It was a Cocktail, Lenny

Happy New Year!


Fairy Tale New York

Low Water Try for Lake Trout

Matt and I arrived at The Sporting Life 8:34 a.m., and I bought a dozen shiners. On the way over to the reservoir we checked on Zach Merchant's bait shop, which I had heard closed. It has closed. A minute after we parked in Lot 2, Fred Matero drove in.

Fred had told me he wanted to talk to Matt about the Higgs boson, the so-called God Particle. Matt, a junior at Boston University, is funded by that school to create algorithms to interpret experimental data about that particle. They did most of their talking when I disappeared from Ranger Cove towards the main launch, to an area of the reservoir I knew would be exposed, although even with the water level as low as it is, I felt surprised at how extensively exposed. I returned to them after 45 minutes of walking and shooting photographs.

I also felt pleasantly surprised at how well I met nature on its own terms. I get jaded, not only by my job, but by writing every night and keeping up with chores. If an author tells you it's easy to write a book, I suggest you question the quality of the work. But I do find it very enjoyable. To the degree that I often feel like I want to do nothing else. 

But out there at Round Valley today, I was reminded that being in nature is a very different experience. I was reminded of the same, to lesser degree, when I fished with Jesse Sullivan recently, but I had forgotten about it. 

I got the news a couple of weeks ago that lake trout were getting caught, so that's why I came with the shiners, along with high hopes that Matt would catch his first. I phoned Fred and asked if he wanted any, when Matt and I arrived at The Sporting Life, but he preferred his mealworms, marshmallows, and Power Bait.

Nine lines out, none took a hit in fives hours of fishing. But we did see a small trout caught across from us.

Fred and Matt 

https://littonsfishinglines.blogspot.com/2016/02/shiners-for-lake-trout-why-not-power.html

Red Darts and Surveyers for Trout on a Chilly Day

The South Branch Raritan had come down enough from yesterday's rain for me to meet Jesse Sullivan at about 10:00 a.m. for some fly fishing. He told me Shannon's Fly Shop had recently stocked trout, from Hoffman's Crossing Road to further upstream than where we met at the park in Califon. The added possibility raised my hopes. Jesse had never before fished the stretches behind the park. I told him the water is slow.

"That's what I like to fish in the winter," he said.

"Then let's try it," I said.

He later made the point that slow metabolism and slow water go together. He does catch some trout, but it's tough this time of year. He uses an especially long four-weight rod designed for Euro-nymphing. It casts easily. It reminds me of a spey rod, though it doesn't have the power, and he doesn't need it on the little rivers of New Jersey. The rod is 10 feet, six inches long, and Jesse has a couple of pieces to lengthen the rod, to either 11 feet, or 11 feet, six inches, by attaching them to the butt section.

We fished Red Dart and Surveyer nymphs, which he had tied, under strike indictors. Neither of us got any strikes, but days ago Jesse caught a wild brown trout of about 10 inches in Ken Lockwood Gorge. By size, that fish is little compared to "Bubba" released by Shannon's, but a wild fish in the heavily stocked Gorge stands out. I don't know how big this year's "Bubba" brown is, but if I remember correctly, last winter's was about 12 pounds.

I stayed until after 1:00 p.m., leaving Jesse at a slow water hole in the Gorge. The temperature never rose above 32, but the cold bothered neither of us. It's a matter of dressing warmly. I wore a quality base layer, wool pants, and socks, so I never felt the chill of the water through my waders. On past occasions, I've felt that chill very distinctly.

https://littonsfishinglines.blogspot.com/2017/03/trout-in-river-but-none-on-hook.html

More on Florida Coming Up

Viewed videos about butterfly jigging tonight, while enjoying a bourbon Fairy Tale New York my wife made. It was potent. Definitely allayed the anxiety I've felt for about two weeks now, feeling as if I'll blow our opportunity out to sea from Big Pine Key in mid-January. I wondered why I didn't spend more time with videos sooner, but I sort out all sorts of pressures on my time.

Can't promise you big posts after we get back, but I do know big fish are out there beyond the reef. I think it was an amberjack I hooked in 2007. A big one. One of the guys on one of the videos said they dive down into the coral and break off, unless you can hold them up from it, and that's exactly what my fish did, in very few seconds. I have never before felt a fish run so fast and with such power. It made my 11-foot, heavy-power surf rod feel like a noodle. As I reeled in the line, I measured about 60 feet of it frayed by coral.

Not taking my lap top. And since I shoot RAW images, it's all but useless to transfer them by wifi from my camera to my mobile device. I wouldn't do it anyhow...the jpg representation of the RAW file...because I prefer to develop images in Lightroom before I post them in this blog. An undeveloped jpg is not a truer image. I will be blogging about the trip after we get back.

Sharpening

Maybe I'm a sucker. Maybe I'm wise to try and preserve what I own.

