Tag Archives: spin fishing

Rippin’ Lips Jersey Style Weekend II

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Following Tuesday’s Slay Ride, the Moose Knuckle Crew was out again on the streams of beautiful Northwest New Jersey. The water levels are more indicative of early summer than mid April. Nonetheless, the trout do not seem bothered by the missing water. There are bountiful quantities of Trout in all the streams around here. Across the state, most anglers swear by the size 14 through 18 Hare’s Ear Nymph. In addition, I have caught ample trout on the Mickey Finn, Gray Ghost, Moose Knuckle Fly Fishing’s Woolly Bugger, and the Hornberg Wet Fly.

Moose Knuckle Fly Fishing Black and Coffee Wooly Bugger

South Branch of the Raritan

Saturday, the crew met in Califon, New Jersey to visit out friends at Shannon’s Fly and Tackle. At present, the South Branch is low, thus the fish are weary of the anglers seeking them. We had limited success down in the Gorge with a mixture of wet flies, the Coachman, and a Brassie. Additionally, it was reported to us, the stocked Brook Trout were going bonkers over a dead drifted White Wooly Bugger. Here I will give a shout out to the Califon General Store and their Jersey Devil Sandwich. After eight hours of fishing it hits the spot. If you enjoy spicy Horseradish combined with delicious Roast Beef, like myself, you need to try it! Overall my fishing was mediocre, pulling just one Brook Trout and one Rainbow Trout. Others in the crew did better than me.

Blairstown

Sunday brought the team to one of my personal favorite places to fish, the Blairstown section of the Paulinskill. This slice of water, above and below Paulina Dam, is generously stocked with sizable Trout. Furthermore, the water supports year round Smallmouth Bass, Crappie, Sunfish, Perch, and various warm-water species. It is conveniently located near Dale’s Market, renowned for their Dale’s Famous Breakfast Sandwich and The Blairstown Wine Gallery, a liquor store with a bar within 30 feet of the Paulinskill. Remember to support local business when you are out fishing, the big chain stores make enough money.

Yellow Perch ate a size 18 Copper Brassie in the Mud Pool

Approaching the stream, I had a good hour of pools to myself before Mark arrived. I prefer to tie on a colorful traditional streamer, for example the Gray Ghost, in order to prospect for some lunkers and determine what lies beneath. This is a tried and true tactic in the Paulinskill with its long, slow and meandering pools. Off the bat, I hooked into a few Rock Bass; a mediocre fish to get the rod bending, as always I was there for a Trout. I commenced dead drifting the Gray Ghost whilst performing a varying speed strip retrieve. Soon enough, Rainbow Trout on, the fight was intense and aerial. Rainbow Trout on hooking, shoot for the moon and when they do, they spit the hook right back at you. Following this epic loss, I tied on a Hornberg Wet Fly, executed the requisite drift, and caught a nice Brook Trout. This fly was real hot, many strikes, I just could not hook one into the mouth.

Blairstown Bow

Mark an expert Bass Fisherman, was on site to spin fish. Subsequent to witnessing a Trout gulp a top water Dry Fly, he will be joining us Fly Fishing soon enough. Mark’s day was a solid recovery from Saturday’s lack or Trout. I was casting my Wooly Bugger about 50 feet from him and it appeared he had taken a big cast and been snagged. I found it strange for him to snag, he had on an intermediate sinking two inch Rapala. Then there was action, the line was moving! The “snag” was a fish, and a large one! Mark, an avid Bass and Salt Water angler, had hooked his first Brown Trout ever. Not only was it his first Brown Trout ever, it didn’t even fit in my net!

Mark Beardmore's First German Brown

Dry Flies Finish Strong

Continuing on after Mark’s fish of the day, it appeared as we moved upstream that small intermittent hatches were occurring. Some Trout would randomly rise to take small flies from the surface. Not being able to directly match the hatch, I tied on my size 14 Coachman and enticed a few strikes, while missing all hook sets. Reasoning that a Coachman is a good attractor fly, I tied on my CDC and Deer Hair behind it. The Brook Trout really loved this combo and they came after it, though it still proved difficult to set the hook. Finally, I moved downstream a bit and was able to lip hook a Brook Trout. Upon reaching the goal of a Trout on a Dry Fly, we packed up and walked back to the truck.

Brook Trout ate a Moose Knuckle Fly Fishing CDC and Deer Hair behind a Coachman

Until next weekend:

Mother Goose was not pleased with our choice of fishing holes

Bass and Panfish Poppin’

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Here Fishy Fishy!

Taking advantage of the near 70-degree highs that we experienced on Saturday, the Moose Knuckle crew headed out to a legendary lake in Sussex County. We were expecting to catch a few Sunfish, maybe a Crappie and at best a juvenile Bass. What came to pass was a Panfish Slay Ride not witnessed since early in the fall of last year.

Panfish Slay Ride

The neighbors graciously allowed us to borrow one of the 12-foot Aluminum hull rowboats dry-docked along the shore. We brought our own electric trolling motor, a necessity if you want to fish and not row yourself to exhaustion.

Mark was spin fishing primarily with a two inch Rapala Floater; I of course, commenced throwing my Mohair Leech. We put in around 1:00 PM with blue skies and the bright sun overhead. As one would expect, our shadows spread far and wide, disclosing our approach early to the sluggish fish.

Crappie ferociously swam up from deep below

Besides a few Crappies nailed right at the put in, we messed around for a while attempting to comprehend the underwater ecosystem. Whilst conducting our exploration of the lake, Mark and I landed around ten Sunfish each. Then it dawned on us, fish are cold blooded, the water is chilly and the sun is hot. We motored straight back to the shallow, swampy, and most importantly warm flat-water section of the lake.

