2nd Day Night Time Fishing in Florida (01/24/17, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL)

What's up, fellow Blog readers?

Here is my fishing report for January 24th, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: Anglin's Pier

Time: 10:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 5 White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii)

-- 6 French Grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum)

-- 1 Lane Snapper (Lutjanus synagris)

-- 2 Blue Striped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus)

-- 1 Smallmouth Grunt (Haemulon chrysargyreum)

-- 7 Tomtate (Haemulon aurolineatum)

-- 1 Sailor's Grunt (Haemulon parra)

-- 1 Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)

-- 1 Houndfish (Tylosurus crocodilus)

-- 3 Striped Croaker (Corvula sanctaeluciae)

Video:

Below are the highlights for this fishing session:

My 9th outing of 2017. Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos!

Summary & Photos:

After spending my entire day with my mother at the mall and down the shore, I sneaked out at night for some more Florida pier fishing.

I arrived at the Anglin's Pier around 10:00 p.m.. I was ready for some fishing, 1Rod1ReelFishing style. I setup a Shimano Sedona 4000 FD, tied with 20lbs KastKing Fluorokote, with a Penn Pursuit II medium-heavy rod; high-low rig with two size #10 Mustad hooks, with a 2 oz. river sinker on the bottom. The additional hook was due to the fact that the wind had calmed down considerably since last evening -- staying in the range of 15-20 mph. Recall, folks: less wind = more "feel." The technique for the night remained unchanged as well: vertical jigging along the pier, right on top of the coral reefs, with small pieces of squid. :)

Within two hours of my fishing session, I already had caught all the Species of the previous evening:

Fish #157. A Tomtate

Fish #161. A French Grunt.

Fish #162. A Lane Snapper

Fish #163. A Sailor's Grunt

Fish #164. A Smallmouth Grunt

Fish #171. A White Grunt

Fish #175. A Blue Striped Grunt

Thankfully, that was not everything! One small lost Porkfish decided to join me as well:

Fish #165. The Porkfish

The cool thing about Porkfish is that they are not only gorgeous fish, but also amazing fighters. Thus, even the smallest ones give you an amazing fight on light gear! Reeling them in is always a lot of fun.

Then, around 1:00 a.m., I actually noticed a huge school of Needlefish around the pier. I was almost positive that those were Houndfish; therefore, I had to double check! I put away my high-low rig and tied on a weightless steel leader with a size 2 octopus Gamakatsu hook. I connected the leader to my line with a regular Eagle Claw swivel. For bait, I used small pieces of chopped Grunt (which is entirely legal in Florida). 

The trick in catching Houndfish or any type of Needlefish is really to keep your bait as close to the surface as possible. Sinking a little bit is no problem whatsoever; however, this type of fish will lose interest in the bait pretty fast if it sinks too fast or too deep. After my first cast, I just did a steady and slow retrieve to keep my bait as close to the top as possible. And not too surprisingly, the Houndfish started to catch up on the scent really quickly. 

In the end, it took me only two casts to catch one of them:

Fish #169. A Houndfish! :)

Finally, among all the smaller Species from the reef, there was one that stood out for sure. It was definitely the highlight of the day:

Fish #170. The Striped Croaker. Species #152 on my list!

When I first caught it, I immediately thought that the fish looked awfully a lot like an American Silver Perch (Bairdiella chrysoura). However, the fish had these patterned stripes in its body that just don't belong to the American Silver Perch Species. Through the lack of canines on top of its mouth, I excluded the Sand Seatrout as well (Cynoscion arenarius). So, in the end, I really had no idea what it could be.

I ended up taking a few photos of the fish under the LED light, and sending them to my friend Patrick Kerwin, who is an expert in identifying all kinds of weird and unusual fish Species. Heh. Meanwhile, I did a little bit of reading on my own and narrowed it down to Reef Croaker (Odontoscion dentex), Striped Croaker, and Blue Croaker (Bairdiella batabana). 

After some discussions and a closer analysis of the fish, it turned out to be a Striped Croaker! Species #152 for me. :)

Two new Species in two evenings? Not too shabby, folks! Around 2 a.m., I was too tired to continue fishing. So, I decided to call it a night!

