Bass & Pike - 6/23

[buzzbaiter]

Made a short after work excursion to the PR. I put on my battle fatigues - gloves, bug netting and spray - and off I went. Fished from 6 to about 8 covering a mile of river. Got 2 bass and two pike. Had 4 other hits so overall action was slow. Same story: all fish caught near or just past river debris. Both bass were plump with the larger one(about 2.5 lbs) having sores on it. It drew an 'ewww' response from me. Didn't really want to touch it but luckily I had the gloves. Other fish were healthy. Pike were 17" and 24". Good news was several new trees in the river blocking things up. This is good for fish and good for blocking boats, jetskis Despite fishing at dusk, in the shade and in an area full of breeding puddles, only got bit twice by skeeters. Netting did its job. There were hordes of them which was distracting but thankfully not many bit thru. Poison ivy everywhere along with a river bank so slippery you could call it mud slalom. This kind of 'jungle' fishing as I call it has its rewards but its a workout. I must have sweated off 3 lbs in just 2 hrs. Good news is no other footprints.

Pics are mobile phone so they suck.

Mosquito breeding area. One of many. I did one hand scoop of that water and had dozens of mosquito larvae in my hand. Yuck.

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Fish:

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Looks like heavy rain wed into thursday. This is sure to muck up the river again :-(

On the map below, we are right on the edge of 0.5" to 0.75". Not a lot but enough to raise the river a foot or two. Should drop quick though.

[kcritch]

Way to get out there and do battle buddy....Good to see the extra effort did not go to waste. Hard work usually does payoff.

[bigfishy]

Nice work Dr.buzz!!!Lvin the gloves...Other than the sores, second fish looks healthy and plump....nice report

[Eskimo]

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Are those latex exam gloves?
Those poor fish probably thought they were in for a prostate exam.

Looks like you had a great evening of fishing.

Every animal in the woods is host to numerous parasites. Everything from ticks on their skin to worms crawling in their intestines. When we enter their realm, we inevitably become host to those blood-sucking parasites, too.


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[buzzbaiter]

Nitrile examination gloves 'borrowed' from work Protects me and the fish since mosquitoes can't bite thru it and it doesn't take off any of the fishes protective slime. win-win as I see it. They do tear easily so one nick from a hook or fish tooth and they're done.

Every bass I've ever caught in that river looked overfed. They do feed well there.

[briansnat]

Originally Posted by buzzbaiter

Nitrile examination gloves 'borrowed' from work Protects me and the fish since mosquitoes can't bite thru it and it doesn't take off any of the fishes protective slime. win-win as I see it. They do tear easily so one nick from a hook or fish tooth and they're done.

Every bass I've ever caught in that river looked overfed. They do feed well there.

Just curious, what is the main forage fish in the Passaic? Sunnies? Herring? Juvenile bass and pike? Something else?

[Eskimo]

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Originally Posted by briansnat

Just curious, what is the main forage fish in the Passaic? Sunnies? Herring? Juvenile bass and pike? Something else?

I see a lot of minnows in the water. I don't know which types.

If I had to guess, I would think the main forage is various cyprinids like creek chub and carp and small centrarchids such as sunfish and bass.


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[NJD Bassman]

Nice fish dude! That puddle is huge. They really need to fill that in