Head to the Flats

Here as we navigated the partially submerged stumps and the militant Swan, Mark landed his largest Bass of the year; that is until he caught the next three after that. Myself refusing to admit defeat to the Rapala Floater, switched to a Muddler Minnow. This quick fly change was rewarded with a few more Sunfish. At this point, I was intent on catching one of these Bass I pulled out of my arsenal an old standby, the Black Hale-Bopp Leech.

Chunky Bass landed on a Rapala Floater

Just as I switched flies again, Mark landed another Bass! Consumed, with a feeling of pressure, an intense biological demand to get my fly in the water; I cast out to the shallows as far as my Sage VXP 4 weight rod could go and hooked right into a log.

I attempted to free my hook from the “log” but it started moving back and forth like a tractor through the algae. There was a Bass at the other end of the line! At this point, it should be noted that when a Bass swallows a leech dangled on a 4-weight rod quite a contest arises. After a few minutes, out popped the most haggard Bass I have ever seen. He had a cataract in one eye; the scars of herring attacks on his back and sandpaper like skin. Needless to say a fish is a fish.

Haggard Bass and the Sage VXP

Lessons Learned

Fishing is turning on much earlier than last year. The mild winter, in the majority of the lower 48 states, was lenient on fish. This being said, waters are still not at their optimal range for active feeding activity. Bass and Panfish will be caught in the warmer, shallow and flat areas of a lake or pond. Attempt a retrieve at varied speed, on the fly I found that two six inch strips followed by a short waiting period was triggering a strike. Bass seemed to strike during the active retrieve while the Sunfish attacked when the fly stopped. Do not be afraid to experiment and vary the speed of retrieve.

See all of the pictures here.

The Christmas Trout

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The Swimming Hole on Christmas Day

December 25, 2011 between 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. saw me down at Clarks Creek trying to hook a yule trout. It might have been about 45 degrees out—not too bad for Christmas Day. There was a breeze but it was bright and sunny. I took the beater rod and creel but left the dog at home. Doubtless Bogie was content there anyway. My mother-in-law is in for a holiday visit, and has passed a lot of time scratching his ears and sneaking morsels to him.

I trekked straight upstream to what I call the Swimming Hole, about 200 yards or so from our property. On really hot dog days, when it hits about 95 in the shade, we might go up to this spot for a nice, refreshing swim. I remember taking our daughter here snorkeling a few times even. She would be on a beach raft from Barnegat Light with her face down into the water, peering through the mask and signaling to me whenever she saw something below. The rule was she had to lift her right foot every time she saw a fish and that foot went up quite a bit.

The Swimming Hole is usually good for at least a couple of trout. There’s a nice riffle at the head. The depth changes and the bottom contour changes, to a degree, every time the creek floods, which lately has been 2-3 times a year. On average, the Swimming Hole is 3-4 feet deep. For the most part the bottom is sandy but there are a few rocks here and there. A rock that sticks up out of the water just near the bottom of the riffle more often than not has a trout near it, or at least I like to think it does. I think everyone has a rock like that in their favorite stream.

I caught a 16 inch brown at this location three weeks earlier. Besides trout, the Swimming Hole usually has some nice fallfish and suckers too. The fallfish are not finicky and will snap at a small spinner or spoon just as quickly as some of the trout will. It is not uncommon to catch brown trout, brook trout, fallfish and suckers during the same outing, when fishing the Swimming Hole. Using worms it is guaranteed. If you want to make a trifecta or whatever a four-fecta is called, it can be done at the Swimming Hole. A nice fallfish or a sucker on light tackle can be great fun, and can help one get rid of any skunk in the event the trout aren’t biting.

I wanted to experiment around with jigs and/or jig-like lures, thinking something worked subtly along the bottom would be a good way to entice fish with it now being a few days into winter. I did not want to freak them out with something more erratic—say a big-bladed spinner. First I went really subtle with what is basically an ice lure, a Live Forage minnow from Northland. I worked it straight and then also under a ½ inch cork float, and no takers either way.

Lures tried down at the Clarks Creek on Christmas Day

I then tied on a 1/10 oz. nickel Swedish Pimple, which had a small red “flipper blade” down at the business end. This lure is only about an inch long. I flicked it up to the head of the riffle, and worked it all the way back to me with a slight jigging motion. No luck after a few casts. I then worked it back with a slow, steady retrieve, mixing in a few jig motions along the way—hugging the bottom and bouncing. The second time like this, a fish took it. It was a nice fight that gained momentum once both the fish and I realized what was going on, which is often the case with winter trout. I was playing out my “landing strategy” in my mind while working the fish to the tune of a nice bend in the rod. I got it to within 3 feet of me and it threw the hook. Maybe it was the same 16 incher I threw back three weeks earlier? From what I could tell by trying to catch a glimpse of it as it jerked and darted around in the water, it was indeed a trout and it was at least a foot long. Anyway, it was a successful hands free release.

I worked the hole a few more times with the pimple sans success. I then worked back toward our property, fishing a couple of small holes and saving the hole right behind the property until last. I climbed out onto my “Hemlock Dock” and worked the pimple around a few times with no luck. Next I tied on a Trout Magnet, which is a very small shad-dart type of head with a split-tail plastic bait on it. I got a couple of nice hits on this, right up against the dock from what seemed like the same fish, but nothing that I could even hit the crank on—just quick and gone.

The Hemlock Dock

I could have stayed out longer but suddenly I remembered I had a pretty extensive Christmas menu I had to start working on, including the stuffing for the Cornish hens and some homemade onion soup, so I headed back.

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