------------------------------
Updated:
Youtube Channel
--> Added:
1. Mike H. catching a Largemouth Bass at Manayunk Canal.
2. Jay D. playing a Common Carp at Manayunk Canal - Part 1
3. Jay D. playing a Common Carp at Manayunk Canal - Part 2
4. Jay D. playing a Common Carp at Kelly Drive, Schuylkill River, on an ultralight
------------------------------
Mike H.'s report on different places around PA, including the Schuylkill River, a Lake in Abington, and Delaware River - July 4th-22nd.
For previous reports from Mike H.'s:
A Lake in Abington - July 4th, 2012.
Haddon Lake, NJ - July 1st, 2012.
ABA Tournament (North East River) - June 24th, 2012.
Multiple Lakes (PA and MD) - May 30th - June 6th, 2012.
Haddon Lake, NJ - May 25th, 2012.
FDR Park and Fairmount Dam (Schuylkill River) - May 20th & 24th, 2012.
Fairmount Dam (Schuylkill River) - May 18th, 2012.
Fairmount Dam (Schuylkill River) - May 12th, 2012.
Fairmount Dam (Schuylkill River) - May 3rd, 2012.
Font Hill Pond, MD - April 29th & May 4th, 2012.
Schuylkill River - April 26th, 2012.
------------------------------------------------------------
Written by Mike H. - edited by Leo S.
Hey guys, first off, I apologize on not writing any reports recently. Unfortunately, my catches haven't been that great and I haven't been fishing as often because I've been playing a lot of tennis.
July 4th: I fished in the morning right before work. My catches weren't anything special, only a Channel Catfish on a crankbait, lol (1st picture). However, what was hilarious and sad was what I saw on my way to the fish ladder: the sad part was that the place was littered with discarded trash, uneaten hotdogs, red cups, etc. What was hilarious was that I saw at least a dozen people passed out, drunk on benches and the grass - looks like they had quite a night, haha, most of the guys without shirts, and one without pants lol!
July 9th: Again, I fished in the morning for an hour and a half or so, before work, at the Schuylkill River fish ladder. I had a great day quantity wise, but not quality wise. I was nailing the baby Stripers, ending up with 11 total. I caught them mainly on a Tailspinner, but also caught a couple on a suspending Jerkbait. For the first half an hour while fishing with a Fluke, I was getting hits on every cast and was getting frustrated that I wasn't hooking up. When I finally realized that they were baby Stripers, I made the switch to a different lure
and started nailing em! I only took 1 pic of the 11 (2nd picture).
July 10th: My friend Kevin and I went to a lake in Abington in the afternoon and fished for about 3 hours. In the past, I had great success there. So, I was anticipating a superb day of fishing. Within the first five minutes, right after I made a cast or two by the dock, Kevin runs over to me with a solid 3.25 lb bass in hand (3rd picture). Right off the bat, he hooked into a solid fish using a unique ribbed shakey head Worm on a shakey head Jighead. Unfortunately, neither of us landed a fish for a long time after that, but I lost several good fish on Swimjigs and Kevin missed a couple of huge blow ups on Frogs. The pattern at that lake appears to be that you can get the fish to bite, but for some reason, it is very difficult to land them. Regardless, Kevin did a great job landing his second keeper near the end of the day, a nice 2.5 lb bass (4th picture), while I was utterly skunked!
July 11th: I fished at the porch at the Skuke in the morning, before work. I did alright, as I managed to land a nice 1.5 lb Smallmouth Bass (5th picture) on a Green Pumpkin Tube, as well as a dink Largemouth on a Spook (no picture). The Skuke gets very tricky to fish during the hot summer days and the best time to fish for bass and the like is dawn or evening, when there are low levels of light.
July 18th: I almost had my best fishing day ever at the Skuke. I fished for two hours, and for the first hour I fished with Flukes and topwaters without a nibble. By this time, the tide was extremely low and the water was only a foot or two feet deep in certain areas. I decided to tie on a Squarebilled Crankbait and crash it off the rocks to see if I could elicit any reaction strikes. Right off the bat - first cast I nail a 1 lb catfish (no pic). After another 15 minutes or so, something incredible happened: while retrieving the bait in shallow water, I watched as a monster fish darted up from the deeper water and nailed my bait! I set the hook, felt the weight of the fish and prepared myself for a hell of a fight. Sadly, the monster immediately came up to the surface, shook its head, and bam - the fish was gone. I reeled in my line to see that it was cleanly cut, not snapped, and I knew what the fish was, since I saw it when it came to the surface and shook its head. It was the first ever Muskie I hooked into, and appeared to be at least three feet when I looked at its silhouette in the water. Well, at least I know that they're in there, and I'm sure I'll be able to hook into another one someday. After the Muskie went away, I hooked into what probably would have been my personal best Snakehead (2.5 lbs or so) while casting the same Crank Bait through some shallow current. The Snakehead fought tremendously, as it had the current on its side, and managed to throw the hook after a 30 second fight or so. On the last cast of the day, I hooked into my first ever Spotted Bass! (6th, 7th picture). A Spotted Bass resembles a Largemouth Bass exactly, except for two key features: (1) Its jawline does not extend past its mouth, and (2) it has a small dark patch on its tongue which I tried to photograph but failed. Oh well, you can tell from the pics its mouth is small like a Smallmouth Bass, and its nice to know that the Skuke is the king when it comes to diversity.
