Had few hours to kill so I ran over to the Manasquan River in Howell. The river was down about 10 feet from where it was during last weeks super rain. It was off color but you could make out the bottom. I tied on a black wooly bugger on and worked the sides and cut banks of the river. After about an hour I just felt like I wasn't alone, because I wasn't. I turned and there was a NJ State Park Police officer squatted down on the bank watching me fish. I continued to cast and we went back and forth about the last rain we had and about the river. Funny thing is, no matter how well you hit it off with someone- you just wonder when they are going to ask you for your license. They have a job to do. Well he stuck it in there at the right time and I exited the water to show it to him. Like I told him, I am glad to see him out here and have no problem showing my license here, or in PA or NY. The only thing I hate is wearing it. I keep my licenses, both three state fishing and guide licenses in a waterproof lanyard with my phone and camera. They prefer it to be displayed.
After he left I moved down and things started to heat up. Soon little black stoneflies swarmed over the river and divebombed to the surface. I saw no fish activity and continued with the wooly bugger with not a hit. As I was walking on the bank something bright on the ground caught my eye. It was a string of lead split shot and a rusted hook. A river like this must have 40 tons of lead in it, it's one of those rivers that if you don't get snagged then your catching fish. I am glad I went to the environmentally safe shots. Here is what they looked like on the ground.
After a couple of hours my surgically repaired right pinky hammertoe was starting to throb from being in the waders. In keeping with the national campaign of 'Take your limit, please!" I harvested a nice collection of trash. A string of split shot, a few water bottles, an oil quart container, a glass bottle, a plastic chewing tobacco container, and I almost forgot because I jammed it in my waders, a nice purple hair brush.
