Got Over to Round Valley

I put a base layer on, under wool pants and a sweater, and with my son left for The Sporting Life to buy a half dozen shiners and our new fishing licenses. I had two rods still rigged from last time we fished Round Valley, and the tackle for Matt to rig another when we got there, minus any Styrofoam to float a shiner on that third line. (We've caught trout on shiners without Styrofoam before, I think.)

Then I left him alone on that big point at Lot 2. I walked a quarter mile or so to a widely exposed area of former reservoir floor. This proved to be the photo shoot I promised myself last I was there. After I had spent about a half hour shooting, I realized, once I was back with Matt and Fred and the lines out for trout, that I could have used the 70-200mm lens to get a collapsing effect of space between rocks in the foreground and the North Tower distant. Or is it the South Tower? My directions aren't sure. I got really good shots of it today, but I'm saving them, just in case I need them for any magazine use.

I stood out there shooting for at least a half hour. Maybe it was nearly an hour. I got 80 shots. The wind seemed to rip right through me, but since I worked with my hands, I never noticed the redness and never felt the pain until I was done. Standing out in the cold wind made me play those photos pretty fast and loose, while I supported the camera on a monopod, but the quality surprised me after we got home.

Matt wasn't eager to quit. He would have stood out there in that cold another hour. He wanted a laker.

It was a sad end for me. Matt might have to spend another 60 hours at it, for all I know, to ever catch one of those fish. Maybe longer than that. In other words, it's likely he'll never catch one.

We rode over to the main launch for more shots. That's when it snowed as if it is really winter, but for about three or four minutes. I'm afraid it won't be long before it never snows in New Jersey. I felt surprised to see it today.

The snow squall was enough for a dusting. The boat is involved with the work at the dam. At least, I had seen it leave that area and go around the bend, powered by much more than 10 horsepower. I don't know what the construction vehicle is for. (This shot from the main launch area.)

Power True to My Original Intention

So we got word from United Airlines that we can load 115 linear inches for the fee of a second bag. By all appearances, I can get not only the two stand-up rods in the tube, but also my son's 10-foot surf rod. My wife bought a suitcase in which my four-piece 7-weight fly rod fits. I'm all but certain the rods I want to bring will fit in the tube extended to 82 linear inches, but I haven't loaded it just yet . It's a matter of arranging butts and big guides at intervals, tying the rods together while padding them, and then placing a single unit into the tube.

In the meantime, I've read a lot of articles and watched plenty of videos. I get more from the reading. Yes, the main danger is a big amberjack or big grouper--any kind of fish that will dive for bottom, instead of run straight. In 2007, I caught an 11-pound barracuda on eight-pound test and the St. Croix five-and-a-half-foot always cropping up in photos I post with bass in them. Thirty-nine inches long, that barracuda streaked away in a straight line, until it stopped with little line left on the spool. You see a 10/0 Mustad O'Shaunessey photographed above, the likes to rig a big ballyhoo or hunk of cut bait. It symbolizes the original conviction of mine gained during the 2007 trip, which I wrote about in the previous post. Heavy 80-pound test rigs we will likely use on the pool cue rods. Not that I want to hook a 10-foot shark. Definitely not.

Maybe not so likely that we will use heavy rigs much. I've turned over a lot of options--too many--while reading and watching. But we have power true to my original inspiration.

We leave on January 12th. I will leave my laptop home and won't post about the fishing until after the 19th, the date of our return. My nerves went haywire today. I'm feeling calm at home, though, having done some prep work before writing this post. The more you know, the more complicated it all gets, and there's only so much time, beginning on the Tuesday, before we have to return the boat at 4 p.m. on the Thursday.

Would it have been better to just buy stand-up rods, the heavy reels, 80-pound test? Instead of learning anything else, to have just relaxed with bait under the boat? I can assure you, that would have been plenty less expensive, and we probably would have caught fish, too, but it's not all about relaxation or even the catch, but how the catch comes about. I enjoyed plenty of relaxation in 2012. It's possible I will never again come so close to how I felt while living at the shore for 13 years of my youth. Island Time. Those years do live on within, but instead of trying to recapture what was, this time in Florida, I'm interested in something else. And looking at all the things I have arranged to arm our approach, so long as wind doesn't hamper us getting out there, it certainly will be something else.