06.10.12 Lesson of the day....

     I went out fishing at 5am before I had to meet a client at 7. It was the end of the outgoing and the water was glass flat. Just looked boring and not fishy at all. I made some casts with the spey rod and then the Helios without a bump. On my way there I saw a bunch of boats and kayakers out real early with most concentrated down near Belmar. My guy got there just before 7 and we decided to take a drive down to see the floatilla of 35,000 boats jammed up right out of the Skark River Inlet down to Spring Lake. Dark clouds of bunker underneath them and from what I saw posted throughout the day the big bass were on them.

Spring Lake at 715 am

     We decided to head back up north and work on our casting and double hauls. As the lesson started I parked my 10 wt Helios and Mirage reel set up on the sand leaning on the rocks. We worked real hard and stayed for hours moving back as the tide started to roll in. As things wrapped up I glanced over to my left and the rod was gone. My stomach turned. I quickly started looking through the water and along the groin thinking it got pushed over and then pushed or pulled with the tide. Luckily as we searched I looked up the beach on an outgoing wave and saw my rod on the sand. I was very, very happy, and lucky.

Then I looked up to The Man and said thanks.

06.09.12 Out front with my dad, then back in a hurry...engine trouble and sank my camera

Out with my dad at 430 am and on the water by 515. Put in on the Navesink and after making the turn at the Hook the 150 started getting cranky. Limped back home and ran aground when the engine conked. Fellow guide Paul Eidman of Reel Therapy stopped to help and luckily we got back to the ramp. Tuned up by the shop this winter and they changed the filters yesterday???? Couldn't put my finger on the problem. Then I sank my Canon G12 while cleaning the boat up. Oh well, so no pics.

We snagged one bunker and caught one short fluke.

06.07.12 I found bunker in the river....my buddy found makos out front

   After getting the kids off to one of the few remaining school days of the year I launched the boat and spent the morning scouting out the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers. It was a beautiful morning and I got back in before the weather changed in the afternoon. I made some casts and had a fish on for a bit. I thought it was a bluefish but usually they don't miss, so maybe it was a striper. My favorite sight of the day was the pods of bunker happily swimming about, I never saw them nervous or with a care in the world.


 
   When I got home and cleaned the boat I realized I needed something from West Marine in Belmar. As I went down I checked my Facebook account and saw Capt Joe from Sykk Physh had caught a 200 pound mako while out tuna fishing. I posted back, " Can a brother get a slice?". And with that he walked through the door. He was looking for a tape measure and I happened to have one. I followed him back to the dock and made some images of his crew and himself with the mako which measured out to 79 inches and had a 44 inch girth. His buddy filleted it up and Joe slid me a bag of mako steaks for my picture taking efforts, which included a fall down the plank headfirst into the Suzuki 250. Guys couldn't believe I was okay, and hopefully it's not a slow brain bleed that will catch up to me later.

06.06.12 Shoot today, fish tomorrow

     Today I had a shoot up at, well depending on which way you call it, Giants or Jets, or Metlife Stadium. I was looking to take the boat out today and give the rivers a shot. Got a late call last night that these picks would be made at the stadium and I had to shoot them. The are installing solar panels around the top of the stadium. It's part of a large retro/build on the stadium that all has to be completed before the 2013 Super Bowl that will be played here in February 2014. 

                                                

06.05.12 President Obama watched me spey cast today for stripers, well maybe

     A few years back I saw a fly fisherman on North Beach in Sandy Hook casting a spey rod for stripers and I thought it would be fun, and effective, to try in the salt. I snapped a few pictures of Ruben that day and one of them will be in the summer issue of Eastern Fly Fishing magazine which will hit the newstands in the next few days. Below is one of the pics.

     So back then I went ahead and purchased a 12'6" 10 wt spey rod that came with a cheap reel and horrible line. I couldn't cast it 50 feet. This year I purchased another Orvis Mirage V reel and decided to load some new backing and the Orvis WF 10F 580-grain switch line, and today was my first go at it in a while.

     First off, a big thanks out to Rob the store manager at Orvis New York City who helped my out in a pinch with a wader issue I had and today I was able to slide on a new pair of bootfoot Enduras after screwing in the tungsten spikes that go with them. Then it was off to the rocks. I fished at slack low tide but still had breakers to deal with. It was great casting this rod easily over 100' but never getting to the backing which is 125feet from the line tip. At times I found myself struggling to get the line in before the waves had carried it into the rocks. With 100+ feet out you have to strip in a hurry and line management is key. Later I moved to the beach and worked on my loading and casting, and it was better there without the line hazards to worry about. I didn't catch a fish, but didn't care, but it will be fun to hook up just a little further out then I am used too. 

     Over the last few days I have heard that President Obama had been in New York City. As I made my casts I could hear the sound of helicopters in the distance. I looked to the north and found the Presdient's helicade? flying low along the Jersey Shore. I thought nothing of it as I have seen it before and made a few casts as they came close. Then I thought, " Wow, imagine if the President is looking down and thinking, "Look at that, that looks like something I would like to do", or, "Hey, that guy can't cast for shit!". I snapped a few frames as they went south and then called it a day.

