As for Lately -- Some Good News and Past Fishing Sessions

Hello, Readers! 

It's been quite a while, hasn't it? In a heartbeat, it's almost October of 2014!!! I was looking through the Blog today, reminiscing my fishing sessions for these past 3 years. Lots of adventures in the City of Brotherly Love. Heh.

Well...I have some good news. The good news is that the Blog will continue running and there will be minor updates here and there. In the end, it seriously depends on how much free time I'll have in the future. I'll try my best to further portray the sport of fishing in Philadelphia (and remember -- it all boils down to S.A.F.E. angling in the end). Thus, I'll always be updating the "photo of my last catch" on the right tab of the Blog; writing about fishing and local events when I can; creating introductory posts; etc. In other words, you should be expecting AT LEAST two monthly posts here (that's my goal for now, considering the limit amount of time that I have in my hands)

Now, let's talk Trout fishing...

As a reminder, Fall Trout Stocking is coming up! Unfortunately, there will be only 1 stocking for the Philadelphia county and 2 for Bucks County by the PA Fish and Boat Commission:

-- Pennypack Creek at 10/09

-- East Branch Perkiomen Creek at 10/07

-- Levittown Lake at 10/07. 

(However, there are good news: The Wissahickon Creek will be stocked next year during Spring AND Fall! Thus, expect a good Trout season for 2015)

Similarly, New Jersey Wildlife is also doing their Fall Stocking in October:

-- Crystal Lake at 10/14

-- Grenloch Lake at 10/14

For their full schedules, you may access the PA Fish and Boat Commission website here and the NJ Wildlife website here. 

Finally, below is a little summary of my latest fishing sessions in and around Philadelphia:

-- August 25th, 2014 -- 

Location: Manayunk Canal & Schuylkill River

Time: 12:00-3:30 p.m.

Fishes caught: 

-- 1 Green Sunfish

-- 8 Smallmouth Bass

-- 1 Eastern Silvery Minnow

-- 5 Bluegill

After getting a single Green Sunfish at the Manayunk Canal, I decided to wade the Schuylkill River around East Falls. Thankfully, I finished the day with a couple Sunnies and Smallmouth Bass, not to mention that I even micro-fished a small Eastern Silvery Minnow. 

I saw two nice Smallmouth Bass sunbathing around East Falls (~3lbs, estimate); however, unfortunately, I wasn't able to entice them. It was truly a shame; after all, I spent nearly 90 minutes at that spot trying to make them bite. Heh.

On a side note...

The talk about the "dredging of the Manayunk Canal" has been going on for a good while (perhaps a decade?), and now the government is finally taking action over it.

After a little bit of online research, I found out that they are dredging it in order to "remove build-up sediment that sometimes leaves the waterway looking like an algae-covered pond." I believe that the long term plan is to connect the main river to the canal in order to get rid of the stagnant water (and thus, all the algae, etc). If that is so, there would still be fish in it! 

For now, let's just hope that the government doesn't leave all the fishes there to die (it would be a SHAME to see all the Carp and LMB there dead). 

---

As for 08/25, I measured the water marks along the canal and found out that the level of the water had already decreased by 6-8 inches. 

Thus, fishing was extremely tough: many shallow and unfishable areas, not to mention that the fishes could be clearly seen with polarized glasses (i.e. Common Carp, Sunnies, Gizzard Shad, LMB). I think the canal is pretty much done for the Largemouth Bass; however, one can still do some decent Carp fishing down there.

---

Well...gotta enjoy it while we can.

Photos are below:

A Green Sunfish caught at the Manayunk Canal on a wacky rigged Senko.

Small Smallmouth Bass on a Thomas Nickel Gold In-line Spinner.

Probably my biggest Bluegill of the day. Gorgeous fish! 

An Eastern Silvery Minnow from the non-tidal Schuylkill River

My biggest Smallmouth Bass of the day. 

A huge Snapping Turtle chewing on my 5-inch Gary Yamamoto Senko! Thankfully the hook came out on its own...

The dredging site at the Manayunk Canal.

--- August 27th, 2014 ---

Location: Schuylkill River

Time: 1:00-6:30 p.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 3 Striped Bass

-- 3 Channel Catfish

-- 1 Bluegill

As always, I went to the Schuylkill Banks for some Channel Catfish! Biggest fish of the day -- a 5lb Channel Catfish on the dot. On a side note, I apologize for the quality of the photo below! There were some kids around when I caught it, and they wanted to see that beast swimming in the water; thus, I took a photo in a hurry. 

