trout on the feedbag before the rain

[acabtp]

well, the weather report had said it was supposed to start raining here around 4 am tuesday, but when i got up, things were still dry, so i decided that i ought to try to get some trouting in before the rivers get blown out from all this rain we are supposed to get

got down to the black river around 10:30 and started working my way around. it was pretty cool this morning (air 44° down there), so after running some of my favorite lures through high probability holes without bumps, i figured the trout were being lazy. so i switched over to drifting baits which was immediately productive.

after picking away at a some generic we-ground-our-fins-off-at-the-hatchery stocker rainbows for a while, i brought one with a full set of fins and good coloring to the net just after noon. took a few pics and some underwater video of the release (link below)


unfortunately, while standing in the very spot where i caught the above pictured rainbow, i was mugged. for my fishing spot. luckily i remembered my new-for-2014 policy of "video the muggers", so here's the video of a talk with the guy
all in all, i was on the river for about six hours total, covered a mile of water, twice, and this was the only other person who was fishing today. simply blows my mind that while i was working a spot, he just walked right up and started casting into the same hole. if i'd kept fishing, we'd have been tangled, so i had to wait for him to move on. it's really like nobody gives a damn about courtesy anymore. the guy even had the balls to threaten to call in a false report to NJ DFW on me as he was leaving after i talked to him (for what, who knows). sigh... even down at the black river, there always has to be a reminder that this is still new jersey...

moved on downstream well past the guy and kept picking away at the rainbows.



it had been sprinkling on and off after noon, but around 2pm, the rain started to pick up, and the fishing caught FIRE. i was losing bait or connecting with a fish on almost every cast for the next hour and half. i lost count how many i landed. all generic stocker rainbows so i didn't bother with more pictures, until...

i hooked up with this nice wild brown

after the hookset, it jumped nearly three feet out of the water and then did two more jumps before coming to the net. definitely wild judging from the coloration, size, and fact that no browns were stocked there this year. probably must have swam down out of one of the WTS tribs. nice to finally get something different, been catching nothing but rainbows all season.

the rain cleared a bit around 3:30 and the bite died down then as well. got back to my truck, changed out of my waders and gear, and on the road just as the rain picked back up. good timing. if we get all the rain they are talking about, probably won't be back on the rivers until next week, so i was glad to get out there today.

underwater video of the nicer looking rainbow and wild brown being released is at http://youtu.be/Gt-PP0YHGSI