Best of luck to all of us!

Long Days and Pleasant Nights!

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing

Florida Fishing Under Fresh Gale Conditions (01/23/17, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL)

What's up, fellow Blog readers?

Here is my fishing report for January 23rd, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: Anglin's Pier

Time: 1:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 1 White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii)

-- 4 French Grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum)

-- 1 Lane Snapper (Lutjanus synagris)

-- 1 Blue Striped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus)

-- 1 Smallmouth Grunt (Haemulon chrysargyreum)

-- 1 Tomtate (Haemulon aurolineatum)

-- 1 Sailor's Grunt (Haemulon parra)

Video:

Below are the highlights for this fishing session:

My 8th outing of 2017. Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos! :)

Summary & Photos:

First evening fishing in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, and Mother Nature was already not so forgiving. The weather down there was totally nuts, folks! Albeit warm, winds were going 35 mph+, which is why my flight got delayed by two hours due to "extreme weather conditions." The sweet part is that my airline -- JetBlue -- reimbursed me with 25% of my airfare because of those unforeseen circumstances. So, thank you very much, JetBlue! 

Anyways...Upon arrival, I had two choices: I could either sleep in for the night and go fishing in the morning, or I could go fishing right away. Being the fishing freak that I am, of course I chose the second option. Hah.

I arrived at the Anglin's Fishing Pier around 1:00 a.m.. I purchased some good old squid and went straight to vertical jigging. Since the wind was so strong, I decided to tie a single size #10 Mustad hook, above a 2 oz. river sinker. I opted to do that over the traditional high-low rig, so that I could actually feel the bite better with the fresh gale around. :) 

A few casts later, my first victim of the night came up:

Fish #147. My first Florida fish of 2017: a White Grunt

And a few more casts later, many other members of its family decided to show up as well:

Fish #148. The French Grunt

Fish #153. The Blue Striped Grunt.

Fish #155. The Tomtate.

Fish #156. The Sailor's Grunt.

And among all the Grunt catches, around 2 a.m., a lonely Lane Snapper decided to chew on the Calamari:

Fish #151. The Lane Snapper.

The highlight of the evening was definitely the fish below, which initially I wasn't able to identify. When I reeled the fish in, my initial assumption was that it was a Tomtate. Just a really weird Tomtate. Hah. After analyzing it better, I came to the conclusion that not only the fish wasn't a Tomtate; it was actually a new Species of Grunt for me:

Fish #154. The Smallmouth Grunt. Species number 151 for me.

As I always like to tell myself before a fishing session: "You never know what you will catch." Heh. The Grunts and Lane Snapper were totally expected, since they are the Species of fish that are active during the evening. What I didn't expect was to catch a whole unknown type of Grunt! That was pretty cool! Thus, in the end, it was definitely worthwhile to fish out there under fresh gale conditions. :)

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights!

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing

Winter Creek Fishing for Smaller Fishes (01/21/17, Yardley, PA)

What's up, fellow Blog readers?

Here is my fishing report for January 21st, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: Buck Creek

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

Fishes caught:

-- 13 Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

-- 18 Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)

-- 1 Bluegill X Pumpkinseed Hybrid (L. macrochirus X L. gibbosus)

Video:

Below are the highlights for this fishing session:

My 7th outing of 2017. Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos! :)

Summary & Photos:

A day before my trip to Fort Lauderdale, FL, I went out for a few hours of Multi-Species angling! Due to time constraints, I picked a close location with easy access: the Buck Creek in Yardley. :) Another cool thing about this particular fishing spot is that jigging works really well for it!

A view of the Buck Creek from the Delaware Canal in Yardley, PA.

I surely hope that you folks have realized already that I am very big when it comes to jigging. I love all different types of jigging -- vertical jigging, float-suspended jigging, bottom jigging, cast-and-jig, drop-shot jigging...you name it! And the best part of all this jigging business is that certain techniques work extremely well for the Winter season, particularly suspended jigging. Therefore, my initial setup for this fishing session was a weighted Comal cigar float with a 1/50 oz., 3 mm. Kenders ice fishing jig, tipped with small tail pieces of the Berkley 1" Gulp! Alive Minnow. 

