Jack's Pond on Staten Island

 

Fish Restocked at Jack’s Pond

In the Great Kills neighborhood on Staten Island, we are completing work on a $35 million Blubelt project to improve drainage infrastructure and enhance the retention capacity at Jack’s Pond. During the restoration of the pond, we safely removed existing fish and other wildlife to nearby wetlands.

Now that the pond has been restored to original depth, it will be able to hold more stormwater and provide better habitat for fish and wildlife. We recently stocked the pond with hundreds of largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish and thousands of fathead minnows. The fish will contribute to a healthier wetland and provide natural mosquito control. The infrastructure upgrades also include the construction of more than a mile of new storm sewers and more than two miles of new sanitary sewers that will allow approximately 51 homes to connect to the City sewer system and discontinue the use of septic tanks.

The pool in Central Park

 

There are five lakes in New York City's Central Park.  At 59th Street there is The Pond. Loeb Lake

is at 72nd street. Turtle Pond is near the castle at 82nd street. It has smallmouth bass!  The Pool

at 103rd street has bass and other panfish. The Meer at 110th street has bass, grass carp and panfish

One of the problems, when there is warm weather is lots of duckweed and algae bloom on the surface of the water as it becomes warmer.

 These photos were taken during the summer.  Early spring means "club size" bass are active.  These bass are anywhere from 8" to 12" long and will take dry flies; which can mean exciting fishing as the weather becomes warmer.

Rare, Fenwick Voyager 4 pc, 6 weight, 7 foot, fiberglass fly / spin rod

I found my long lost Fenwick Voyager fly / spin rod misplaced in a desk drawer yesterday. I had not seen nor fished this rod in more than a decade. It is a four piece, 6 wt, 7 foot fiberglass rod. I took it out to the lake in Prospect Park to see how it would cast the Orvis fly line I picked up this fall.  It worked well. Maybe the "overlining" of the 6 wt rod with an 8 wt fly line contributed to my successful testing.

I made a number of different casts, Belgium, roll, back, snap T, snake, and I even poked it a few times!

The rod handled the fly line almost as well as my old Orvis Full Flex fiberglass fly rod which is foot longer than the Voyager.

 

Prospect Park fall fishing

Fished near the boat house with a grasshopper pattern and a nymph as a dropper. I'm trying to practice

my casting stroke.  Catching fish right now is secondary to practicing "skagit" casting without making mistakes. Youtube videos really help and I study all of them religiously.  

 Fished the Lullwater in Prospect Park Lake

Maxcatch automatic fly reel

Here is the Maxcatch "automatic" fly reel but it is not an automatic fly reel! It is a semi automatic

fly reel.  It does not have a drag adjustment. It is pretty much a line holder.

2 weight, 8 feet, 4 piece

 

End of the campaign for carp at Loeb Lake 2022

The forecast for the coming week is for temperatures in the forties F. Unless the weather gets warmer,

this could be the end of the carp campaign.

I have become better at netting my fish

Wow! some of these fish have taken me into my backing. Long hard fights to tire the carp. 

and it is fun. 

I hope that we get a few more warm fall days.  I'm not ready to put my fly rod down, just yet.

My only disappointment is having to deal with catfish.  Still, haven't caught a mirror carp this year.

 My rod, "Big Blue" has worked wonderfully.

Loeb Lake for carp fishing in November 2022

Always try to keep the carp as comfortable as possible

 I'm still trying to catch carp. My blue glass fly rod is doing all the work.  I'm amazed at the number

of carp being caught during my "window of opportunity" I use every evening. I start at approximately

3 PM and end at 5:30PM every day, except Saturday and Sunday. 

The first carp of the session is always the hardest, because I want to start fast.  It can be like watching water evaporate. 

 Any number after the first one is a blessing.