June 23 and 25, 2017 – A Couple Destinations and a Couple Mornings of Meh… - Barnegat Bay Sods and the Wissahickon Creek

Chilly, damp sod banks in a south wind.

My parents have a rental on LBI for the better part of June and July this year and have so every year for a long time.  This place and I go way back.  Ward and I rented this same duplex with a couple other single white males (and at least two females, plus Ricky, who was a single Hispanic male, and prettier than the women) back in the day.  The family that owns the place became friends (they never raised the rent in 10 years!) and still let me rinse off and warm up after surf fishing throughout the year—so let’s say a couple clicks above just Christmas card friends, ones I try to see whenever I am on the island and have the time.  Before Pete got less mobile and sold his 19 foot Carolina Skiff, I used to take him and my dad out for fluke and weakfish a few times each summer, playing captain while the old heads talked politics, baseball,  and cursed out cabin cruisers throwing wakes that correlated with their bank accounts (or loan to debt ratios).  We caught a few fluke too, at least Joe and I did 😝

Skee ball: make it rain...

Pete is so kind that he used to just leave the keys in it so, in exchange for filets and tanks of gas, my Dad and/or I would avail ourselves of the boat throughout the summer, even when Pete was not around.  Pretty sweet set up, yeah?  I still enjoy talking to Pete and his wife, and so do Tami and Lukas.  Pete, Joe, and I will still rent a boat in Barnegat Bay later this month, I am sure, but this time I just took a walk on the sods with my dad, hoping for a few fluke.  After a day on the beach with the boy, plus an evening at the arcade, I was happy that the tide was suited to my relaxed attitude towards life this week.

Flotsam and jetsam Christmas tree 

With the storms popping up all over the region, and a hurricane staging, not to mention a steady south wind—the surf fisherman’s nemesis, as it creates upwelling and cools the water very quickly—I didn’t expect much.  I had one legit hit on a bucktail, and that was it.  I did better than Joe, who walked out and back on the sods with nary a tap.  The water had to be low 60’s, perhaps cooler, and besides some nearly microscopic spearing or bay anchovies, there was not much life present.  Still, it was a good walk with my old man on some of my favorite stretches of water on the island.  Let’s just call it a warm up for when the water, well, warms up again.

Mmm... chocolaty...

This morning I got up way too early, so after trying to get back to sleep for a half hour and ending up unsuccessful in that endeavor, I got dressed and fished the muddy Wissahickon.  The area got clobbered by storms, and the water table was already decent, but I was surprised how little the creek had fallen since I checked on it sometime Saturday afternoon.  Valley would have looked like any other day on Valley, but the larger freestoners in the area were obviously still pushing out water.  I only targeted two riffle/run spots that I figured would still hold fish, and for the first hour, I had my doubts, as I was only able to hook a few rock bass and little smallmouth swinging a streamer.  I turned to the streamer because the only love that my nymphs received was from sunfish when my casts landed in water too calm to hold trout.

A feisty male in borderline water temps.

Eventually, I gave up on the streamer and reapplied myself to the nymphs, high sticking right up in the white water.  I went back to basics with a pheasant tail and hare’s ear as the dropper.  There were actually a couple small, tan caddis moving around this morning, and a lot of midges, but the water clarity probably wasn’t going to allow anything too delicate.  At any rate, the basic combo did the trick, and I landed a nice male rainbow that jumped a couple times and made a few decent runs.  After a quick picture, I released him in good shape, but I was reminded to check the water temperature.  It felt chilly, but it was only 67 degrees at about 7 AM.  Unless it cools down this upcoming week, the party is about over.

Palomino through the polarized lens...

I had one more run that I wanted to fish before the dog swimmers and the rest of the park visitors started stirring, so I took a walk, hoping to stick one or two more before getting a coffee and heading back home.  When I fished this run a couple weeks ago, I had a thump in a shallow pocket that actually broke off my san juan dropper.  At the time, I thought it might have been a big bass (mind you, big here is 2 lbs).  I have hooked bigger bass on the creek that refused to take their noses out of the riffles, just bulldogged me until the 5 weight was bent in half trying to get them to make a move.  As I approached the run this morning, I saw the likely culprit, not a bass, but a big palomino that managed to escape capture, due in no small part to the perfect lair he has made his home.  I didn’t spook him, and even got him to take a look at my offerings twice, but in the process I hung up on the sunken debris he was suspended behind at least twice.  I discretely broke off the first two times and retied, but by the third, I said eff it and finally spooked him back under the boulder he must hide under the rest of the day.  Before I spooked him, I took a couple shots through the lens of my Costas, but you can probably predict how clear they came out.  Just in case you can’t, I will share the better of the two photos…. 

The san juan after the rain is good stuff.

Before I finally quit to go visit High Point Café for some good coffee, I did land another rainbow.  This one took the pink sj worm dropper.  He too was in good shape still, but unless the nights get cool again, I doubt I will have but one or two more trips on the Wissy for trout this year.  Maybe I will utilize a couple for cut bait or have Eric smoke them.  Actually, with all the run off from the streets, the creek smelled a tad petroleum-based this morning, so I will probably let the eagles and herons have them.  I hope this upcoming week improves on the weather and fishing front.  This week was sort of meh…