I started casting towards the deep portion of the Creek, with 10-14 inches leader. On my second cast, our first victim surfaced from the depths of the Buck Creek:

Fish #115. A Bluegill.

After the first cast, it was truly a slay fest, folks! One bite for every two casts: no exaggeration. And for my surprise, after catching a few fishes here and there, I noticed that I was actually catching more Largemouth Bass than Bluegill for the day. The amount of stunted Largemouth Bass in that portion of the Creek was surreal. All of them were about this size:

Fish 121. A Largemouth Bass

 

Then, the day became even more puzzling than before. Among the Largemouth Bass, I started to notice that a few Bass here and there actually had a rough tooth patch on top of their tongues. Now, if you folks here are familiar with Bass anatomy and physiology, then you should know that the presence of such tooth patch on the fish's mouth could be an indication for the Spotted Bass (Micropterus punctulatus) Species.

A small & round tooth patch is on this Bass' mouth. Could this be an indication of Spotted Bass in the area?

There is definitely room for discussion here. :) So, if any of you want to send me your thoughts on this matter, feel free to inbox me on my Facebook Page. Until I am entirely sure myself, I will take those fish to be Largemouth Bass.

Anyways...the fishing session went on with lots of Bluegill and Largemouth Bass on the small pieces of Gulp! Minnow. In the afternoon, the bigger Bluegill started to show up:

Fish #132. A six inches Bluegill from the Buck Creek.

And among all those fishes, one exotic Hybrid decided to make its existence well known to us:

Fish #135. A Bluegill X Pumpkinseed Hybrid. The blue on the operculum indicates Bluegill. Red on the opercular flap indicates Pumpkinseed. Body shape and patterns match as well

In the end, I finished my short fishing session with three different Species of fish (not counting the possibly Spotted Bass). Not bad at all for a Winter day, right? Just after, I went home and started packing for my Florida trip.

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights!

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing

Fishing for Meowfish on the Schuylkill River (01/18/17, Philadelphia, PA)

What's up, fellow avid anglers?

Here is my fishing report for January 18th, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: Schuylkill River (TIDAL)

Time: 11:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 6 Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

-- 1 American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)

Video:

Below are the highlights for this fishing session:

My 6th outing of 2017! Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos! :)

Summary & Photos:

Taking the mild Winter weather in consideration, I finally decided to hit the tidal Schuylkill River in Center City, Philadelphia, PA, for some traditional Channel Catfish -- a.k.a. the "Meowfish." Heh.

The Schuylkill Banks -- one of my favorite Winter Catfishing spots in Philadelphia.

Before I give you folks the summary for this fishing session, here is a fun "fishing story" for you guys. It is actually a legit and authentic fish story; however, I have absolutely no physical proof to back it up:

"It is February of 2014. The trees are bare and the land is white. It is the harsh Winter time. Air temperatures below 32F, air temperatures close to 35F. I soak three rods with pieces of cut American Eel on the Schuylkill Banks, in hopes of catching the average 3-5lbs Winter Channel Catfish! 

At 12:30 p.m., after landing 5-6 fish in the range of 3-5lbs, I get a very light bite on my medium-heavy rod. I pick it up. I feel it. Nothing. I return the rod to its initial position. Soon after, another light bite. Same process -- nothing! Third time, yet another very very light bite: the line barely goes slack. This time, I decide to pick up the rod and keep it in my hands. After feeling a small tug, I set up the hook and immediately feel weight on the other side of my line. 

Fish on. 

It takes me about five minutes to land the fish, and every second of the fight I feel immense resistance down there. After seeing the fish surface, I immediately realize that the beast down there is my new PB (Personal Best) Channel Catfish! Folks...it is an ancient one! 

