12.25.09 Merry Christmas to all- and spikes for me!

From all of us at the The Average Angler Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Santa Claus, aka my brother, hooked me up with a pair of spikes for my waders. So next season I can fish and not break my ass on the vaseline covered rocks of the jetties along the Jersey shore. Remember we have fly fishing packages available for the 2010 season for any last minute gift needs you might have.

12.18.09 Casting lessons in the cold

So yes I cleaned my gear out of Bertha. I went to the last meeting of the year at the Jersey Shore Trout Unlimited on Tuesday. Guys went around the room talking about the wrap of striper season this year...and basically everyone said it stunk. That made me feel a bit better. Today, with the temperature around freezing, I met up with my casting coach Jim Valle for another lesson. Todays lesson was really good. I had practicing everyday and was at the point where I needed some intervention. I have been putting cones out in the street where I live and casting for accuracy and distance. Right now with my 9' 5wt I can pick up and put down 50' of fly line, plus the leader. Jim watched me cast and we went into the double haul, a cast I have been working on. This part of the lesson was great. He left me with some great tips that I will practice on my own. With the bad weather coming in and the holidays I won't see him till the show in Somerset, where hopefully next year I'll be testing for FFF Casting Instructor!

12.13.09 I think it's time to empty Bertha

I think it might be time to call it a season. This morning I went down to 8th Avenue to see if there was anything going on. Today the top of the seas were calm. The only thing I founds were the gannets doing their divebomb into the ocean to catch fish. Watching those birds is amazing- they get up about 100 feet above sea level, dive down up to 100 miles per hour and plunge into the sea to catch fish, or parts of fish. The other day the bunker was as far a the eye could see, but outside the jetties and just past the sand line caused by the recent hard weather. So as a fly fisherman I think it's over. Even during a huge blitz the other day, and a bunch of boats parked in it, there was only one fish caught and it was on a half a bunker that had just been snapped and chopped. So I reluctantly will put away my gear, and maybe set my sights on a quick trip up to the Salmon River later this month or in January. Yesterday I took my NJ Boat Safety class, this week I have a casting lesson with Jim Valle, and then in January it's the fly fishing show in Somerset. 

12.08.09 An ocean full of bunker !!

I decided to hit the beaches since I have been away for a few days. This morning around 9 I headed into Asbury Park to the 8th Avenue jetty. As I was pulling in, three trucks were tearing out of the parking lot and guys were scrambling for their bikes. They were all headed down 4th Avenue, near Convention Hall. There was a HUGE school of bunker that easily went for 6 blocks and fish ripping through them. They were too far out for the guys on the jetty but a few boats were on them. Anglers out there were snagging bunker and live lining or throwing out chunks. The small army of us on the beaches would drive and stop, drive and stop as the fish moved south. I spent the most time in Ocean Grove waiting for the fish to come in closer, but no luck. In the end we stood on the Fletcher Lake flume, between Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach and waved to the fish as they continued down the coast. One of the guys said he got two keepers at 8th Ave around midnight on a black bomber. Maybe I'll give my brother a shout and hit it tonight, hopefully before the rain moves in.

12.05.09 Great find in Lambertville

Came out west for the weekend with Cindy. We stayed at the York Street Inn, a wonderful B&B located in the center of Lambertville. While we were there we booked the place for a September 2010 wedding. There a tons of shops and I found a few old bookstores. I collect fly fishing and trout related books so I was hoping to find something. I found this great book, Trout Biology, An Anglers Guide by W.B. Willers. I also picked up one of Lefty Kreh's books and a book on fly fishing for bonefish. I am starting with the trout book and will get through the others after that.

