Giving Up on Salmon for Pickerel

Matt and I had salmon in mind at Tilcon. We motored up lake, trying to at least get somewhat out of the wind. There we drifted live shiners over 30-35 foot depths close to the surface. Neither of us have ever caught a salmon in New Jersey, although both of us have got hit by them. Today would convince me I really know little about how to go about catching them.

Where we began, I figured salmon might be up near the surface over that deep water, but I sighted the stickups you can see in the photo above. I let the squareback get us near them so Matt could lay the first cast there for any pickerel. It was a seductive move.

To the right of those stickups, there's a pocket where we've caught a lot of bass during the summers. I had that mellow sense of possibility enveloping me. We began working the pocket thoroughly. I had to pretty much keep the electric on in reverse because of the wind, and I did not like shutting it off, because I've read that it's not having an electric on that spooks fish, but turning it off and on. (There must be a way to add an additional setting to electric motors, which doesn't engage the prop, but makes a similar noise...it would have to be an electronic recording of the sound, though it wouldn't emit the same vibrations, so perhaps it wouldn't work.) Anyhow, I did have to turn it off and on, some, but that didn't matter to the pickerel that took my shiner. The fish weighing nearly two pounds, I lost it right at the side of the boat as Matt was about to net it.

And from thereon, we tried for pickerel. 

We really didn't think of bass, though of course they were a possible catch, especially with the water temp at a balmy 49. I told Matt that from what I've heard, salmon cruise along the shorelines this time of year, so we figured...well? 

I found it hard to imagine salmon and weeds together.

Another pickerel nabbed one of my shiners. I had the half-assed idea of setting the hook quickly, because I used a 15-pound test fluorocarbon leader, not wire. (Chances are good a pickerel won't bite through that test of abrasion resistant fluorocarbon, anyhow.) I reeled in the head of my shiner. Matt began talking about pickerel taking a shiner in the middle, head and tail at each side of its mouth, before it stops and turns the shiner head first to swallow it. I've known all about that for almost 50 years, but had disregarded it foolishly today.

And less than an hour later, Matt set the hook too soon on another pickerel. He reeled in the head of his shiner.  

One would hope a pickerel is big enough to have a mouth that engulfs a shiner whole.

Trolling

 

Truly the Work of a Heretic

Just want to tell you I've managed, by my reading about the publishing industry, to keep hope alive for the trout book redone as how-to with experience to support the advice. The hybrid book described in the post linked to below has no hope for a commercial publisher. It's neither how-to nor memoir; it's both, and yet it even functions more like a collection of essays, rather than a memoir, which by definition has a story arc. Some might say my book does have a story arc--it's just not well-defined as chronological. It is that way by design, though I am certain further revision yet would improve on the structure.

I remain proud of the book as is. It's in safekeeping. When I do work on a memoir inspired by it, I will be creating something different. I love how the trout book uniquely combines how-to with profound spiritual disclosure. How it shows that fishing for stocked trout--with a spinning rod--can lead to the very heart of Western Civilization's value. That's what the book does. And stockers and a spinning rod!? Truly the work of a heretic! 

Which makes it exciting for me. I know. You might not give a shit.

A word about the previous post linked to. Where I write that the majority who would not read the book rules out the few who would, I'm on loose ground. They don't really rule it out. They simply would have no interest and since a publisher couldn't profit, it is of course entirely reasonable he doesn't publish it. No, and the real situation is the book's value. Not its worthlessness. What this means is that if I want badly enough the few who would read it to do so, then I have to pay the price of self-publication. 

Also, further reading reveals that self-publication with an ISBN shouldn't negatively affect subsequent publication attempts. So my rather snide remark about money making it a publisher's business to marginalize me for low sales of a self-published book seems erroneous, and besides, the remark almost comes off as a sneer at money as such. I believe money well-earned is never evil. Of course it isn't. It's nothing more than a measure of value.

Book Post 

The Wrong Way to Hold a Fish

Ever since Andy Still criticized me for holding the bass in the photo that way, I've always held them either straight up and down, or have supported the body underneath by my other hand. It's really best to support the fish with two hands; even when held straight--lipping a bass, for instance--the strain might cause the fish damage.

But to bend the neck--no, don't do that. Think of the strain of all that body weight on the neck. Will a fish survive it? Maybe not.

In any event, the bass photographed probably died, because it was a bleeder. I did release it, hoping the bleeding would stop. 