I land it with my net. I measure it on my digital scale: 12.25lbs. I yell. I jump. It is definitely the biggest Channel Catfish that I have ever landed from the River! It may not be a trophy Channel Catfish within the United States of America, but it is a trophy fish for me. My hands get numb from handling the fish, so I can only lethargically reach my Sony camera within my pants' pocket. 

For my luck, I see a young beautiful lady walking through the trail. So, I ask her to take a few shots for me! She sees my trophy catch and says 'That is a big one!' She gets the camera and take a few shots -- horizontal and vertical. She returns the camera; she smiles; and then she leaves. I get to see my PB Catfish one more time, before finally putting the beast back where it belongs -- in the deep waters of the Schuylkill River.

I sit on a rock and look around. Numb as I am, I still can't believe it! So, I reach for my camera and turn it on. I go through the photos one more time, admiring the fish in awe. And that is when it happens...with numb fingers and one small mistake, all photos of the day get deleted from the camera!!! Agony fills me up, because at that moment, I realize that the beast that I so longed to catch will always remain a memory and a memory alone."

Very sad story, right? But that was to show you readers, ultimately, that Winter fishing on the Schuylkill Banks is usually very productive for the bigger Channel Catfish...which is precisely why I went down there again today.

The conditions for the day were prime, folks! We had a warm rain just the day before, elevating the water temperatures of the Schuylkill River to 40F. The current of the River also went up by a few hundred cfs (cubic feet per second). I arrived at the River around 11:30 a.m. -- 1 hour prior to dead low tide.

I soaked two rods with chunks of American Conger (Conger oceanicus) -- one with a slip-sinker setup, and the other one with a high-low rig. With my third rod, I used a high-low rig with small size 8 mustad hooks, tipped with small pieces of rotten nightcrawlers -- a.k.a. my Zombiecrawlers.

An American Conger Eel that I caught in the Absecon Inlet, back in Fall of 2016

Not too surprisingly, I started to get bites non-stop! As soon as I cast my first line in the water, I got 2-3 small taps on the Eel chunk while setting my second rod. After casting my second rod in the water, I got bites on both rods while setting up my third rod! 

In my first thirty minutes of fishing, I ended up landing my first two Channel Catfish of the day: one on a piece of cut Eel and the other on a piece of zombiecrawler:

Fish #109. A Channel Catfish

The action stayed hot until 12:30 p.m.: when low tide dropped in. After so, I still had a few bites here and there; however, things were just not the same! Thankfully, around 3:20 p.m., I landed a solid Meowfish to boost my mood (3.61lbs). It was a funny bite too, since the fish came up on my ultra-light setup:

Fish #112. My biggest Channel Catfish of the day, measuring 3.61lbs on the digital scale. Don't let this photo fool you, reader -- it was a chunky guy :)

The rest of the day was super boring. I did get a few more Catfish bites; however, no hook-ups. On a side note...I ended up landing my first American Eel of 2017, which was also the last fish of the day. The small lost Eel hit my zombiecrawler just moments before I packed up:

Fish #113. My first American Eel of the year!

 

In the end, I didn't really encounter my beloved 12lber Catfish from the River. Hehe. But it was a nice day on the water regardless!

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights!

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing

Winter Spillway Jigging for Panfish (01/15/17, New Britain, PA)

What's up, fellow Blog readers?

Here is my fishing report for January 15th, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: Pine Run Creek

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 9 Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)

-- 9 Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

-- 5 White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis)

-- 4 White Perch (Morone americana)

Video:

Below are the highlights for this fishing session:

My 5th outing of 2017. Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos! :)

Summary & Photos:

After checking the weather in the morning (25F-40F), I figured that some of my most productive Winter spots still had a chance of being frozen! Therefore, just to be on the safe side, I decided to hit a spillway. To be more precise, I decided to hit the Pine Run Dam spillway, located in New Britain Borough.

I arrived at the Covered Bridge park around 12:30 p.m.. As soon as I crossed the entrance, I realized that the Pond there still had a thin sheet of ice on it. For my luck, the Pine Run Creek seemed to be just fine! Heh. And even better -- as I scouted the Creek, the spillway, and the Reservoir, I came to realize that the water levels there had risen! :) I promptly did the smart thing to do: I secured my spot at the spillway before anyone else could do so. As cold and windy as it was out there today, I was ready for some fishing, folks. Hah.

