Well good evening…. After hammering out some technical issues with my site and GoDaddy(again), we are back up and running(I hope!) – After having a few of you ask
if I had plan on writing anything again, I figured it would be a good night to sit with a glass of FireBall n` Coke and have at it.
So let me tell ya what happened
this past Friday…….. I`m pretty sure you will get a good laugh.
Started to get that hankerin` to chase some Snakeheads down in South Jersey last week. However, the long-range forecast for the week wasn`t looking all that good, as heavy rain storms were predicted for most of the week. When Friday rolled around, I made a late morning decision to make the run down south.
Loaded up the Toyota and pulled out around 10 o’clock which would land me in Snakehead country right around noontime. When I arrived at my destination, there was one kayaker paddling in. I walked over and said, “Need a hand with your yak?” He replied, “Sure….why not?” As I reached down pulled his yak up on land so he could get out easily. Me; “Any luck?” Him; “Nah…. been out there for three hours, fished the whole thing, not even a bite”
Me; “See any fry-balls by chance?” Him; “Nope…..too early yet for that” –
“Hell I`ve never been down here in early June, always in July when the duckweed abounds everywhere” I thought to myself. He thanked me for giving him a hand said adios and I threw my yak in the pond.
I decided to start out with a Zoom Fluke and work the vegetation close to the shoreline. I swear I wasn`t fishing more than fifteen minutes, when this decent South Jersey Greenback laid into that Zoom Fluke…… Bam! Fish on
Not exactly what I drove down here for, but we were on the board. A fine Largemouth to start the day off. I fished the next several hours, working the gigantic lily pads and blown down brush in my quest for my first Snakehead of 2022 to no avail.
But I have to tell ya, those South Jersey Largemouth Bass most certainly cooperated!
I landed eight Bass and lost three right at the yak. I did have two Snakeheads follow my lures half-heartedly, but couldn`t find any that wanted to play today.
While I didn`t catch what I came down for, it still was a fine, relaxing day of fishing.
Now you`re probably thinking, “Come Ken…… what the heck kind of fishing adventure was that?? You`ve had a lot cooler ones than that”…….. Right?
Well it`s not necessarily always about the fishing or the hunting that makes it an Adventure…….. sometimes there are other turn of events that add to the elements of
the story…….. so let me pour another Fireball n` Coke and get back to the story…….
I had figured it would be a nice, early night and unlike the majority of times when I come down here, as I usually leave way too late.
Hell…… I had no Snakeheads to clean, and I pulled out of the swamps right around 6pm, stopped for a bite and figured I`d be home by 9 o`clock. Perfect, I thought to myself.
So once on my way I called my Lady friend out in California, Lidice, to chit-chat with during my trek back up north. We laughed and joked all the way back up to Hunterdon County.
And here`s where things start to get interesting…….
I was almost in Clinton where Rte 31 and Rte 78 meet, when she says, “I`m going to grab a quick bite and I`ll call you back in about twenty minutes” –
She hung up and the radio came back on now that the Blue Tooth is off and the announcer says there`s a road closure about four miles where I`m headed and
that traffic is stopped in both directions! I quickly diverted to Rte 22 and decided to head towards Califon to take the backroads home. This was a long way around the horn so to speak, to get home, but there was no other way.
Lidice called me back and I told her what happened and that the funny thing was if she hadn`t decided to go get something to eat and hang up the phone, I would have never
heard the radio and would have been jammed up in that traffic jam for hours up on Rte 31 – I said it would add about a half hour to my trip but that I`d still be make good time.
Eventually I was only about two and a half miles from home and all of the sudden, there were flashing lights from trucks and the road was barricaded off with cones!
“What the hell?” I said to her, “This friggin` road is closed too!!” So we laughed on the phone and I turned around to drive all the way back to the beginning of the closed road.
I`m said to Lidice, “What the hell was that? Christ couldn`t they put a damn sign up saying the friggin` road is closed?!!” – Well when I got to back to the beginning of the
road, I saw a sign and turned around to read it………. “ROAD CLOSED DUE TO DOWN WIRES!”…….. I had driven right past it!!!! We were laughing so hard at this point!
I turned out towards Hackettstown, which would add a five mile detour and I`m was driving a little too fast at this point……..
Somehow the conversation turned towards local police, and I mentioned to Lidice that a few that I had met said they enjoy reading my website and magazine articles.
Now right about that time, I burned right through a stop sign and this vehicle came up on me like lightning! I said to her, “Well we`re gonna find out how much they like
me, `cause I`m getting pulled over right now!”……”I`ll call you back” –
The officer comes to my window, sees all of my fishing gear, “How you doing? Bass fishing huh?” Me; “Uhhhhh….. nooo….. I was after Snakeheads” – Him, “Really? Wow…..
Where do you go to do that?” – Me; “ Way way down in South Jersey…..Do you fish” (at this point I`m thinking I guess he just wants to talk about fishing)- Him: “I fish prtty
much local” Me: “Ohhhh ok ok…..where do you like to fish?” Him: “Hey I`m not telling you!” Me:” Hey that`s cool…. I was just seeing what kind of fishing you`re into” –
So I proceeded to explain Snakeheads and Bowfins to him, the we talk about different types of kayaks…….. Then finally he said, “ Yea I was going to let you go until you tore
through that stop sign” – Me: “You know what? That was a totally A$$hole move on my part…..really……. I was a complete a$$hole to do that”
Him laughing;” Hey you said that not me” – Me; “If I was you I would say that to me! You sir, are a friggin` a$$hole that way you ran through that stop sign! Could you imagine
me being the cop?” — Him laughing like hell; “Not really” – Me; “ I was literally on the phone with a gal I know out in California right before you pulled me over and she was
asking if I knew any of the local police and I said I`m going to meet one right now because I`m being pulled over! She is not going to believe I got pulled over” – Him; “Well take
a picture of my lights and send it to her” – Me laughing; “Yea….why not?” – So I did – Then he said, “I`ll let you go with a warning and this entire conversation was recorded on
my chest-cam” – Me; “Well …… hell…… you`re welcome” – Him; “Excuse me?” – Me; “ Yea…you`re welcome…… `cause you`re gonna go back to the office and show all of your
buddies this conversation and they are going to laugh like hell!” – He laughed and said; “Have a good night Ken” — And I said, “Thank you very much, it was nice talking to you.
NOTE- Don`t Be Like Ken. Obey The Traffic Signs.