Monday, January 31, 2011

01.31.11 Shooting on the Hackensack River



     Today I had an assignment in Hackensack over the Hackensack River. My father's company was removing the old Court Street Bridge so it can be rehabilitated and then erected back in place. It's the only truss swing bridge still around in New Jersey. It was opened in 1908, and hasn't been "swung" in nearly 60 years. There was talk of putting a new bridge in its place, but it is a navigable waterway, for another 1/8 of a mile, so the DEP and Coast Guard said it has to be a swing bridge. So instead of say 5-7 million dollars for a fixed span bridge, the 20 million dollar project was approved and is underway.  In the rear of the frame you can just see an old U.S. Navy submarine, the USS Ling, that is on display at the New Jersey Naval Museum. The picture above is only half of the bridge, the other half comes out Thursday, weather permitting.
     While waiting for the bridge to be lifted, I spoke with some onlookers about fish in that section of the "Hacky" as its known. I got a mixed reaction from some locals on the river, from nothing to nothing but carp, to a recent comeback of a herring and striper run in the spring in the lower section of the river. The 45 mile river starts in Rockland County, New York and empties into the Newark Bay. It was once known as one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. Recently much work has been done on the tidal estuary waters in the area of the Meadowlands. The Hackensack Riverkeeper group, HERE, is continuously working to improve this vast and important waterway in New Jersey. With things looking up on the Hackensack, and dams being removed on the lower Raritan River, what will they say next, wild trout in the Passaic River in Paterson? Don't laugh, that story will be coming soon to a fly fishing magazine near you.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

01.30.11 The Average Angler blog tops 5,000 hits!

Over 5,000 times anglers and friends have visited our blog here. Some visit daily, some very so often, and some visit just once and never return. 

2011 is going to be a big year for The Average Angler. 

Saturday, January 29, 2011

01.29.11 Good news for the Raritan River and its tribs


     Some good news this week as the DEP announced a settlement with Houston, Texas based El Paso Corporation, which operated several sites including a refinery and three polymer plants throughout New Jersey.  The four dams, one of which is over 100 years old, will open a nearly 10 mile stretch of the lower Raritan River which empties into the Raritan Bay at Perth Amboy near the Aurthur Kill. In addition several tributaries off the Raritan River will be open. The removal of the dams will hopefully open spawning grounds for shad, herring, eel, and striped bass. 
   
                        
      Map showing the Raritan Bay. The Raritan River is opposite the tip of Sandy Hook and south of the Authur Kill

Friday, January 28, 2011

01.28.11 Off to the Bimini Big Game Club in February




      I have been invited down to the Bimini Big Game Club in the Bahamas for a few days at the end of February for the first Writers Invitational Bonefish Challenge. In addition to the fishing, the Club will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the World Record catch by Angler Jerry Lavenstein, who caught a 16 lb bonefish on a 12 lb line in 1971. There are several other events planned during the week. 



The Big Game Club was founded in the 1930's and after a long and storied history was reopened during the summer of 2010. The Big Game Club is the first Guy Harvey Outpost. Guy Harvey, well known, artist, scientist, angler, and conservationalist is part of a team that will offer fishing and diving around this island in the Bahamas. Bimini, the westernmost part of the Bahamas, is located about 55 miles east of Miami. The largest islands are North Bimini and South Bimini. The Big Game Club is located in Alice Town, on the island of North Bimini. See the map below. 

                                                

It should be a fun trip and an opportunity to enjoy the resort and bonefish on the legendary flats. I will be there with other photographers and writers and celebrity anglers. I am already planning out what and how much photo equipment I will need to take on the trip. I have booked my Newark to Ft. Lauderdale round trip airplane tickets so I am all ready to go. I have started to do some research on the island and the history of the fishing that has made it such a desired destination for decades. Can't come soon enough, I am sick of this winter and snow, which is still coming down, again.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