A view of the Pine Run Dam spillway. One of my productive Winter spots for Panfish

I setup my ultra-light rod with a 1/64 oz. tungsten jighead, under a weighted float. The plan for the day was to do some suspending jigging with pieces of nightcrawler and waxworms. I gave the first cast right towards the spillway. A little bit over ten seconds, I got my first bite! I set the hook: no fish. And the same happened for another dozen waxworms or so! 

It was about then that I realized that the fishes there were really really finicky and lethargic due to the temperature of the water. I was getting bites, alright? But they were far from aggressive! Most of the times, the float wouldn't even go down. According to the angling language, the fish "were nibbling at my bait." 

To solve this problem, I decided to lay down the waxworms and go for the nightcrawler. I put small pieces of nightcrawler on the jighead -- small enough to just hit the end of the hook. I cast again; waited for the bite. Once it came, I set the hook. This time, there was a fish on the other side! It was a Bluegill indeed. :)

Fish #81. A Bluegill

I started casting towards the same spot, over and over again. I just knew that the fishes were stacked there! However, as I had mentioned previously, every time the bite was extremely subtle. I would say that out of five bites, I would hook one or two. Needless to say, even with the low hooking ratio, it was only a matter of time for them to start coming up. Haha. And a White Crappie came up on my hook indeed:

Fish 82. A White Crappie.

And soon after came its cousin, the Black Crappie:

Fish #84. A Black Crappie

Lots of people usually ask me about the differences between a Black Crappie and a White Crappie. Since both of their photos are above, let's use this opportunity to clarify it! A White Crappie has a distinguished pattern in its body -- vertical bars. Also, it tend to have a body that is slender and not deep. The Black Crappie, on the other hand, has no definite patterns on its body. Its markings are usually scrambled. The body is slender as well; however, as one can see, it is way deeper than a White Crappie's. Let me remind everybody here that the faintness of a Crappie's colors is not an indicator to determine its Species. :)

Anyways...the rest of the day was pretty much jigging and getting frozen to death out there. The action at the spillway stayed hot until 2:30 p.m. or so. Among the Bluegill and Crappie, a few White Perch showed up:

Fish #90. A White Perch

I finished my day with 107 fishes for the year of 2017, 27 caught at the spillway! Overall, a very productive day. :D

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights,

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing

There are Still Some Trout Left at the Pennypack Creek... (01/14/17, Northeast Philadelphia, PA)

What's up, fellow readers?

Here is my fishing report for January 14th, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: Pennypack Creek

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

Fishes caught:

-- Nothing

Video:

Since I got skunked, there is no video for this fishing session. :)

Summary & Photos:

Taking my hectic day in consideration, I decided to hit the Pennypack Creek at Verree Road for a few hours in the afternoon. The weather wasn't really "good" -- 32F with some rain/snow. On the other hand, it was a chilly, but windless day! Thus, I had hopes of catching some stocked Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) without freezing to death. Heh.

I set up camp right above the Verree Road dam -- three rods, all with small split shots and Berkley Powerbait. Since it was a cold winter day, I decided to use my personal MCGS technique ("Maximum Coverage Grid System") to find those lethargic stocked Trout.

A view of the Pennypack Creek right above the Verree Road Dam. One of the deepest portions of the Creek, around that area.

The good news -- I was able to find two Trout in the Creek, since I had two bites. Both bites were Trout bites: line slack at first, then a faint pull. The bad news -- I wasn't able to land a single fish! Every time I saw the bite, my impatience got the best of me. In other words...I ended up setting the hook too early on both fish. :(

As they say, folks -- "Impatience is the rood of all injuries." On the positive side -- I know for a fact that there are still a few stocked Trout in there. Thus, my hopes for catching a Trout in the near future haven't perished yet.

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights! 

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing

Winter Micro-Fishing w/ Live Bait: Shiners, Waxworms, Nightcrawlers (Somerset, NJ)

What's up, fellow comrades?