12.02.09 Went North, should've went South

     Started the day in Asbury Park. Nothing going on. Stopped in Deal-zilch. Elberon-nothing. West End-zero. Monmouth Beach-birds off the beach diving. Stopped for a great bacon, egg and cheese on a hard roll in Sea Bright- beaches were dead. So I figured I would drive up into the Hook and go to North Beach. When I first got in there were a bunch of cars in Lot A so I pulled in, geared up and hit the beach. There were about 10 guys spread out- but nothing going on-they said there was some earlier action but no one landed any fish. I decided to drive up to the Coast Guard station and hit the tip of the Hook. I was the only guy there. I walked from the bay side over to North Beach. There was a nice wind coming from the west but no fish, no birds, nothing. But I have to say for about an hour and a half I just enjoyed fishing, well, casting to nothing. It was good practice and a good workout. After a few hours I started that long trek out. A ranger stopped to check on me and any short fish I may have had-ha! He said there was some action down in South Beach as the fish were gorging themselves on sand eels. On my way out I stopped and talked to some guys who packing up in the South Beach parking lot. Yep-there was a blitz-probably just out of my casting range- and a bunch of short stripers were hooked, landed and released. As I left that wind turned and was coming from the southeast, with some rain and nasty weather behind it. 

12.01.09 It's getting cold, and a bit old!

     I have sat on a river for hours, many hours waiting for a hatch they may or may not have come. This striper fishing, is well, just crazy. I see the same guys almost everyday doing the same thing. Pulling up, getting out, looking through their binoculars, and then either parking and getting geared up or pulling away. There are so many variables in this sport, and I am still learning them. Let me name a few, fish, bait, location, wind, water, temperature, moon, tide, boats and birds. A seasoned striper fisherman will surely be able to complete the list. This fall I have been at it since September when trout fishing slowed down, that was the tail end of the albies. Then I walked and stalked the beaches from Asbury Park to North Beach on Sandy Hook. I have seen one good blitz on Sea Bright, right up on the beach, that I was 500 feet away from when the fish and bait turned right out to see, and Saturday at 8th Avenue in Asbury Park. 

     I have seen a few keeper stripers and some big blues- mostly caught on bunker chunks. Right now it's a waiting game to see if the bait and fish are out of the rivers, off the beaches, or just plain south of us. Some reports from weeks ago said the fishing from Point Pleasant and south, mostly around Island Beach State Park and LBI was good then, and now its getting better south near Cape May.  Other guys saying it might be a late bite this year, into late December or early January. So with all of that I continue to sneak down to the beach looking for the birds, the bait, and the fish. All the while dreaming of Hendricksons in May on the West Branch of the Delaware. 

11.29.09 First light, no bite

I went back down to the 8th Avenie jetty this morning. Got here around 530 and met a bunch of guys already there, and my little brother too. I got him all psyched up on the phone the night before so he made the trip over. A few fish were caught blind casting diamond jigs. No big blues or stripers like last night. Saw a pod of fish working further out around 830, but they never came in close enough. Went back at 3 with my son Sean, same thing. This time there was a southeast wind and a pod of fish blitzing too far off the beach. 

11.28.09 The FISH are IN !!!

Finally got to have some on the beach, well jetty. Around 4 I went down to the 8th Avenue jetty and as soon as I saw the parking lot I knew the fish were here. There was about 10 guys at the end of the jetty and one guy leaving the parking lot with a 30 inch striper. I went down half way and set up shop.I brought my backpack with my camera gear in it, planning to shoot some stuff on a tripod if the jetties were clear. But they weren't and soon the pod of fish was getting closer, +/- 200 feet from the jetty. Guys were snapping bunker and throwing chunks to catch a mix of blues and stripers. It lasted about an hour with most of the action below the surface and the biggest take was on bait. I had fun blind casting Steve's baitfish fly, even though I was getting looks from guys like, " Don't you want to catch fish?" They said the fish were chasing bait up onto the beach at first light so tomorrow that's where I'll be!

