Arrival of Fall Fishing

Busy with other things, didn't get out yesterday or today, although conditions certainly were good for such enclosed waters as Round Valley Reservoir or Mount Hope Pond for bass. Never got out of the 60's today or yesterday, so it's obvious by comparison to the two previous months that the seasons have turned. Now watch it hit 90 next week--no, I really doubt it will.

Past two biweekly columns I wrote for Recorder Newspapers I estimated fishing situations by guessing that temperatures would be warmer than they have been. No doubt streams have fallen below the 68-degree level critical for trout fishing. I wrote: "...at least in the mornings," in the article that should be published tomorrow. Seems that once streams clear after all this rain you can catch and release trout with no worry whatsoever of their having a lethal lactic acid reaction. I think I'll fly fish the Claremont Saturday.

Anyhow, a good friend finds fall the most welcome season, and to have heard his enthusiam for it, I feel much the same now. In August salmon fishing seems a world away. But sure enough, once Labor Day passed, it did get much cooler all of a sudden. Now Pulaski just seems weeks away. Besides this adventure, I have a date set for walleye fishing on Hopatcong October first--vertical jigging. I couldn't believe it when my friend told me they begin jigging in September.

"But the lake's not turned over until mid-October," I said.

"Ah," he dismissed the relevance.

It will be interesting. Niether of us has an oxygen meter, so I may buy a dozen test shiners.