Trout Update #9: Gorge

So I made it back to the gorge this past week for the first time in a few weeks. I arrived at around 5 PM, encountering high 80s temperatures and sun on the water. I initially tried nymphing with bead head pheasant tails, but this strategy quickly proved futile. I then switched to my go-to hot weather fly, the green weenie (inchworm imitation). I used this to catch one stocked brown. I also lost a bunch of fish, an occurrence that continued throughout the day. My frustration rose considerably and I didn't catch another fish until the very end of the night. One of the fish I missed was a sizable, 18 inch brown...

I did see a family of mergansers. The baby birds would submerge for minutes, swimming around underwater like giant fish. They were delightful to watch. Later that night, on my drive home, I saw a bunch of deer and a red fox. Not too bad. I also saw some cool flowers as well, including tiger lily and swamp rose-mallow. I've uploaded some photos I got before my camera decided to die:







My first brown, caught on the green weenie.














The beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, wonderful, amazing, stunning, gorge.
















The family of mergansers. It was getting dark when I took the picture, but if you click on it you can see them. This is also the pool that I fish extensively at the gorge.






Overall Total: 131


River Breakdown:

Raritan River, South Branch - 18 (9 Stocked Brown, 7 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 17 (15 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Pequest River - 17 (9 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Marshalls Creek - 16 (16 Wild Brook)
Beaverkill River - 10 (7 Wild Brown, 2 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Brown)
Faulkner Brook - 7 (6 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Poplar Run - 9 (7 Wild Brook, 2 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 7 (7 Stocked Rainbow)
Spring Creek - 6 (3 Wild Brown, 3 Wild Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 4 (3 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (4 Stocked Brown)
Penns Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Rattlesnake Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 3 (2 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Tiger)
Stony Run - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook)
Cherry Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Lawrence Brook - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Musconetcong River - 1 (1 Stocked Brown)


Species Breakdown:

Brown Trout - 59
Stocked - 42
Wild - 17

Brook Trout - 55
Wild - 40
Stocked - 15

Rainbow Trout - 15
Stocked - 11
Wild - 3
Golden Rainbow - 1


Tiger Trout - 1
Wild - 1
Stocked - 0


Stocked Trout - 69
Wild Trout - 62


Trout 15+ Inches: 5


Angling Breakdown:


Fly Fishing Rod - 67 (27 Stocked Brown, 14 Wild Brown, 9 Stocked Brook, 9 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Wild Brook, 3 Wild Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)

Spinning Rod - 64 (37 Wild Brook, 14 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 4 Wild Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Wild Tiger)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 73
New Jersey - 48
New York - 10