Nutley

Fishing for carp has been kind of slow this month not just for me but for most carp fishers.
So I was totally surprised when I landed this fish.  A whopping 70mm in length!

I had chummed a small spot on the lake after six o' clock; a time when carp in the lake start to feed on the surface.  It wasn't until after eight that This fish took my dry fly.

 I'm fishing two new reels this season, Ghost, from Spain and JMC Ozone from France.  Today I used the Ozone.  The reel drag did slow down this brute.  However,  it took nearly an hour to bring him to hand.  Maybe it was the the 5 wt rod I was using or this fish was too much for the reel. I don't know.  I missed my train and had to catch a later train because of the carp refusing to tire.

This was truly a test of wills and lucky for me, I won, this time!  My longest carp of the year, so far.

Cranford

Cranford has the Nomahegan Park and a lake which is feed by the Rahway River.

This is a quiet place as the river winds through a forest where the water is completely shaded.
This is where I caught this little fellow on a Green weenie.

A nice pool but I saw no fish here

There are bass and carp.  When the weather is cooler in the spring, the lake is stocked with trout.

Westfield

This pond is located in Westfield.  Unfortunately,the algae bloom arrived before I did.

The water is clear and I saw Bluegills but no carp.  This pond will be on my "To Do" list
for next spring or maybe this fall when the air temperature is cooler.

Mindowaskin Pond.

New TFO BVK 8 Weight Review

Clifton

I fished The JMC Ozone semi automatic fly reel this week.  I lost two carp (not the reels fault)
and landed two.  It is a learning curve using a new semi automatic fly reel.  To make matters
worse, this reel comes with NO INSTRUCTIONS!  The makers feel that because semi automatic
fly reels are popular in Europe, no instructions are required.

I own most of the semi automatic fly reels made and have used them for years.  No two reels are alike.
I think the company made a mistake; besides the fact that I live in a non European country.  I just got a message from a buddy in England that he can not figure out how to use the drag on the reel.

Belgian Cast Into Wind - Capt. Shawn Leadon - Bonefishing - Andros Islan...

Wyandanch

At the last moment today I decided to go and fish at a small lake in Suffolk County.
This lake is feed by the Calls River which feeds several lakes and ponds in it's path.

This park and lake had been closed for renovations until 2013 when the swimming facility
was reopened.

There is not much to see, much work still needs to be done in this park.

The water is a coffee brown and I saw no fish activity at first.

There was a windless corner at the south end of the lake.  It was here that I saw a fish leap from the lake
I could not tell if it was a bass or a carp.  I started to fish.  I tried a few nymph patterns to see if
there were any bluegills.  I moved to the west shore and spooked two carp that were feeding on the bottom

As the wind died down I saw more carp activity.   I fished an egg pattern and after a long time a carp took my fly and roared off to the east side of the lake.  I was using my Ghost reel for the first time.  I had not adjusted the drag yet so the carp was barely under my control.  He made several runs across and around the lake before allowing me to bring him to shore.



The Carlls, the fourth largest river system on Long Island, is a place of life, respite and learning, used by community members for a variety of pursuits which enrich their lives daily. Now it’s our turn to enrich the Carlls and its surrounding land for future generations.

Crestwood

In keeping with my plan to try to fish more rivers this summer, I went to the Hutchinson River
These are two of the reservoirs were the river's water is collected by the county of Westchester.

You are looking at a picture of Reservoir #3

Shoreline of #3

Look at what I spotted in the reservoir.  This orange and white koi is well over a meter in length!

looking north on the west side

Reservoir #2

Reservoir #2

Reservoir #2

The Hutchinson River is a freshwater stream located in Southern Westchester County, New York. The river forms in Scarsdale at Brookline Road and flows 10 miles (16 km) south until it empties into Eastchester Bay in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The river serves as the boundaries of Scarsdale and New Rochelle, New Rochelle and Eastchester, and Mount Vernon and Pelham.^[2]
The river is named for Anne Hutchinson, who came from Rhode Island in 1642 and settled on Pelham Neck to the east of the river, across from where Co-op City is now. She was murdered by a group of Indians the following year.^[3]
The New Rochelle Water Company dammed the Hutchinson River in 1886 and 1907, to create three reservoirs at the northern end of the community. The Westchester County Park Commission purchased the reservoirs and the surrounding water shed property in 1927, for parkland and parkway purposes.^[4] A part of the land was used for the Hutchinson River Parkway, which follows the river for most of its distance.

Scarsdale

Ghost the new semi automatic fly reel from Spain has arrived and I took it with me to try
and catch some fish at Carpenters Pond.

The day was hot, more than 25C and humid.

Just standing still caused me to perspire

There were a few Blue Gills along the shore in very shallow water but they were too hot
to take any flies I offered.

After about an hour of trying to catch fish in the sweltering heat, I packed my rod and
began the long trek back to the train station.

JMC OZONE Semi Automatic Fly Reel

After waiting six months, The Ozone finally arrived but without any instructions!  I sent a few e-mails
and after about a week I got a call from the distribution center.

Their position is that this is a standard semi automatic fly reel so no instruction book or page should be needed.  I explained that I own most of the semi automatic fly reels and each is unique.

After talking for a few minutes I had the information I needed to be able to put my fly line on the spool
The spool can be removed by turning the screw on the front of the spool.  I was cautioned not to use a screw driver to do this but to use an American quarter of a dollar coin.  The threads are French so you need to remind yourself that the screw turns the opposite of what Americans normally do.

The thing that made me want to own this reel is that it is skeletonized  as you can see in
the above picture.  It comes in with a weight of about 130 grams.

The inside of the spool

The outside of the spool

 

Fly reel Ozone JMC.

Made of anodised aluminum billet, this anti-reverse semi-automatic reel offers outstanding qualities. It has a real brake system Teflon discs with micrometric adjustment. This allows the use of low peaks of particularly fine line without risk of breakage. Foot position on the cage of the reel has been optimized to provide maximum fishing comfort. The trigger system allows quick and neat recovery silk. The materials used to manufacture the reel Ozone make it a product that is both lightweight and highly reliable.

Specifications:
• Width: 35 mm
• Coil Width: 20 mm
• Material: Aluminum
• Finish: Black Anodized and champagne
• Brake: Micrometer Teflon
• Coil: Large arbor
• Reversible: Right / left
• Case: Carrying case

Freeport

This pond is located in Freeport.  I was only able to fish the west side of Smith Pond

The east side is heavily wooded which prevented me from fishing that side of the pond.

I did see evidence of spawning.  There were dozens of bass beds all along the edge of the pond.

At the south end of the pond I did see a large bass swim by and disappear into the depths.
So the area is not dead but I caught nothing.  I used a number of different flies with not even a hit.

Physical Features:

Area: 6 acres
Maximum depth: 5 feet

Species Present (naturally reproducing):

Largemouth Bass
Bluegill
Pumpkinseed
Carp
Goldfish
American Eel