June 2026 – MOONTABS

Choosing blog post titles is always fun for me! Over the years I have mentioned this many times I’m sure. But today’s title? It’s a little more than might meet the eye.

This morning after coffee I decided to out in search of some Swifties. No not Taylor Swift fans, although I suppose I might have found some in town. There’s probably a few in nearby St. Regis Falls but seeing as I was headed to the river close to Santa Clara, the odds were pretty slim that I would encounter anyone, let alone any Swifties. An explanation seems in order right about now I feel.

For me, Swifties are fish. The ones you find in fast moving water below waterfalls and rapids. The heavily aerated water is a great place to find feeding fish during the hot summer months. The places where you will catch the fish will often amaze you actually. Just how they manage to stay in position in the currents is a bit of a mystery to me. Perhaps they hide behind rocks out of the stronger sections of current. It certainly makes sense. Face upstream and wait for potential food to come into striking range. Sometimes catching fish involves trying to think like fish.

I don’t always overthink everything and trying to understand all there is to know about Swifties really isn’t necessary to catch them. It’s just something that I learned a long time ago. Fast moving water holds fish more often than you realize. And hooking Swifties in that fast current makes for some memorable fish battles! So when you are in the mood for something out of the ordinary? Go search for Swifties!

Becoming a better fisherman has taken me years to achieve and I never stop learning. Getting better equipment was a big part of it I was to learn after spending my early years with mediocre spinning rods and reels. Bait and tackle also make a huge difference too. Time of day matters also but if you’ve ever done much fishing then you know this already. Being in the right place,at the right time, at the right depth, etc. will often make the difference between success or failure. Good thing I don’t claim to be an expert!

Today’s fishing destination was a section of the St. Regis River near Route 458 in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. The St. Regis River is very new to me and I am trying to gain some knowledge about what species to target. There are several branches of the St. Regis River here that all converge in locations as yet unknown to me. Studying maps has been helpful but there’s a big area to explore.

This morning’s target area was close to the house. Only a few miles to drive to a parking area then a short walk down an ATV trail to the river. Gracie was eager to go with me so I loaded her into the car to join in my little adventure. It was already getting quite warm by 9am and I realized that I should have gotten an earlier start. But this was a probing mission mainly. There was no need to make anything high pressure or stressful. Isn’t that how fishing is supposed to be? I had taken a Quebec trout out of the freezer for dinner so fish was guaranteed. My goal was to make the trip ultra fun!

My destination was know to me as a beautiful waterfall viewing spot. We’ve visited it several times in the past. Even in the winter! After reading about trout living in sections of the St. Regis River branches, I was curious if I could catch any below the waterfall. I’m not a fly fishermen so I would be using a worm, small hook, split shot weights, and a tiny pencil bobber attached to a spinning rod. It seemed like a nice way to break the proverbial ice!

I reached my destination after a nice hike through mostly bug free woods. I got my rig set up and baited next to the river where I would try fishing from some rather jagged sections of bare rock. The recent heavy rains had swollen the river and the falls were roaring lustily. The water was brown and brackish appearing. Not so different than many other Adirondack waterways. Very clean and still quite cool.

I cast into a swirling eddy where there seemed to be a sheltered pool at the edge of it. At first nothing happened but I suddenly felt a small biting tug on my line. I continued to work the area and was rewarded with additional bites before suddenly hooking a small fish. A trout as I hoped? No. It was a tiny scrappy smallmouth bass. But a fish nonetheless. I continued working the area and caught a small rock bass soon after. Two more tiny smallmouth were caught before I decided to move further downstream to a new location.The worms seemed to be working for bait so that was encouraging.

After fighting my way through some thick brush I emerged on another set of jagged rocks but managed to find a flat spot to toss a top water floating lure for a change of pace. No fish bit at first so I moved even further downstream to a new spot where it was even flatter. It was a nice looking spot for potential Swifties! The river split into sections around several large boulders offering sheltered pools below them. I was covering a fairly large section of the river from my vantage point. I tossed my jointed Rapala behind one of the boulders and was rewarded with a solid strike! Fish on! A big one too!

