05.22.25 They let you know when it's time to go....

     Between work and the drops of rain I couldn't help myself to see what was going on down at the river. Lugged the tank out in case I found one. I found several but just one to show. This tank has really been its worth its weight in gold. I love it and it's bigger sister as well. With water temps creeping into mid-60's it's a great place to rehab after I've had my fun with them. And they let you know when it's time to go. I've actually forgot about one or to of them and they've spent extended time catching their breath. One thing is you have to keep exchange the water so they're breathing in sone oxygen and it's cool and fresh water. 

     It's time for me to put away the PEAK LIRS vice that I use for the big flies and start using the PRV-G2. I really like these both of these vices. The bases are HEAVY and the jaws don't move. I know there's other great vices out there but I wanted to go with a vice that only a few use. I have good company though, Pat Cohen, Abe Pieciak, and Vince Wilcox use PEAK as well. Although Pat Cohen (Super Fly) hasn't been around much I've seen his tattoo work and his incredible body transformation he's been working on over the last few years. But, back to tying. It's time to start tying those annoying little black sand eel and white bunny fly patterns that are go to up in the Vineyard. Of course I'll buy a few up there but tying your own is always better, at least for me. 

     And guess what? More rain. If you haven't kept up with the lawn mowing you're in for a treat. And the weeds? Running amok. But the water's good for the environment, the waters, and the fishes. At least it's not a deluge we're getting, just a nice "normal" couple of days of rain. 

 

05.21.25 Hit it with Delaware Joe for a bit...

 

     Not knowing what to expect going forward I just had to see if I could find some fish. I dragged Delaware Joe out for a quick session before we made a stop for breakfast. I set the tank up in anticipation of at least one fish being around and there was more than one. Joe landed the above nice fish but had to get his sneakers wet in the process. Water temps are now flouting between 62-65 degrees and I can tell you you can feel the difference when the water was around 60. 

     It's not like they're trout or anything like that but you have to take in account the stress and lactic acid build-up the fish endure as they are caught. It doesn't mean you can't fish, but doing it efficiently and in a way to benefit the fish will help their survival rate. Super long casts and retrieving them up current, like mouths open and dragged upon the top of the water, definitely isn't good. 

     I can't say enough about using barbless hooks. That's on flies, shads, and plugs. And the trebles, forget it. But at least pinching down the barbs really makes for a better and quicker release. When those barbed hooks get caught in the fish hard top palate, or in the meatier part of their sidewalls of their mouth the consistent anglers action of pushing in and out isn't good. You know that. Will you miss a fish from time to time? Yes. But unless they're going home for the table why not just do better?

     I went back for one more time. If my fishing spring were to end today I would be fine with that. The water and river looked pristine in some spots while high and off color in others. 

It looks like some rain will be hitting us once again and it won't be enough to change the volume, I think, but it will change the shade of it a bit. But, for me, the herring are gone, as are most of the fish we had. Yes, it does happen like that sometimes, here today and gone tomorrow. Looking forward to this week I have an interview tomorrow, work and the nursing school pinning Thursday, and off to Cape May Friday, where, I just might fish the Delaware Bay for a bit to see if I can re-catch one of the fish I brought to hand this spring. 

05.20.25 Well back to work ( for them) on Monday...

     Well like I expected things are just totally different. What a difference a few days makes. Now 25,000 cfs., temp 65 degrees,turbidity 11. And the fish made the changes. I fished hard today. The waters north just didn't hold fish in the lanes they did and I needed a change of venue. Well the herring were non- existent, at least not on the edges. I only had two early small fish to show for it. 

     I jumped downriver across the state Capital and thought I could poke and pick at fish out side of the debris fields that formed during the big water. I made my way down the wall, the one 

where you need to be an ibex to scale it , alright maybe it's not that bad, and looked for a place where I could cross the moat and get out to the main river. 

     I "walked the plank" and found some good water that I thought might hold some fish. The problem was either there were still to many trees in the water or I had no shot with a decent backcast. 

     I made tons of casts to the above softer water behind the trees but found no one home. I really had confidence with each good cast I laid in there. Quick casts and quick retrieves. 

     In addition to all the flotsam that came downriver I found several watercraft that did as well. Someone's nice Old Town got wedged in under the log jam above. But what made me do a double take as I climbed around the minefield of downed trees and branches was the below. 

     I thought, wow, how did that get there like that until I realized that someone had a boat tied off to a tree. Last week I saw this vessel amongst the trees and I guess someone fished it out and made it river worthy? I hope they don't plan on launching that anywhere in any kind of current as I don't think those oars will get the job done trying to get upriver and back over to their "marina". I hope these aren't kids doing kid things, like we all did growing up, because that river isn't very forgiving. 

     I made my out to a favorite point that I have fished in the past and had a fish or two. But now it's covered in trees and will take another 100 year flood to push it all downriver. 

     It's nice because on the other side there's a nice sweep of moving water with soft water on both sides. It's tough to present a fly there but the agony of the game is what keeps me in. 

     On my way out I found one of those holes in the debris field. You really have to watch because you can have both feet go through and you can find yourself unable to get yourself out. On bigger water underneath can be deep holes so it can get dicey if you're not careful. 

     I finished up the day with one for the tank. I'm stating to feel like I need a little salty air in my nose and it will be nice to hit the beach. I would go with low expectations as most Monmouth 

County surf anglers are waiting for the arrival of the Chesapeake and Delaware fish making their post-spawn trip up north to New England for the summer. Hopefully I'll time them right and meet them in the Vineyard in a few weeks. 

