Sport Training

It was hot today so I headed over to the NY Sports Club for some cardio and weight training. I 've been a member since 1983. I think that not enough fly fishers spend time in the gym. Wading, casting, hiking in, climbing over things in order to get to where the fish live is stressful. Each year you get older and after a certain number of years, you will begin to see a loss in what you can do; if you do nothing to maintain what you have. The reason I'm able to fish with people half my age and not hurt the next day is I try to maintain a certain level of fitness. Each fall I begin a strength program along with cardio work. I switch between free weights and machines depending on how I feel. I can spend a hour or more on a spin cycle, stair master or tread mill. Hey, I was an endurance athlete and I really like cardio. I end each gym session with some stretching, legs and upper body. The only thing I no longer do are intervals. I feel that fly fishing is an aerobic sport and requires conditioning if I intend to do it for a long time. During the winter I cross country ski & swim. This maintains my aerobic base and allows me to hike in anywhere I want to fish during the season.

Carp on the fly - Fishing for carp in Colorado in this nice 8-minute video - fly fishing video channel - Global FlyFisher

Carp on the fly - Fishing for carp in Colorado in this nice 8-minute video - fly fishing video channel - Global FlyFisher

Clear water carp - Carp fishing in flat. clear water - almost like tropical saltwater fishing - fly fishing video channel - Global FlyFisher

Clear water carp - Carp fishing in flat. clear water - almost like tropical saltwater fishing - fly fishing video channel - Global FlyFisher

fly fishing

Fly Fishing: How to Cast a Line : Understand Roll Casting When Fly Fishing

The Ambush Fly Line

Carp - Flyfishing for Common-Carp

Flycasting Extreme - advanced trick casts

Single-Handed Fly Rod Casting Using Spey Casting Techniques

King Salmon June 2003

I caught this fish in Anchorage. A friend of mine moved to Alaska when he retired and he invited me to come up and fish for salmon, King Salmon. At that time I had no idea what a "King" was.
I had seen farmed salmon at the super markets but that was it. I had been to Alaska before; my first trip to Alaska I competed at the Olympic cross country ski trials in 1992. But this was the first time to go there when there was real day light, 22 hours of it. We spent twelve hours fishing the first day. It was on the second day that I snagged this beast. The fight between me and this 44 inch king salmon felt like life and death. I stopped counting the tail walks. What was truly amazing was that after all this fish had done just to get to Alaska and spawn he was still able to manhandle me. what a fight! The king was 44 inches long and produced 38 Lbs of fillet.

These are the tools of the trade for me when I go fishing for Northern Pike. Flies, forceps, pliers, Boca grip, March Brown Fly Rod(8 wt, 6 pc, 9') and the ATP 37 semi automatic fly reel. In the lower left corner are a few carp flies, just in case. I got my only hit on a black leach pattern. I did see the fish as he rolled on my fly and I felt the pull of a strong fish but the hook did not set.
I covered the entire bank of the river that I was able to fish. So I switched to plan B or in this case plan C for carp. I re rigged my 8 wt for some surface feeding carp. Changed my leader, put away the 80lb shock tippet and opened the box of carp things. Lets see now, dog biscuit flies, woolie buggers, deer hair, elk hair caddis, glo bugs, wax worm flies and something that looks like a Q- tip with an afro. I decided on the deer hair fly. The carp were eating what seem to be bits of plants. I Cast, I Saw, I Carped. Fish on. Now I'm in a slow jog as I run down the river bank to keep up with the carp. He is moving but this is not my first carp. I allowed the fish to run about fifty yards before I applied my tactics. Pump the rod, take back the line, pump some more. An 8 wt rod is over kill for a carp this size.




Great day on the Passaic river.



Carp on deer hair fly

I went to New Jersey, this afternoon to fish for Northern pike. No 3 wt fly rod today. I brought an 8 wt. Yes pike are a short drive from New York City. Just forty minutes by public bus from Times Square! Most people will travel north to Canada for a chance at a Northern pike. My total cost is about $13.00, round trip door to shore.

The weather was hot and humid. I sat on the shore and tied on my leader and then my fly using a mono loop. As my fly reached the shore after my first cast, my polarized glasses allowed me to see a large shadow moving slowly beneath the water. It was a pike. It was a pike about a foot or so from my fly. From past experience I know that a slow moving pike has not made a decision to attack but is merely curious. So I tried a number of different retrieves until that fly got caught in some debris on the river bottom. All the while carp were swimming by me. Since it was almost the bottom of the tide , I packed up and left.