I soon got a look at my prey as I slowly fought it up out of the deep dark water of a pool where it was attempting a run downstream. A very powerful smallmouth bass was giving me a workout in the racing water. This was what I was after! A large Swiftie and a fierce fight to get it to my rocky perch. There was one major problem. I had left my net back with my tackle box out of reach. I worked the bass closer and closer while trying to decide how to grab it. The treble hooks were making it difficult to grasp the bass by its mouth. I made the mistake of getting it too close to a rock that it rolled up onto and with a mighty heave the bass freed itself and swam away. Damn the folly of leaving the net behind! Amateur mistake for sure.

Soon after I decided that I could possibly rock hop out to one of the large boulders for an even better place to cast. It was tricky but I made it. After getting no further action on the jointed Rapala I tried a few other lures. Nothing. I went back to the worm, hook, and bobber setup which brought results immediately. I began to catch fish. Several tiny smallmouth, another rock bass, and then a fish that I didn’t know. It wasn’t a trout. It looked like a very large minnow actually. Close to 12” long with large silver scales. I remembered catching them on a lake in eastern Quebec years ago. Zane had nicknamed them “ Chain Mail” as they resembled the armor once worn by soldiers in Europe. We had never kept them in Quebec as we weren’t sure what they were actually. The locals there had a French name for them and said that they were mainly baitfish that the walleye and pike fed on.

I caught three of the Chain Mail before running out of worms. They looked big enough to eat but I let them all go. In a survival situation I would definitely have kept them that’s for sure. It had gotten very hot despite the breeze which coursed down the river over the rapids. The air was heavily laden with the scent of balsams and it was truly an Adirondack moment for me. The roaring of the waterfall, the scent of balsam, a fishing pole in my hands, and a small degree of success with some Swifties. I would count my time as a total win I decided.

As I gathered up Gracie from her shady bed near the river, I knew that I would return here to fish Swifties again. The spot held potential I felt. I would bring bigger worms and bobbers to try. And maybe come in the evening when the smallmouth bass become more active. One thing was certain. Searching for Swifties invokes fond memories for me. Ones from Quebec last summer where I spent time fishing in a couple different rivers in fast moving water. I caught walleye,pike, and bass there. And there have been other places over the years. A couple memorable trips up the Indian River near Black Lake where summer Swifties waited in rolling water of the rapids for us. We fought a good bunch of battles there that’s for sure.

We leave for Quebec soon. Our July trip is getting closer now. It seemed so far away but now it’s not. I probably don’t spend as much time fishing as I could but I can change that can’t I? It’s a decision like many others I make. After Quebec I will need to return to the St. Regis River for round two with the Swifties. Until then the river will flow as it always does. There’s something very profound in flowing rivers and the days of passing time. But that is another story. ✍️

We’re just past the middle of June and our garden plots are all beginning to show signs of growth. It’s been a somewhat arduous process but we are nicely positioned at the moment. Now we wait. We weed,hoe, and lay down mulch. We water and watch for insects. Sounds simple doesn’t it?

The house in Santa Clara purchased last fall has a rather large sprawling lawn but only contained one small garden plot measuring around 120 square feet. The previous owners had planted tomatoes and watermelons that they left behind. We were able to salvage some actually. Mostly tomatoes but we did enjoy a few small watermelons. Yum!

It was decided that given the rather rugged terrain of an ideal garden area, that raised beds would be the best option. They would be located uphill from the flat soil of the existing garden plot. We looked at several different plans and options for raised beds but in the end I decided to custom build our own using rough cut hemlock lumber. I had a decent selection of hemlock logs at the Homestead and it would give me a good reason to fire up the sawmill. It had sat idle for sometime with its battery removed and the engine covered up. The gas tank was covered as well. I found it hard to believe that the sawmill had sat unused for over a year! I used it last in January of 2025. But last year was anything but a typical year.

April 26th. Getting started on raised bed lumber.