11.27.09 Wet a quick line in the Musconetcong

     After a great Thanksgiving at home yesterday today we loaded up Bertha and went to my future sister-in-laws house out in Hunterdon County. Mmmmmm- of course I grabbed my rod and a few flies.  Her house is about 1,000 feet from the Musconetcong River in Asbury.  I have fished this spot years ago, many years ago, and remember I was never alone. There are two bridges on Main Street that pass over the river. On one side is the Asbury Graphite factory and on the island and other shore is a vacant gristmill. I enjoyed fishing for about a half hour, using a "low and slow" approach with a bead head princes nymph. One thing that I saw that was

interesting was a collection of eggs that was near the shore on the island. They were not salmon eggs, they were trout eggs. When I was delivering the eggs for Trout Unlimited's "Trout in the Classroom" the dense white "dead" eggs needed to be removed. That is what I saw in the river. I thought they may have been from a breeder that was stocked by Fish and Game, but it that happened weeks ago. Then I thought someone might have caught one and the eggs were lost after the fish was landed or cleaned streamside.  On the way home I stopped right off of Route 31 and gave a few casts to a skinny section of the Musky - one that I had just seen recently on the Garden State Trout message board. I saw a few fish but couldn't get them interested. I remember reading that post and not being able to place the hisoric blue house on the river. 

     

11.26.09 Happy Thanksgiving and I see FISH-sort of

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and everyone not able to be with us this holiday. After I put the bird in the oven I snuck down to Asbury Park to see what was going on. Nothing close but I have noticed a small armada of boats located off Deal and Asbury Park getting closer with each passing day. I talked to a guy here today and he said his buddy got a 43 inch fish here this morning on clams. We'll see, the next few days are supposed to be windy. Enjoy the bird! 

11.25.09 Fishing Asbury Park

This afternoon I went down to the flume to fish for a bit and practice casting. Believe it or not, I saw fish, and birds dive bombing for bait that was being ripped through. Problem is they were to far out past the end of the jetty, but at least they're here. 

11.24.09 "Please allow me to introduce...BERTHA"

     That's Bertha at the North Beach parking lot in Sandy Hook. I took a ride up there today to see if there was anything going on. I had the parking lot and beach all to myself. I walked the beach awhile, but spent more time practicing my cast into a strong headwind. I am casting about an hour a day. I am about due for another lesson with Jim Valle. 

     But back to Bertha. She's a 1991 GMC Vandura. My father and his wife were the original owners. They took it bacd and forth to Florida a few times, tailed a horse trailer around when my sister was competing, and then she was laid to rest in the back of the construction yard. She had a bunch of issues, mostly electrical. So I saw her one day in the yard and asked if I could try and get her back on the road. That was around 2003. She had 68,000 miles on her. The first step was to get some new tires since the ones she had were dry rot. Then off to the Tom at Douglas Auto Electric in Red Bank to figure out the electric problems. Then a tune up, a bath, and away we went. She has become the family vehicle, since now my family includes my fiance and her daughter. So it's six of us she carts around. She's been to Florida, the Adirondacks, Poconos, Atlantic City, and beautiful Camden New Jersey. She's mostly used for trips, but my partner Marc and I use her for work when we're too broke to afford a room when on assignment. She has a towhitch, that's works perfectly with my drift boat! So next year we'll be spending alot of time in the Catskills floating the Delaware. 

     She has a "Life is Good" spare tire cover, which I love, because most of the time when I am driving her I'm either with people I love or doing something I love. As far as "Bertha" , she's named after a Grateful Dead song of the same word. So if you see us near the beach or river, stop over and say hello. " I had a hard run, runnin' from your window..."

11.23.09 Checking out the 8th Avenue Flume

I went down to the 8th Avenue jetty in Asbury Park to see if there were any fish around. The water was rough and dirty. Not a fisherman, or a fish, to be seen.  

11.22.09 The International Fly Tying Symposium

The Collins Hackle booth

     Today I met up with Chris Roslan at the International Fly Tying Symposium held in Somerset , New Jersey.  He's writing a quick story on the show and asked if I would shoot an image while I was there. We first sat down with show Director Chuck Furimsky, whose also the Director of the huge Fly Fishing Show that comes to Somerset in January. Next we moved into the conference room that held some of the most talented fly tyers in the world. Dick Talleur, Charles Meck, Marc Petitjean, Enrico Puglisi, Robert Lewis, Harry Schoel, Dave Rothrock,  and more. 

