Hello, Blog Readers!
Today I'm bringing you folks my fishing report for March 20th -- the first day of Spring for the year of 2015. Heh. Before that, I would like to comment on a little something:
As a side note and curiosity, here's an interesting article for you folks to nibble at. If you read it, you should be quite shocked! It just happened that we got super "lucky" this year: the East Coast of the United States of America is actually the only blue dotted area on the map. Everyone else in the northern hemisphere had a warmer Winter than usual. On one hand, we can say that we were extremely unlucky for that to happen. I mean...we did suffer from all the ice and sleet! On the other hand, this "warmest Winter" business is really really bad for our planet! As you may or may not realize yet, climate is changing all around the world. Think about it...
--- March 20th, 2015 ---
Location: Tidal Schuylkill River
Time: 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Fishes caught:
-- 2 Channel Catfish
-- 1 American Eel
Straight to the point: the first day of Spring was brutal! I've fished Philadelphia's watersheds for the past 4 years, and yet I never saw 5 inches of snow on the first day of Spring. Certainly unheard of. So, instead of writing about these "harsh conditions," here's the video from this fishing session:
This was my first video with my new GoPro camera! The interesting part is that I got to test it under harsh conditions. Did you notice the little "shooting noises" towards the end of the video? Well...those were the snow getting banged on the GoPro casing! Heh. Anyways...expect tons of videos this year (as far as I land some fish in them).
As indicated in the video, I initially setup three rods with American Eel (Anguilla rostrata). After 40 minutes or so without a single bite, I decided to switch one of my rods for a high-low rig with small hooks and nightcrawlers. And guess what? Bang! The fish were actually biting on the nightcrawler.
Here is a photo of my second Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus):
A nice 1.5lber from the Schuylkill River, right by the South Street Bridge. This hungry beast decided to feast on my nightcrawler.
And here is a photo of the American Eel, which was not portrayed in the video:
My first American Eel of the year. I usually CPR all my fishes; however, Eels are quite special to me. Therefore, I decided to keep this little fella as bait for future monsters.
As a matter of fact, this Eel came up quite unexpectedly! In other words, I didn't even know that the fish was hooked. I would have taken my sweet time with photos and video if conditions weren't that tough. However, my hands were already freezing after catching that second Channel Catfish! And so was my body, since 2 layers of Under Armour were already wet from the snow (I was wearing 5 layers all together). This Eel was the final deal! After unhooking it, I knew immediately that I had to pack my gear and go home...
Here is a second photo of the Eel. Note the difference in color between my hand and my wrist. The redness of my hand is actually a primary symptom of Frostbite -- something that you definitely do not want to get while fishing during cold weather.
Thankfully, I was really fast on the packing and my hands were in my pockets in no time at all. Thus, I went only as far as the initial stages of Frostbite (no blisters or anything like that). As I mentioned previously, that Eel was the final deal: I knew by then that I had underestimated Mother Nature and I took all the necessary precautions to remain healthy. No "acting tough" for me. Hah. It's definitely not worth it!
I gotta tell you one thing, though: the feeling of taking a hot shower after being out in the brutal cold is unbeatable! And I ended up not getting skunked! And the video turned out to be quite good (in my opinion). So, at the end of the day, everything was well! :)
Best of luck for all of us,
Long Days and Pleasant Nights,
Sincerely,
Leo S.
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