I made a rough material list for the raised beds and we decided to get started on the project. I charged the battery for the sawmill and got ready to start it up. Fresh gas into the gas tank first. E- free recreational gas is all I will use. The old gas in the tank still had a potent smell so I didn’t remove it. With a little starting fluid sprayed into the air intake and a shot of gas into one of the two cylinders, the sawmill fired right up! Step one! We ran some logs through and it performed well. It was needing a grease job and oil change but that came later.

We focused on making 1” lumber and 2”x4”s for our simple raised bed plans. We sawed logs on two different occasions and stored the lumber in the Homestead warehouse.Soon after we prefabricated some of the lumber in the warehouse, using the chop saw, to save time and for it to better fit on the truck for transport. The next day it was hauled to the Santa Clara house and stored in the lean to there out of the weather. I had tried to bring a little extra just in case. This paid off later!

Around May 18th I began assembling the raised beds near their final resting places. We decided to cover the bottoms with fine wire mesh to deter the moles who dig up the lawns constantly. One location they frequently dig is named “Mole City”. Near the garden plot is a place called “Moleville”. It was a time consuming task cutting and stapling the mesh in place but one that will most likely pay off in the long run.

The prefabricated raised beds were quickly assembled and I got all three done in one long,hot May day while black flies attacked me in large numbers. I was not prepared for them and was bitten many times by the time I was done. The black flies had caught us off guard as we had not expected them until later in the spring. Wrong! Bug shirts with head netting would later solve that issue to a degree. I used custom made stakes to hold the beds in place. The hemlock won’t last forever but will work well for quite a few years before needing repairs.There wasn’t much cost involved at this point unless a person puts a high value on their time. Time spent cutting and gathering the logs. Getting them moved. Sawing them. Etc etc. But making custom lumber for projects is rewarding. Well portrayed perhaps in my Run Of The Mill series.

Next came procuring soil for the raised beds. We brought up several garbage cans full of barnyard dirt from the Homestead but we needed much more. I brokered a deal for a big load of dirt from my uncle’s farm that I hauled to the Homestead in their large dump trailer. I hauled a big truck load up and filled the raised beds some. We ended up needing to purchase some soil locally in the end for all our gardening projects.

At the Homestead I prepared several sections of gardening space using the tractor and the loader. I stockpiled fresh manure in one area and moved some dirt to a squash patch location that I had chosen. After that I hand leveled the garden plots and waited for the weather that would allow us to plant. We had a late frost one morning so it’s good that we waited!

Up in Santa Clara we also waited for planting. Sitting in the Adirondacks makes the possibilities for frost to occur even later into the spring. Amy had started tomatoes and other plants inside weeks earlier. We just needed the weather to advance for getting them set out.

We planted in both locations around June 1st. It became necessary to water almost immediately as it became hot and dry quite suddenly. The plants experienced a bit of trauma and got off to a slow start. The seeds finally began to germinate after we got a small amount of rain on a couple occasions. Recently we got a long soaking rain event and that had really benefited both gardening locations.

We are hoping that our hard work pays off in the months to come. Having two locations to garden has both positives and negatives. But we like the separation and diversity that the two different locations offer. Like I mentioned, now we wait. We tend and nurture. We will get out what we put in most likely. Letting the weeds takeover will be a mistake that will show. Keeping insects at bay is a possibility that is always possible. Birds and wildlife may factor in also. But that’s gardening and such things will never change. Plant plenty and you may get plenty. Time will tell. Things have a lot of growing to do that’s for sure. But we are seeing progress each day now. I will follow this post up at a future date. There’s lots more going on than gardening! But that shouldn’t surprise anyone. With the summer solstice looming, it’s a busy time of year! Maple syrup season is behind us. Haying season is upon us. And lots more projects to tackle too. But we’re planning some fun adventures to boot. Time away for goofing off and connecting to nature. We need that sort of thing to balance ourselves out. Summer is just days away now! ✍️

Monthly Archives: June 2026

Bobbing For Swifties

A Little Gardening Doings