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.

[Hookmanski]

Wow, sounds like an awesome weekend of fishing! Did you catch them all on marabou jigs like you usually do? Its great to see the rainbows, but I miss the browns and brookies too, it seems like everywhere I go I only find the rainbows.

[JDTuna]

Awesome trout, Andy!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Hey now! Great report and lots of nice Rainbows! Love the fall pics! Gotta be a few Browns in that area!!!

[BT67]

looks like some healthy trouts right there!

[Jigman13]

Nice Andy. Run n gun. Way to be lol... If they're not aggressive I'm moving on !

[thmyorke1]

Great report, Andy.

Glad you got out to fish and had success, smb have been disinterested in me in my latest river adventures, but those trout are hungry. I'm surprised you got one smb out of the falls however.

[Dave B.]

Nice report and some fine catching there Andy! It's good to see you getting out there to enjoy the river system you dedicate so much time and effort to! Glad it gave back to you this weekend!
For the record I agree with you 100% on the 2 fish fall limit! Should've been done years ago!
As for the lack of variety, ya just have to hit some other streams once in a while!

[shucker]

I thought you only fished for tires!I do miss the fresh water fishing but the salt has been very good to me lately

[Mark B.]

Wed. afternoon caught released 2 nice rainbows just below the Rt. 31 Bridge.

I found a small hoop net (like new), collapsed / abandoned, along the railroad tracks.

There was a punctured, empty can of tuna fish inside for bait.

I brought the net back to The Fish Lab.