Extreme Philly Fishing: Group fishing at the Fisherman Statue (Schuylkill River)

I woke up 6:00 a.m. this morning knowing that I had scheduled a fishing session with my friends at the Schuylkill River. I looked up the weather in my computer: 34F! It was freezing! But then, so what? I thought: "Low or high tide, today is a full moon - which is a very good day to hit certain species of fish." I went out my door with that thought in mind.

I arrived at the location 8:10 a.m., and the tide was almost at its lowest. Soon after I arrived, my friends Rob and Stephen joined me. And much later, my friend Nadir joined as well. Believe it or not, the tide was so low at the Fisherman Statue portion of the Schuylkill River that we were able to go down on the sand and fish from there (pictures are at the end of the post).

The morning started good, despite the coldness of the water, and the fast current of the outgoing tide. Rob was the first one to catch a catfish, and I followed with one as well. However, our objective for the session was to catch anything else besides catfish! Striped Bass, Largemouth, Smallmouth, Muskies, Walleyes - so many species at that portion of the river to be caught; however, each with their own sets of times and circumstances. We started at the Fisherman Statue, and moved to the Fairmount Dam later in the morning.

Truth is: we ended the day not getting anything other than Catfish. However, I must say it was a fun day, as all group fishing sessions are! After all, it's not all about catching fish (even though the main objective in fishing is catching fish): it's also about enjoying the environment/outdoors, socializing with other people, enhancing skills and knowledge, and so much more...

That's definitely how rich fishing is as a sport, and it should be practiced more often - consciously and politely.

Here are some pictures of our session below, as well as some pictures of another session that I did with Nadir and Rob on Tuesday night, on the Schuylkill Banks (11/08/11):