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)
5 comments:
hey, great blog. I was just camping on the beaverkill and caught 2 14" rainbow trout.
Is this Stony Brook, the same as Stony Brook State Park about an hour or so South of Rochester? I've been to the park, walked in the creek, and never once fished it. I might have to try that one day.
Hey, looking for a little help...lived in Wayne County a few years of high school and then PSU but never really fished while there (Dumb huh?) Now I'm back in California fishing where I fished as a kid and have been fly fishing for several years.
I have a dear friend from HS and college...lives in Lancaster and has a house on Lake Ariel (near Hamlin/Lake Wallenpaupack). Trying to get him into fly fishing and when I mentioned my latest fall large mounth bass day trip he asked if he could fly fish Lake Ariel for small mouth? %$&# yeah was my response! So there's the background.
Any reference materials, web sites, locals that I can tap into to direct him on conditions, patterns or whatever so that I can get him throwing line while he is up there.....then maybe I can get him onto some browns, bows and brookies when I'm back there next?
Thoughts? you can email me back at kgilpin@charter.net.
In return, if you are ever coming out to Califronia....drop me a line and I'll set you onto some great rainbow spots in the Sierra.
KMG.
Great posts! I just got back from my latest fishing trip and I wasn't as successful as you guys. I just wnet and bought some new trapping supplies so hopefully I'll have something to contribute after this next trip.
I grew up in Lawrence near Stony Brook. Stony used to be loaded with smallmouths & I would catch and release as many as 50 in a day. Last couple of decades or more, when I've fished it, it's been slow. I don't know why. I don't think it's fishing pressure.
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