01.26.11 Reprint from NY Post and writer Ken Moran

 Ken Moran, Outdoor writer NY Post

     Based on numbers from the federal government, striped bass catches are declining at an alarming rate. According to data from the National Marine Fishing Service's recreational angler survey, recreational striped bass catches along the Atlantic coast declined by 66 percent from 2006 to 2009, a trend that is likely to continue, according to the results of the latest Stripers Forever annual angler survey.
     "The results in 2010 were by far the most disappointing that we've seen for both anglers and guides," said Brad Burns, President of Stripers Forever. "In our 2010 survey, 76 percent of all anglers reported catching fewer or many fewer stripers per hour of fishing. This is up from 66 percent in 2008 and 72 percent in 2009.  "The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission continues to report that officially, things are fine with striped bass, but there are a lot of people out there who would not agree with them," said Burns. This year's survey was completed by 1,068 anglers, including 109 fishing guides representing every coastal state from Maine to South Carolina except New Hampshire. The vast majority of these fishermen have more than 10 years of experience fishing for striped bass. 
     Stripers Forever is a non-profit, internet-based organization advocating for the conservation of wild striped bass by designating them as game fish and managing the resource for the estimated 3 million recreational striper fishermen and the vast industry that they support on the Atlantic coast.

01.26.11 Hit the boardwalk and then checked out some water temp data


     Today I had to go to Canon to pick up all of my photo equipment from the service desk. It seems that since early December I have been taking pictures with cameras that can't focus or be focused. That's a big problem. My 5d Mark II and 7d both had to be calibrated with the four lenses that I use. I've never had this problem before, but I am glad I investigated it and took care of it during the slowest time of the year. After I ran down to the Point Pleasant boardwalk to give them a quick test. While I was there I was looking at a pretty nasty surf, and I wondered what the water temps were.
     After I got settled back in front of my computer I went to the NOAA NODC site, HERE, and checked out Sandy Hook and the surrounding waters. The Hook was 35.1 F. Here is what some select locations are coming in at,

Portland Maine        38.8
Newport RI             36.3
New Haven CT       32.7
Montauk NY           33.8
S Hook                    35.1
Cape May                36.7
Lewes MD              34.0
V. Beach VA           47.7
Cape Hatteras NC    61.0

*I din't see a reading for Cape Hatteras on the NOAA website, so I went to Duck NC, and it said 38.1. I went to another site I check often for surf reports, HERE, and it listed water at Cape Hatteras, NC at 61 degrees.

     The reason I am looking into water temps is because I am trying to figure out when we might start to expect bait in the back bays in our area. Here is just an example I found of water temps from last March through today.

                          

     I sat in on Jim Freda's lecture at the F.F.S. on spring striped bass and learned more on that fishery. Alewife's and herring move into the back bays followed by bunker and stripers and blues. If it's mid March to April then the waters are low to mid 40's, and then as the temps hit 46-50, that's when the predator fish move in and turn on.
    I am extremely lucky to be positioned where I am near Asbury Park. I can hit the beaches along the bay from Cliffwood Beach around to Sandy Hook, the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers, and then drop down to hit the Shark River, Manasquan, and Barnegat Inlets. One area where I plan on targeting this spring is the Delaware River near Trenton, which it seems to start around the second week in April.


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

01.25.11 I wonder about "Cheap flies"



     Last fall I visited the Fly Tying Symposium. I had the pleasure of watching Leon Piasecki for a while as he tied some beautiful looking saltwater flies. Before I felt his table I asked him if he was selling his flies, he was, and they were 10 dollars a piece. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a ten, and handed it to him.

                                           

I thought that the time I spent there watching and asking questions was surely worth the 10 dollars, plus that includes the hook, material, threads, eyes, ect. . Fair enough. Now this past weekend I was at The Fly Fishing Show. The first day had a good crowd, bigger on the second day, winding down on the third. It was good to see from our Jersey Shore Trout Unlimited booth fly folks walking out with rods and bags and hats. Good boost for the vendors and the industry and the economy. A few of the booths inside had flies for sale, one such booth that had a good steady crowd all weekend sold flies for 10 dollars a dozen. I think everyone had to at least stop and say, "10 bucks a dozen is good." I went in and picked out two dozen and placed them in a small plastic box. Then I started to wonder. "Who's tying all these flies, and why are they so cheap?" I have never purchased flies from a catalog or over the internet. They are always purchased at the local shop. I have a image in my head of the old local sage or young protege banging out flies all winter or during hours when the shop is closed. 
     I have heard about overseas fly tying operations, and with the changes in every industry, I wonder if more of the flies we see in catalogs, online, and even in our local shops are tied elsewhere. I did some research, just a quick look, and found out it is a huge, and not secret, industry. I see places like Guatemala, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and the biggest Chiang Mai, Thailand. I found an old article written by Denis D. Gray of the Associated Press. In it Wayne Richey, who heads Targus Fly and Feather in Thailand, is quoted as saying, "Chiang Mai is to fly tying what Silicon Valley is to computers." From my internet searches I found no hard evidence of any wrongdoing as far as exploitation of workers overseas, but I think the general opinion from the posts on several forums is, "Somewhere, someone isn't happy tying flies in the environment they are doing it in, or for the pay they are making." Noted author, flyfisher, and founder of www.theinterantangler.com, Zach Matthews, wrote in his forums a few years ago about him pitching the idea of covering the overseas fly tying industry for one of the larger fly fishing magazines. It never got done, publications weren't interested or couldn't afford the expense of sending someone overseas. 
     I think that would make for a great story. 

