish. Wacky worm was the key & since it was new to all 3 of us at night we would go over what was working & what did not. I kept thinking of the trout that the young guy ( I think his name was CJ) caught last year & was hoping for something close to that. He proved it was no accident by getting on the leader board again this year!
He & his dad as well as everyone else were very helpful in describing their fishing styles. Everyone was a little different. Even as a non-drinker, the trip to the brewery & distillery (both less than 5 minutes from camp) were interesting. This is a must do event. I think I liked it as a one day (Saturday) event better. It would allow more time hanging, relaxing & talking with friends along with being able to go back for 2nds of that Miller's chicken. (Miller's is a local place that grows their own chickens & is only open 2 days a week cooking & selling the best melt in your mouth, finger licking good chicken you could have.) That would allow you to stay talking late, sleeping in or fishing Sunday & even more time to hit the town & shop. (I always feel uneasy knowing I'm going to get stuck in traffic & during the summer it is easier for me to take the week off as a vacation than to try to get a day or add a day to the week) If you flyfish or want to Roscoe has several top notch fly shops all within walking distance of each other a 5 minute ride from the campsite. From the shops or camp you can walk to stream fishing spots. I also wonder if barrowing a kayak trailer or 2 & chaining it to a tree at the res would help with the storage? Anyway, looking forward to doing this again. I can see this event getting bigger every year.