Sorting through grinding stones online, I ended up phoning Sharpening Supplies and getting sold on a coarse/fine oil stone combo at $31.00 including tax and shipping. This demonstration on how to do it is so convincing, that once I had spent the time looking into the possibility, I didn't want to go back.

But when I checked Amazon for a blade protection bungee, I found blades for only $26.00 Prime. That made me think maybe I'm a sucker. After all, my original blades lasted five years. Just buy new blades whenever they wear out.

But really, I'm pissed I bought a pair not even two years ago and they're not working. Again, I fear the real reason isn't the blades, but the auger's transmission. Any case, I like the idea of maintaining what I own. Enough that I'm willing to give sharpening a try. And try and try. The post I linked to is authentically convincing that it can be done. I'm just not so sure I have the skill.

Which gives me an itch to try.  

Auger Blades

Blades for my Eskimo Stingray failed after five year's use. Naively, I went to a lawn mower repair shop to have them sharpened. When that didn't work, I told Mike Maxwell. He said, "How much did you pay?"

"$23.00"

"About what new ones will cost you."

He was right. $23.00 on the button.

I used them once or twice, can't quite remember which, and then had trouble again early this year. By what Noel Sell told me, it's because I dragged the auger across the ice on the blades.

Frustrating.

So now the blades cost $39.00. Not even two years later. I told my wife. She says it's because of the Trump tariffs against China steel. Makes sense. Though the tariffs don't.

The entire auger did not even cost $300.00 late in 2011.

I'm telling myself I will pay for the blades, but I will not drag the auger on them. I will take care and they should last another five years.

And then I Googled for blade sharpeners, found a blog post about how to sharpen auger blades with sharpening stones, and decided to give this a try. Even if the blades I have now are shot, it's a good idea to have a set of three stones to keep the new blades sharp.

Bad blades can damage the motor. Undue stress. I wonder if the problem isn't the blades, but the motor, anyhow, because it seemed to me as if the auger wasn't rotating up to speed early this year.

(Now I remember I used the bad blades once early in 2018. The new ones worked well during only one outing.)

Oh, well. In any event, for a man my age, a power auger is a valuable tool. When I was 18 I cut 18 inches of ice with a splitting bar. Easy. In 2015 or 2016, I cut 26 inches of Lake Hopatcong ice with my power auger, and there's no way we would have fished that day without it.

Preparing for the Reef and Beyond

I research gear online and in shops, but I never forget Pat McDermott, back when I worked for Affinity Federal Credit Union. He led the Business Development Department, and on occasion, we talked fishing. Those years happened to coincide with Chris Lido's role as Managing Editor for The Fisherman. While I submitted articles to him, his good friend, Pat, was in earshot of me almost on a daily basis. They grew up together near Califon.

Before my family's 2012 trip to the Florida Keys, I told Pat that I was going to look into buying jigging rods. He told me immediately, "Shimano Trevela." I did my homework online and bought two: one for me, one for Matt. I felt amazed when they arrived. The tips are light. The butt diameter not much. And yet they're rated for 50- to 100-pound test Power Pro. I recently bought Penn Fathom high speed conventional reels. They have a 7.1:1 gear ratio so we can butterfly jig at top speed. (And slow, too. I'll get worn out!)

In 2012, we mounted Penn Squall reels on the rods, but the 4.3:1 gear ratio is too slow. I stupidly denied that, or rather, I believe I was thinking $159.00 each is doable, but twice that, no. In either case, a refusal on my part to think further. Money never matters as much. Turns out the Fathom reels normally cost about $275.00 each, but I found a couple for $182.00. Wind forbade us passage to the reef and beyond in 2012 anyhow.

Tonight I checked United Airlines baggage restrictions. I can carry on my camera bag. And the Trevala rods have butt ferrules. Without that, the 62-inch linear restriction for the rod tube would be a problem. Since the oversize penalty is about $200.00, I don't plan on us taking our six-foot stand up rods. I haven't felt they're very important. Besides using light tackle on the reef itself--snappers & such--we plan on jigging. True, it would be interesting to rig ballyhoo. We might go ahead and do that with the jigging rods, just for variety's sake, and while a stand up rod would be better for bait, for $200.00, it's better to just mess around, if we use bait on big fish at all. Another use for the stand up rods is tarpon inshore. For tarpon, we do plan on bait, but again, while our pool cues would lend more power behind the 80-pound braid on our Penn Squall conventional reels, we can go ahead and shake up our nerves, instead.

It could be my stubborn stupidity again. The boat will cost about $1200.00; why not pitch in another $200.00? Well, I might have to buy an additional rod tube, haven't tried to fit all four rods plus others in the one. And it might be wise to phone United before showing up with something that doesn't meet restrictions.

We'll save the stand up rods for trolley rigging off the end of Avon Pier in the future sometime.

https://littonsfishinglines.blogspot.com/2012/07/groupers-snappers-in-bahia-honda.html