Captain Ahab
Well-known member
FRIDAY MARCH 14, 2008
The day started out warm, in the upper 40s and got warmer, until it was near 60* by the afternoon. I had a bunch of paperwork to complete for the week so I sat at my desk working and staring out the window wishing I was fishing. by early afternoon my fishing sense too over so I sent off the last mailing of the day and started gathering my fishing gear.
Tackle bag - Check
Nice selection of cool water type baits - Check
Camera - Check
Earthworms, just in case I found some hungry Crappie - Check
Boots - Check
Hat and glasses - Check
So I loaded up the car and headed out around 2:30 p.m. hoping that I would find the sunny day had warmed up the ponds sufficiently to get the LM Bass active. Drove about and hour (with traffic) to get to the spot .
About ten minutes from the pond, while I was dreaming of what I woudl throw 1st and where, I look over at my tackle bag and noticed that i forgot to load a necessary piece of gear - I forgot my rod!!!!!!! I( began muttering curses and doing time line math in my head - 40 minutes back, another hour to return and it was already 3:30 p.m. Sun goes down at around 7 p.m. **** IT **** IT **** IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I then had a revelation bordering on Genius, Ethan (Leibs16) lived very close to this pond, I would contact him and borrow a rod. A few quick calls, a short drive, and I was back in business, Leibs saves that day!
Not only did Ethan most graciously lend me a fishing rod, he lent me his pride and joy, a brand new Kistler with his brand new reel. What a nice set up! THANKS LEIBS!
Hit the lake around 4 p.m. and tried many different lures without any hits. It also got windy but was still nice and warm at least. A stupid Swan followed me around trumpeting at me as I was clearly trespassing in the bird's territory. I tried using a small husky Jerk in the spillway and got an immediate hit from what I believe was a trout. It threw the hook so I never got the fish to hand.
Found a nice downed tree in the water and was rewarded by these Dinks:
That was it for the day, but it was still far better to be out fishing that sitting in the office working!
___________________________________________________________
SATURDAY MARCH 15, 2008 - BIG D
Headed out very early Saturday morning for a much anticipated trip to the lower Delaware River to try for spring stripers. Met up with NicDicarlo and we left Philadelphia around 8 a.m., on the way there Nic gets a speeding ticket from a police officer who was in a bad mood and wearing way too much cologne - whew! What a buzz kill.
We recovered from this delay and made our way to the area we wanted to fish. Neither of us had ever fished this area of the River but I did have a reliable report and some directions. We parked in a safe area and knew the direction to the river, but had no idea which path lead where.
We hiked in the correct direction carrying way to much gear. After a few hundred yards we found a little used "path" that was going. what appeared to be, directly to the river. We veered onto this "path" and about 500 yards later the path starts to get muddy and wet. Nic stops and puts on his waders (I was already wearing mine) and we think, great since the path is wet the river cannot be far. Mind you, we were in a vast area of tall rushes so our visibility was limited to a few feet; the rushes formed a tunnel over our heads and were at least ten feet high.
We start to see daylight at the end of the path and I though, great that has to be the river - how wrong I was. The water on the path is now knee deep and when we reach the end there is a pond!!!! On the far side of the pond is a 30 foot tall berm of earth. We opt to wade the edges of the pond, the water is up to our waist, and finally make it to the earthen berm. We get there and realize it is more like a cliff and, after brief deliberation, we craw up the side, dragging rods, cooler, boots and other assorted fishing gear.
At the top we figure the river must be right there - NOPE! There is another vast field of swamps and rushes, with no path. We finally see the river about a mile away and follow the top of the earthworks until we spot a feeder stream with a path nearby. We make it to the river.
A few minutes after getting our bait in the water my rod goes off and I fight a decent fish to the shore only to have my leader break! We are happy that there are fish hitting so I reset and the rod goes off again, and I land a smaller channel cat:
I land another one slightly larger and we both miss several fish. Action is steady but everything is a catfish - no stripers. The delays have caused us to miss the top of the tide and we are now fishing a quickly receding outgoing, not the best striper conditions in this area. We remain resolute determined to catch the channel cats and hope for a big cows striper.
Nic misses about ten fish, he was having a bad luck day. I land one more nice cat:
We finish up the day fishing another area for LM bass without any luck.