I have been told that there are several helicopters in a formation and that some are decoys in case they were to come under attack.

05.30-06.03.12 Adirondacks for two and then Catskills for two and now back home

     Well after a great striper morning I was on the move. Couldn't get it together so I left Red Bank at 2 pm, after stopping by the pharmacy there to get some scrips re-filled, which I forgot anyway. On the way up I called my sister who lives up there and we decided to meet for dinner at the bar at The
Hungry Trout. It was a nice, but quick, meal and left me a short window to fish. I stopped by the falls below Lake Everest and found loads of fish popping as the sky overhead was loaded with Isonychia spinners. I caught a few browns to 14 inches and then headed down to the houses at Ausable Forks.





     I started Thursday morning out at 5am wanting to fish real early so as to not thermal stress the fish. I found fish rising below the bridge and had a blast with about a dozen before most folks got up for the day. I'm not digging the channelized West Branch above it's junction with the East Branch and then down below. After a ton of yardwork and the posting of multiple for sale signs (how sad) I decided to

hit the upper West Branch again. I stopped by the falls and found a group of spin anglers grouped up below the falls. I headed downstream and stopped at the Welcome sign, well posted private sign, about 500 yards below the falls. It was still just nice to get out and fish the pocket water and nearly break my ass on the those vaseline covered Ausable rocks. I caught a few nice fish nymphing the faster water and made sure I stuck the water with a thermometer which read 64 degrees. By 4pm I was blowing out of town heading down to the Roscoe to meet up with the members of the Jersey Shore Trout Unlimited on their annual Beaverkill outing. (Continued below)

     When I left Ausable Forks I felt like I was saying goodbye. I grabbed a few trout related decorations and figured I would put them up in the Roscoe house. Our Roscoe house had been in my wife's family for decades and is in a state of disarray and in the need of some serious love. Well, I guess now, love is coming to town. I purchased the first Ausable Forks house in 2003 and the second next door in 2010. I had good intentions and high hopes but the distance, natural disasters, and my kids lack of interest made me see the light that for us right now it's the right move to sell. So, if you would like to buy 2 houses  right on the West Branch of the Ausable please give me a cal, $70,000 for both. 

     When I got to the Roscoe house the first thing I did was hang a trouty Welcome sign next to the front door and unload some nice pictures to hang on the wall here when we get cleaned up a bit. The next move was to hook up with the guys from the JSTU who I found at the Roscoe diner. I stayed at the Butternut Grove Capmground crashing in Paul's tent, who left in the middle of the night because of my snoring. It wasn't my snoring, it was an obstructed airway from me sleeping on my fists because I didn't have a pillow. In the end I bought him breakfast at the Roscoe Diner where we met before fishing Friday. 

     A small group of us decided to fish the Willowemoce Creek at the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum and we caught a few on nymphs and then worked out way down to the Beaverkill as the winds started to howl and the skies darkened. Since I hadn't taken my meds my eyes were starting to buldge out of my head so I did the right thing and called my Doc to call in a prescription at the Rite Aid in Hancock. On the way back we stopped at the Riverside and had lunch before joining up with more guys at the campgound and hitting the Beaverkill for some evening fishing. We fished above town and all the guys caught fish but me. We had a nice time and I said my goodbyes before heading to the house for the night. 

     I set up my portable cot and sleeping bag and made the best of the night. I shouldn't complain the guys at the campground took a beating as the heavens opened up and they lost power. I was up at 6 Saturday morning since I had a list of things to do before meeting clients at Border Water Ourfitters in Hancock at 11 am. 

     On Saturday I had three great guys in the boat, Dan, Rick, and Mike are friends who work in NYC and came up for a one dayer. They are new to fly fishing and it was there first time on the Delaware. As I do with all my clients I asked them what they wanted from the day. They wanted fun, to learn some, and to each catch a couple of fish. I told them the last might not happen. Hopefully we'll see fish, and get a few shots at them, but lets set our expectations at catching none and go up from there. 

     We started out nymphing and after a few hours they were surprised none of them had caught anything. We had a nice lunch sitting on a fish that never came back up. The West Branch was quiet which was surprising for a Saturday. We set up on a few, spooked a few. missed a few, flossed a few, and had a good day till the evening. At night we had a mixed bag of bugs with Cahills and spinners the majority. Mike missed a sweet big fish after he made a nice cast, had a great drift, and THEN took his eye off the prize for just a second. I worked with Danny who fished some fast water with a Rusty Spinner and connected with a nice 19" strong brown trout as time expired. It was a great day with some real nice guys. 

     After dropping the guys off at the Hancock House Hotel I made a run up to Joe Demalderis's house to drop off a rod he lent me for the day. I organized my boat and gear and by the time I left there and dropped the boat in Roscoe and got back on Route 17 it was almost 1 am. I pulled over on the Parkway after I started falling asleep while driving, and made it home around 430. 

