7/20/03 - In the upcoming weeks, the Chronicles will be going through a number of changes, as it is being redesigned.

Connetquot River

In 2003, the year in fishing began outside of New Jersey as a change of pace. Mark, Jamie, and his father ventured out to the Connetquot River to fish exclusively for trout. The Connetquot River has its own trout hatchery, which means all fishermen must follow their strict guidelines. Set up using a European style of river fishing, all fishermen have their own stations(docks) spread out approx. 50 yards apart. Wading in these waters are prohibited, and all hook barbs must be crimped. During trout season, you are allowed to keep 1 fish...but even that is questionable.



Mark's nice Rainbow Trout: March 29th, 2003 - 11:26AM
Male or Female? Mark catches a nice female Rainbow Trout. How can we be sure it's a female trout? To the right, a picture of eggs that she emitted while holding. Please don't tell the nice folks at the hatchery.

Caught March 29th, 2003 - 10:51AM


Mr. Capes, at one, with the river. Looks like he's wading, right? Fat chance! He follows the rules!

A pretty Connetcuot Brookie caught by Jamie at 10:38AM.
Early April Pickerel

In the beginning of April, Tom and Ryan fished a lake located in the Watchung Reservation. Despite temperatures in the 40's, they figured it was a nice enough day to try a lake knowing pickerel would be biting. Sure enough, they pulled out a pickerel each. Ryan caught his early on, while Tom hooked his a few hours later on the opposite side of the lake. To assure that Spring wasn't quite here, it snowed the following day.

Caught April 6th - 10:34AM >


Caught April 6th - 12:41PM
First Big Bass of 2003

On April 20th, 7:37PM of this year, Tom pulls out a nice bass from Watchung Lake. "It's really great to see bigger bass hitting this time of the year, before the spawn". He continues to babble and says "Having a digital camera is nice; you know exactly when a fish is caught...down to the minute".




Salmon River, Pulaski NY

After Easter, Mark, Jamie, his father, and uncle Bob went up to Pulaski, NY on a Steelhead trip. This was Mark and Jamie's second trip to the river this year, and proved to be more productive than the first. Without a foot of snow on the ground and better conditions overall, this time around produced much larger trout in bigger numbers.

Caught April 26th, 2003
Night and Day

Here, we have Jamie with a female and male Steelhead,caught at two different times of day.

During spawning season, you will notice the male will begin to form a slight upward "hook" in its lower jaw (seen below). I'm guessing here, but after the spawn it will be less pronounced as it returns to its normal shape.


Caught April 25th, 2003 - 7:16PM



Waders n' Brews - Kickin' it Pulaski Style

The Shad and the Crappie
April 29th, 2003

Although Shad and Crappies are common to New Jersey waters, they're not so common in the Watchung Lake. You are much more likely to pull out a bass, catfish, or of course a sunfish. It is believed that someone had introduced crappies to the lake within the past several years, but catching one now is no surprise. The shad, on the other hand, existing during the end of April is more interesting than why the fish was in the lake to begin with. Kregler explains, "Rare because they're dying off, dead by this point so they don't really "feed". Unless it was foul hooked, that would explain the blood on its head plus the fact that they should be dying off; it all fits together". Credit for these two fish goes to Ryan.


Caught April 29th, 2003 - 7:51PM


Caught April 29th, 2003 - 7:53PM


Nice May Bass


Caught May 2nd, 2003 - 8:08PM

Bass and Catfish

Tom and Kregler hit Watchung Lake with great results. Due to people fishing their regular spots, they decided to hit the opposite end of the lake, which turned out to be a smart move. Not only did it produce several bass, it also produced a nice catfish on a jig, no less. The outing also gave Kregler a chance to test a new sink-tip flyline, which worked out well for him that night.


Caught May 3rd, 2003 - 7:43PM


Caught May 3rd, 2003 - 7:52PM


Simply referred to as "The Gorge", it is one of the more respected trout streams in New Jersey. A majority of the water is fairly shallow, and most of the stream can be accessed with the help of waders. Other spots, like the one pictured to the right, are deeper pockets that can be a few feet deep.

