We caught a lot of fish. Fifty of them easily, but no big ones. Mostly sunfish. I think last summer we passed on fishing here, but we've been coming in July for years now. I remember Mark telling me about a pool below a waterfall full of smallmouths, and you can just imagine...how I imagined that. Even so, we've caught some good ones. Mark's caught a couple about 15 inches and better, and he lost one that looked like 17, easily. I saw that fish before the hook popped out. I hooked a big one on a little #5 Rapala I believed was 18 inches, but you never know until you measure the fish.
Last year we tried the Paulinskill, but not far upstream, unknown to us at the time, a dam was being removed, so the water was muddy. We diverted our plans and went to the Pequest. We caught some bass and a trout.
Mark had fished at least a couple of the pools we fished today a week ago. He did pretty well. Smallies were a little bigger, and he caught a rainbow trout.
The best part of the morning for me involved fishing a shallow stretch that still manages to hold bass. We've always caught them there. We also catch longear or redbreast sunfish, and today I caught a single bluegill, as well as a few rock bass. The bluegills aren't nearly as common in the rivers. One of the longears that took a Rapala #5 off the surface was good sized, bigger than my hand. I caught a couple of little eight-inch smallmouths, too, losing another on the leap, and missing hits on the surface, mostly from sunfish. It's just an involving way to forget about everything else. Mark texted me since we fished, and I like his suggestion of trying it again before summer's out.
Mark's always brought along nightcrawlers to resort to. I succumbed to them right from the start. I must have cast my 1/8-ounce swimbait three times before I gave up on it and took my ultra-light in hand instead. I caught a couple of bass about nine inches long on the worms and lots of sunfish. A few bass smaller. Casting the plug instead, I got to thinking about how clean that approach is. I could feel the difference. And yet, when I use salmon eggs for trout early in the spring, part of what makes the fishing what it is and is appealing to me is the smell of the oil. It does smell like salmon, of course, and salmon are great to eat.
It's possible the allure of the smell has something to do with Omega 3 fatty acids, too. Who knows. The desirability of them. Whatever it is, I like to get involved with the mess and catch trout on the eggs.
Mark caught the smallest bass. That's a fingerling, isn't it.
