Raritan River 7/16/11

[Lard Almighty]

Met up with my dad at 3:00 and we hit the Raritan at Nevius Street. Dad picked away at some small fish and I caught two decent smallies on a Pop-R, all downstream from the foot bridge. On the way back up we found a hole underneath a downed tree that was stacked with panfish. It was drop and reel on sunnies and rock bass until we got sick of it. We finished with about 20 fish between the two of us, nothing big. Dad called it a day, but I wanted to keep going, so I made a move to the South Branch in Neshanic Station.

Got to the white bridge at a quarter to six, started working upstream from the mill. I threw a plastic craw and a senko, but no touches. I tied the Pop-R back on, and on my first cast missed a smallie that jumped two feet in the air. I decided to stick with the Pop-R for the rest of the evening. I worked about a half mile upstream, and picked at fairly small fish. I landed about five, missed strikes on probably twice as many. On my way out Maddhatterr met me, and we fished and shot the breeze for a while. He got two rock bass on a senko, I left him fishing to get a head start on the ride home.

Beautiful day to be out fishing. Lots of life in the river today: tadpoles, baitfish, snakes, toads, not to mention the fleet of kayakers and tubers that floated past all day. Water was low, warm, and fairly clear. I'll be back to the river again before the summer is over.