05.19.25 Well that was some 72 hours.....

 

     It was the perfect storm if you will. Theresa was tied up with work Friday through Sunday from 9 am to 6 pm. My school work was all done. I had mowed the ever growing rain fed acre. The river was up and a tad off color. The herring were around in big numbers. And, the bass were out to play, like really play.

    I spent most of my weekend across the river around New Hope poking around the rocks. It's not tidal so the water level pretty much remains the same but it has dropped now down to 32,000 and has jumped up 5 degrees in 24 hours. Soon it will be a boat fishery once again. 

     But I started Friday off good with clear skies in the morning with some building clouds. The turbidity was about 20 which didn't give the fish time to stare at my flies before they ate. I started catching as soon as I started fishing and most of the fish were slot sized fish, or just under or over. And I'm telling you, a 28 inch river fish pulls like a 35 inch ocean fish. These fish are hard chargers. 

     As the morning went on the skies started to get darker and the wind started to pick up. I knew some weather was coming. By mid-day I already had a seasons worth of striped bass to hand and my phone blew up with notification of an incoming lightning storm with torrential rains. They weren't lying.

     Luckily there's a McDonald's in New Hope so I ran to get some nutritious lunch and sit out the storm which lasted about an hour and half. When the weather stopped I ran back down hoping to get back into them not knowing if the deluge would dirty up the water even more. 

     There were still raindrops hitting the water but it didn't affect the fish. They were right were they had been and were still chewing, and some bigger ones had taken up residence. 

     The sun soon came out poking through the clouds and I just continued to do my thing. I had the tank ditched in the brush and I set it back up so I could get a different look of the fish. 

     One fish to note was the one-eyed fish that hit my fly just as hard as his two-eyed companions. The fish were just on, and I was just in my striped bass fly fishing glory.

     On Saturday morning Theresa was planted at the computer when I headed out the door. I didn't know what to expect because I can tell you this, this wasn't going to last. Rising temps, dropping water, and moving fish will change in a days time so I had to get it while the gettin' might be good. 

     I had went through my untouched fly collection and found a couple which were ready to go. I have to say those 5/0 AHREX Clouser hooks are my go to for the herring patterns and fishing in big current. I had a fly tied with a 8/0 Popovic's BEAST and it was heavy, but it was just what I needed depending on the water I was fishing at the moment. 

     The day started off with a bang and never let up. Just about everywhere I fished, New Hope on one side and Lambertville on the other, didn't disappoint. The Jersey side got dicey from time to time trying to wade out and around some of the bigger boulders that held fish behind them. 

     It was all about the striped bass this weekend but I did manage one hybrid striped bass in the mix. I usually manage a couple of these per year and they pull real hard as well. 

     The day finished up around 4 pm as I left the rocks and the fish staged behind them. There was good herring around Saturday mostly pushed to the edges and or staging behind the rocks where a striped bass could lay in wait until it was ready to pounce. On my last retrieve before I left the below fish catapulted out of the water going for my fly like it was the last bait in the river. 

     By the end of the day I was beat. My arm socket was needing some lubricating oil and my back and hips were tired of slipping and sliding amongst the rocks. And, my bass thumb, well it just hurt. Towards the end of the day it hurt to lip the fish before a quick barbless hook release. 

     Now Sunday. Could it be a tri-fecta? I woke up and drove down to Little Silver to wish my boy Sean a Happy 27th Birthday. He is a barista at ROOK coffee and I'd say the Guatemalan is one of my tops followed by a nose over Avalon Coffee in Cape May. 

     Back on the river I was thinking things just looked different. I had jumped up to Stockton because some of it is fishable if you catch the right edges. I hoped to catch the tail end of what has been the best fishing I've ever had for striped bass. While I was still looking for a true and solid 35 inch fish, on the tape, I couldn't complain with the fantastic takes and fights I've had over the last four days. In fact, I started this post stating this fantasy started Friday morning, well it really started Thursday afternoon on the 15th where I put up some good numbers during a short window. 

     But today was all about the GoPro. I spent some time figuring it out and caught some Nat Geo kind of stuff with it. From underwater herring and bass photos, to topwater takes, to good releases, I caught them all. The only problem was my camera, mounted on my head, was pointing up towards the sky. Not one thing caught in its entirety, some quick passes in front of the lens, but nothing worth having to edit through it all to share. I spent Sunday night downloading the app so I can see the real time view on my iPhone. But just because I have an app doesn't mean I can figure it all out. I am old.

     So the still images are few but that's okay. How many times can you look at the same sized fish in the same position, at times, with the same fly in it's mouth. One thing I learned today

was the importance of taping up those bass thumbs before another day of a beating. I was surprised the tape job I did held up and it did so all day after 25 or so bass. But today was markedly different. The score in the numbers was only due to the amount of work and casts I put in. 

     As the day went on I swear I could see the color change in the river. Downstream at the USGS station near Trenton the turbidity was showing just below 15. I'm not a fan. Too clear and the reaction time is slowed and it's hard to get a bite unless you're ripping it past them.

     I went back in the evening and only had one to show for my efforts. Two days ago it was mayhem. So, I think it could be over. Over like no more fish? No. What I mean those bank feeders, which are a fly rodders dream, will now move into the middle of the river, and become boat fish. There's always a chance but I feel like I caught the absolute best four days to fish. And numbers? Easily plus or minus one hundred striped bass to hand, well to the thumb. That's 100. Not dinks but mad river fish. And to show for it today I added a little grove in my  middle finger where a screaming fly line burned its way into my digit. But, hey, it's all good. And it was that good.