04.24.25 Shit happens and finally a fish to hand...

     I'd never be the one to cast the first stone especially when it comes to boating things. I've had my share of mishaps. Got some calls about this little mishap that occurred today. With the river running low, like stupid low, like 7,450 cfs, it doesn't take much for the water to empty out when the plug 

is pulled on the dropping tide. A nine foot tide is great but this place is an underworld of all types of structure and this poor lad found out the hard way. Luckily he wasn't running hard and came to an abrupt stop. I'm hoping for his sake all it will take is the flood tide to get it afloat without anyone getting injured. That's not a light boat and hopefully there will be little damage on it way off it's perch. 

     Interestingly enough I was at those same rocks at sunup this morning and thought to myself how low the river was and how I need to be extra careful when it's super skinny. This could have happened to me, or you, or any of the keyboard tough guys that will surely have their say with this. Be careful of throwing stones in glass houses. 

     And what do you know. With the last unit exam yesterday and the final exam next Wednesday I have had some time to hit the river. Well after a solid month and half of getting small windows to fish today I landed my first 2025 striped bass. A month later than normal. It was a fine fish that I enjoyed sight fishing to and feeding. It was a good primer for the Vineyard trip coming up in a few months. That I can't wait for. 

04.21.25 What a long strange trip it was....

 

     After a four year run at Essex County College my time is just about done. It was a good run, but things went a little sideways at the end. Like we see in sports all the time sometimes the coach just has to go. Coaching a team of 78, without any assistants, is overwhelming, sometimes out of control, and in the end difficult to ensure that everyone gets a participation trophy. So I chose to step aside and allow people better than me meet the college's expectations going forward. I'll always be a proud graduate of Essex County College and lucky to have been able to circle back to give back.

     One things for sure this semester has definitely interfered with what every other spring has been, which has been some work, a lot of fishing, and taking care of things around the house. I have put everything and everyone aside this spring just concentrating on the students, and I have paid the price. While fishing is off to a way slow start this spring I still have the fire inside to go and get it done. I've been out a bunch of times and have yet to turn a fish. For me, it's about a month later than usual. This past weekend I did catch up around the house, mowed the lawn, seeded it, and went around picking up twigs which could be listed as a hobby in my hobby list. I have one of those grabbers and it's just relaxing covering the acre-plus yard just doing non-thinking stuff. I also got a new, well almost new, set of skins for the 2002 Silverado. 

     I spotted these on Facebook about 10 minutes after they were posted and Theresa And I took the ride to Wilmington, Delaware, last Friday to pick them up. On the way home we stopped at 9th Street in Philly and spent the afternoon walking around and getting food at the Italian 

Market. We ended the day at the famous Isgro Pastries shop on Christian Street. It was a Good Friday mob scene, no pun intended, but it was worth the wait and the $40 bucks. 

     On Saturday I had them put on and I can say I just love good tires on a truck. At 285,000 miles will these be the last tires that she'll need? I'm not sure but I'll try and keep her purring with the occasional sniffle here and there. New trucks, and the payments, are something I just can't have around these days. Plus, it looks like we're going ahead with the sale and the move, maybe next May the house will go on the market. 

     Things have broken open on the Raritan Bay, well really the line between the bay and the river. Those pre-spawn fish are out in force and chewing on just about anything they get thrown to them. What is crazy is the boat traffic. I saw this quick video taken from the shore in Perth Amboy and counted 37 boats in and around the bridges. That is so not my scene.

     What is interesting is that when there's fish all kinds of folks come from far and wide to get in on the action. with the Chesapeake now closed charter operations have come 

north and now make the Raritan there new home for the season. Just more pressure on an already pressurized fishery. But that's what the ASMFC wants I guess. 

     Social media is abuzz with the images of fine catches these days. I still shutter when I see treble hooks down the gullets of these catch and release anyway fish. I just don't get it. And there's plenty of sand-breaded fish being caught and held up from shore as well.

     And kudos to Cody Silver who caught a monster 9 pound rainbow while shad fishing the past week out on the Delaware. That is a dandy of a fish and must have given him a good tug and run.

     And lastly but not last today Pope Francis passed away. The leader of the Catholic Church and a job that couldn't have been easy. These days it seems that religions and churches pop up all over the place venturing away from the big ones. I liken it to travel baseball for the kids. When you think your kid is better than rec ball, you go out for a travel team, when he doesn't make it you go and start your own. 

