Which one of these is not like the other?

The overnight rain turned out to be less than expected, but what did come through yesterday afternoon made a huge impact on all, or I should say, most of our main Northwest Jersey trout waters.

South Branch got the most by far.


Musky is looking good.


Pequest got a nice bump.


But look at poor Flatbrook. It continues to just miss the much needed summer thunderstorms.


Take some water temps and have at it.

A Good Start

Very respectable thunderstorms moving across the state this evening with more to come throughout the night. Although this won't immediately drop water temps, it will improve flow and thus aeration in the NJ streams. This will help the fish out by raising dissolved oxyen levels and adding some cover over their heads. Once the front moves completely through, air and water temps will be dropping nicely. The trout game COULD be a safe bet for morning fishing by the weekend. But... lets see how it plays out over the next 24 hours before we start changing plans.

Hopefully the rain keeps coming.

Fire and Ice

Here are some pics I took of the KLG back on February 11th of this year. This was during the two week period when almost every moving body of water in the state was locked up with ice. As far as the South Branch goes, it was the most anchor ice I had seen in recent memory. (click on them and check them out at full size)






After suffering through another day with over 90 degree air temps, I think the trout would sign up for a few days like this right now. Especially the S. Branch trout, dealing with 40cfs.

No fishing for me today, spent a good part of the day trying to get caught up on some fly orders. Hoping to hit the Delaware for bass tomorrow.

Hindered by the Heat

I just checked the forcasted high for today and it is 99! This weeks weather has flat out stoped our pursuit of trout for what looks like the entire week. Two guided trips have been put on hold as even early morning fishing is out with the extreme temps and high humidity.

Since I have guided more and more over the last few years, I have become obsessed with mid to long range weather forecasts. I find the meteorologists out at Accuweather do an outstanding job of interpreting the models and thier online blogs (with video) really help a meteorlogical layperson (such as myself) make sense of weather patterns and have really educated me in a lot of ways. If you fish, (which you probably do if you are reading this) I stongly suggest your check out Accuweather.com and in particular these two blogs:

Henry Margusity
http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=accuweather&blog=meteomadness

Elliot Abrams
http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=accuweather&blog=abrams

Both of these guys focus on the Northeast and do daily and sometimes multiple updates a day. A great resource.

So...while the sun blazes away, if you are going to stay in state, head to the salt of take advatage of a warmwater fishery on the fly rod. Personally I hope to spend a few hours on the Delaware this week chasing smallmouth, stripers, and the assorted other fish that are often by-catches when you fish the Delaware throughout NJ.

Speaking of the salt...

So far this year, Sandy Hook has been less productive from the beach than in past years. (For me at least) I try to fish incomi g tides at dusk into dark , and as a rule, at the very least, you can count on cocktail blues and short fluke. I have fished the hook twice in the last two week with those conditions and have done very poorly. Will definitely keep at it though.

The last trip down was to fish second, and to attend a birthday get-togther first. This birthday celebration was for no other than ABA's webmaster and close friend Tom Kerese's 30th birthday. Needless to say the company was much better than the fishing. Tom is a devoted tip of the Hook guy and will gladly educate you on the "rules for the tip", just ask him.

Heres a pic of Tom and I from the Hook last week.

Welcome!

Welcome to Autumn Brook Angling's newest feature, the ABA Fly Fishing Journal. This blog will be a running journal to share our reports, pictures, fly tying tutorials, answer questions, give opinions and just about everything else a New Jersey based fly fisherman would be interested in.

Check back soon to see what we've been up to.