Fly Fishing in Jersey…
It was an amazing day. Although it was leaning on some high temperatures for most of the day, by the time Nate and I hit this local run to do some fly fishing it had cooled to a bearable degree, and the warm water eased against the rubber of our sandals. We had decided to make a last run at fishing in Jersey before we moved, and this spot had recently popped up on the radar. Although we knew there were trout, we ended up settling for 2 blue gills each. This was actually my first time on barbless hooks, so it was exciting to experience a catch with the added challenge. However, the post-hook experience was less than eventful compared with the tail-dancing numbers any trout will put on for you. My first catch was literally on the heels of a comment from my fishing partner, which pointed out he had just seen a water snake, and by the way, but did I know that New Jersey has water moccasins? I had not realized this. Immediately the waters began to teem with writhing shapes around my skinny ankles. But before I could do a spot check my line went taught and I was whisked away 15 feet at the base of a fallen tree to where my first catch gently tugged on the line. All in all it was a great time, good to be out on the water (and in the water…is that a good thing out here? I don’t know, I took a shower), be with a good friend, and not be skunked. We even got to witness a trout flop up a shallow rifle after a minnow, just after I was noting how we hadn’t seen many trout rise. As if it was rubbing it in. And we threw in a line, but to no avail. Oh, well. It was good to be outdoors. Here is a photo I took of Nate after wading and looking out for snakes.
by Joel
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