Rainin' bows

[Capt. Lou]

After yesterday's solid bite I couldn't wait till Monday to give one of the northern most streams a shot.
Took the ride & ended up with a solid bow 24" pin head fought like "h", took a couple of minutes near my boot foot to gain compsure & swim off strong!
Next couple of steps ended my day with a dunkin' , shoulda' taken a few minutes last eve to install studs , that imitation felt is a joke !!
Had staff but moving w/ o all my fault.
Tore my main pair yesterday , had same ones new as back up butgrabbed my neos big mistake ! Lucky today chose not to bring camera, pocket it would have been in full of water!
Rotten day to dunk 39 & rain, but another big bow all in all good day!
I'm going every day until temps drop off significantly, consistent troutin'
Best ever for me !!
Water temp 41
Water level low & clear
Rain / clouds
Plugs Megas
No reelin' fished current set

[tycomps]

After yesterday's solid bite I couldn't wait till Monday to give one of the northern most streams a shot.
Took the ride & ended up with a solid bow 24" pin head fought like "h", took a couple of minutes near my boot foot to gain compsure & swim off strong!
Next couple of steps ended my day with a dunkin' , shoulda' taken a few minutes last eve to install studs , that imitation felt is a joke !!
Had staff but moving w/ o all my fault.
Tore my main pair yesterday , had same ones new as back up butgrabbed my neos big mistake ! Lucky today chose not to bring camera, pocket it would have been in full of water!
Rotten day to dunk 39 & rain, but another big bow all in all good day!
I'm going every day until temps drop off significantly, consistent troutin'
Best ever for me !!
Water temp 41
Water level low & clear
Rain / clouds
Plugs Megas
No reelin' fished current set

what's "imitation felt"? something they replaced the banned rock snot spreading felt with?

ps- anybody tried old style metal spike golf shoes?

[Capt. Lou]

Imitation felt is a felt look alike developed to forestall the spreading of various stream born viruses . This stuff was suppose to not allow this to happen buy
subsequently is was found it didn't stop this at all!
It's a harder surface but does not grip like felt which in of itself is a struggle to grip well in today's streams which are more dlippery than twenty seasons or more back .
The best are screw in studs or a product called rock grippers that sport aluminum circle cleats mounted on very HD rubber over shoes , which fit your bootfoot so tight you needed to soak em in hot water to slip over boot.
Once on you could wade the worst streams with these in complete confidence!
Unfortunately no longer made wore out my last pair few years back.
So I go the screw in cleat route the once I now use are called goat head spikes
look like screw heads so you have more surface than a spike & less da
damaging to your car & whever you walk.
This all refers to bootfoot waders which I prefer to wear in the eastern
Streams except upper D !

[Skunk City]

Good report and nice job on the catch and release. Got to love these December reports!

[tycomps]

Imitation felt is a felt look alike developed to forestall the spreading of various stream born viruses . This stuff was suppose to not allow this to happen buy
subsequently is was found it didn't stop this at all!
It's a harder surface but does not grip like felt which in of itself is a struggle to grip well in today's streams which are more dlippery than twenty seasons or more back .
The best are screw in studs or a product called rock grippers that sport aluminum circle cleats mounted on very HD rubber over shoes , which fit your bootfoot so tight you needed to soak em in hot water to slip over boot.
Once on you could wade the worst streams with these in complete confidence!
Unfortunately no longer made wore out my last pair few years back.
So I go the screw in cleat route the once I now use are called goat head spikes
look like screw heads so you have more surface than a spike & less da
damaging to your car & whever you walk.
This all refers to bootfoot waders which I prefer to wear in the eastern
Streams except upper D !

I've got stocking foot waders so I've just been wearing oversized boots, was thinking of screwing hex head machine screws into the soles like motorcycles that race on ice use.

[Capt. Lou]

The spikes Goat Head Brand are just like those type heads, be careful since they are not designed foe boot use they are not long enough yo penetrate through sole!
Mine about 1/4" or so , if you go thru boot sole then you could have issues!!
What I like about individual spikes as opposed to a apparatus that fits over boot is that you can loose flexibility when rock climbing !
Those old HD rock gripper I had allowed you flexibility!
To me this feature is one I prefer when you wade contanyly like me over 3 mos a year!

[flatcreek]

Wow Capt Lou that's five trout over 20 inches in less than a month including two over 24 and a 20 inch brooke. How about letting us in on the rivers your fishing or a least some pictures. You know what Eskimo says, "PICS- or it never happened".:rolleyes:

[Capt. Lou]

Flatcreek, no it's actually 3 fish all bows over 24" ! I fish all NJ streams that have been well stocked this fall.
If yo read carefully my initial stream statement placed it very NW in the state , only one decent stream way up top initials BFB !
However I tend to fish a variety of streams all high profile fished by me & thousands of anglers.
I put it m time & fish hard all winter , only lures & release all w/o taking them out of water! Hence not much Photo time!
This year has produced many nice fish , bigger in my opinion than previous fall / winter!
Good luck!!