Went down at 430 am and...WTF? There were more cars and trucks lined up then I have seen this year. A quick look up and down found about 10 guys pretty jammed tight and other groups in spots along the stretch. One thing, these tides are not in a striped bass' favor. You see high at 330 am and 4 pm means you going to have a ton of plugs, darters, shads, SP Minnows and anything else that swims with treble hooks in your face. And the anglers throwing them aren't throwing 20 foot casts, these are those perfectly balanced rod, reel, line and lure that can be launched 150 feet. So your a bass way out there and you see a treat, you take a bite, and you are hooked. You'll spend the next 5-8 minutes being flogged, like waterboarded, being brought in and in the current, where it flows through your gill rakers faster than you can take a breath. And you know what happens, you die. And the fly guy that came to
party late and is now fishing down river gets to see and then proceed to cast to and hook your 29 inch dead-ass body. That is what the ASMFC calls recreational mortality, which we are the hook for. That's a freshly dealfish, and no doubt from the carnage that came upriver. It's the same in the Navesink and on the boats in the Raritan. Yes not every fish dies, and don't think fly anglers don't kill fish also, but the
above scenario is a good picture of what a bass goes through with three, six, or for the sadistic anglers out there, nine, hooks jammed in their throat, mouth, eye or gill plate. Remember fly anglers, single hooks, most barbless, and casts to 40 feet, if they're lucky. Not the 20 pound fish I was looking for.
The above picture is day 1 with the new Orvis PRO waders. It's the stockingfoot model. You know it's new to me because when I got to getting ready to fish I put on both boots, without putting the waders on first. Really dig the BOA system for tightening up the boots. I was in the water for about 2 hours
when I felt squishy in my feet. "Oh shit", here we go. So I had baited breath when I was done with the AM outing and was ready to see how wet my feet were. I, because of my history with waders, wanted to take pictures as proof if I need to prove my case. Well. both of my new Orvis wading socks were bone
dry. I figured out what it was, the BOA's weren't dialed up tight enough so what I felt was water in between the wader and the boot. Thank You Jesus! With today a day off I cut the AM session after three hours and went home and mowed the lawn before the weather comes in (never came). I took some time and move the boats around because it's boat time. I took the jet boat out and around the neighborhood
for a spin. I put the batteries on charge and this weekend she will get wet. With the New Jersey side shut down and an extra number of participants around the clock it's time to go mobile. I don't like fishing from boats, but this can get me from point A to point B where I can fish in spots tough to access by
land. In the PM session I ventured to a spot near my house. All alone. Good looking water. Spent about an hour and enjoyed watching a long cargo train going over the river. I predicted catching a bigger fish today, I just didn't think it would have been a freshly killed one. Irony is, a few guys I talked to as they ran to get undressed and off to work, showed me some pics. Maybe when I see them again I'll share mine.
 bass there....){kind=link}
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