Death of a fishery...

Hurricane Irene hit the northeast pretty hard.  Two of my local warm water haunts were destroyed by the storm. Both impoundments suffered a catastrophic dam failure and subsequently bled out.  What happened to the pictured lake left is a bit of a mystery.  The dam looks intact, but it appears that the floodgates may have ruptured.  Water is still rushing out at an alarming rate from the base of the dam but the waterline is no where near the dam at the current time, so I have no idea where the water is coming from.  The coves and shorelines are littered with the remains of fish.

On the back side of this high and dry island (to the right of the egret) Icaught my largest NJ bass of 2011, a spawned out female that pushed the scales to the seven pound mark. This was a favorite place to fish. I could be on the water in minutes from leaving my driveway. It was a convenient place to drown some flies after work and still be home in time to put kids to bed.

I saw NJ Fish & Wildlife in there during the week trying to rescue fish from the receding waters. I have no idea what the future holds for this lake. Will the dam be repaired, the lake restocked and restored to it's former self? Or, will it slowly dry out and return to a meandering stream.  Only time will tell...

Ironic isn't it...

A week ago I was concerned about a hurricane ruining my Florida vacation and now I am worried about this same storm trashing my house while I'm away. The storm missed us entirely here in Florida but is now bearing down on my home state of New Jersey. Return flights have been canceled and when we finally arrive home there will likely be property damage and power outages to deal with. However, there is a silver lining in every dark cloud, I just managed to book an extra day of bass fishing. So while Irene is kicking New Jersey's ass I'll be tossing flies in the Florida sun! I just hope my house still has a roof on it when I get home!


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This could be a bust...

My bags are packed and I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow.   I was hoping to try out my Sage Bass Series fly rod on some Florida strain largemouth.  I have been very pleased with the rod's performance and it's ability to cast large bushy flies into the wind, but this may be a little tough.

Fishing in the Rain...

This spring has been a very cool wet one for us here in the northeast.  Great for the trout, not so great for those of us that chase them with a fly rod.  I am not adverse to fishing in the rain, but all this rain has kept our streams at or near flood stage for long periods of time.  When water levels and clarity drop down to fishable levels its time to drop what your doing and head to the water regardless what the weather is.  In between all of this rain we have had some breaks with a beautiful day or two but usually the rivers are blown out or running with the consistency of chocolate milk.  I have been glued to the computer, studying water stream gauges on my local waters and dashing out when there looks like there is an opportunity to fish.  On days when the streams are just not an option I've been able to slip my kayak into a local pond and chase warm-water species.

This Monday there looked like there was going to be a opportunity to hit the trout streams.  Water levels were dropping to fishable levels and hopefully there would be enough clarity to fish.  After work I slipped out for a few hours and was not disappointed.  There were plenty of fish in the margins and the softer water along the banks.  The low light and off colored water made some of the stream's larger browns a little more approachable but landing these fish in high water was next to impossible.  Once they headed off down stream chasing them was not an option, so your only option was to snub up on the reel and bid them farewell.

The positive side to this spring's tough conditions will be that there should be plenty of water and fishable temperatures well into June.  It was also good to see that the bugs don't seem to have any issues with the high flows.  Our sulfurs are coming off like crazy and are getting a break from the fish as they ride rapids unmolested, at least on the surface.  So there was no delicate presentation of light colored mayflies to these fish.  It was big heavy nymphs, the kind that will put your eye out with an errant cast.

Longing for soft warm evenings presenting delicate dry flies to rising fish...

Lock the door...Earl's a knocking

I was planning on this weekend being my first outing for trout in New Jersey since June.  Cooler evenings have made early morning outings now possible.  However this uninvited guest may cause me to rethink my plans.  It looks like NJ is going to dodge the bullet on this one but we are still under a tropical storm warning that will bring wind and rain.  Earl's not spending the night so the weather will be clear Saturday morning but the rivers may be feeling the effects of the rain (which we desperately need). I'm gonna keep a weather eye on the horizon and see what happens.