The odds weren`t looking too favorable tonight, as the Parkway was jammed up, the days are getting much shorter and a strong wind was whipping in the cool Fall air. At the rate I was traveling, with the sun setting on the horizon, I figured maybe I`d have forty-five minutes at best to have a go at those NJ Stripers tonight.
But I had my `Yak and I was determined to wrangle up a NJ Striper or two before darkness set in. Boy was I ever wrong.
The wind was really kicking up as the sun was setting and I thought, “Ahhhhhhhh just a couple more casts and I`ll call it a night” – But it`s never, ever just a couple more casts with me!! ha! ha!~
As darkness set in, I was still making “just a couple more casts” – I paddled back close to where I had launched and figured I’d have one more go at it, drifting in the strong breeze in the darkness. Now I`m not saying it was the smartest thing to be sitting out there tonight in the strong wind, in total darkness without any sort of light, but hell I didn`t really mind it at all. “After all, the Indians must`ve done it like this“, I thought to myself.
BAM! Striper on! As I set the hook the drag screamed as the fish dove for deeper water. In a matter of minutes, I had landed my supper, paddled back to shore and called it a night.
As I`m writing this, my NJ Striper is sitting on ice all filleted this morning and I`m looking forward to Sharon making one of her amazing dinners out of the best tasting fresh fish that you will ever dine on!
Till next time…..
After I got done fishing, and loaded up my `Yak and gear in the Murano, I stopped at a WaWa to get some ice…….A bunch of young punks, maybe six or seven teens, 14 to 17 years old or so were inside. So I swaggered in to grab my ice and one goes to me, “Hey man……where`s your knife?” as they all started laughing at the young ball-buster`s smart-ass question. Since it was the night before Halloween. I decided to have a little fun with the young smart-ass. I walked over towards the group, with the brim of my hat over my eyes and then when I got right in front of all of them, I looked up with a sort of wild-eyed. crazed look and said, “Now…..what did you ask me Son?”………as I glared at the group like I was nuts!!!! ha! ha!
The kid goes….”Uhhhhhh…..uhhhhhhhhh nothin` Sir”…………. I turned my head away then snapped back and went “Boo!” and man, everyone of those kids jumped a mile!!!! I think the kid in front of me shit his pants!!! Then I said. “Happy Halloween boys!”………….grabbed my ice and walked out.
Ahhhhhhh…….These hot Summer nights make me reminisce of a time long ago. A time when life was a lot more simple. See after a good hard rain, Dad and I would get flashlights and walk around the neighbor`s lawns on Raritan Drive, searching for nightcrawlers in the wet grass. Can you even imagine what would happen nowadays if people saw someone walking in the dark, on their lawn, constantly bending down picking up something? We all know where this would go! ha! ha!
What we were doing was gettin` our bait to do one of my favorite Summer pastimes…….Eel Fishin`!
So the other night, I had a hankerin` to chase some eels on the river….. only one problem. The moon.
Yep….. it was almost a full moon at that. You won`t catch many or even any when the moon is out. But I decided to have a go at it with Sharon, figuring we might wrangle up a straggler or two.
We weren`t fishin` very long and I wrangled up this really nice eel! Had to jump in the river to get my pole as this fella ran it off the rocks and started takin` it out to deeper water!
So we only fished till 10:30 as the bite completely shut down as that big `ol moon peeked over the tree tops. I put the eels on ice for the night and made my way back down the river at daybreak to clean `em.
How could we have an adventure without a Go PRO Video? We can`t right?! ha! ha!
Turn up your speakers and enjoy this short clip I shot that night;
Well the night kinda panned out as I thought it might, with the moon and all. We only caught those two eels, but they certainly were very nice ones as you can see and Sharon, “Dingo” and I had a fun night on the river!
