Raining

Today it rained, no fishing, no roller skiing. On a day like this I make use of my health club membership. This was my second visit this week. I did more than an hour of cardio training before jumping on the weight machines. I felt pretty good; like I could have done more.

I took a look at the map of the Bronx river on Google. The Bronx river is New York City's only fresh water river. Several years ago herring were released in the Bronx river and that first batch should return to spawn in 2011. Stripe bass like to eat herring so next fall could be very exciting.

Fall fishing

Went to Central Park for carp today. I fished the Lake at 72nd street near the Bethesda Fountain. Tourist congregate here to take pictures, so it is not an ideal place to fly fish for carp. I wore earth tone clothing and was surprise to find that the carp seem to not see me standing in the shadows. I stood as still as possible while the carp surfaced and ate my chum. I used the white mullet fly again.






Waterfall near the boat house in Prospect Park

More carp

Took to the river this afternoon, the Passaic River. It took awhile to figure out what fly to use. I tried different colors first, red, brown and then I saw a carp go for something white. I tied on a white mullet fly. I hooked into a carp that heading east across the river and then made a sweeping right turn as it headed down river. This caught me unprepared. When I looked at my line, I saw that half of my backing was in the river! I started to run along the river bank to prevent the fish from cleaning my clock. I managed to slow the fish and get my backing back on the reel. Eventually, I got the fish to shore.



After I released the fish, I crawled back to my hooch on the river bank and rested for a long time. Sitting in my shaded spot I noticed the flowers and the bumble bees pollinating. Sometimes you catch a fish and it is so satisfying that you no longer need to catch another fish. This was that type of fish.


Passaic River



My carp flies ( any questions?)

To chum or not chum that is the question.

carp feeding in a local pond.



carp taken on a deer hair fly ( without chumming)



carp taken on fly ( with chumming)



There has been a debate about using chum to catch carp with flies or not. I believe both are acceptable methods for catching carp. Not all carp fisheries are alike. Sometimes you can find carp in clear shallow water. sometimes the water is not clear or shallow. When carp are present but not visible I use a chum of some sort to get the carp feeding. My goal is to make the carp feed on the surface where I can see them.

The Night Stalker

I went out at dusk this evening. I like to go out and try to catch fish as the park quiets down and the weekend visitors head for home. I took my 11 foot rod and my new reel. By the time I had set up it was dark. I fished a bunch of wet flies and lost a few to trees. There was evidence of golden shiners being pursued by bigger fish but I could not get any fish to take my flies.



The Boat House at Prospect Park

Central Park

The Meer

I headed up to Central Park for some power fishing( fishing for two hours or less). My first stop was the lake at 72nd street but there were too many people.


The Meer (looking north)

My next stop was the pool at 103rd street. There I met two Australians eating lunch in the warm afternoon sun. One man offered me money if I could catch a three pound bass. I laughed and told him that if I could do that he would have to watch me on television. I tied on a white BH woolie bugger and made a few cast to spots where fish like to hold. If wasn't long before I had a fish.


The bass

I landed a bass, about a pound or so. I yelled for the two Aussies. I showed them the bass but declined the three dollars they offered me for my performance.


The pool

As they left the park one man handed me a 5 dollar Australian bill.



The pool at the 103rd street

Roller skis

I have been roller skiing for about 30 years now. I do it now mostly for fun since I no longer compete in cross country ski races. When I competed this form of exercise was mandatory for nine months of the year. Roller skis allow a ski racer to prepare for the stress and strain required to race on skis. It is still enjoyable to go out for an hour or two and simulate skiing on snow while others watch and wonder what you are doing.

The Mud hole

Pumpkin seed

Dennis and I fished Memorial Park in Nutley, New Jersey.



This park has several pools of water all connected by canals. We found bass, pumpkin seeds, suckers, trout and carp. We caught a number of panfish but no trout or carp. It was tough fishing not even one nibble from the carp. Maybe it was just an off day. We left with our tails between our legs. " I'll be back."

Hackensack river

My old training ship the USS Ling SS 297 . The USS Ling was the submarine I trained on when I was a Naval Reservists. It is a WW II fleet type diesel sub Now it is moored on the Hackensack River as a museum. For me it is a reminder of being twenty years old and steering an attack submarine in the north Atlantic for the US Navy.



We were looking for carp but saw none



tide going out



after checking the Hackensack River, we went to Bethesda fountain in Central Park in New York City. This lake has a large population of thirty pound carp. It also has many many tourist so fishing for and catching carp here is a chore.



Bethesda Fountain

carpin

Al and Dennis fly fishing for carp



A school of carp feeding



We were all successful. we used chum to get carp actively feeding; then we used deer hair flies and woolie buggers.

Fly fishing in Newark, New Jersey

Dennis and I traveled to Newark, New Jersey to do some fly fishing. Fly fishing is not your first thought when you think of this city. You might think of its Law Schools, the New Jersey Devils hockey team but not a destination for fly fishing.




We took the Path Train to Newark and local transportation to Branch Brook Park Pond. Branch Brook Park is located in the northeast section of the city of Newark. It is stocked with trout several times each year.




We also visited another of Newark's parks, Weequahic Park, the largest of the Essex County Park lakes. When full the lake covers 80 acres but the lake is missing a great deal of water. Besides the carp foraging in the center of the lake, we saw very few signs of active fish.

Barbours Pond

Garret Mountain Reservation

Located in this park is Barbours Pond. It is near the town of West Paterson, New Jersey


Barbours Pond

This pond has a great deal of algae but should be a good place to fish in the spring next year. The water here is clear so I was able to see some very big bass swimming.

New rod, new reel and new fly line

I took my Thinkfish, Bold semi automatic fly reel to the Meer in Central Park for a try out. I matched it with a new 3 piece, 11 foot, 2/3 wt fly rod. on my second cast I hooked this bass. The reel worked well. It has a large arbor and retrieves line quickly.



The Meer in Central Park sits in the north east corner of the park at 11oth street. Its one of my favorite lakes in the city. Easy to reach by subway and has a variety of fish.

Sulphur duo makes a science of carp fishing | NewsOK.com

Sulphur duo makes a science of carp fishing | NewsOK.com