Sunday, January 23, 2011

01.22.10 Just finished up The Fly Fishing Show time lapse

     Maybe some of you saw me at the show walking around with several cameras or clamping on a small camera to various columns during the show. I had asked the folks who run the show if they were interested in having me shoot the show over the three days. One of the things I wanted to do was a time lapse shoot from Wednesday through Monday showing everything that goes into setting up the show all the way through the show until it's broken down. I did this test over a few minutes just so people can see how cool it could be. Time lapse photography is basically taking still pictures, hundreds into thousands of them, and then running them into video. It sounds easy enough, but there are tons of tricks and things to know to make one that is really cool. This is a just a quick, basic test. Enjoy

01.22.11 Had a nice chat with author Tom Gilmore and photographer Jim Levinson at the Fly Fishing Show


     While at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset I got a chance to talk with author Tom Gilmore for a while. I first met Tom here a few years back after his book, "Tuna On the Fly", came out, followed by "False Albacore". Well a few weeks back his current book, "Flyfisher's Guide to the Big Apple" was released. Tom told me it's a must have for any of us who live in the tri-state area, and a little beyond. He covers little known wild trout streams in our area and up through Connecticut into Rhode Island. Tom lives and works in New Jersey and targets both fresh and salt water. I asked Tom if he was worried that guys would be bothered by putting out a book giving more "secret" waters and access locations. Tom said that this book is so full of information that it shouldn't be a problem because it spreads out the anglers over waters 150 miles from New York. It should be a fun read and even more fun finding these new waters.
     I was also happy to see a photographer display his works at the show. Jim Levinson is based out of Long Island and is both a guide and photographer. At the show he had HUGE prints for sale of stripers and striper action out and around Montauk, New York. We had fun discussing our "industry" or what's left of it. If you ever wanted a fantastic large print of some super cool striper blitzes for your restaurant, office, shop, or lodge- these would fit perfect. You can check out Jim's website at www.jimlevisonphoto.com . He's also available for charters for stripers, blues, and albies.

   Well today things wrap up in Somerset, another Fly Fishing Show here and soon gone. It moves to North Carolina at the end of the month, then California during February and then finishes up here in Philly  in early March.

     This has nothing to do with fly fishing, but today is the AFC Championship Game between the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It should be a good one. I am not a hard core sports fan, and actually prefer to listen to sports talk radio, (WFAN), and listening to the games on the radio then actually watching them. I do have my favorites, Nets, Jets and Me.., well Red Sox. But here is my prediction for today, even though I hope the Jets win!

End of first quarter   Steelers 14-0
End of the half         Steelers  14-3
End of third quarter  Steelers  21-10
Final                         Steelers  27- 13

                                                       J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS !!

                                         

Saturday, January 22, 2011

01.22.11 Day 2 at The Fly Fishing Show

                                          Joe "D" and "Coz" during "So you want to be a guide?' 


