Fishing for Largemouth bass in the Bronx River

The weather is still ridiculously hot.  Prospect Park Lake is having a fish kill due to the
New York City Park's Department inability to manage the water flow into the lake.
So I went up to Westchester County to fish the Bronx River for Largemouth Bass.

Prior to 2006, The Bronx River was still being used to remove raw sewage from Westchester
whenever the sewer system could not handle a rain storm.  I've caught a variety of fish while
fishing the river.  Bass, Carp and other panfish are abundant in the river.

My total for the day was 3 bass and two "club size bass (bass 8" - 12" long).

My first fish of the day is this bluegill, about 6 inches, on a white woolie bugger.

This is my most reliable fly.  I have had northern pike take a second look at this fly while I fished
for carp on the Passaic River.

I pulled out my hip waders.

For the better part of an hour, I was almost hip dip in decaying leaf matter at the river's edge.  The
bank looked like it would support my weight but three steps in I was stuck and rapidly sinking in this mess.  Fortunately, I did not panic and was able to get myself out by using a dead tree branch and shifting my weight onto my back pack.

Continuing to fish my old Bamboo fly rod.  It is so much fun seeing the rod bend even when I hook big bluegills.

While it was less humid, the air temperature was in the upper eighties; with almost no wind.

I've wanted to fish this part of the river with waders for a long time.  This section reminds me of trout water.  In fact, before the river became polluted, trout were actually stocked in the Bronx River

I was surprised at the number of carp pods that swam past me in this section.  Normally,
carp like to hold further west.

I caught two fish in this section.  I fished a number 10 hare's ear below a pheasant tail.
A bluegill took the PT and a bass weighing more than a pound took the hare's ear.  They were
 both on my line at the same time.  I don't know how the bluegill got off but it did.

Although they are not visible without you wearing polarized sunglasses, there is a pod of
about ten carp swimming  in the center of this picture.

Milburn , New Jersey fishing

The last time I went to Milburn, New Jersey, I noticed that there was a small lake south of the
train station.  During that earlier visited I fished the ponds in the area north of the train station.
They are Diamond Mill Pond and Cambell Pond  which are feed by the Rahway River that
passes through South Mountain Reservation.

This time, I went south of the station and fished Taylor Lake and Briant Lake.
These two lakes are fed by the same Rahway River and appear to be shallow.

Due to the heat during the "dog days of summer" with temperatures in the nineties on most
days, there is quite a bit of green muck on the surface of lakes in New York and New Jersey.

Both of these lakes show large patches of green algae, making fishing almost impossible.

Briant Lake

I was able to see evidence of carp underneath the algae.

I saw small bass swimming and carp swirling in the few open areas.

South Mountain Reservation, covering 2,110 acres (8 km²), is a nature reserve that is part of the Essex County Park System in northeastern New Jersey, United States. It is located in central Essex County, New Jersey, within portions of Maplewood, Millburn and West Orange, and borders South Orange, between the first and second ridges of the Watchung Mountains.^[1]

Carved from wilderness at the end of the 19th century, designed by Olmsted Brothers, and developed over a few decades, the reservation has changed only slightly through the years. Preserved primarily in its wild state, woodlands abound in a variety of hardwood trees, and tall hemlocks tower above streams, creeks and ponds, and waterfalls. Higher points, such as Crater View, offer vistas of the New York and Jersey City skylines, Elizabeth, Union Township, and Staten Island.^[2]

Carp

It is hot and humid but carp are tailing in the shallow water.  These are the young fish most less than five pounds.

They are fun to catch because they fight so hard in the shallow water.  A fight of five minutes or more is common.  And having a net makes it a little easier to bring them in.

My net man left to eat dinner so I was left to use my Boca grip.  I used my new fifty dollar
fast flex rod from China.  E-bay offers a number of these travel fly rods.  They are not terrible.

This fish took a dry fly after I had chummed him up using dry dog food as chum.
I lost the first two I hooked on dry flies due to the hook pulling loose. So I hooked a total of six
and landed four this evening.



This is my sixth hundredth post to my blog.  Thank you for reading about my adventures!

Fishing for carp with a Cane fly rod

One of the true joys of fly fishing is fishing with a rod made from natural fibers.  When I fish with a
cane or bamboo fly rod I need to remind myself to let the rod do its job.  There is no reason to "muscle" the rod to get it to perform correctly.  There are times and places to use a fast flex rod but
a slow flex rod is a thing of beauty when used correctly.