Saffin Pond

Three Fall Rainbow Trout

Mark uses a centerpin rod and reel, allowing his float to navigate into pockets and around boulders, sometimes floating a hundred feet or more downstream of where he stands. He keeps the reel set on freespool until a trout comes to the net, when he engages the clicker.  When he moves on to position elsewhere on the river, he engages the bear claw, which locks the reel so the rig doesn't come loose as he walks. Free-spooling a slip float is the technique, fingers ready to immediately hold the reel in place so the hook gets set.

He caught two trout on Blue Goo egg sacks he bought while fishing the Oswego River in New York recently. He also ties his own sacks. Sometimes he uses a single salmon egg, a nighcrawler, a pink Gulp worm, or a plastic bead. A third trout for him today came on a single pink Mike's Atlas Shrimp egg. All three were about 14, maybe 15 inches long. The rig is identical to a steelhead rig. A half dozen or so split shots trail down the line in descending order by weight. A plastic bead sits underneath the float, one at the top between the float and a stopper. He buys the beads at Michael's. Much less expensive than at tackle shops or online.

I fly cast a black and a copper woolly bugger, catching nothing and getting no hits.

I got to see some more of New Jersey, traveling roads familiar to me elsewhere, but not where I drove today. I had made a left where I was supposed to go right, putting more than 10 extra miles on my odometer, but now I've seen countryside I might never have seen. It's not a good thing to take too much for granted.  The river is always there, but the fox we saw was an event not quite like any other involving a fox we'll see.

Mark told me about a tree in the river no longer there, too. It created an eddy and bowled out the bottom a bit. The river's always becoming a new version of itself.  

Chub

NJ Trout

Walpack Inn & Justin Lerner

Finally got a Sunday off after weeks holding down the fort while my supervisor is out after back surgery. Trish and I headed north, after I felt a little annoyed at her getting ready at what I believed was a late hour. (Did I express my disgruntlement? No, no, no. Not a word.) As it turned out, we arrived about 45 minutes before our table reservation, so we bought hard apple cider and sat on the lawn to enjoy Justin Lerner's performance.

Many of you probably know Justin Lerner from his FB posts of amazing catches. I did get to meet him when he took a break. 

I've felt so interested in shots of him with big browns, I asked him, "What's the biggest wild brown you've caught in New Jersey?"

He said he caught a 26-inch brown, adding that you can't tell for certain. I quickly agreed, but I really didn't know if maybe there's a sure way to tell the difference. He said the fins of his big one were clean. I had heard before that often you can tell it's a club fish by damaged fins.

The Walpack Inn is really only about an hour-and-a-half from Bedminster, when we take the road from Blairstown over to Millbrook. Go to Old Mine Road from Route 80's last exit, and it's surely two hours.

It's our favorite restaurant. Has a real sportsmen's feel about it.

On the way home, a bobcat ran across the road in front of our car.

 

Justin Lerner is Playing at Walpack Inn Tomorrow

 I really should have thought of posting this a week ago. I guess it's better late than never.

Justin Lerner, the legendary angler some of us see on Facebook with his great catches, is also an artist. (But he seems to be plenty of an artist as an angler.) He plays guitar and has two albums out: 18th Avenue and The Dividing Line. His performances--solo and with his band--range from small bars to stadiums. 

The Walpack Inn is located in Delaware Watergap National Recreation Area in Sussex County. It's a great restaurant. If any of you are interested at the last minute, there may still be time for you to make reservations.

Mustad Bronze

Could have bought 100 #10 treble hooks from Amazon for three dollars more, but they are corrosion resistant, so I bought 25 #10 bronze Mustad trebles. Sometimes a fish takes the hook deep, and bronze hooks rust out. Corrosion resistant? Obviously seems less likely they would.

Many would say I shouldn't use trebles for bait. They block food passage if caught in the gut. I shouldn't even use single-prong. Only circle hooks. Anything but a little treble complicates a live herring's freedom in the water. Single-prong hooks turn inward on the herring's eye, while a treble mounts on its head like a crown. I'm not altogether sold on the idea that little treble hooks block food passage, particularly in the case of larger fish, but I hate it when a fish I intend to release gets hooked deeply. Even if it's a yellow perch. 

I set the hook as quickly as I get to the rod and tighten the line.

Got these hooks on my 60th birthday today. I was thinking I may never use them. Bottom fishing live herring doesn't interest me as much as it used to. But suddenly it occurred to me that sometime in the future, my son and I might get that next chance to do it, which we talked about the last time, October 2016, when he was a senior in high school. 

Maybe the little square pack of hooks will wait for him on a shelf.

(He just now phoned as I proofread.)