Sunrise Point Tale End Fisherman

The Fisherman   It's my favorite of the Tale End essays I've done for the magazine.

If I Were an Atlas Mike's Salesman

Sorry about the out-of-focus photo. Didn't have time to remedy. Had been over at Round Valley shooting in manual and forgot to switch back. 

Had a fun half hour over at the Zoo, catching and releasing 10 rainbows upstream there from the bridge in view where I believe all are stocked. Came home and told my wife I should be a salesman for Atlas Mike's. I must have converted three guys, and if I worked at it, I could have converted a whole lot more. 

Referencing yesterday, two BB shot are a LOT of weight for microlight. That river MOVED. You can see there was some movement here, too, but one little snap, one little snap swivel was all the weight required, to have used any more than that would have ruined the drift. 

I wouldn't have caught 10 trout. 

Used the microlight rod I built in 2019 today. One-pound test monofilament. 

Salmon Eggs: An Oily, Smelly, Visceral Approach to Trout

I checked on my local river Monday and found it had come down, clarified pretty well. Called Mark Licht and began making plans for this afternoon. We found the river up his way running high and very fast, the clarity acceptable but not as clear as it usually is. 

Mark and I each had trout on our first casts. Naturally, we had instantly become suckers for hope, but had we enjoyed fast action at that first spot for the full four hours we had at our disposal, the day never would have developed through overcoming some obstacles.

Mark did catch three or four where we began many hundreds of yards from the stocking point. I missed a couple of hits. We mostly fished along a seam about 75 feet long. All of Mark's trout came from that edge, as well as the one I had on and  lost after it took several runs. I used two-pound test. An 11-incher in that current... 

One of my hits came when I drifted an egg through the fast water. Soon, I weighted the line with a BB split shot after Mark offered me one. I declined and opened my own pack. I had been managing the seam OK with a snap and a snap-swivel for weight. 

We walked upstream a good way. I fished another seam, and after Mark caught another trout and came upstream to where I stood, I tried to cast my salmon egg to the column of slow water near the opposite bank that he pointed out to me. He went back downstream and caught two more. It seemed to become obvious that his centerpin outfit was advantageous given the high water. He can work his float along an entire seam and let the current take it behind rocks, and so on.  I wasn't cooked, though. I still had plenty of interest in the limits of my microlight tackle against the heavy flow.

We drove to a bridge and no trout seemed to be there. We both felt the sneaking suspicion that it hadn't been stocked.

We moved on to our last spot, which is where it all came together for me. I weighted the line with an additional split shot and cast into the fast water, figuring that trout hugging bottom underneath where flow is slower might appreciate an egg moving slower, too. I did have to retie a few times, and had left my leader wallet at home, though I had a pack of the size 14 baitholder hooks I use. I started hooking up, and by the time we had to leave, which seemed to come pretty quickly, I understood that the fast water surely held a lot more trout than just the four I caught, the one I fought and lost, and the several hits I missed. I didn't quite catch up to Mark, but I closed the gap considerably. 

I enjoy fishing salmon eggs. It's an oily, smelly, visceral approach to trout amounting to a "fishy" quality, in fact. I did bring along my two-weight fly rod, but once I hooked up on that first cast, there was no turning back. I'll probably always be dual in that way. A bait fisherman who likes to fly fish when that makes sense. But stockers are a paradox. They're artificially raised, and yet using smelly, oily bait for them is more down-to-earth than the fly fishing I do for wild trout.

It's always interesting to watch Mark center-pinning. His big eggs sacks were interesting to see used on little stockers, too. I'm not interested in investing, but I avidly appreciate how it works for him. 

Five Years Ago

 

Laurie's Report: Eddie Mackin's Big Smallmouth

Laurie Murphy:

Water temps on the Main Lake are around 45 degrees, with the shallower sections of the lake about 50 degrees. The night walleye bite has started to pick up with the season opening back up on May 1st. Fish on average were about 3 - 5 pounds with some probably hitting the 7 or 8 pound mark.  The crappie bite is still on with fish suspended over large shallow flats. Live fatheads, small rufus jigs or cubbie mites under a bobber and small swimbaits accounted for most of the fish caught. Several nice crappie were weighed in with Alex Stockton’s crappie weighing 1 lb 15 oz, and Aaron Graybill of Lake Hopatcong Guide Service with his largest weighing 1 lb 11 oz.  Nice Largemouth along with several nice Smallmouth have also been hitting. Eddie Mackin’s smallmouth hit the scale at 4 lb 9 oz. Bass season will be closing in the next few days with catch and release only from April 15 - June 15. Yellow perch and pickerel have been consistent also. Trout season opened here on April 9th. Trolling phoebes, spinners or smaller stick baits in shallower water usually works for these fish. The Knee Deep Club will be holding their Trout & Pickerel contest on April 24th. Please check their website for more information. Have a great week !

Elvers

DEC 

Realist Video. No Cushy Editing

You Tube   Me, my son, Sadie. Vertical descent is about the distance in elevation from car to lake. Approximated.