As a matter of fact, I love to fish in that spot between Locust and Walnut during high tide because I don't really need a net to land my fish, since there's an "inlet" right next to it during high tide. So, I can release the fish in that little inlet and watch it swim away! Believe me -- watching a fish swim away is one of the most rewarding experiences an angler can have in his/her life. And if kids are around, it's a BIG bonus! The little inlet there is pretty clear and shallow during high tide. Since it takes a couple seconds for the fish to snap out of its confusion, you can watch it slowly swim away. It's marvelous!

Photos of the day are below:

Smallest Striped Bass of the day on the Schuylkill River; however, it's to show that the natural reproduction of the Species is going well! Year after year I've landed small Striped Bass at this time of the year, all the way from Locust to the Fairmount Dam. Good stuff!

The Marine Unit down at Locust Street. This was the day after the story at Kelly Drive...

Nice Channel Catfish caught on a nightcrawler.

Biggest and only Bluegill for the day! Bait attained! 

Biggest Catfish of the day -- 5.00lbs! It was caught on the Bluegill above.

Same fish, another angle. =)

--- August 29th, 2014 ---

Location: Schuylkill River

Time: 1:00-5:30 p.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 4 Redbreast Sunfish

-- 5 Bluegill

-- 8 Smallmouth Bass

-- 1 Rock Bass

Here's a little preview of one of my FAVORITE Smallmouth spots on the non-tidal Schuylkill River! The biggest I ever caught there was 2.8lbs, and I have never gotten out of there skunked. In other words, I've always caught at least 1 small Smallmouth Bass in this location:

I finished the day with many different types of fish, all in that single spot! On a side note...I even caught a little Rock Bass and some Redbreast Sunfish there. 

Sometimes it's hard to imagine that they would be there, since these Species of fish are usually found in Creeks with crystalline water (there are exceptions, though -- i.e. Neshaminy Creek, which has muddy portions filled with them). One hypothesis is that they got washed out of the Wissahickon Creek into the Upper Schuylkill, which is now their home. On the other hand, perhaps they have always been in the Schuylkill River, but just in areas where people don't usually fish at.

Whatever hypothesis is right, isn't it interesting for us to think "where did they come from?" I mean...how did they migrate to that area? And if they did get washed down from the Wissahickon Creek, how did they get in the Creek in the first place? Heh...mind boggling, eh?

Photos of the session are below:

First Smallmouth Bass of the day on a Thomas In-line Nickel Gold Spinner.

Good old Bluegill on the Spinner. =)

Rock Bass from the Schuylkill River.

Redbreast Sunfish.

Found this little Raccoon by the River. Cutest thing ever! 

Another angle.

My last and biggest Smallmouth of the day. As I have mentioned previously, my biggest there was at 2.8lbs. Thus, this wasn't my best day there. However, that spot never lets me get skunked. =)

--- August 31st, 2014 ---

Location: Newton Lake & Newton Creek

Time: 2:00-6:00 p.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 4 Largemouth Bass

-- 3 Redbreast Sunfish

-- 18 Bluegill

-- 1 Green Sunfish

I did a short fishing session at Newton Lake, moving to Newton Creek afterwards. The action was considerably slow; however, I was still able to land a couple Largemouth Bass and Bluegills in the main Lake. 

Photos of the session are below:

Biggest Bluegill of the day, caught on a Thomas Nickel/Gold In-line spinner (very similar to a CP swing).

In comparison, here's the smallest Bluegill of the day. Heh.

A healthy Green Sunfish from the Newton Creek, which is located right next to the Newton Lake. The Creek is short; however, it has many different Species of fish in comparison to the Lake.

The biggest Largemouth Bass of the day, caught on the same spinner cited above.

And, in comparison, the smallest Largemouth Bass of the day! It's good to notice that small Largemouth Bass are an indication of good reproduction ratio in a specific body of water. Thus, it's always a pleasure to see the small ones swimming around.

A Redbreast Sunfish from the Newton Creek, caught on a Trout Magnet.

And this is it for the month of August! More reports coming up!

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights,

Sincerely,

Leo S.