On Tuesday April 23rd the second big moon event of the month will hit the skies. The first was the Lunar Eclipse that came on April 8th and in two days the sky will be lit up with the first full moon of the month. It's an important moon, hopefully, to us fishermen and women.       The Pink Moon gets its name from the plant, the creeping phlox, aka moss phlox or mountain phlox. It's one of the first flowering plants of the spring. It's also known as the Fish Moon because that is when the shad begin their migratory upstream to spawn. Well, it's in name ..read more

     It's time to revisit the whole "Spot Burn" issue. Again. It's like the same old thing every year, and it seems to be getting worse. I'm not sure why it exists but it comes on strong and then goes away only to return. It's really not a spot that is burnt, it's a bite that is. There are spring bites, some summer bites, and definitely the fall into winter bites. Social media and cell phones all play their part in it, but it's us anglers that have ruined it for others, and in the end ourselves.       Spring spots are well spring spots. Let's be real, ever ..read more

     So the other day I had this happen. I was going to post it a PSA so the next guy doesn't do it. I should heed my own advice. I had ;leaned my rod along the passenger side of my Jeep and used a magnetic Tightline rod holder to secure it due to the wind. I'm trying to baby my new Helios 12 wt. the best that I can.       So today I fished a spot. It's been a 36 hour drought so I was excited to fish spot #1 but when that didn't produce I quickly got into my truck and sped off. When I got to Spot #2 I realized that I left my rod, again, along the passen ..read more

     It really is amazing that the Covid pandemic was four years ago. Sad of those we lost, not just in lives lost, but so many other things as well. The collateral damage was equally as bad. And now we are starting to see all of those things we didn't know about the vaccines. If you took them, great, if you didn't that's great as well, but, there are a lot of people alive because of them, dead because of them, and now suffering with long term adverse effects that we didn't know at the time. The disease was bad but what it did to us both individually and as a human race was t ..read more

     I've been doing a good job keeping up with the loose a fly- tie a fly this spring. I feel like I'm pretty well stocked up although this whole fly thing is pretty funny. No doubt a good fly is as good fly. At times flies that look spot on and swim well and don't foul are the ticket. But what about the other times.       Below is an example. The fly on the bottom I have officially retired. It a "Beauty shop of Horrors Fly" tied mostly with cheap-ass weave material from a Beauty Supply Store in the bowels of Trenton. It  once had eyes and maybe a ..read more

     Been fishing when I can as the semester starts to wind down. Been dancing in the rain and trying to position myself best for the wind. Bringing a few to hand. Losing some flies. Having fun. It's seems just when things are looking good Mother Nature shows herself at the most inopportune moment.      We got hit when hard rains which really blow most of the river out. Now the temps are getting too warm too quick, in my opinion. You hang out in the 40's and hope to hit the 50's and then it jumps 10 degrees in 6 days. It's only going up. Everything weather-wise ..read more

      Me and Delaware Joe hit it at 6 am and finished at 2pm. We did take a break for breakfast. Flies, plugs, bucktails, bait....you name it. Only thing to show for it was this nice smallmouth that took a 7inch fly.  ..read more

     2024 Lunar Eclipse. Image taken at 1531 hrs. Lot's of cloud cover. Stayed north. No bites.       Earlier in the day my clinical group finished up at Clara Maass- Class of 2025.  ..read more

     That opening line of course taken from the movie JAWS. If the above gizzard shad, which went about 14 inches, is what bigger fish are eating then I'll need to add a lot more material to my ties.       With the weather up and some of my regular "why change it" flies getting beat to shit it was time to sit down and wrap some hooks. I started with some darker colored flies for low light before going  through my fly wallets and seeing what I needed. One of my go-to's, which I was going to catch a fish on even if there were two strands of Squimpish ..read more

     For so many opening day of trout season is an annual ritual. I used to do it, mostly in my early fishing years in the off-color and underwater maze of debris in the Manasquan River. Most of the fish I caught would be filleted and placed in aluminum foil only to wind up solid in a block of ice at the bottom of the freezer.  On my way for slightly bigger fish I stopped before the 8am start and talked with the above guys. They were talking of the current water conditions and the inevitable question that always comes up, "I wonder if they put a lot of fish here?". Ang ..read more