     I walked the show and stopped in to see some fantastic flies being made, some looking more like real insects then flies. I went to a good lecture given by Mike McAuliff and John Collins on fly fishing the rivers of New Jersey from January- December.  I have to say I have never fished New Jersey streams and rivers from November through April, so I'll have to give that winter fly fishing a shot. I made some images of the crowds gathered around Charles Meck and Marc Petitjean, and spent some time watching and talking with Bob Lindquist from Long Island who was tying a peanut bunker fly. 

     The larger Fly Fishing Show is scheduled for Jan., 22-24, 2010 at the Garden State Convention Center in Somerset. See you there!

11.21.09 TU Trout in the Classroom Update

I received this image from the Neptune Middle School. It is a two-headed trout fry. I'll keep you posted on how it develops!

11.19.09 Getting the lodge ready for winter

     Ran up to Ausable Forks to check on the lodge before winter. After a quick 5- 1/2 trip up I was happy to see the road improvements that had been taking place since the summer were close to completion. The Black Brook side of Ausable Forks received a stimulus grant to install curbs, sidewalks, and repave Route 9 that is the main street in town. Our street, French Village Road, runs off Route 9, and wasn't part of the plan since it's a town road. That said, I have been working with the town and state DOT to have the improvements come up to in front of the lodge and future fly shop. In the photo above taken from the bridge in town you can see the lodge to the right and the future fly shop to the left. 

     The lodge will be available in 2010 for weekly rentals, or your home away from home part of our fly fishing packages. In between fishing next year we will be making improvements both inside and outside the lodge. 

Hope to see you next year !

11.18.09 Just checking in

Just running around getting back into the swing with work and daily life. Went to my Trouted Unlimited meeting, won a book during the raffle. Tomorrow heading up to the Adirondacks to tighten up the lodge a bit before we go back up during the holidays. I talked to some guys who fish the beaches and they all said that it's been a tough fall, SO FAR. But that there's still plenty of good fishing to come this season, hopefully!

11.14.09 Back to reality, and a Nor' Easter

Me and the gang  got back from Disney on Sunday the 8th. We had great weather in the Bahamas and in Florida the whole week. Since we got back the weather has been pretty bad. While away we were just ahead of Hurricane Ida, and now the remnants of her are battering the eastern seaboard. This morning I went out and checked the beaches to see if I could get some fishing in.  The seas were rough and the wind strong off the ocean. I didn't see a guy in the water, although a small group of guys with long surf rods in Asbury Park were inwaiting for a break, a bird, or a bass to show.  

If you haven't checked out the website, click on Audio slide shows and you can see a little something I put together about a trip I made to Labrador for some of those famous Minipi brook trout. 

11.02.09 Fly fishing, well sort of, in the Bahamas

That's me, standing on the dock in Nassau, Bahamas. What you can't see is the 1,000 foot long boat that brought me there, the Disney Wonder. Prior to my families cruise and trip to Disneyworld I researched fishing and guides out of Nassau. I found a few but it would have been 1) selfish, 2) a little pricey and 3) logistically difficult to pull off. So after we got off the ship I settled on avoiding the nagging locals about taking me fishing and opted to sneak around the dock looking for fish. After assembling my fly rod I took some blind casts into the crystal clear blue green water. I found some jacks and spadefish that were willing to chase my fly. What they were more interested in were the knots between the fly line and my leader. As I sat there alone in the shadow of the Wonder I heard a golf cart approaching in the distance. Soon I was greeted by a nice fellow who told me I couldn't fish on the docks and had to exit the port in order to fish. He got a chuckle when I asked if I was going to lose my gear and never see my family again! So after that, at least I can say, yes, I have fly fished in the Bahamas!