     I was Baptized Catholic and while it has been a stretch in staying put I'll take my chances when I get to the Pearly Gates and will hopefully get into heaven sometime. Heaven isn't like nursing school these days where participation trophies are expected to be handed out just for knocking at the door. 

04.12.25 I'm not a river flow reporter, but...

      I've never been a straight 9-5 working slob until it started this January. After only a few months of it I can't imagine, one, who invented it, and two, who took jobs with that schedule. For all of my adult life I've been in jobs (fire, EMS, nursing, photography) that operating on a 24/7/365 schedule. I always tell my kids that if they want a quality of life the take a job that operates around the clock and has the ability to switch shifts and with off with other people. Monday through Friday is for the birds. 

     So that leaves me really to fish, even quick run and cast outings, on the weekends. Well not really because I work on Saturday and Sunday as well preparing for the Monday through Friday. Last night we got hit pretty hard with rain and that no doubt will ruin this weekends fishing. 

     A quick look so far, with the crest coming later today or tomorrow, shows we're up from 8,300 cfs to 13,500 cfs. If it rained up north like it did here last night surely it'll hit somewhere between 20,000 - 30,000 cfs, at least in my opinion. We've also seen a 10 degree water drop from 56 to 46 degrees, which can stop fish in their tracts and shut them off.

     Looking at it all from a fishing perspective is selfish as really it's all about the striped bass. If this winter and the current weather is good for them and this years spawn then let it all fall where it may. At some point I'll catch a fish or two, and forget about the early skunking I've been taking this spring. 

04.08.25 Normal ups and downs for the season...

     I'm sure it doesn't matter where you fish early season for striped bass. Hard fluctuations in weather patterns lead to Bipolar fishing. Take in point flows. while more, well consistent, flows are a good thing in rivers, quick swings can shut things down. Take two days ago when the river went from 8,000 to 16,000 cfs. Now we seem to leveled off around 13,000 but with big rain on the way I'm sure that number will double. 

    When the river went to 55 I was worried that a few days of sun would crest it over 60. But now with air tmps in the 30's at night were down to 50. I know that changes in water temperatures like that can shut them down and keep them being active and any kind of aggressive. 

     Things will normalize and there will be good days but this season is starting off a bit sideways. It's definitely not fly rod time and I could use a few trips were I'm not just putting in time but confident that I have a shot at landing a fish. 

04.06.05 Things are startin' up....

     Due to a tremendous workload I've just been off my game. When the posts slow down the mental health wellness checks begin, "Bro, you good?". Yes. I'm good, just overwhelmed, overworked, and underperforming with the nursing students. They're having a rough run of this semester and it is sitting heavily on my heart and shoulders. Might be time for the coach to step aside. 

      And since January I've been neglecting just about everything in my life. Nothing bring me joy. My mind is working 24/7 to make it through this semester. But this weekend I did get out as the fish have started to show up and play in various and predictable early season spots. First, the Raritan started, I wouldn't say went off, but the first round of fish pushed in and headed towards the back. 

     With water temps staying above 50 for just about a week there's bait and fish getting active. While the low and slow thing always works I'm hearing they're getting them on topwater as well. Also, the reports from Atlantic City and Brigantine are coming in as they usually do during April. 

     This weekend was the trout opener on both sides of the river and both Delaware and Raritan Canals were lined with anglers plying for those cookie-cutter stocky rainbows. I haven't done that for decades and I'm sure it's fun especially if you have the kids around. These fish were 

made for the skillet so anyone who gets angry due to catch and fillet is nuts, as almost all of the waters around here get into the 90's in the summer, surely killing any that survive off. 

     The fish on top was from a 3 AM shift that I did today with a buddy in the non-tidal section of the river. While I haven't been out some of these big fish must have made their way up and are staging for the big pushes. What's interesting is that this morning the water was running below  

7,800 cfs and for some reason it went to over 13,000 in less than 10 hours. We've been dry around here but they must have caught a monsoon somewhere up north or one of the reservoirs collapsed flooding the entire system. 

     As night turned to first light and then day the fish still were out and playing. Amongst the quarry were some less than svelte females that were definitely eating. While I'd love to claim the pool winner today it was my buddy who won it all as I couldn't get a fish to hit a fly. It's hard to compare a hook full of feathers to a loaded Redfin.