Here is my fishing report for January 12th, 2017. The statistical fishing chart was updated as well.

Location: D&R Canal / Tenmile Run / Sixmile Run

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. / 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. / 12:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Fishes caught:

-- 23 Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)

-- 19 Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

-- 1 Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)

-- 5 Fallfish (Semotilus corporalis)

-- 2 Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)

-- 5 Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)

-- 1 Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus)

-- 2 Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)

Video:

Below are the highlights for this fishing session:

My 3rd outing of 2017! Don't forget to watch it in HD quality (1080p60)! If you enjoy watching my videos, please support my YouTube Channel by subscribing to it. More likes and more subscribes = more time to make videos .:)

Summary & Photos:

Since the weather for today was unusually nice for the Winter season, with a minimum of 46F and maximum of 66F, my friend Mike Caruso and I decided to go out and explore! After tinkering with Google Maps for quite a bit, we finally decided to choose the D&R Canal in New Jersey, which stands for the "Delaware & Raritan Canal." Our decision was based on a few factors: (1) considering two days of warm weather (>32F), we weren't entirely sure that all watersheds around us would be thawed; and (2) spillways and locks are amazing fishing spots for the Winter time. ;)

Now...truth be told, I have fished the D&R Canal one time in the past! Back in May 29th, 2014, my father and I went to the West Trenton portion of the canal for a day of Multi-Species fishing. We ended up catching a few Bluegill and Redbreast Sunfish. My father caught one Pumpkinseed, and a very unexpected Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). Thus, when I say that my friend Mike and I decided to "go out and explore," I mean that we went to portions of the canal that both of us had never been to before. 

So, our quest started...

We met around 6:15 a.m.. Then, we went to our local tackle shop. We grabbed four dozens of shiners and a 24-pack of waxworms. We didn't need to buy nightcrawlers or corn because we already had them. Yes, sir -- as you probably deduced already, we were 100%  ready for a full day of Multi-Species fishing. So, after a whole night of research (a.k.a. googling and online articles), we set our GPS to the lock 10 location of the D&R Canal. According to many different "credible sources," a "very productive fishing spot."

Upon arrival (after an one hour drive), those credible sources disappointed us right away. What the NJ Parks and Recreation classified on their website as a public parking lot by the D&R trail turned out to be an abandoned private lot with "no parking signs" everywhere. Damn son...we were certainly frustrated for about five minutes or so! Thankfully, we had a back up plan (6-7 back up plans, actually)... 

Our backup plan was to drive further North for 6 miles and hit the Lock 11. We arrived there around 8:00 a.m.

A front view of the Lock 11, at the D&R Canal. Parking lot to the right.

A back view of the Lock 11, at the D&R Canal. Parking lot to the left.

I am not going to sugar coat it, fellas! The spot looked really neat. 7-8 feet deep above the lock, 5-6 feet deep below. Strong current right below the lock, with eddies at the end of the wall. Talking from a textbook perspective, that spot just had to hold fish!!!

Mike and I wasted no time. We immediately setup two rods each -- one with live shiner and one with jigheads. Our initial plan was to catch some Chain Pickerel (Esox niger) on the live shiners and some smaller Species of fish on the jigging rod -- Crappie, Panfish, Perch, etc. We stayed there for 90 minutes, and I will tell you one thing, reader: with each minute that passed and no bites whatsoever, our hopes and expectations diminished a bit. Hah. Once our watches hit 10:00 a.m., we were entirely burned out. "Screw those Chain Pickerel!" We decided to hit the road once again and try our luck elsewhere.

Our third pick of the day was a weird spot on Google Maps. From a satellite view (above), the location looked like a pond that connected to the canal. The problem was that the spot itself was located in the middle of the D&R trail, two miles away from the closest road/parking lot. In other words, we were talking about 30-35 minutes of walking to get to a spot that could be good or could be bad! Back and forth, that would mean spending 60-70 minutes just for that single place. I briefly mentioned to Mike that a satellite view was very little information to rely on; however, I also mentioned that I wanted to take a bet and check the spot out. We started to evaluate the pros and cons of hitting the place:

Pros: 

-- the place was far away from any parking lots and roads. Therefore, less people would hit it. Less people = less fishing pressure = more chances of catching fish.