                                                                                                                                               
Carp here are tailing along the edge

The water here is muddy due to lake expansion work that is being performed in the adjacent
water.

Lost one and landed two.

Cane Fly rod and Carp

I finally landed a fish.  This is the first carp of the summer for me.  I hooked two the other
day but lost them both( long distance release). An egg pattern on the bottom was used.  I landed
a second fish after my camera stopped working.  The cane was a lot of fun to watch as it
bent to accommodate the carp's resistance.

The weather now is hot and humid.  Finding a cool place to catch fish is the order of the day.
I usually start my fishing by drinking a quart bottle of Powerade.  I'm partial to it because It was being served when I trained at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in 1995.  At that
 time the drink was made with fructose.  Now they use the cheaper fructose corn syrup.                                    

This lake is unique in that it holds lots of carp.  You can sight fish here and use other methods
to catch carp.  On a good day you can catch more than 10 carp.  There are at least a half-dozen koi
on the premises.  All different.  My favorite has tiger markings!

The problem now is that the parks department wants to improve the lake by draining  and
dredging the lake.  Probably they will try to reintroduce large mouth bass.
I believe that they should keep it the unique destination it is by maintaining carp as the dominate species.  Both fly fishers and conventional fishers fish here because of the carp.

Waiting for the train back to New York City.

Barbour Pond

My string of fishless days continues with me looking for new places to catch carp.

I have not fished here in years.  There are panfish,which includes largemouth bass.

Summer flowers

I always like this view of the pond. It is about 30 feet above the water.  Not a place to try and catch a bass but a really great view.

Dave Waks Memorial Park (formerly known as Barbour Pond Park) is located in the township of Wayne, NJ. It was renamed Dave Waks Memorial Park as a tribute to a former mayor of Wayne who passed away in 2007.

Barbour Pond was created by impounding part of the 8.9 mile Preakness (Singnac) Brook via the Barbour Pond dam. The brook is a tributary of thePassaic River. It’s watershed is located almost entirely in Wayne. The headwaters, located in the nearby High Mountain Nature Preserve, are considered to be trout production and are classified as C1. C1is one of the highest classifications given to a stream in the state of NJ.  Preakness Brook enters Barbour Pond from Valley Road , where it ventures through (along with a tributary stream) a recently protected 17 acre woodland. Preakness Brook from Barbour Pond to its confluence with the Passaic River is non trout producing water 

Carp on cane fly rod, Oakland Lake, Clove Lakes,Willowbrook Lake,

I have not been able to write about my travels due to the fact that I have not caught any fish
in awhile.  But I have been trying.

Every so often I like to use different rods to fly fish.  This is a nine foot , four piece, cane fly rod. I picked it up on eBay several years ago.  I thought it would be fun to use a rod with a slow traditional flex.  This rod came with two tips.  I have yet to determine why.  I guess I'll have to visit my local fly shop to find out the purpose of two tips.  I have caught carp with this too.  It fishes like fiberglass.

                                   

In my last post, I mentioned that there are a number of kettle ponds in New York City.  I hope before the end of the season I will have visited all of them.  The picture posted above is of Oakland Lake
it is a kettle pond not far from Golden pond.  I have fished here in the past.  There are panfish, pickerel and carp.  It is fed by a natural water source and is one of the few lakes that never freezes completely during the winter.

The drawback to this lake is the algae bloom which covers the lake in the warmer months.

In this photo, you can see that the surface is already half covered by algae.  It was a beautiful day to fish in spite of the algae.

This is a picture of Cloves Lake on Staten Island.  Notice the fog in the background.  I was trying to determine the feeding patterns of the carp in these lakes.  Cloves Lake Park has three lakes within it's
borders.

On a different day, the weather was sunny .  Still, I caught no carp.  I chummed but they would not come!

I caught a nice mirror carp in this lake years ago; while it was feeding under a Willow tree.

This is a picture of another lake  on Staten Island. It is next to the College of Staten Island.
Unfortunately, I spent hours here at Willowbrook lake and only caught two turtles.  I saw not one fish of any kind on this visit.

Another view of Willowbrook Lake, looking north.

Oops, I mixed in a photo of Martling Lake, one of the three lakes that are in Cloves Lake Park.
 I sat near a Mulberry tree here for hours trying to catch feeding carp.

This is the shallow end of Willowbrook Lake.  I saw this mother and her ducklings

This proves I have been out fishing but just not catching!