Great day fishing and very entertaining :lol: :lol: :lol:
The day started out warm, in the upper 40s and got warmer, until it was near 60* by the afternoon. I had a bunch of paperwork to complete for the week so I sat at my desk working and staring out the window wishing I was fishing. by early afternoon my fishing sense too over so I sent off the last mailing of the day and started gathering my fishing gear.
Tackle bag - Check
Nice selection of cool water type baits - Check
Camera - Check
Earthworms, just in case I found some hungry Crappie - Check
Boots - Check
Hat and glasses - Check
So I loaded up the car and headed out around 2:30 p.m. hoping that I would find the sunny day had warmed up the ponds sufficiently to get the LM Bass active. Drove about and hour (with traffic) to get to the spot .
About ten minutes from the pond, while I was dreaming of what I woudl throw 1st and where, I look over at my tackle bag and noticed that i forgot to load a necessary piece of gear - I forgot my rod!!!!!!! I( began muttering curses and doing time line math in my head - 40 minutes back, another hour to return and it was already 3:30 p.m. Sun goes down at around 7 p.m. **** IT **** IT **** IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I then had a revelation bordering on Genius, Ethan (Leibs16) lived very close to this pond, I would contact him and borrow a rod. A few quick calls, a short drive, and I was back in business, Leibs saves that day!
Not only did Ethan most graciously lend me a fishing rod, he lent me his pride and joy, a brand new Kistler with his brand new reel. What a nice set up! THANKS LEIBS!
Hit the lake around 4 p.m. and tried many different lures without any hits. It also got windy but was still nice and warm at least. A stupid Swan followed me around trumpeting at me as I was clearly trespassing in the bird's territory. I tried using a small husky Jerk in the spillway and got an immediate hit from what I believe was a trout. It threw the hook so I never got the fish to hand.
Found a nice downed tree in the water and was rewarded by these Dinks:
That was it for the day, but it was still far better to be out fishing that sitting in the office working!
___________________________________________________________
SATURDAY MARCH 15, 2008 - BIG D
Headed out very early Saturday morning for a much anticipated trip to the lower Delaware River to try for spring stripers. Met up with NicDicarlo and we left Philadelphia around 8 a.m., on the way there Nic gets a speeding ticket from a police officer who was in a bad mood and wearing way too much cologne - whew! What a buzz kill.
We recovered from this delay and made our way to the area we wanted to fish. Neither of us had ever fished this area of the River but I did have a reliable report and some directions. We parked in a safe area and knew the direction to the river, but had no idea which path lead where.
We hiked in the correct direction carrying way to much gear. After a few hundred yards we found a little used "path" that was going. what appeared to be, directly to the river. We veered onto this "path" and about 500 yards later the path starts to get muddy and wet. Nic stops and puts on his waders (I was already wearing mine) and we think, great since the path is wet the river cannot be far. Mind you, we were in a vast area of tall rushes so our visibility was limited to a few feet; the rushes formed a tunnel over our heads and were at least ten feet high.
We start to see daylight at the end of the path and I though, great that has to be the river - how wrong I was. The water on the path is now knee deep and when we reach the end there is a pond!!!! On the far side of the pond is a 30 foot tall berm of earth. We opt to wade the edges of the pond, the water is up to our waist, and finally make it to the earthen berm. We get there and realize it is more like a cliff and, after brief deliberation, we craw up the side, dragging rods, cooler, boots and other assorted fishing gear.
At the top we figure the river must be right there - NOPE! There is another vast field of swamps and rushes, with no path. We finally see the river about a mile away and follow the top of the earthworks until we spot a feeder stream with a path nearby. We make it to the river.
A few minutes after getting our bait in the water my rod goes off and I fight a decent fish to the shore only to have my leader break! We are happy that there are fish hitting so I reset and the rod goes off again, and I land a smaller channel cat:
I land another one slightly larger and we both miss several fish. Action is steady but everything is a catfish - no stripers. The delays have caused us to miss the top of the tide and we are now fishing a quickly receding outgoing, not the best striper conditions in this area. We remain resolute determined to catch the channel cats and hope for a big cows striper.
Nic misses about ten fish, he was having a bad luck day. I land one more nice cat:
We finish up the day fishing another area for LM bass without any luck.
Great day fishing and very entertaining :lol: :lol: :lol:
