July 22, 2013
This past Saturday started out, not so pleasant, but ended on a high note. With heavy rain in the morning I all but figured the day was going to be lost on some old low budget zombie movie, a pound of popcorn, a six-pack of beer and a pint of Stewart’s ice cream. While to some of you this might not sound too bad, it really isn’t. But, when you have your heart set on doing some fishing and floating around on a placid body of water, it’s hard to compromise.
Finally the skies cleared and we pointed to a spot on the map that would be close to home and we decided on Jones Pond in Paul Smith’s/Gabriels Area. The drive was peaceful and the rain seemed to remove all signs of the high humidity, it might have even been a bit chilly right at the start. We arrived at the boat launch and camping area at the north end of the pond and since it was already after lunchtime we decided to have a snack before we hit the water. Just let me say, wow, there were a ton of blueberries all over the place.
Once on the water we prepped a rod with a top water lure and a Lake Clear Wobbler and worm on another. We paddled across toward the outlet and fished the grassy shore a bit, tossed a couple around and lily pads, but caught nothing more than salad. We continued to work the banks as a small otter scurried across in front of me and then a family of loons, a mom and dad with two young. We gave up on the fishing for a bit after that, seeing as the sun was so high in the sky and we hadn’t had a nibble as of yet - so we turned to paddling.
We headed down the outlet through the thick fields of lily pads, pushing and pulling ourselves through narrow patches of open water and finally broke out into the outlet where the water was moving a bit swifter and the growth was limited. As we fed through the area we passed under Jones Pond Road and out into the true outlet, which was absolutely amazing. The Virginia roses were in full bloom, painting the edges of the outlet in a unique color of pink and yellow and the larches towered over us in their light green needles. We commented that this would be an amazing destination for a fall paddle with the deep yellows of the fall foliage on the larches.
We got stopped before we could reach the underpass of White Pine Road due to a beaver dam, which I was unsure if we could paddle back over. The water was running quite quickly through the 3-foot gap so we turned back to fight another day and figured we would come in from the other side from Osgood Pond another day.
We casted a few more lines when we got back to Jones Pond with no real hopes of catching much and after a bit more leisurely paddling we made shore and packed up for the weekend.
If you are interested in paddling and/or fishing Jones Pond, contact a local guide for details. Need a place to stay while in the area, Saranac Lake has many options.
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