Lower South Branch -trout fun 11/13/17:

[AndyS]

7 am started up by the Arches in High Bridge, morning air temp 38* and a nice steady rain. The rain was more of a nuisance than anything else. Couldn't scare a fish out of the Arches but did get a nice one at the Gronsky hole.
Moved down to Clinton falls, nothing. Over to Hamden road stretch. The Hamden road stretch has always been good to me, got 2 solid fish there and rolled 3 others. At Hamden road there is an old river restoration project, nothing more than strategically placed rocks on the river bottom.
Hit a few other spots and passed on just as many. Got 1 at Higginsville Rd. and rolled another. By now it was getting on to 1pm so I ran to the Headgates dam on the main stem of the Raritan. I got a nice SMB in the fast waters below the falls and got 1 rainbow at the falls. Had a really nice looking rainbow follow at the falls, very lit up and good size, rolled a heavy fish at the falls and left. On Sunday 11/12 I fished Somerville, Dukes and confluence without a sniff.
I miss the old tri-fecta days, just rainbows now. It seemed like there were a lot more fish stocked in the fall when they put in Brooks and Browns, some spots left your knees shaking as Jigman and Shucker can attest to.
I also think the fall limit on trout should be 2.
The water was gin clean today but still quite a few leaves. Heavy overcast was good and temps by the end of the day were up to 50* Nice no bugs, gnats, horse flies !
I have off Thanksgiving week so see what the weather holds, had fun on my "home" waters today and tried to pick up a piece of trash at every spot so I left it better than I found it.
Also, I think I'm going to shelve the old Daiwa SS II's I have been using, great reels and I worked the crap outta them. I'm using the Daiwa BG 1500 I got at the Sporting Life and I love the heck out of it.