Over The Ice

[mute]

Has anyone been able to get passed the ice this week? Moronically i drove an hour away today hoping to fish the beautiful scenery of french creek at warwick park. Yet not realizing what the cold conditions would of done to the water. As i found the creek i felt the depressingness of not being able to fish when i saw that 99% of the stream was solid ice. After observing the stream for 10 minutes i then departed for home. Stopping by pickering creek, which was also almost fully iced over, i think just went home to be comforted by paflyfish. Now that im 0/2 did anyone get to fish some water this week?

 

[David]

I did... I went to Lake Arthur with an auger and got right passed the ice! ;-)

 

[Edmo]

I fished the Tully on Sunday with some success. See Stream Reports for details. I live minutes from Warwick Park...usually have a pretty good info as far as conditions on French Creek. Don't hesitate to message me before your next trip and I will do my best to let you know how Frenchie is looking.
Ed

 

[jayL]

Gotta look for limestone, man.

 

[albatross]

Mute,

I skipped the fishing and went X-C skiing instead on Monday for MLK Day.

Sadly I'm still without a trout in 2009. I did fish Saturday Jan 3rd without success, but I have not been on a stream since.

 

[eballat]

The Schuylkill River up here in Sch. county is a good stream to fish this time of year as well. On the coldest days so far this winter all we really had to contend with was shelf ice. IF you like ice fishing, head up to Tuscarura Lake, ( or however its spelled). My friend and i pulled over a dozen trout through the ice over the weekend.

 

[Acristickid]

Visiting Florida currently and caught....ready for this... a Barracuda today.

Not only that I caught 2 of them. I have never even seen one caught before. Pretty cool. They were juvenile barracudas- probably 18 inches ish. Smashed a chartruse clouser in Sarasota Bay. Got some good pics. Post when I return.

 

[Edmo]

Here is a little guy I pulled out of French Creek on the 11th. Before the recent deep freeze.

 

[skiltonian]

valleys open

 

[Raven456]

I fished Valley on Sunday and Monday and had some success nymphing. The water is pretty clear and the fish have moved to deeper holes but I managed to land a few in the deeper riffles.

 

[jayL]

skiltonian wrote:
valleys open

A slightly more precise version of my post. :lol:

 

[Giventoflyfish]

Mute, yeah I looked at French Creek on Sat on my way out of the house. Sheet of ice. I expect a thaw out this weekend, so I'll hit it after the NJ Fly Fishing show.

I agree with JayL, find limestone.

 

[mute]

Thegabber,where in jersey is that specifically? And edmo, nice fish again. Like i said i stopped by a couple days ago, i made a left onto county line road i think it was. Then made a left into the park and walked to the little handi cap dock. Is this a decent section of the stream? When i was there i walked about half a mile downstream and probaby a fourth a mile upstream of it. I didnt see many deep holes or holding areas. Possibly it was under the ice and i couldnt tell the depth, but is this the part of the stream where you usually fish? The maps on the bulletin board didnt tell me crap. I believe theres a fly fishing only area as well in the warwick park?

 

[SamIAm]

Valley was clear and fishing fine til about 3:30 PM Monday in the snow. Very little ice , some at edges snow was crunchy and noisey. there were the usual midge pupea riseforms.

 

[nimrod]

I've been working on this ice fly prototype ...

 

[tomgamber]

albatross wrote:
Mute,

I skipped the fishing and went X-C skiing instead on Monday for MLK Day.

Sadly I'm still without a trout in 2009. I did fish Saturday Jan 3rd without success, but I have not been on a stream since.

I went downhill skiing on Tuesday...8 inches of fresh powder. Was like being back in Idaho...never got cold and much prefer the gravity factor to all that work.

 

[MattBoyer]

acristickid wrote:
Visiting Florida currently and caught....ready for this... a Barracuda today.

Not only that I caught 2 of them. I have never even seen one caught before. Pretty cool. They were juvenile barracudas- probably 18 inches ish. Smashed a chartruse clouser in Sarasota Bay. Got some good pics. Post when I return.

I had a guy years ago in the keys tell me that when the 'cuda are in they are in, and that it's hard to catch anything else. At least that year it seemed as if he were right. They were all between 18 and 24 inches, except for a beast my buddy caught and one that tried to eat me while snorkeling, but it was still a lot of fun. BTW, in the spirit of the original post, I haven't been out for a week or two, but most of the streams I drive by have at least shelf ice if not a total coverage. I'll agree with Jay that limestone is the key in a year like this, although tailwater might work, too.

Boyer

 

[Giventoflyfish]

Mute, the show is in Somerset NJ, this weekend. I've heard it's a good show.

Yes, upstream from the handicap section to the road is good and then downstream from the handicap section to the first bend past the old house on the creek is good.

The fly fishing only section is not in the park. It's further down from the stream on Hollow Road off of Pughtown Road and to the red covered bridge. I highly recommend fishing that section when they stock it in the Spring. Beautiful section.

 

[ryguyfi]

nimrod wrote:
I've been working on this ice fly prototype ...

maybe a tandem of 2 of those will work even better!!

 

[ryguyfi]

MattBoyer wrote:

acristickid wrote:
Visiting Florida currently and caught....ready for this... a Barracuda today.

Not only that I caught 2 of them. I have never even seen one caught before. Pretty cool. They were juvenile barracudas- probably 18 inches ish. Smashed a chartruse clouser in Sarasota Bay. Got some good pics. Post when I return.

I had a guy years ago in the keys tell me that when the 'cuda are in they are in, and that it's hard to catch anything else. At least that year it seemed as if he were right. They were all between 18 and 24 inches, except for a beast my buddy caught and one that tried to eat me while snorkeling, but it was still a lot of fun. BTW, in the spirit of the original post, I haven't been out for a week or two, but most of the streams I drive by have at least shelf ice if not a total coverage. I'll agree with Jay that limestone is the key in a year like this, although tailwater might work, too.

Boyer

I caught a 'cuda on my honeymoon a few years back. Was drift fishing in Ft Lauderdale with the new wife and swore I had a snag... then he shook his head and it was on! Pulled him up and the guide said it was a nice trophy sized cuda pushing 4 feet. I asked how much it would cost to mount and he said $495, I then asked if there was a decimal point in there lol! Couldn't afford to get it done so we snapped a few pictures and sent him swimming. Sure was fun though!