Delaware Shad Darts

Having taken 2015 off (from blogging, not fishing!), it has been a while since I performed an update. Since I have settled into Sussex County and believe I will be here for the remainder of my life, I decided this Spring I should try my luck at Shad fishing.  May is always a busy month for me, so it still may be a challenge for me to get out.  But I took the initiative to order some shad darts from Delaware River Shad Fishing Association (DRSFA).  You can now find their link to the right, under Related Local Fishing Sites.  Below is a picture of what I received. 

What a great bunch of guys.  I had unfortunately made the order with my Pay Pal account but I had no updated my mailing address with Pay Pal.  Unfortunately the shad darts were mailed to my former residency.  A gentleman by the name of Rusty promptly emailed me when the shad darts were returned to him.   After providing my new mailing address, Rusty got the shad darts in the mail right away, so I may still have a shot at shad fishing this spring.  I highly recommend ordering shard darts or spoons from the DRSFA.

Below is a snippet of who and what the DRSFA is.

2014 - Snake in the Lake

Over the last week there has been a developing story in Lake Hopatcong.  The story is of a giant snake patrolling the water and sleeping in boat docks.  Stories of stinky snake poop which indicates the snake has been eating.  There are reports of the snake's length to be 12 feet, 14, feet, 16 feet and 20 feet.  Boa Constrictor?  Green Anaconda?  Not a lot of facts to this story yet, but one fact I can tell you is the movie Anaconda is 100% fiction.  Don't let these movies set your expectations about this snake.

The story now revolves around our local big snake hunter Gerald Andrejack of Common Sense for Animals. Gerald is a former big snake trapper for Reptile World Serpentarium in Kissimmee, FL as well as the respected Reptile House at the Staten Island Zoo.  Gerald has  claimed to have seen the head of the snake. Claims it to be a green anaconda and about 12 to 14 feet long.  He also claims he felt the snake slither between his legs.  Below is a photo of a green anaconda from the Reptile World Serpentarium in which Gerald previously worked.

The sightings have been in Byram Cove and Halsey Island.  (Northwest side of the Lake), which is prime walleye territory!

Since I am not part of the investigation, I have the liberty to make premature predictions.  I am not sure how a green anaconda got into New Jersey nor am I sure why an owner would release it.  Snake owners of these large snakes leave footprints.  They need to buy large rodents for many years to feed it.  Family and friends are usually aware someone in their circle owns a giant green anaconda.  So I am doubtful this was a pet from a Lake Hopatcong resident.  I also believe these professional reptile handlers are some of the biggest exotic snake collectors in the World.  So I wouldn't be surprised if a professional like Gerald Andrejack released the snake themselves.

The Bell - Gives up a 2-Pound Walleye

As I have searched the Delaware for walleye, I may have found my favorite walleye fishing hole.  The spot is just north of the Milford, PA bridge where a creek enters the Delaware.  There, I found a nice 25 foot hole in some backwater and hit the bottom with a lindy-rig, baited with a nightcrawler.  This hole has no significant landmarks (unlike Dingman's Bridge or the Milford Bridge) and the bend in the river is a long, bending arc; I thought it resembled the bottom of a large bell...and thus decided to name it "The Bell".

 The creek entering the Delaware River, now know as "The Bell"

I departed Saturday morning before sunrise and pushed off from shore about 6:30 AM.  I was armed with  a 3/8 once weighted bottom bouncer and a fire-tiger Colorado spoon Lindy rig...rigged up with a large nightcrawler.  I paddled the kayak around the mouth of the creek and there was a significant drop from 6 feet to 12 feet just downriver of the creek that was holding lots of fish and lots of big fish!  The current was a bit more swift, as my paddling did not result in much upriver headway.  Given the feedback of my fish finder, I was going to give this little spot a go.  After about three drifts over this spot (fish finder lighting up like a pinball machine each time), I got zero hook-ups.  That is the funny thing about a depth finder (fish finder), it tells you if fish are down there, but not what kind of fish they are.  Those big fish could have been carp, catfish, musky or God knows what else, so I moved on.  I paddled up-river along The Bell and eventually found a nice 20 to 25 foot hole.  Not shortly after, in about 16 feet of water, I got a hook-up!  I immediately know it was a walleye as the fish at the end of my line was holding steady to his position and shaking it's head - instead of going on a typical epic smallmouth run.  As I got him closer to the boat and off the bottom, he made a small run and took some line off.  My hopes were high for a possible 5-pounder!  I decided to let him fight a little more before bringing him next to the kayak and try the balancing act of holding a pole and a net within the confines of my kayak.  I saw a couple of nice flashes under the surface and my heart may have skipped a beat.  I pulled out the net, brought the walleye towards the kayak and scooped him! As I did, I saw him open his mouth to show his rows of teeth ... as he barely fit into my net.  My immediate thought was, 'this was a big fish'.  

