bluecordfishermen 
What a day. 24 OCT 2020 was forecast to be the standard Fall day in the North Country of NY with clouds and possible rain. While looking for a place to do some hiking, I did some exploring on the interwebs and wandered into a site for Yellow Lake State Park .
Yellow Lake is North of Payne lake and very close to Oxbow. Oxbow is village on a spot along the Oswegatchie River where the river doubles back on itself. At this point in the Fall, the North Country in Saint Lawrence County is mainly empty trees and just a touch of color from the few remaining leaves. With the recent rains, the ground is soaked and small trickles are everywhere. This is why the locals wear rubber boots almost as high as their knees.
The trail map indicates a 1.5 mile hike from the parking lot adjacent to the Oswegatchie River. This area has numerous rock outcrops and cliffs and the trail shows locations good for photographs. But the trail also shows crossing a valley with a swamp. I packed up a rod and tackle for bass but hoping to hook into a Northern Pike.
The map shows a trail crossing the swamp (above). The imagery shot below shows a pond. I knew it was going to be interesting.
It was an great walk in the woods to the pond. Plenty of rock out crops that offered great views of the forest floor. Good place for hunting is what I thought.
In an unusual display of sound judgement, I elected to not cross the beaver dam. At a minimum, it was going to be wet feet if I made the attempt. Worse case was either falling into the pond or falling through the dam made by beavers. I had to look twice and the trail markers where on the far side of the pond where the dam connected to the shore.
I did attempt fishing the pond from the dam; slipped in the mud going down the bank, crashed down on my back and almost went swimming. Some time after collecting myself I heard shots. Sounded as close as 250-400 meters. There was a delay in the rounds. I had seen a rough trail bust through the brush along the ridge line and imagined a hunter on the ridge looking down on the forest floor and scoring a buck. I tossed my lure a couple of more times and gave up thinking that I had time to get back to the parking lot and fish the River by the bridge.
Hiking back I came across a hunter hoofing it up the ridge. We were about the same age. He looked really excited which is not common for guys like me in the woods. We talked and I found out why.
He was the guy who was the cause of the shots. He shot a bear as it climbed up over the ridge. He was on the reverse slope and needed two rounds to put him down. The first shot only pissed him off. The fella dropped his 3d round in the excitement and could not find it and had to return to his truck to get more rounds. He did not want to approach that bear with an empty chamber.
I asked if he needed a hand dragging the bear to the truck. He said thanks but his buddies where on the way. He noticed my F150 at the parking lot and knew I was not from the local area. He did not notice the Texas plates, but he knew the owners of all the other trucks. I reminded him that he was losing daylight, and he went his way while I headed to the river.
True to form, his buddies showed up at the parking lot in 15-30 minutes and headed up the trail. They thought it was curious that the dude fishing the river knew of the man who shot the bear deep in the woods of Yellow Lake State Park.
While they were gone looking for their buddy (I could hear the shouts), I fished the river and mainly struggled with the leaves falling in the river. I changed spots twice and took up a spot near the parking area to see the team drag the bear to the truck.
A monster of a bass took a nibble of my mister twister about ten feet from shore and I set the hook. I was up on the bank about 4 feet above the river and the water was clear. He came closer to the shore and I could clearly see him with the orange end of the twister hanging out of his mouth. This was the biggest bass I’ve ever seen including the ones at Bass Pro Shop. I immediately knew he was a trophy but I only had 8 pound test line. I thought I was going to have to get in the water to get him up the bank and decided that was worth landing this bass. He looked me right in the eye and gave a jerk of his head and snapped the line. He kept the steel leader and the mister twister. It was obvious to me that this was not the first line this bass snapped. That’s how he got to be about a yard long. I could easily shove both fist in his mouth and have room for a softball. Old fisherman’s story of the one that got away. That is twice in two weekends that I lost a big fish. I need to get heavier line but my next fishing trip will be back in the Texas Hill Country.
The team of guys and one gal, got the bear back before dark. They estimated it was about 150-200 pounds. Up close a bear of that size gets your attention. The guys told me about the better places along the river to fish even in light of my talk about the monster bass right by the bridge. They fish sturgeon with worms and said its more fun but you can’t keep sturgeon. They have been recorded in the Hudson River as large as 200 pounds. In Canada, they have records of 800 pound Sturgeon at New Brunswick. For the guys I met, bass is what’s for dinner. Sturgeon is what they chase. https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7025.html
The big lesson I learned is that I overlooked fishing the Oswegatchie River. Oxbow has a hand launch and parking along the river. I pulled in on the way back to Fort Drum. The launch is a steep drop but could be done with a kayak and a rope or with a buddy.
Yellow Lake turned out to be one of the most exciting trips while I was at Fort Drum NY.
