10.05.23 What to do when you see this as you roll up....

 

Nothing like being so excited that you can't sleep and you can't wait to get fishing. I was exhausted from work yesterday and went to bed at 7pm. I had the alarm set for 4 am planning on hitting a north Jersey brackish river to see if I could find the bait and maybe some snooping bass. 

    It was 118 am when I snuck downstairs trying to avoid waking up Theresa and the beasts. It was early, but, the tide would be mid-ebb and hopefully moving. The whole idea of going, even just for an early fall scout, worked because my clinical rotation this fall is at a nursing home in Orange. 

     Driving and listening to fly fishing podcasts really makes the time go quicker than it should. I'll be talking more about some of the podcasts I have discovered in the near future. My arrival time of 345 am was way earlier than I hoped for but it was what it was. To my surprise when I rolled up there was the biggest skunk I have ever seen on the brush line. It looked more like a wolverine than a skunk, and it was a skunk because I got close enough to it to catch a whiff. 

     This is the kind of spot where you'll know in the first 10 minutes if there's bait and fish around. I have taken the long walk before and as soon as I pull up there have been swirls or bait flying out of the water. Luckily today I had my waders on and up because the vegetation was more than I had ever 

encountered. The walk started out normal but then as I got closer to the water it was trying to survey land that had never had human feet trample through it. The water moving but there was no sign of bait or bass around. I made some accurate casts to places I know where the fish normally hold and that came up empty. 

All in all it was a good scout trip. You have to just go and see. Luckily I had reason to be up there and it wasn't just a trip for nothing. After a quick move I spent some time switching out the batteries in my two headlamps, something I suggest you do if you haven't done so for a while. Heat and batteries together corrode and you don't want to find that out if you fish dicey spots or have a 40 at your feet and want to get a great photograph. 

      I made way to the campus in Newark and took a 45 minute power nap before meeting my students at the long term care facility. I knew I would pay for it later and it would most likely be another 7pm lights out night.