I put the walleye on the stringer and chose not to measure him, thinking he easily cleared the 18 inch minimum. However, when I got to shore and measured him, I was shocked to see he was only 19.5 inches. After my initial thoughts of some disappointment, my next thought was, 'I may need a bigger net' when I come back to this spot!  

Two of my daughters (Dagney and Lillian) holding the fish.

My favorite photo technique, asking my 6-year old daughter to put her hand on the cutting board for perspective.  Almost looks 30 inches now, heh?

My First Lake Mohawk Larry

It has been a crazy 2013 so far as I have had many big milestones to tackle; a destination wedding in Cozumel, MX, bachelor party in Las Vegas, a visit with Dad and taking the family to Disney.  The last of milestone I had was closing on a new home in Lake Mohawk, moving all my furniture and now renovating the old home for rental.  However, this past Friday we had a 3-family BBQ at Lake Mohawk and I got to make about a dozen cast with a green & pumpkin seed senko around sunset to nab my first Lake Mohawk Larry.

I have really grown fond of the Senko and almost exclusively rig it Jersey style.  Could be a good summer.

Fall Smallmouth Fishing on the Delaware

This is what Fall smallmouth fishing is all about on the Delaware river!  I found a lot of success Friday evening as well as Sunday morning, both times throwing a dark natural color (watermelon or pumpkin seed) 4 inch senko, rigged wacky style.  I search out fast moving current, preferably in the 4+ feet of water range and throw the wacky rig straight out (not up current), or maybe 10 degrees up current and just let it drift down river.  I caught 7 smallies south of Dingmans Bridge Friday evening, but none of them were larger than 13 inches.  The Delaware current seemed much weaker on Sunday morning when I went out, so I headed north of Dingmans Bridge searching out some faster current.  I caught another 6 smallies, 3 of which were about 13-inches or bigger (pictured below).  

Delaware River Update:

Friday Evening - Water was clear and low, current was moderate (for late Summer, early Fall).  The green algae which has been a bother for the past few weeks has resided at Dingmans Bridge.  I received little if no algae on my cast..

Sunday Morning - Water was clear and extremely low.  Current was exceptionally weak.  Could not fish my wacky rig South of the Bridge as there was not enough current (relatively speaking of course for the Delaware River).  Went north of the bridge and found a big rock in the middle of the river to anchor the kayak (with my feet, not a real anchor).  The smallmouth bite did not really start until late Morning (10:00 AM) when the sun finally broke.

Monksville Recap

June 10th, 2012

blue skies, 80 degrees
Water Temperature 72.5 degrees
used medium sized flatheads

My alarm went off at 4:00 AM and I must really love fishing because I pulled myself out of bed to head to the Monksville Reservoir.  On a recommendation, I checked out Frank's Tackle in Wanaque, NJ.  Frank's Tackle was clean, well stocked and organized ... a real nice tackle shop.  The gentlemen who came in the morning gave me a gloomy forecast for catching walleye in Monksville.  He recommended Greenwood Lake as a better prospect for catching walleye.  Nonetheless,  I headed out for Monksville and got my kayak in the water by t 6:00 AM.  It was beautiful ... and deep from the South Boat launch!  

I first headed towards target area (A), but I ended up on the on the other side of the rounded point (slightly uplake from target area (A).  It was a nice solid bottom and I found some structure in 7 and 14 foot of water.  I bounced the bottom with a lindy rig and a flathead minnow and had a hookup right away.  The fish (did not get a good visual) jumped out of the water and shook the hook out.  I changed back to a bobber and minnow and eventually drifted to the other side of the rounded point and into target area (A).  There were more weeds and vegetation in target area (A), but there were so many big and medium size rocks, that I definitely want to come back here again.  I got halfway past the rounded point in the direction of the inlet when I hooked up this giant 6 pound rock bass!  It was actually much, much smaller but my bodaciously awesome photography skillz made it look so much bigger!

As I went into the inlet, I kept seeing these large abandoned spawning nest up on the shore.  I tried to take a   picture (below), but they are hard to see in the the top of the photograph.  They look like giant dark circles.  They were not abandoned that long ago.  The day was getting slow and I only had about 5 minnows left, so I wanted to check out target area (B) just for a bit.

Area (B) would be an ideal walleye location.  The drop off is significant from shore and having viewed the slope above the shoreline led me to believe there were lots more rocks below the shore line. Immediately, my Eagle 360c fish finder told me there were a school of fish hugging the bottom around 25 feet.  I think these could have been walleye so I setup up my second rod with a lindy rig (again).  It didn't take me long to get snagged on the bottom and it took even less time for me to break my pole.  Let me be honest, this was only a $20.00 pole from Wal-Mart, so I was not surprised.  I decided to fish the shoreline again and saw a couple of low-cut tree stumps.  It did not take me long to realize those trees were chopped down and the rest of the trees were the structure I was seeing at 25 feet of water ... and most likely what I was getting snagged on.  I did catch another rock bass, but then called it a day at 10:30.