     " There are three things we never late for here in Montana, work, church, and fishin'", well today I was late. I set my alarm for 615 and must have hit the iPhone snooze button because when I came to it was 713, and I had a 7 am start time for a casting/fishing trip on the beach. I got down and met Craig at 725 and we spent the morning going over shooting line and hauling all the while casting into fishy water on the outgoing tide. We've been together for six lessons and he's really enjoying himself and coming along nicely. 

It was a busy four days in some of my favorite places, the Jersey Shore, the Adirondacks and the Catskills- and I spent time with great people along the way. 

05.30.12 Gonna leave them biting as I head to the Adirondacks and the Catskills

     I was going to try and fish looking for a late night bite last night, but my son had other plans for me. While playing Little League he slid into second base and got opened up by the spikes by the shortstops cleats. Luckily there was no nerve or tendon damage so a few hours after it happened we were walking out of Monmouth Medical Center with 16 stitches needed to close, 4 in and 12 out.

     I was going fishing last night because today I am heading up to the Adirondacks to check on the houses and tighten up the yards and plant some bigger for sale signs. Then I am heading home Friday and joining my Trout Unlimited chapter at our annual Beaverkill trip.
     The fish, at least from the surf, have been here one day, gone the next. I had some fish within the last week, but didn't fish yesterday so I was determined to get out this morning. And it was the right morning to come out. I tried a different spot on the last of the outgoing, which was right about first light. I spotted guys on just about every beach and groin as I drove on Ocean Avenue. My first two choices were taken so I settled on a section that looked fishy. I started from the beach end and got no further than the middle of the groin before I was into some fish. I fished the rip along the rocks, nearly high sticking my Clouser, along and if I got the sinking line down just right and had a good drift, WHAM! I landed three fish to 32" that was a blast because there was a good chop and landing them on the rocks was a challenge. I only stayed for a little over an hour, and had my flurry of fish for about 30 minutes of that. I would usually stay and pound the water with my fly but I just happily left and drove home to pack for the trip up North.

     Today I used my new iPhone camera choosing to leave my Canon G-12 home. The images look good when they are small but withe the Lifeproof case and screen protector on top of that the sharpness and details weren't there. I used it on the gaping wound above, which was just fine for the scrapbook.

05.28.12 A reminder of the danger that water brings us

     I got out this morning around 430 am and gave it a go before the dead low tide and the crowds arrived. Didn't move a fish, well except for the stargazer that I caught, that buried himself deep in the sand before I could get a hand on it and throw it out into deeper water. Low tide was at 630 and it was about that time that I started to fish and walk my way back to my truck.
     I scouted out familiar water and decided to walk out onto the sand bar and fish past the breakers. If you look at the picture of the area below you can see the cut in the center with the waves breaking on either side. I walked out on the right sand bar and made some casts but picked up grass with every cast.

I decided to call it quits and took a step towards the beach and went down into the cut, losing my balance, but luckily regaining my footing. It is during those moves that you realize how we're just one step away from being in a bad spot. Last fall several angler-on-angler rescues were made in IBSP as guys tried to get out "just a bit further" and stepped off the sand bar. Also last fall a guy I fish alongside in Avon found the body of a fisherman on the north side of the Shark River Inlet, and two cousins died on the Manasquan Inlet jetty last August while fishing. This spring I had a client out on Deal and the body of a surfer washed up on the rocks one groin away from where we were fishing.
     On my way out I saw Judy and we touched base about how things have been the last few days. She told me how last night she saw the emergency response along Ocean Avenue to a missing swimmer in Long Branch. A 17 year old and his friends and sister went in at Pier Village around 530 pm and he didn't come up. It was low tide, and not very rough. After some more fish talk I made my way up to Long Branch to find the authorities resuming their search for the young man. Every news crew in the area was camped out waiting to report the story. It's the Memorial Day weekend tragedy that everyone jumped on. I made some images and gave The New York Times picture desk a call figuring they would want some pictures if they decided to run the story. The story itself is bad enough, only compounded by the fact that the body is still missing. Hopefully they recover it soon.

To me its a reminder of how dangerous the place we to choose to play in can be.

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And on this Memorial Day weekend we must remember all those men and women who gave their live while serving in the United States Armed Forces. They gave so that we can be free. Thank You

Photo by Colin Archer/Agency New Jersey

A Marine pays his respects following the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Jon Hicks who was killed in Iraq in September 2007. Hicks was 20 when he died and was from Atco, New Jersey.

05.27.12 An early morning fly fishing with Al

     How lucky am I that I can say that I fly fished this morning with my 88 year young friend Al? Al has caught more fish than days I've been alive and forgot more than I think I know. I am lucky to have met Al  when I first started fly fishing for striped bass. Even though things were slow today we had a great time on a beautiful morning. Rich also joined in and we covered the water pretty good. I fished alone and I dropped a fish after going tight and looking to see if Rich had arrived yet. How many fish have we, or I, lost by going tight and looking left or right to see if anyone is watching? Why do we do that?
     I stopped by Allenhurst and found some anglers waiting for some bait or bass to show up. I know it's fun watching and waiting, but isn't it just as fun to just fish?