July 22nd: I fished my fifth tournament ever on the ABA Tournament Trail. The tournament was held on the Deleware River, and all of the anglers met at the Lightning Jacks Marina in New Jersey. Ironically, I am by far the youngest angler and was randomly paired with the oldest angler, a grumpy looking 80 year-old dude, haha. I wasn't intimated by his looks, but I was excited to fish with him because he just came off a win in the last tournament at the North East River with a 20+ bag of fish! Unfortunately, after meeting him, he told me up front that he wasn't familar with this River, which was a bad sign for me. However, at least he was a really nice guy, even though he couldn't understand a word I said unless I literally shouted it at him (hearing issues). We started the day making a long run out of the Marina to a different Marina to fish. We weren't actually allowed to fish in that marina, so we fished along the edges. He threw soft plastics while I threw topwater, neither of us had any luck.
The next spot we hit was a field of thick lily pads near the marina. I tried fishing a swim jig while he stuck to jigs and plastics. Again, no luck. We worked our way down the pad-field until we got to some docks. He stayed with the same baits while I switched to a drop shot rig. After casting to a spot he just threw his lure at, I hooked into a solid 3 lb fish (Last picture) that put up a fight like a 5 lber. Since the current in the Deleware is so strong, the fish's muscles are more developed, making them superb fighters! We continued to fish the docks and got numerous hits, most likely from perch and bluegill. We made our way down the docks to another shoreline, littered with pads. The good news was that the shoreline was littered with Bass, we each caught at least 10 Bass with a variety of plastics and hardbaits. The bad news was that every single fish was under 12 inches, the legal size to keep for the tournament. We made one more run through that exact loop, starting outside the marina, and had a 30 minute detour because a cop pulled our boat over because the old guy was apparently making a wake in a no wake zone. It was completely bullshit because we were going slower than other boats on the water in that exact same area. The cop wasn't very nice, and checked for a fire extinguisher, whistle, extra PFD, throwable PFD, ect. The old guy ended up getting a 50 dollar ticket for making a wake, and an additional 33 dollar ticket for not having a whistle and not having a throwable PFD where it is easily accessible...
After that detour, we abandoned that spot and went to fish under a bridge. My partner was throwing a spinnerbait and hooked into a nice 4lb fish. The only problem was that it was the wrong species, he managed to catch a good sized Walleye haha. We worked our way down for a while without luck until we got to a small channel that, according to my partner, it held fish. When we were about to make our way in to the 1 foot channel (it was low tide), another boat sped past us and went in first - what an ass! The old guys had trouble with boat control, and it took about 15 minutes for him to get into the channel. We made our way down and the water was literally less than 2 feet deep and only 12 feet wide - I didn't see how there would be fish in there. Eventually we see the other boat parked in a spot on the channel making repeated casts to the same spot. My boater said that douchebag took the hole we were going to fish in - apparently, there was a 4 feett hole he said Bass stack into. He was right, as the other boater caught a 12 inch fish throwing plastics. As we passed by him, I threw my crankbait in his area and hooked into a solid 1.5 lb fish - take that, douchebag! That would be my only other keeper for the day, unfortunately.
For the remaining three hours or so we tried various padfields, structure, and shorelines. My boater said he made some errors and should have made a longer run initially to an area he knew held Bass. Oh well, it was still a fun tournament and I almost won a check for Big Bass. The big bass was 3.5 lbs, and I had second lunker with a 3.1 lb Bass. I ended up finished 11th out of 20 anglers, which was good enough to put me in second place for co-angler of the year, only 1 point behind that three time co-angler of the year for the past three years. In fact, that guy lives on the Delaware river, and has won several tournaments as a co-angler because he knows the river so well. So, at least, it appears that I'm fishing pretty decently during my first year of fishing tournaments, since I'm about even with the current co angler of the year holder.
Pictures are below:
------------------------------------------------------------
I hope everything is going well, Kevin! We will miss you here, around Philly. When you come back to visit, let us know - we will go for some extreme Bassing!
Hahaha...oh, man. I feel bad for that old dude! "+33 dollars for not having a whistle...," what a shame, man. "4lbs fish - a Wallaye" - he should have won the "rare fish" of the day, man! Catching a Walleye during day time at the Delaware is extremely rare, in my opinion.
Nice report as always, Mike! Sorry for the delay - I've been fishing a lot, and working on the FishAThon. =)
Best of luck for all of us,
Long Days and Pleasant Nights,
Sincerely,
Leo S.
