Musconetcong River

Signs of Fall

September 10, 2012 by Leigh 1 Comment

While the landscape is still green in NJ, the signs of fall are here. Leaves are starting to litter the sides of the road. Daily temps are only reaching the 70’s, and diving into the 50’s at night. The grass can go two weeks between mowings. Acorns are starting to appear along the trail. Pumpkins and cornstalks are replacing flowers and vegetables at local roadside stands.

And the most undeniable sign of fall: my first leaf fish of the season.

Today I made it out for a few hours, covering some new water in the local river. Although I was comfortable wearing shorts and a tee shirt underneath my waders, cooler water and a light breeze accompanied me for most of the afternoon.

I stuck with using poppers for this trip, but swapped out my 3 wt for a 9′ 5 wt rod and Wind River reel. The 5 wt gave me greater distance casting and confidence on the retrieve. It was also a better choice for roll casts and side casts.

Only one bass brought to hand, but the usual hungry panfish were there to keep me busy. While I was switching poppers a large eel slowly wandered past me, apparently unaware or unconcerned by my presence. Not sure what fly to use on him.

And while I will probably find more leaf fish at the end of my line before year’s end, there will also be a number of trout, bass and panfish. Here’s to fall fishing. Enjoy!

In Hot Water

August 5, 2012 by Leigh 1 Comment

As the thermometer climbed above 90 degrees, it became evident that this was not going to be a good day to chase trout – at least not on the river near me.

But all was not lost. It was still a good day to wet wade and practice casting using a 6′ 3 wt and some dry flies. I threw on my old wading boots, shirt, shorts and chestpack and headed down to a new section of river. Looking downriver I saw a nice stretch of small pools, riffles and pocket water, ranging in depth from a few inches to waist deep. The water was warm enough to be comfortable on my bare legs, confirming my earlier assumption.

The river was clear and less than knee deep, leading me to believe that it was going to be an easy wading session. But it turned out to be unusually rocky, making it feel more like a climbing challenge than streamside wading. Oh well, I needed the exercise anyway.

Started out using a Hornberg, but things really picked up when I switched to a size 16 caddis dry. Caught a number of sunfish. Many were surprisingly large given the skinny water where I found them. They were eager to take the caddis, and destroyed it in the process. At one point all I had left was the brown caddis body. It looked like a large brown midge, but still caught fish. Also tied on a caddis with a green body, but it didn’t seem to make a difference – they just wanted bushy flies. Note to self: next time bring some poppers.

Landed a couple of small and feisty bass on the caddis. Here’s the larger of the two, probably around 10″. This guy was really dark and I knew instantly from the way that he fought that he was not a sunfish. Gave the 3 wt a nice bend.

Apparently there are some big fish in there, based on this 3″ lure that I pulled from a tree. I’ll be back for them soon.

The most surprising thing today was how many fish were holding in small shallow pools like this one, as opposed to some of the relatively deeper water. This run was around a foot in depth and 8-10′ in length, but held many fish due to the shade, cover and moving water. There were many areas like this one.

Because this was a relatively narrow stretch of the river, it gave me some great opportunities to fine tune my roll cast and to practice mending in tight areas on short runs. Next time you think it is too hot to fish, leave the waders in the car and try some small stream action. Enjoy!

Morning Run

July 6, 2012 by Leigh Leave a Comment

With temps predicted to reach the 90’s today, I decided to hit the water early. At 6 am it was already 67 degrees. Cool, but the humidity and lack of clouds were a forewarning of the afternoon’s weather. I was comfortable wearing a t-shirt and shorts underneath my waders for most of the time, along with my homemade chest pack.

My first stop yielded a nice 11″ rainbow, taken on a Hornberg dry. After realizing that I left my camera in the car, I headed to spot #2.

I switched to a dark bead head hare’s ear nymph, which produced this bass, as well as a number of sunfish.

By 9 am I could feel the humidity and heat starting to burn on my neck and back, so I decided to call it a day. Hope you’re able to get out this week as well. Enjoy!

Bamboo, Braided Leaders, Bream, Bass and ‘Bows

June 23, 2012 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Looks like I’ve got the words starting with “B” covered.

A few times a year I pull out my bamboo rod and look for some dry fly action. Because I use it so infrequently, I have to relearn how to cast each time. The cadence is slower, and I never seem to get the distance that I’m used to with a graphite rod. It could also be the double-tapered line as well.

In order to make things even harder on myself, I added a braided leader to the mix. Braided leaders give a softer presentation and are easy to mend, but I don’t use them regularly, just when I fish the bamboo rod.

Temps were heading into the 80’s, a break from our recent heat wave near 100 degrees, so I hit the water early. As luck would have it, a nice rainbow took the caddis dry shortly after I arrived. I had it on the line until it got close to the net, but then it broke off. I got a good look at it – about 12″. It was the only trout I would catch for the day.

Then I started moving upriver. I soon fell into a school of sunfish that kept me busy for the next hour. The fish were healthy, hit hard and had some beautiful colors. This is a sure sign that the river is getting warmer.

I continued moving upstream until I reached an island. At that point I switched over to a Bloody Mari nymph, added some split shot and headed back downstream. I know some are not fans of nymphing with bamboo rods, but it worked really well. I continued to pick up fish all the way back.

On my return trip I hooked into one bass, also in the 12″ category, but largely encountered more sunfish.

I also caught a chub, but I’ll start on the C’s tomorrow. Enjoy!

Memorial Day On The Musconetcong

May 28, 2012 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I only had a couple of hours available to fish this weekend due to other commitments, so I wanted to make the most of the short window of time.

On Sunday the temps were warm, so I decided to have some fun with dry flies on the Musconetcong River. The Musky is not that far from my home and there is plenty of good fishing as long as the water temps don’t get too high.

I fished from around 10 am until noon, and was rather happily surprised to find that I had most of the river to myself. An added bonus was that the mosquitoes were non-existent, a rare occasion in New Jersey warm weather.

The fish were rising sporadically, so I knew that dry fly action was possible if I found the right fly. As luck would have it, caddis variations did the trick.

Both the trout and the panfish were caught with caddis flies in surprisingly shallow water. Both were in runs that were less than shin deep.

I continued to catch a mix of trout and bream. Unfortunately these were the only two that I photographed before the camera battery died.

I was using one of the 9′ 4 wt graphite rods that I built in December, along with the Cabelas Wind River Reel. I had more of a chance to work with the drag on this outing, and I’m still impressed with the reel.

Hope your Memorial Day weekend is going well. Please remember those who served our country to keep it free. Enjoy!