The fish pictured was caught last year.





























































I fished the Passaic river this afternoon on an out going tide. I brought the 8 wt fly rod because I hope to catch a Northern pike. Yes, there are pike within

carp on a 3wt

About a week ago I went to New Jersey to fly fish for carp. Today I went back and fished another carp place in New Jersey. When I arrived carp were feeding under a water fall. I set up my rod and tied on a #10 deer hair fly. This was a small pool I was fishing and I positioned myself at the end of the pool so that I could control the fight. Advantage Bill. When the carp took my offering I was relaxed and let the fish think that he could get away. He ran, turned, pulled and did all the tricks except tail walk. My little 3 wt was bending. I applied pressure and after twenty minutes the carp was slowing down. I thought, I might land this one. So far this year, the closest I had come to touching a carp was the scale of a carp stuck to my fly after a long distance release! Fighting carp requires patience and fearlessness. If you have fear about the power of the carp you will lose. If you rush the carp he, the carp, will win.

Of all the fish I target, I enjoy fishing for carp the most. To fish for carp you must be mentally ready for what the carp does, the long powerful runs. The endurance of the carp; even the little ones will put you and your equipment under stress. You do not really fish for carp. You stalk them. You don't cast your fly to a carp. You target a carp. Carp do not chase flies like other fish. So your cast to a carp must be accurate.

Carp fishing, using a fly rod reminds me of when I studied Judo. Judo, the gentle way, teaches you to use you opponents power to defeat him. I never try to fight the power of a carp.

Fluke

I was on Jamaica Bay this morning trying to catch fluke with a clouser fly. Bunker seem to be scarce due to the demand for omega 3 oil which is obtained from The menhaden (Brevoortia) or simply bunker to the fishermen, is one of the most important fish in the bay. Besides being an important bait fish for fishermen, menhaden FPC (fish protein concentrate) is an important food additive for chickens and other farm animals. Menhaden oil is used for a great variety of products like margarine, crayons, paint and other oil-based products. Even the scales can be used as glitter in paint and cosmetics. Commercial fishers have the ability to pick up entire schools of Bunker; removing the diet staple of game fish along the east coast.
As a result Stripe Bass and Bluefish are hard to locate during the day. It was a great time to be on the water. But I and my friend Andy were SKUNKED.

a walk in the park

Due to the weather forecast, I did not return to Passaic, New Jersey today. Instead I took a walk in Central Park this morning. The thought of being on a river during a thunderstorm was not too appealing to me. I took a subway ride and my 3 weight fly rod. I entered Central Park at 59th street and walked to the pond. this was my first time fishing The Pond. In case you don't know, its located behind the Wollman skating rink. Once I got set up I began to fish with a number 12 white woolly bugger. This is one of my go to flies. after a few spey casts, I hooked a bass(warning: do not false cast at the pond).

And from there I walked to the Lake at 72nd St. The Lake was windy and covered with rowboats. I noticed that the water level at the Lake was down over a foot. I got a few nibbles but no real takes, so I headed north to the pool at 103rd St. There I discovered, after several years of fishing the pool, that largemouth bass are not the only inhabitants of the pool. This afternoon I saw several channel cats swimming from the rock outcropping on the southern shoreline. In addition to that I caught a big bluegill with a pheasant tail fly. In total, at the pool, I caught a largemouth bass and a meaty bluegill.

After that I headed to The Meer at 110th St. There I was surprised to find that The Meer was more than 80% clear of algae! The water was almost gin clear. I hooked a few more bluegills, nothing special, and headed home on the number three train; just before rush hour.

Instead of walking straight home after the subway ride, I turned right and entered Prospect Park for a few more casts. There was a lot of duckweed in front of the boathouse. However, the main part of the Lake was free of duckweed. The weather began to look more threatening, so I packed up and went home.

