Will It Ever Freeze Again?

Pine Barrens Winter Pickerel Thought I'd include a link, but Fred's the star again, with his continued largemouth and pickerel action down there near Long Beach Island, but firmly on the mainland. It was a cold day yesterday, but look what he caught on a 4-inch Senko. I like those pine trees over his head. There's definitely the sense that they invite you to something else, compared to the environment up here where I live in the Highlands.

And my wife tells me we're in for a freeze. I told her that's what we need, for ice fishing. Hoping so. I was just thinking today that Round Valley Reservoir hasn't frozen over since early 2015.

The big question--will it ever freeze over again?

Happy New Year!

Matt and I did get out and fish this last day of the year. His mother came along with Sadie. Round Valley. 

The fishing is hit or miss. I explained to Trish that it's a lot like the surf fishing I do when we go to Island Beach. Sometimes--often--there's simply no fish out there. The surf is barren. Likewise, along the shore of Round Valley. I told her that trout cruise along the shorelines, and if any were to swing in where we were fishing and see and smell the bait, most likely that bait would get taken.

But some days the fish never show.

Trout on Power Bait

Matt and I rode over to Round Valley, where I decided to see if Dave Delucca was at the ramp, instead of going directly through the main gate. He was there, and had caught two rainbows. Got to meet Matt. The three of us talked. Dave was curious about Matt's work on the fusion reactor. (I realized after we got home that I had forgotten to tell Matt that Dave's son was drafted by the Yankees. He never got to play for them, but he managed to have college paid for.)

One of our rods got hit after 10 minutes or so; Matt took it and missed the hit. We had two rods baited with shiners, two with orange Power Bait. The hit came on Power Bait. Matt insisted that the next hit would be mine.

It came as dusk began to fall and we were about to leave. Stripped line off the spool rapidly, but turned out to be a little 14- or 15-inch rainbow, on Power Bait. 

Round Valley With Matt

Merry Christmas to you.

Matt's back from California. We bought shiners at The Sporting Life and headed over to Round Valley, rigging one rod with Power Bait, also. Otherwise, we fly cast. Woolly Buggers. And as you can see in the photo, relaxed.

Guy next to us caught one about 18 inches on Power Bait.

We talked about Matt's main project at work--devising a way and measuring the plasma density of the cold fusion reactor. The company isn't producing fusion energy yet, but it might get there and be the first to do it. We also talked about his vacation coming this spring, when he hopes to hike a mountain north and west of Los Angeles. The base of the trail is at about sea level, and from there it's a 10,000-foot ascent to the summit. He remarked that its the same vertical elevation as Mount Everest from the base camp.

 

NY Enhances Artificial Reef Network

Any of you who read the recent comments...so Fred cast a size 3 Mepp's on his way home from trying for white perch down the shore. He also caught a pickerel.

DEC

 

Winter Trout Trifecta

Fished with Mark Licht this morning and early afternoon, using my two-weight TFO. I have caught wild trout out of New Jersey streams with it, even a stocker rainbow once, when I expected sunfish and maybe a smallmouth bass late in June. I keep trying to catch more when I get the chance. Mostly, I find I improve my casting, but I did hook a seven-inch brookie during fall 2020. Tried a size 16 or 18 pheasant tail for the browns, that and a red dart for the brookies. I figured a brookie might get turned on by the red, but it never happened. I never used an indicator in the little creeks. I'm not saying I think I got hit and just don't know  None of the trout I've hooked in little creeks have involved use of an indicator; I always see my line twitch, if I don't see the trout hit. Mark caught two other browns, nice stream browns of about 9 or 10 inches, though smaller than the one photographed, which was at least a foot, more like 13 inches. About as long as the rainbow he caught, and the state says they don't stock them in the fall smaller than 14 inches.

In the river, Mark used Blue Goo from the Pulaski/Altmar region. It sure works on stocker rainbows. He fishes it under a float on a center-pin outfit, steelhead style. We probably didn't even fish a half hour, but he caught two. I put an indicator on my line and continued to fish that size 14 dart. Nothing happened, but I felt I fished pretty effectively. I was surprised at how shallow, both fish caught. Actually, when I began fishing where Mark caught his first, before he finished getting into waders, I did feel strongly there could be a trout there, even though the water was two-and-a-half or three feet deep. On down the river we walked a bit before quitting. Mark pulled one from quickly moving water that didn't look deeper than two feet.

 

First "Overview" in a While

The first really cold weather of the coming winter season--if you call upper teens cold--might be with us overnight in the Bedminster region. I gave the forecast a quick scan, so as to judge whether or not marginally safe ice may form on ponds. Doesn't look like it, but I'm not about to pass judgment on points further north.

Clicked on the blog's "Round Valley" label and read "Fortune or Misfortune" from not really all that long ago. Though I'm not disvaluing the followers who help make what the blog is now by being there for it, we used to have many more, and you can see that reflected by the number of share bar clicks at the bottom of each page. (If you access the blog by mobile device, Microsoft Edge, and likely ohter browsers besides Google, the share bar might not appear for you.) Actually, 2020 was the banner year for number of followers and clicks shortly after posting, as COVID got so many interested in fishing, as well as in slowing down to read more at length.

You may have noticed my posts are much shorter these days, and stick tight to the fishing, rather than going deep into ideas. Before I began blogging, I used to write in notebooks nobody read. For the most part, I didn't even read them myself. And yet, for decades, I wrote passionately, and even as I grow older, and wiser about what's possible and what isn't, I still wonder if my journals--big stacks of them--have posthumous value. Imagine, people reading Bruce Litton a hundred years from now. No, I don't think it's likely. But history offers any reader so many examples of writers--and other artists--who were totally ignored during their lifetime and later became icons. At least I have you for readers. William Blake literally made no more than pocket change for a day or two from his poems and paintings. Same for Vincent Van Gogh. He was a nobody. Now, just one of his paintings is worth about $100 million.

It was even worse for poor Blake. Everybody thought he was mad. At least Van Gogh proved he was mad at least some of the time by spending time in mental institutions. 

It's not as if I've forgotten you by no longer writing long and in-depth. Everybody seems to say nobody reads any more, but that's not true. I know it isn't, because many of my long and in-depth posts--even ones without photo support--have lots of share bar clicks. I'm not saying there are people who wish no one would read any more, people who hope our entire civilization goes up in flames, perhaps; people who might feel triumphant as nuclear missiles descend upon us, their hatred of humankind vanquished, but I believe we not only will see no such end, but that people will go right on reading, no matter what those who wish people would be illiterate say.