     Day 2 started off, well, just plain witches tit cold. Out JSTU booth was directly opposite the entrance door and we paid for it every time someone came or left, which was all day. I had another good day, and enjoyed several lectures. The best for me was Joe Demalderis and Jim Costolnick's " So you want to be a guide?" It was a laid back one hour Q & A with the guys from Cross Current Guide Service based in Hancock, NY. It was a good hour filled with good advice and tips. My other favorite was Ben Rinker's - Fishing the East Branch- Jewel of the Delaware. Ben presented a nice overview of the river and some of the reasons why the "jewel" is underfished. He has recently started East Branch Outfitters, www.eastbranchoutfitters.com, with his wife.  I also sat in on Shell E. Caris, from Shore Catch Guide Service,  "Fly Fishing NJ jetties and beaches". Again, picked up some good info for the coming year. I stuck my head in on Jim Valle's FFF casting instructor workshop and class. I will be picking back up with him polishing up my casting and plan on testing for FFF CI this year.

Tomorrow things will wrap up, I'm not sure if I'll be going back for a third day. But hopefully it was a good year for the Chuck and his crew and all the vendors, guides, outfitters and folks attending this years show.

Friday, January 21, 2011

01.21.11 Good first day of The Fly Fishing Show




     We were supposed to get up to 6 inches in central New Jersey this morning but wound up with just a few and it was gone quickly. I think that might have deterred people from coming to The Fly Fishing Show in Somerset. Good first day, for me, might have a been a little light of a turnout. I went to two great lectures, Marketing Your Fly Fishing Business Online by Andrea Von Benschoten and Jim Freda from Shore Catch on stripers in the spring and fall. I tried to make a few others but I was busy at the Jersey Shore Trout Unlimited booth (at the entrance) and taking a few pictures throughout the day and testing out time lapse on the exhibit floor.

                          

Of course, I can never pass up the chance to shoot Lefty during his fly casting demonstrations.

It was good to catch up with some old friends, especially good to see Joe DeMarkis and the guys at Rivers,  Sam and Matt from West Branch Anglers, and Eric and Tracey Stroup. I had the pleasure of joining them for dinner with Delaware Guide Darren Rist and Baxter House owner Ken Tutalo and his wife. During dinner I listened to author Mike Valla talk of his earliest memories if fly fishing in Roscoe and his meeting the Dettes.

Tonight I'll be downloading and charging up the camera batteries, and mine, for another long day at the show tomorrow.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

01.20.11 Getting ready for the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset


Today I am getting ready for a long weekend at The Fly Fishing Show in Somerset. We are expecting snow in central New Jersey that hopefully won't spoil the show.

I'll be at the Jersey Shore Trout Unlimited booth and the Project Healing Waters booth manning the fund raising raffle tickets.

I'll also be out on the floor experimenting with some time lapse photography. I emailed Ben Furminsky this week about trying some over TL's and he said I had the green light to give it a go. So hopefully I'll have them up for all to see sometime later in the weekend.

I have my talk and demonstrations picked out that I would like to attend. Some early picks for the show are, Joe Demalderis and Jim Costolnick talk on "So you wanna be a guide", Tom Gilmore and his talk on his new book, "Fly Fishers Guide to the Big Apple ", Ben Rinker's "The East Branch", Aaron Jaspers, "Nymphing 101", and of course I'll visit my buddy Joe DeMarkis during his talking on the "Rivers Fly Drift Boat Guide School" that I attended last summer. It wouldn't be a complete show if I didn't see John Dembeck on his "Fly Fishing the Delaware' w/ John Miller, and two more- Shore Catch's Jim Freda and Gene Quiqly on "NJ Stripers for all seasons" in New Jersey and Jim Valle on "How to become a FFF Certified Casting Instructor".

Whew! Doing all that while selling raffles, and shooting. Should be a great weekend!!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

01.19.10 Here's why my neighbor hates me



      If you have kids, especially several, you know what it's like when one of those illnesses makes it's way into your home. Well I have four at home, 5, 12, and two 14 year olds. Last week the five year old started off this years family sick run. Then I got it, worst stomach pain I've had in my entire life, and all the ups and outs that goes with it. Today my two boys are home. Hopefully my other daughter and wife will be spared. So today is my first day up and at 'um, even first day back online.
     Down the Jersey shore here we are up to 47 degrees and the town plows are pushing all the snow back a couple of more feet. I got my shovel out and cut down some of the larger icebergs the plow moved around. I made my way towards the back of my house and and took a look at my driftboat. Aaahhh, my driftboat. It's maiden voyage down the west Branch was last year, and more of that to follow this year. I brought it down here from the house in Roscoe to get her painted and lettered, and all ready for this year. One thing you learn as you begin a career in guiding is that it's a business, and with any business, there's business to take care of. I may be missing something, but here's a short list if you want to guide on the Delaware;