Passaic River

I spent this afternoon fishing for carp in New Jersey. I've been fishing for Carp and Northern Pike since 2004. The Passaic is where I cut my teeth on powerful fish. This part of the river is not pretty but the fish are here. As I reached the river bank today, there was a dead pike bloated on the shore. It had just begun to decompose, a whiff of bad fish was in the air as I made my first cast. I chose to bring a 3 wt fiberglass fly rod today. I like the challenge of carpin with ultra light equipment. By chance, I found a Mulberry tree hanging over and dropping berries into the water. Carp were clooping the berries from the surface. Matching the hatch, I tied on a deer hair imitation of the berry. I got an indignant refusal of my cast. So I pulled a berry from the tree and smashed it onto my fly and roll cast it into the water. This time I got a take. The carp heads for a fallen tree and disappears under it. The reel is make a sound like a dentist's drill, only louder. Line is disappearing down the river and my 3 wt looks like one of the golden arches. I place the butt of the rod in my gut and hold on. But the reel is still releasing fly line. I don't want to give the fish an inch of backing. I manage to pull back some of the line. My opponent hesitates and makes another long run down the Passaic river. This is not fun. In fact I'm wondering if the rod will snap. He slows a bit and I take back some more line. He runs again. Mercifully, the carp pulls the #8 hook from its mouth and I try to recover while figuring out what I did wrong. Normally I follow a well choreographed routine when carpin but I was fishing on an unfamiliar part of the river. Advantage carp.

Awhile later I fooled another carp with my fake berry. This time my tippet snapped no doubt due to the first carp dragging it under, around and over every obstacle in the river. Surprisingly,
I saw several pike in the clear water. one looked to be about a yard long. I walked to another spot where carp like to feed and saw some HUGE carp clooping. I mean these carp were big enough to ride toddlers( over three feet long and over six inches wide). I looked at the 3 wt and my 4X tippet. Fortunately, the carp stopped feeding, as the tide was going out.
I'm bringing the 8 wt tomorrow!

This evening I plan to throw a few boilies into Prospect Park lake. My plan is to bring in close to shore the big carp that live in the lake. There are carp here that approach fifty pounds! I don't need to catch a fifty pound carp; I'll settle for a twenty, right now. This is a long process. Each evening after dark the small carp come in to tail near the shoreline of the lake. I'm trying to change the feeding pattern of the big carp.

When I arrived at the lake this evening the lake was calm, almost mirror like. I fished an area on the north shore of the lake with one of my new flies. It wasn't long before I felt a strong tug. A few hand strips and I saw one of the wild crappie of the lake. After the sun set I began seeding the west side of the lake with carp boilies. If I seed before sunset the geese try to eat the boilies. I'll know in week or so if my plan has worked.

I "found" another pond in Queens, called Golden Pond. When I started to fish in other boroughs
I had no idea that there would be more than two dozen bodies of water in the city where I could fish. Some I heard of by word of mouth, others by literally stumbling into them. But now I have fish all that are open to the public. There are others but they are within grave yards, private or not officially open to the public.

Golden Pond appears to be a carp only fishery; because that is all that I saw on my first visit re. It is small, shallow pond within one hundred yards of Little Neck Bay. When I visited, the water was clear at the western end of the pond which means sight fishing for carp is possible. The pond seems to be deeper on the southern shore but there are more trees in the water. I suspect big fish are living under and near those downed trees.

Golden Pond is located in Crocheron Park just a few blocks north of Oakland Lake in Bayside, Queens.

I am an urban fly fisher and proud of it. I travel by public transportation to local waters on both sides of the Hudson river. Too often I hear people lament about not having the time or money to go fishing, especially fly fishers. The purpose of this blog is to show that there is excellent fishing in and around New York City. All of it can be had without having to own a car, without having to make a reservation,or hire a guide.

Brooklyn is my home borough. Most of the fly fishing I do is done in the waters of Prospect Park.
Prospect Park lake is a 60 acres, man made fishery whose claim to fame is the fact that it has the largest concentration of large mouth bass on Long Island. It is not easy but you can catch a five pound bass in this lake. All fishing here and in New York City is catch and release. New York State law requires that everyone over the age of sixteen have a current fishing license. Prospect Park lake holds: large mouth bass, Blue gills, carp, channel catfish, crappie, golden shiners, yellow perch and pickerel.

At last count I have fished all but two of the public lakes and ponds managed by the New York City Department of Parks. There are a total of twenty five lakes and ponds open to the public. Staten Island has the most with ten. Brooklyn has one. The Bronx has two. Queens has eight (two of which are brackish water). Manhattan has four, all within Central Park.

In addition to the Great Lakes of New York City, the city has 500 miles of Atlantic Ocean coast line for exciting world class salt water fishing.