I was sittin` out back on the patio last Thursday night, enjoyin` an ice-cold PBR in the breezy Springtime air, contemplating my next NJ Pike Fishing Adventure. As I looked at my Passaic River Map, I noticed what appeared to be a small tributary stream off of the Passaic called Dead River. “Heck”, I thought to myself, “Ought to be able to wrangle one or two Pike outta there” – So I decided to “Scout it out” on my way home from work the next evening.
Upon arriving at my destination on Friday evening, I jumped down along a swampy river bank and noticed fresh Black Bear paw prints in the mud. “Well heck, if the bears are fishin` here, that just might be a good sign!” I thought out loud.
It wasn`t too long before I got into a couple decent Pike that next day. I worked that Clown Bomber lure as a jerk-bait, mixing it up with slower retrieves which proved to be a very effective method for those “River Wolfs” that day.
A fine NJ Northern Pike in the net!
Crank up those speakers and enjoy this little Video of the day`s adventure on the river!
Despite the muddy water conditions, I did manage to wrangle up this decent 7.25lb 34″ Pike last Saturday.
I certainly enjoy chasin` Pike on the Passaic and hopefully when I`m out and about, we`ll cross paths somewhere along the river. Till next time…
After knocking out some of my chores/projects around the house this past Saturday and Sunday morning, I
decided relax a little and have a go at it Sunday afternoon on the Passaic River in my `Yak.
So as sat on the patio table out back, studying my map of the Passaic River, I mapped out a new destination to try. The last adventure worked out pretty well, as I paddled upstream and fished my way back down to where I launched and parked my truck. Now I told Sharon I`d be home around seven that night, so the tricky part was calculating just how far upstream to paddle, in order to be back at the truck by six-ish, in order to make it home by seven(or so). What complicated this a tad more, was the fact that this adventure would once again, take me into new territory.
Arriving at my new destination, I got my `Yak in the river and just soaked in some of the beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon weather before headin` upstream. The river was a bit higher than normal and a tad “murkier”/discolored than I was used to seeing.
I tied on a fave combo, an `ol Firetiger Spinnerbait with a double-tail Chartreuse Twister Tail. Which also had a little something “extra” attached. My Canadian friend Nathan Robinson showed me this when he was down here a few weeks ago.
A “Trailer-Hook” –
This Trailer Hook will definitely help raise your odds against fish swatting the Twister Tail and missing the hook!
I paddled upstream a good two and a half hours, then started fishing my way back down the Passaic. Found some absolutely awesome looking pools, but after a couple hours of fishing, not a strike or even a miss. The pike just didn`t seem to want to cooperate on the gorgeous, hot sunny day.
By now it was getting later in the day and it looked like I was going to get skunked, as I was only about three hundred yards from where I launched. What to do, what to do……… I felt like it was fourth and long and I was at the two minute warning. We needed a “Brett Favre Gunslinger move” and we needed it now! ha! ha! As I rifled through my “bag-of-tricks”, I pulled out my old faithful “Clown Bomber” Lure that I caught that Tiger Musky on a few months before. “What the hell?” I thought, “Let`s give it a go!”
This is the exact color combo “Clown Bomber” that I used. Like I said, I nailed a Tiger Musky with it a few months back. Would/could there be any “magic” in the Bomber now as my time on the river was fadin` fast?
First cast……nothin`. Second cast with the Bomber and BAM! Fish on! And a good one at that!
Crank up your speakers and watch this short Video of the day`s NJ Fishing Adventure:
What a way to end the day! Wranglin` up a beautiful 5.8lb. Largemouth Bass! Guess the `ol “Gunslinger” had it in him that day on the river –
I am available for Guiding also if you`d like to have me join you on a NJ Fishing Mission, simply write to me on my site; www.AdventuresWithKen.com and we can discuss and arrange everything.
NJ Ice Fishing on Spruce Run Reservoir is another awesome Wintertime activity that I enjoy doing with my very good Friend, Curt Ryder.