- valid NY State Fishing License
- valid CPR card
- valid First Aid card
- valid Boat Safety Course Certificate
-  registered drift or pontoon boat
-  liability insurance
- valid NYS Fishing Guide License
- valid PA fishing license
- valid PA Fishing Guide License
- valid National Parks Service CUA (Commercial Use Authorization)

just to name a few things. So, these are the months that I have to take care of those things to be buttoned up for this upcoming season. Luckily I have the house in Roscoe so I don't have to back and forth the boat each trip, between the Titanic (ie. my new truck), and the boat and trailer, it would cost me 1,000 dollars round trip in gas.
      So, why does my neighbor hate me, well, I don't think he hates me, but people who aren't used to looking at drift boats can't like to see them in their side yards. I told him in the fall I would be removing the two man pontoon boat from the same spot, only a week later replacing it with this one.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

01.16.10 The other pictures I shoot



     Many times people ask me what I am doing when I am not working for The Average Angler. Well outside of my world in fly fishing, I shoot for the photo agency I co-founded in 2007, Agency New Jersey, you can see that website HERE . Late Friday afternoon I received a call from the photo desk at The New York Times asking me if the agency was covering the minutes old shooting of a Lakewood New Jersey police officer. In the last year or so we haven't been chasing the hard news I once loved to shoot. We used to run around the clock and provide images to newspapers and magazines, those were the good old days. However, the industry has changed dramatically and it just doesn't pay to cover news anymore. But as soon as I heard that job I grabbed my cameras and headed down the Parkway. The entire area was locked down as police searched for the shooter. There is one thing I miss about shooting news, you always need to get THE shot. So I traveled some side streets and found my way to one of the related scenes to the shooting. Once I made this image I knew I could leave. With deadlines looming for Saturdays paper I had to transmit this to New York.
     As much as I love The New York Times, their picture use and style, not always their politics, it killed me and the agency when they stopped covering New Jersey and having the New Jersey section, then the Metro section, and now the hardly-New Jersey-covered NY/Region section. What would have been a huge six column above the fold picture and story, now gets buried in the National section of the Saturday paper. I went out again yesterday, Saturday morning, to get more as the manhunt continues for the shooter. I made some more images and transmitted them to the photo desk at the Times. In the end they updated the website, and ran a short in Sunday's paper in the National section.

    
  

  

Friday, January 14, 2011

01.14.11 Tom Rosenbauer- Fly Rod & Reels 2011 Angler of the Year


For those who follow legends and trendsetters in the industry, then Tom Rosenbauer should be a name you're familiar with. Tom has been with the Orvis company for over 30 years. He started his fly fishing career at the age of 14 as a commercial fly tyer. He has written 10 books, has a podcast, and has brought new ideas, techniques, and designs to almost every facet of the business. Congrats Tom !

01.14.11 Just got out....then called back to the office


     I was up early this morning trying to manage images that were left on my desktop and make to switch over to new hard drives for the new year. After a few hours I decided to take a quick drive over to the closet river that holds trout near my home. That would be the Manasquan River, the first river I ever fished for trout on over twenty five years ago. Last winter I made a few trips back and had a blast catching some nice fish and remembering all that is good and not so good about this river. Even thought it was just over degrees out, I made the 15 minute trip to Allaire State Park. Most of the access roads had not been plowed after our two latest storms, so I checked out an access point at the bridge on Preventorium Road in Howell. Just as I got ready to make a move into the river, my phone rang. I needed to get back to the office and my computer for work. I have to say I didn't have high expectations for fishing that day, but it would have been nice to wet a line for awhile and make some more images. 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