Home to primarily Brook, Brown and Rainbow Trout, The Gorge was a strictly fly fishing trout stream until 2002 when they allowed the use of artificial lures. Although you can now throw in a jig or spinner, the best method of catching a trout would still be a fly. The average size trout is anywhere from 8 - 12 inches, while a "keeper" trout is 15" and above.

As more of a bass fisherman, The Gorge is always an interesting experience for me because of the fast moving current and rocky surroundings. The window of opportunity that a fish has to strike after a cast enters the water is very short, since your lure is swept down stream in a blink of an eye. Being my second trip to The Gorge, I still haven't gotten use to that part of it and only hooked one, which fell off after I treated it like a bass.

Jamie, on the other hand, knows these waters very well since he has fished them since he was a kid. From what he tells me, locating trout and presentation are key in catching them. Unlike bass, you cannot just toss bait in the water and hope they see it. Observing changes in current, knowing what trout are feeding on, and making the fly appear like the insect it is imitating all play a part. Since drifting a fly is such a great technique to use in this type of stream, movement is secondary. Jamie caught five Brown Trout out this outing; the last of which is pictured below.


"There's No Fish In There!"

I got heckled by a little kid at the lake I usually fish at. Since my back was turned, all I heard was this little voice that informed me "There's no fish in there!". Considering it was a slow night and I didn't catch anything, I took the comment as a challenge. Five minutes later, I caught this bass as proof that there were, in fact, fish in the lake. Not knowing if the kid was in a passing car or one of the many people who walk around the lake, he was long gone by this point. It was really a matter of time before I caught something considering dusk was nearing (good fishin') and I already had some good hits. Either way, I was still staying until I caught one. Good thing sooner than later.

You know, I should really start tagging some of these fish. This one looks very much like the "Nice May Bass" I caught about a week ago. I know fish generally look the same as far a species/size, but that would be an interesting test. The tag would simply be the URL address of this page - a neat idea that I probably won't do.



Rubber worms DO work

I guess a good time to try a new is lure when your regular tackle isn't doing the job. I've had rubber worms in my tackle box for some time now and I never bothered to really fish them for very long, even though it's probably one of the easier ways to fish and can be pretty effective. The bass below was caught on a rubber worm using a Texas rig. Caught at 8:36PM would explain the dark picture.

Although I'm horrible at estimating the weight of a fish, I can easily say that all these bass are over a foot long. Not necessarily monsters, but they do put a decent bend in the pole.




The Gorge: Part 2

It's back to "The Gorge", as Jamie and Kregler return two weeks after the last visit to this beautiful stream. Brown trout were active again, even more so than the last time, but a nice rainbow trout and a sucker were also caught that day. Below, a close up of a young native brown trout which was caught by Kregler (Right).

Q & A

Q: What makes them "native" brown trout, and how can you tell?

A: Native fish can be told apart by their more brilliant colors and their fins. Their more brilliant colors come from their all natural diet, as opposed to a hatchery fish which eats artificial foods: dry pellets. The fins on a hatchery trout will often be worn down, due to crowding up against tank walls, while a native trout, who swims freely in a stream, has fuller fins.

Whoa Momma! Check out the fins on that one!
A beautiful native brown trout caught by Jamie

Other Observations about Native Brown Trout

Jamie: the native browns seem to have wider spots than the other trout.

Mike: the native fish seem to be stronger fighters (especially the browns), maybe because they've lived their whole lives in water with current.

Suckers

Mike's expression says it all - Although a fun fish to have on your line, Suckers are, by no means, a "prize catch".

Mike: Yeah, they're sometimes called "trash fish," but since we don't aim to keep any, I'll take a few suckers. They don't usually hit flies, but they do make some nice runs due to their wide bodies. When you're fish doesn't jump, roll, or flash like a trout, it's probably a sucker .

Wow, Mike...what's with the crazy shirt?

Mike: My sister got this shirt for me from Cabelas. It's a great color that doesn't distract fish plus it has velcro straps to hold your rod if you're wading. It's a super shirt.