10.25.09 After 20 years-I am going to learn how to really cast

Well this year I realized the casting, well sort of, technique that I have been using for twenty years needed to be tweaked. I hired Jim Valle, a local Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) casting instructor, to help get me on my way. I told Jim I have a few goals when it comes to casting, 1) be a better caster, 2) be a better fly fisherman, and 3) one day test to become a FFF casting instructor myself. It was an hour lesson and right off the bat Jim found things that needed to be tweaked, well dismantled, and put back together. Funny thing is, I am sore after the lesson because I used totally different muscles during the lesson. I will be away next week but I am looking forward to get into another lesson mid November. 

10.23.09 Hitting the jetties with writer Chris Roslan

Well Chris went and picked the "perfect" day to shoot the pictures for the jetty story we are doing for Eastern Fly Fishing magazine. Of course it's not his fault, I thought we'd get a good shot this morning before the rain came in tonight. Well, we were both wrong. Gale force winds from the east made todays shoot a little more difficult, and wetter, then we anticipated. We met up in Red Bank at 9:30 and stopped at my favorite bagel haunt, and now maybe Chris', The Bagel Oven on Monmouth Street. Things seemed fine weather wise in town but as we traveled down Ocean is was clear that the nasty weather had already moved in. 

     We first stopped in Elberon and parked on Park Ave and took the walk along the beach access path down to the water. I thought that would be a good location to shoot because there is a large "T" jetty that runs behind the beach club. The first thing we noticed after the high winds were two guys throwing bait at one of the jetties north of where we were setting up. They were out a ways were taking a bath from the wind and high tides. There were no birds around and we couldn't see any first working. Every now and then a bird would come down and grab some bait but that was it.

     We started out shooting some tight shots before Chris ventured out to the end of the jetty. I set up on the beach and shot him with the 200 and 300 mm lens. As Chris was casting I could see the big waves behind him coming in and then crash behind him and cover him with cold sea water. We stayed there about an hour and then headed down to Deal. There was more of the same there. I was able to shoot him from the pier which sits above the jetty behind the beach club. While we were there a couple guys would come, park, and take a look. One guy traveled up from Bayhead hitting all the beaches trying to find fish. After another hour and some more tight shots we packed it in. I think we got about 6-8 good looks for the editors to play with. 

     Before, during, and after the shoot I pulled out my audio recorder and collected our conversations about the shoot for The Average Anglers' first PODCAST, which may or may not come anytime soon. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to get one going. 

10.22.09 Sea and stream kind of day

I hit the beach early today. As I drove up Ocean Avenue around 530 am I could see guys gearing up for the morning. I got into the North Beach parking area around 6, and was only one of two cars there. Later in the day I hit the South Branch of the Raritan River, and yes, the Ken Lockwood Gorge.

10.21.09 JSTU delivers trout eggs for "Trout in the Classroom"

   Today members of the Jersey Shore Chapter of Trout Unlimited delivered brook trout eggs to schools throughout Monmouth and Ocean Counties. At 11 a.m. I met JSTU members Ken and Lloyd who had traveled up to the Pequest Trout Hatchery in Hackettstown earlier this morning to pick up the eggs. The eggs, approximately 150, were counted out and put in sandwich bags labeled with the schools name they were going to. My stops included Lakewood High School, the Manasquan Resovoir Environmental Center and a private school in Farmingdale. The kids were all excited to get their eggs. 

     The schools have tanks filled with water @ 52 degrees. At first, the eggs are put into a plastic holding bin and placed at the bottom of the aquarium. Each day any dead eggs are fished out and removed to avoid contamination. In about three weeks the eggs will hatch and the students will begin feeding and caring for them until May. Any fish that survive will be released into either the Toms or Manasquan Rivers. 

10.19.09 I passed the NY State guide license test

Today I got notified that I passed the exam to be a licensed guide in New York!! I took the general exam, and fishing and boating. After I send a few more certifications to the DEC I should get my guide # and badge!! The 2010 fishing season is just around the corner- time to book clients!