01.13.11 Out for some more camera tests on 8th Avenue


     I am continuing some tests with my newer cameras. This late fall I traded in my older bodies and purchased two new ones. They are both different generation cameras and look, feel, and shoot differently. Its amazing how comfortable you get with a camera, and you only realize it when you get rid of it. I am also doing tests on my lenses before I send them into Canon for a tune up. While out and about I drove down to 8th Avenue and made the above picture of gulls on the end of the groin. While out there I wondered about maybe dragging out my gear soon and trying to pick up one of the resident stripers that may be holding along the shore. 
     This past December we all waited till the last possible moment to call it a season. For me it was around December 8th, maybe a little later for the guys down near Seaside or the boat anglers. It signaled the last big run of stripers making their way down south off the Carolinas to hold for the winter. As I continue my studies about the striped bass I am learning more about the migration south and over-wintering residencies of smaller striped bass. Some fish spend the winter where they will eventually spawn in rivers such as the Hudson, Delaware, and Chesapeake Bay. Others spend winter in rivers where they won't in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. These smaller bass, known as schoolies, move in tightly packed schools in these rivers and can and are caught by anglers braving the elements. 
     I hope to get out one more time before the Fly Fishing Show next week. I am working on a few winter fly fishing projects right now and since we have snow on the ground its time to get shooting.  

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

01.11.11 Waiting for another round of big snow, and the big man to sign the saltwater registry bill


Here's The Weather Channel map showing where the storm is located. The New Jersey shore could possible get 6- 12 inches, and northern New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut even more. It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't still have what is left of the two feet we got a little over two weeks ago.

Photo Colin Archer/Agency New Jersey

In fishing news. New Jersey anglers are waiting to see if and when Governor Chris Christie will sign A-823/S-1122, which would allow New Jersey to establish a free saltwater fishing registry. Signing of this law will allow New Jersey residents to fish in saltwater without having to pay $ 15.00. This is all part of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 2007. Which allowed NOAA to start a registry, and then Congress later authorized them to charge for it. However, New Jersey was allowed to avoid the fee and create its own registry and be exempt from the federal fee. It cleared the Senate and the Assembly and went to the Governor's desk where it sits waiting to be signed.  (Abbreviated from NJ.com staff reports)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

01.09.11 Countdown to the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset


I just received my Fly Fishing Show flyer in the mail and it looks like this years show will be as good as always. Tons of great speakers and pros from the industry will be on hand over the three day weekend January 21, 22, and 23. For me , it's the true kickoff of fishing for the new year.

Friday, January 7, 2011

01.07.11 New look at The Average Angler blog

After getting some positive and constructive feedback on the blogs look and navigation, I went ahead and made some changes to the blog layout. I brought over our logo, made the fonts bigger, increased the image and video window size. I am still working on some of the changes and they blog will be live throughout. Thanks, Colin

01.07.11 Have to man up for the Catch Magazine mistakes

Embarrassed and disappointed. That's how I felt last night after I received an e-mail from a friend in the industry just giving me heads up about some mistakes I made in the essay for the latest Catch Magazine issue. I had caught one of the mistakes the first time I saw Issue #15 and wrote about it here on January 1st. First let me explain the huge mistakes, I wrote the Ken Lockwood Gorge is on the South Branch of the Delaware River, and the Salmon River runs off Lake Erie. It doesn't get any worse then that. These are two rivers I visited for the first time over twenty years ago. Last night I had to find where I committed the errors.  I traced my steps back to when I sent the email to Brian O'Keefe and realize I copy and pasted the first drafts, not the final version. I emailed Brian this morning first to apologize and two see if these mistakes can be corrected.

I have only written a few articles in my life, most submitted and proofread by editors at newspapers and magazines. I have made mistakes along the way in captioning photographs. From the early days when you would type the captions out on a typewriter and stick them on the back of the newly developed prints to now when the captions are included in the digital image file. A town, a name, a date- most times always caught before publication. But these mistakes are so big and bold and obvious that I feel terrible that they happened to such a fantastic magazine like Catch.

I will learn from this, as John Powell wrote, " The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing."

Slow down, take your time, double- no triple check, then hit the send button.

UPDATE- Got an email from Todd Moen, by 3 this afternoon all the corrections will be made!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

01.06.11 Breakfast with a friend and I finished the movie short

This morning I hooked up with my buddy Al and we met for breakfast in Asbury Park. I first met Al this past fall while fishing for striped bass in Deal. Al, at 86, has been fishing longer then I have been alive, and then some. He is a world of knowledge and experience and a pleasure to know and spend time with. I spent the better part of the day working in front of the computer, organizing and editing. I put together a short movie from my quick stop in the Delaware Water Gap yesterday. I spent most of my day yesterday testing the video functions on my cameras and below is the result, hope you enjoy it. It's the small blog version. 



