Guide Trip Report: 1/19/08

Hit the Gorge today with Dave from Princeton. This was Dave's first trip out with the fly rod and he managed to kep the good January fishing rolling from yesterday. Conditions were pretty much on par with what I reported yesterday, 37 degree water temps and flow on the decline.

Dave started of the morning by getting a nice brown that I will officially estimate was 14" about 2 feet from my net before it came unbuttoned. Damn, that was a nice fish!

Dave rolled one or two more before this respectable rainbow came to net.


We finished up our day not long after Dave landed this 15 inch brookie.

Why I love January

I fished the S. Branch by myself today and it turned out to be one of those days that further supports my preference for winter trout fishing here in NJ. What you lose in insect activity and surface feeding you surely make up for in other ways. Such as having the stream to yourself (which I think counts double in a densely populated area with not a ton of quality water), non pressured fish, and fish friendly water temps.

Anyway, haven't shared any fish pics in a while so I made it a point to take some shots today. I landed a nice mix of eye catching wilds and rod bending Pequest bruisers.

Nice example of marking variation in wild browns
Camera 1

Camera 2


Larger Browns



Largest Stocker Bows


This fish was an honest 18", as I did tape it.


Same fish, fueled and ready for takeoff.


Water temp was 37.I forget in the morning. EB Stone was the fly of the day.

~James

Prime Week to Fish!

We have a January heat wave moving through this week with daytime highs forecasted to be close to 60! If you can get out and fish in these resultant rising water temps, DO IT! Fish will no doubt be on. All the recent precipitation has also kept stream flows up nicely, which will help protect fish once old man winter decides to put the hammer down once again.

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

Guide Trip Report: 12/30/07 South Branch

Wrapped up my guiding for this calender year this past Sunday with a morning on the South Branch with a three generation trio. Dave, David and John joined me for a half day in fairly tough conditions. The river was up,(over 300cfs) cold, (38-39) and temp had dropped over the past few days. The dropping water temps are by far the most difficult of those three condition factors due to the concept of conditioning. It's not true that trout shut down under 40 degrees. I have had many VERY good days on the water with temps hovering in the mid 30's. The key to fishing temperatures below a trouts comfort zone is: HOW LONG has it been at the given temperature. Once conditioned to the lower temp, they will resume their normal, albeit slower (winter)feeding tempo. The practical fishing problem comes when the water takes a sudden dip or spike in temperature, fishing will then be tough for a day or two.

Dave, David and John were troopers and managed to hook three fish between them by lunchtime when we parted.

I hung around for an hour or so after lunch and managed a few hookups myself on midges fished behind various attractors.

Here's quick video of a pretty fish from that afternoon.