Went out on a local lake with Redfin and his son yesterday. State stocked some Rainbows in it on the 16th. Was a beautiful morning to be out and got really windy by mid morning. No trout were caught but we did get some nice Largemouths!
Hit the local fly shop for the Black Friday sales. Picked up a nice assortment of stuff to start my fly tying journey.
Fly tying class starts at my local shop Thursday evening. I've been practicing here at home and really like this cold weather hobby.
River smallies are my absolute favorite. Aggressive strikes, they go airborne and fight like tigers etc. The Delaware River is 30 minutes from my house and I might buy a yak to get out on it. Strange thing about the Delaware, though....the fish are much smaller than those seen in the Susquehanna and even the Raritan River. Was never able to figure out why. The Delaware also has a resident population of stripers and I've landed a few over the years.
Anything from shorts up to 30+ lbs. They are found in roaring rapids where one would think fish would not hang out. What we see on the surface is not what it's like below the surface as stripers will find submerged boulders, holes etc and wait for the current to bring food to them. My best Delaware river striper was caught on an accidental cast....I had a pseudo backlash and cast a Whopper Plopper diagonally downstream into a ripping current. As the lure was quartering across the rapids, a 16lb striper came out of nowhere and hit it. The fight was insane on bass tackle. Alas, that was back when I had a Rockproof which has since been sold. Stupid, stupid stupid move.
Stripers in diapers.........we use to call the small ones fishing the Delaware Bay for them in the fall/winter. Delaware bays creek tributaries holds resident stripers all year a well, lots of fun with light tackle in the summertime. I miss fishing for them, so much fun IMO, small ones and the big ones running in the fall. I enjoyed chunking for them in the bay. We use to get some really big ones, behemoths!
Yup, the rough water slows down the little fish and makes them an easy target. When I was just dating my wife we were planning a camping trip via text. She mentioned a campground and I said “great it’s right next to a good striper spot” things got quite quick. damm autocorrect changed it to stripper! Lol Headed to a tuna seminar this weekend. Looking forward to getting back out on the salt!