Wednesday, January 5, 2011

01.05.11 Quick Flatbrook outing- found Tight Lines fly shop- bought Aaron Jasper's new video

                    

So yesterday I took a day trip up to the Delaware Water Gap and hit Dunnfield Creek and then the Big Flatbrook. I left Ocean around 9 and hit the Gap by 11. My primary goal was to really open up my newer Canon 5d Mark II and Canon 7d cameras and put the video functions to the test. I was a one man show so I had to be the photographer/angler/actor, which isn't easy. The first thing I noticed when driving up was the lack of snow up north. Hopefully there'll be enough runoff in northern NJ, PA and NY to get the rivers and streams off to a good start in the spring. I first stopped at Dunkirk Creek and set up the video cameras and shot for a while for a little quick piece I'll produce in the next few days. Then it was off to the Flatbrook where I had the whole 32 degree river to myself. I shot some more video and stills and made a  few casts here and there with no takers. I was done by about 430 but on the way back down Route 15 I saw a bridge I used to fish under about 20 years ago. The bridge I believe is in Lafayette where Route 15 and Ice Plant Road cross. I parked my truck in a parking lot and headed down beneath the bridge. I had tied on one of Rich Garfield's "Sirloins" and made some casts into nice deep holding water. On my fifth cast I hooked into a nice big rainbow and it spit the barbless hook on the surface. It was nice to have a first trout on in 2011.

                            

On the way home I stopped for the first time into Andrew Moy's Tight Lines Fly Fishing Shop on Route 46 in Pine Brook. You gotta just love fly shops that are still around. TL is a full service shop selling everything from Simms waders, to Sage rods, tons of fly lines and all the fly tying materials you could want. Also if you're a spey, switch, two handed or anything other than a one handed traditional caster, Tight Lines should be a must stop. You can see more of the shop and Andrew's sick spey casting ability HERE.

Of course while at the shop I picked up a few things. Yes, owners love visitors, but they really love customers. So I picked up a few articulated streamers, similar to Tim Skoraszewski's "Chain Reaction". I also picked up Aaron Jasper's new "European Nymphing- Technigues and Tying video. I remember seeing his trailer for it at the Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset last fall, it was done really well and the video is super too. Aaron discusses and demonstrates all you need to know in order to present flies to fish that you've been passing over for years. The best part of this technique is, that you can add to your own aresenal, and if the conditions call for this style, you can easily switch over to it. You can purchase a copy of it at www.europeannymphing.com.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

01.04.11 Off to the Big Flatbrook

Today I'm loading up the new truck with camera and fly fishing gear and heading up to the Big Flatbrook. Looking to shoot some winter stuff. If you'll be up that way give me a call, 732.261.7291. I should be in the water by 12.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

01.01.11 Happy New Year- it starts all over again!

To you and yours from me and mine- Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous New Year in 2011! It's amazing how quickly time flies by, and how the years peel off the calendar. Well with January here, the yearly fishing cycle begins anew. Salmon fishing for the next month, then the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset for the weekend, then it's tying and fighting off the last bit of cabin fever, and then it's the early hatches up on the Delaware. Then stripers, and sulfurs, then drakes and isos, and then albies, stripers, salmon, steelhead, and then it's January 2012.!

                           

I just got back from four days up at the lodge in the Adirondacks. I left 30 inches of snow here in New Jersey, and when I got up there they had about five. Still had a great time playing games, sitting by the fire, watching movies and sledding. NO FISHING- not even a quick ride to the Lake Champlain tribs for some landlocks.

                                              Click on image to visit the Catch Magazine website

To those that have contacted me thanks for the kind words on my images in the latest issue of Catch Magazine. For those that know, the Ken Lockwood Gorge is on the South Branch of the Raritan River, not the Delaware that I incorrectly listed. I almost threw up when I saw that. Special thanks again to those that helped me with the shoots for that project, especially Rich Garfield at www.flyfishtheadirondacks.com . Rich is an amazing guide and tyer and I will hopefully have a chance to work with him in the future.