No Camera Nessesary

Although "The Chronicles: 2003" hasn't been updated in roughly two weeks, doesn't mean that worthy fish haven't been caught. Our regular fishermen have still been casting without the luxury of a digital camera at hand. Last week, Tom had a very good outing over at Carnegie Lake in central NJ with a mixed bag of freshwater fish - several bass, crappie, and a nice perch. "I really didn't care much for that lake, but I have to say the fish were very aggressive that evening. If anything, I would have really liked to get a picture of that perch since it's such a beautiful fish. Now that the lake has redeemed itself, I'll go back prepared with a camera".

Also caught without a camera recently was a very decent pickerel hooked by Kregler on a flyrod, which was caught during his final cast at the canal. Another friend of ours, Scott, went "old school" worm and bobber fishing during the week. He landed several bass in Farrington Lake, although had many monster strikes that he just could not hook.

Considering the spawn (for bass) is pretty much over with nearing the end of May, it is good to see people still having success catching bass and other fish. Spring fishing is one of the great time of the year to fish since the water temperture is at a comfortable level. Once the summer slump hits, you can be sure to see many more salt water pics on this page, since the water temperture will be more comfortable for us fishermen.





The Gorge: Part 3

Once again, Jamie and Kregler fished "The Gorge" on a particularly rainy day on June 2nd. Although the weather wasn't cooperating, the fishing was a different story with many nice trout hooked throughout the day. Below and right is a very decent brown trout caught by Jamie.


On this outing, Kregler did very well with a nice rainbow trout and an equally nice brown trout. Although these fish made it to the site, there were nearly 20 fish caught between both fisherman that day.

During the month of May and continuing into June, New Jersey was hit with an unusually large amount of rain, like most of the country. This could sometimes be a disadvantage when fishing lakes and streams due to flooding and cloudy, murky waters. During these rainy spring days, it is good to see the fish still biting.






June Catfish

Watchung Lake has definitely felt the effects from all the rain with extremely high waters containing large amounts of debris. It will take a few days for the lake to settle and return to normal. Nevertheless, a cloudy day with cloudy water were signs that catfish would be biting, and luckily one did on a pink rubber worm. Believe it or not, that is not a hunk of chewed Bubble Yum.


1989 STRATOS DUAL CONSOLE 20' POWER BOAT

A big Congrats to Mark, who recently purchased this great boat for the salt. I'm sure this summer we'll see many pics on The Chronicles aboard the S.S Seidman, with plenty of nice blues, fluke, stripers, and stingrays.




First Solo Trip to
The Tip of 2003

On another rainy Saturday, Jamie fished the hook and tested a new salt water flyrod. A successful outing : the trip produced some decent sea robins and fluke, plus the new rod and reel worked great.

Nice June Fluke

A shot of a good size fluke, around 14 inches, and the new salt fly combo.

Since this has been the coldest recorded spring in NJ history, salt water trips have been delayed by approx. 1 month when compared to The Chronicles 2002 statistics. With warmer weather ahead, you can expect many more entries this summer.

Another Nice June Fluke

Two weeks later, Kregler and Tom returned to "The Tip" and landed "The Tip's Trifecta: sea robins, fluke, and a bluefish.

Here is Mike with the first catch of the afternoon - It's another Nice June Fluke!

Points Awarded: 1,500


The next three fish Mike and Tom hooked were sea robins (2 of 3 are shown). Although grouped with suckers as a trash fish, sea robins can still put up a decent fight, as did the one below.



Completing the trifecta is a classic shot a bluefish falling for the ol' diving plug.

Note - In the late afternoon, an eastern wind developed which killed the fishing.


Two Nice Bass

On July 19th, Tom hit Watchung Lake armed with a bag of rubber worms and caught 2 nice bass right off the bat. Nothing else hit after that. It made me think how important time of day is when it comes to certain spots. If I go back tomorrow at the same time, i'll probably have luck until the sun changes position.

For a while now, bigger bass have been more difficult to locate at Watchung Lake. Reasons possibly being : the late spring/summer, lots of lake scum along banks, over-fished? Either way, I think the bass have just moved out of their normal spots and it's a matter of finding them now. This pair was caught in a different area than I normal fish, which made me think.