Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, Round Valley Reservoir, Consciousness and the Globe

Thought I would just get by and visit the Delaware and Raritan Canal despite having forgotten my rain gear, when the rain began to come down heavily enough to stay in my car. I got out and shot this photo at Manville, another at Round Valley just before it really began to pour, having adored the water quality of the canal. Recent summers it's been disgusting, especially compared to crystal clarity I have seen in the past, although usually it's of normal clarity--not dingy, not clear. Today it was as clear as I've ever seen it, like the upper Delaware River.

You can see some fall coloration coming into New Jersey trees, and this brings back memories of fishing the canal Octobers in Mercer County. We always switched to shiners from Rapalas and Rebels we cast during summer and caught many pickerel, a wonder of pursuit and reward in what looks like a very small waterway, but on foot you could walk 66 miles on the tow paths. Variations in fish habitat allow fine tuning of your game all along the shorelines.

Trout anglers fished Round Valley from shore today, but caught nothing. It's early. Fishing for bass in the rain would have been interesting. I like to loosen my consciousness through environmental beauty as I fish. I don't lose it; I loosen it just like a jogger loosens hamstrings for flexibility. Fishing's a game with a single purpose--to catch fish. But that purpose encompasses the entire globe just as water does.

Who would forget air....