-- from above, the spot looked like a little pond connected to the canal. Textbook fishing indicates that a watershed's inlets and outlets are often productive spots for fishing! 

Cons:

-- the only image that we had of the spot was from Google Maps, which is never a very accurate source for finding watersheds. The database itself is usually not up to date as well. In other words, there could be a possibility for the spot to be extremely shallow or even dry. 

-- from above, the spot looked very small in comparison to the canal. Smaller (and possibly shallower) watersheds tend to thaw slower when temperatures rise. In other words, the place could still be frozen and unfishable.

Thus, we were in a dilemma. Heh. But after much thinking, we decided to take the risk! And 35 minutes and 2 miles later, this is what we found:

A view of the Tenmile Run, which passes below the D&R Canal

For our surprise, the "pond in the map" actually turned out to be an entire different watershed! And even weirder -- one that passed below the canal. Summarizing -- the run didn't have any connections with the canal whatsoever. The curse of having a 1-dimensional image, folks. Haha. On a positive note, the place was almost all thawed out; therefore, it was fishable (YAY). So, once again...my friend and I did not waste any time!

As soon as I cast my first rod in the water, with a drop-shot/nightcrawler setup, I got a hit! Set the hook. Fish was on! The first fish that came up for me was a Largemouth Bass.

Fish #23 and my first Largemouth Bass of the year.

Many nightcrawlers, shiners, and waxworms later, Mike and I ended landing a few more Largemouth Bass, as well as a few Bluegill and Fallfish.

Fish #25 and my first Bluegill of the year.

Fish #26 and my first Fallfish of the year.

After landing more than a dozen fish, we truly started to realize the power of the small Creeks that passed under the D&R canal! I mean...we never really expected so many fish to be stacked there. And guess what?! The Tenmile Run wasn't the only Creek under the canal around those areas. A few miles from us was another similar watershed -- the Sixmile Run. Thus, once the action slowed down, we walked to the Sixmile Run for a little bit more of Creek Multi-Species/Micro fishing. Heh.

A view of the Sixmile Run. Very similar to the Tenmile Run, but wider and deeper.

Once we arrived at the Sixmile Run, we didn't really get any bites there for our first 30 minutes. I had one rod cast about 15 feet straightforward, high-low rig. Another rod with a float and a jighead. Mike had similar setups as well. It was around 1:30 p.m. that I decided to change strategies: I took my float out and jigged along the concrete walls of the Run. That is when I had a little surprise...

Right after dropping my jighead, I got a bite on the bottom! A Bluegill came up almost instantaneously:  

Fish #33. A Bluegill on a 1/64 oz. jighead, tipped with a piece of nightcrawler

I took advantage of the bite and dropped my jig once again in the same spot. Another Bluegill came up! I dropped my jig once again, and this time a Black Crappie came up:

Fish #35. A Black Crappie. Caught on the same setup described above.

The rest of the day was pretty much robotic, folks! After deciphering the pattern of the day, Mike and I caught fish after fish along the concrete walls of the Sixmile Run. Two and a half hours of packed action! Species included the Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas), the Largemouth Bass, the Pumpkinseed, the Green Sunfish, the Fallfish, the Redbreast Sunfish, and even a hungry and feisty Common Carp that found its way to my jighead. :)

Fish #36. A Largemouth Bass.

Fish #40. A Pumpkinseed.

Fish #43. A Green Sunfish.

Fish #52. A Fallfish.

Fish #59. A Common Carp.

Fish #70. A Redbreast Sunfish

After 7:30 hours of fishing and a nice gamble, I ended my third outing of the year with 8 different Species of fish and a total of 58 fishes caught! Mike caught much less; however, he did end his day with a total of 6 different Species of fish, including two Golden Shiners that never showed up on my line today. :)

Overall, a very productive and blessed day!

Best of luck to all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights!

Tight lines!

Sincerely,

Leo S. a.k.a. Extreme Philly Fishing.