I gave Curt a ring on the phone on my way home last Friday night to see if he was up for trying his hand at a little ice fishing the next morning. He said, Sure…let`s do it!” – So we planned to meet up at the Reservoir at 7am the next morning. However, the day didn`t start out too good, as I got a phone call from Curt at 6:30am saying he had just hit a deer with his truck. He said, It`s just the bumper cover,….. only cosmetic” – I said, “Well do ya wanna forget about it today? Curt said, “Hell no……let`s go fishin`!” With that I got the bait and headed over to Spruce Run.
Loaded up the tip-ups, jigging poles, ice-auger & bait in Curt`s Ice Fishing Sled and set out on the ice at Spruce Run Reservoir.
The Reservoir is probably about twenty feet low water level-wise, so we had to hike a good ways in order to get out into twenty four feet of water. We were after
these monster slab crappies that we saw a few guys catch out here last Winter.
Curt and I discuss our hard water ice fishing strategy as we hike out across Spruce Run Reservoir. Me, “I got a feelin`
it`s gonna be a really good day
out here Curt” – Curt, “You always say it`s gonna be a good day no matter when we go fishin`!”
I drilled out our first set of holes as Curt followed with setting up the tip-ups. You`re allowed five tip-ups per man, but if you each jig, then you are only allowed to se four tip-ups each plus a jigging rod. Curt figured that the crappie would likely be in the deeper water as we didn`t connect with any last weekend in the ten to fifteen foot depth that we fished the tip-ups at. Also we saw a guy catch two Pike the previous weekend in this area that we were setting up in.
We fished till around 12:30 and only had three flags tipped so far for the day….. and we were both getting hungry. I decided to take a break and go get us lunch at a local general store. After getting lunch and heading back out on the ice towards Curt, I could see him talking with two other guys. These two Hispanic guys from Bethlehem Pa. had nervously wandered out to see what exactly Curt was doing as they had never seen anyone ice fishing before. I wasn`t sure if they had ever seen or been on ice for that matter!
These two guys really made our day…….they were an absolute riot! I don`t think they knew what to make of me at first, with my `coonskin hat as they just stared at it as I approached them as they stood next to Curt. They went crazy when they saw a few of my YouTube Videos as you can see in the pictures.
By late afternoon, the only fish we had caught were a bunch of little perch that were anywhere from five to eight inches. It just wasn`t panning out to be a good day fishing on the ice.
Curt and I had been ribbin` each other as we usually do, most of the day. He claimed he has a “Secret Formula” that he was spraying on his jig and I was braggin` about my “Game Changer” that I was using on my set up. Now my “Game Changer” as I call it has Anise Oil in it and I do believe this makes a difference when ice fishing. I think the strong smell of licorice is very appealing to fish under the hard water.
We both started to jump from hole to hole hoping to catch those slab-size crappies or a nice bass.
As I went to my next hole of choice, I loaded up my Swedish-Pimple and Butter-worm with a good dose
of the “Game Changer, then started to jig.
Then all of the sudden ice pole crazily bent as a decent fish jumped on my jig! WOW! It really felt good!
Curt could see I had something nice on and rushed over. As the fish got closer, I could see it flash under the ice and said to Curt, “It`s a nice bass!” – As it came to the top of the water I saw the all too familiar whiskers…… a Catfish! As I pulled the catty through the ice, the line snapped as the fished laid half-way on the ice. I swatted the nice fish with my hand and sliced my finger on the catty`s barb as flipped up on the ice. We weren`t exactly sure what kind of catfish it was, then Curt said, “It looks like a yellow-catfish” – As we looked it up on my phone, it was indeed just that. I have never caught a catfish in February Ice Fishing and the even odder part to me was that the catty hit a jig…….yes…….with the “Game Changer” doused on it. It made sense. As Catfish are attracted to smell/odor, the anise oil was the calling.
**Enjoy the Video of our Ice Fishing on Spruce Run Adventure below;
