Bass Update #1

So I've decided to change include all bass caught on my fly rod in July and August as part of my bass updates. I went out in the 90 degree heat on Monday to try out two warm water rivers in the local area: the Millstone and Stony Brook.

Millstone:
I had a very nice time on the Millstone. I worked poppers in shaded areas of the slow moving water and landed one 12 inch largemouth bass. I also caught a bunch of bluegill. More exciting were the various wildlife sightings: flicker (one of my favorite birds), great blue heron, painted turtles, swamp turtles, Canada goose, mallard, downy woodpecker, catbird, belted-kingfisher. The Millstone/canal is full of turtles, by the way!

The river itself follows the Delaware-Raritan Canal (more correctly, the canal follows the river). It's a muddy, slow, shallow, and warm river. Too warm to support smallmouth bass; however, some of the largemouth bass I saw were of considerable size. I also would expect big catfish to swim in the river's deeper pools.

Stony Brook:
I had a nice time at Stony Brook, although I anticipated more smallmouth action than I encountered. Instead, Stony Brook is full of rock bass - not a bad alternative. I landed four rock bass, one smallmouth, and countless bluegill on a wooly bugger streamer. I also saw a lot of wildflowers; unfortunately, the pictures I took of all the fish and flowers were erased off my camera. I'm heartbroken; however, I will be buying a new digital camera soon. If my memory serves me correctly, I saw these flowers: wild sarsaparilla (a cool flower!), honeysuckle, bouncing bet or soapwort, and others that I cannot remember. Overall it was a good day.


Overall Total: 8

River Breakdown
Stony Brook - 5 (4 Rock, 1 Smallmouth)
Bushkill Creek - 2 (2 Smallmouth)
Millstone River - 1 (1 Largemouth)

Species Breakdown
Rock Bass - 4
Smallmouth Bass - 3
Largemouth Bass - 1

Type of Fly
Streamer - 5 (4 Rock, 1 Smallmouth)
Nymph - 2 (2 Smallmouth)
Popper - 1 (1 Largemouth)