Earlier that morning

The previous 2 days had called for pleasant weather and mediocre fishing at sunrise, which led us to not bother setting an alarm for pre-dawn. We slept in and took the day as it came. However Monday was calling for a perfect fish-catching combination: Simultaneous outgoing tide, sunrise, moonset, and "gale force winds" blowing out to sea so we made sure to wake up early so as not to miss our best opportunity. The first two days of scouting had given us a good idea for where to plan our stakeout: the north end of the boardwalk, where a nice sandbar revealed itself as the tide went out. I hiked out to the bar and took a few casts, and quickly made my way to the edge of the bar where I could cast to my left into a deep pool of water. The flat mirror-like surface of the predawn water reflected the foggy mist above, whose calmness was suddenly shattered by the violent splash of a feeding striped bass. I could hear J's voice in my head. "These are pencil poppin' conditions". I pulled out my new lucky pencil popper which I had found washed up on shore the day before. This is a style of lure I have never caught anything with, but I know many of J's most epic fish stories involve this magic lure so I am dying to catch a fish on this lure and discover the faith for myself. It's one of the most labor-intensive lures to use. It's big, heavy, and as legend has it, "if you're not making love to the pencil popper it's not going to have the right action". A saying which never made any sense to me until today with the fish crashing on the surface. Are you getting spastic? Make love to it... It's a rhythm thing. Like Isaac Hayes, smooth buttered soul. Ohhh yeah, there it is. WHAM! A big striped bass rose out of the water and nailed the pencil popper in plain site.

After a bit of a fight, the fish and I made our way to dry land. He measured just over 28 inches. A keeper! Losing my mind with excitement, I wanted to get back out there and catch some more. I carried the fish back to the surf and let him go free. As soon has he swam off, "stupid! why did I do that?" I thought. I don't have too many opportunities to keep a fish like that and I may have just blown it for the trip. Lucky for me, a few casts later, I caught his brother which was also over 28 inches. After a total of 3 fish, soaking wet in my leaking waders and the strong, chill wind, I went and found J. We returned to our hotel, and cooked up an early breakfast of fish. Yum!

Monday Afternoon - Round 2!

Tired by noon, conditions and reports were still looking good so we headed straight back out again. And that's when things really got intense! We made our way up the beach stopping every half mile or so to look around with the binoculars. We find a promising spot, and gear up and start fishing. Before long, J battles a gargantuan bluefish to shore! Followed by another!

Here's a quick look at the lures that were successful for me on this trip (SP Minnow in bunker color, a bomber, a snag hook, and the pencil popper):

Toss this ugly 3-pronged hook into a big school of 2-inch bunker ("peanut bunker"), snag a little fish, and let it drop down below the school where the hungry bass are waiting. The bass biting felt like a tiny little bump. Set the hook, and get ready for a fight.

Bass Sushi, Bass Sandwiches, Bass Tacos, Blackened Bass...

We caught the fish during the falling tide. The current was noticeably stronger when we caught the bass than during all the times when we didn't catch bass. The process involves first catching herring to use as bait. We only had one bait-catching rod on the boat with a Sabiki Rig. For twenty minutes the herring eluded my attempts. Finally, fed up, I handed the rod to M, and of course on his first cast he caught bait which put us in business. Almost immediately after rigging up the heavy rods with herring-chunked hooks and weight, something chomped away at M's bait but didn't stick around long. Soon my rod started seeing the same action, including some serious tugs and pulls. The fish and I fought for a while, and upon seeing the boat the big guy took off, but eventually M netted the beast, and snapped the picture.

After the bass, we caught several catfish, and M had an eel on his line at one point. We had gone out a week before when there were probably 25 or 50 boats out there. Today, there was just us and another boat or two. I wonder where everybody went? On both days my canoe was the smallest vessel on the water by far. Everyone else had a motorboat of some kind.

Is it legal to catch herring for bait just below the Troy dam?

Yes. Possession of the proper fishing license entitles an angler to collect alewives and blueback herring for personal use in hook-and-line fishing only (sale prohibited) by angling, seine or cast nets. Regulations vary by location. Transportation of herring for use as bait is prohibited except along transportation corridors outlined and mapped in the regulations guide. The area around the Hudson River below the Troy dam is one such corridor.

Is it legal to catch herring for eating? When is open season? What is the limit?

Yes, herring can be caught any time, with no limit in the Hudson River upstream to Troy Dam, and some parts of the Mohawk River, and also in all tributaries from river upstream to first barrier impassable by fish. Anglers must enroll in the Recreational Marine Fishing Registry. Once these species are transported away from the water body, they may not be transported back to any water body for use as bait.

Is it safe to eat herring from the Hudson? What are the recommended restrictions on eating them?

If a person were to eat Hudson River fish at a rate greater than the recommended one meal-per-month, they could expect to eventually end up with twice as much mercury in their system as a person who did not eat these fish. The person would still be well within the limits that the EPA recommends as "safe", although I don't have confidence that "safe" actually means "safe". I conclude that as a grown man, eating a few Hudson River pickled herring should be ok (with some warranted hesitation and disclaimers). Women of childbearing age and children under 15 should avoid them.

Unanswered Questions:

I was surprised to read that the upper Hudson is the worst area to eat fish, and that the lower Hudson contains healthier fish. I expected that the further downstream you get, the worse the water would be because there would be more factories contributing to the pollution, but apparently this is not the case. It makes sense assuming that the largest concentration of pollution is in the sediment at the bottom of the river in the upper Hudson, and the fish in question spend a lot of time in the contaminated areas. However, don't the striped bass spend only a short time on the Hudson while spawning? How are the striped bass on the Upper Hudson getting so badly contaminated if they only spend a small part of their lives on the Hudson? Does the contamination stay with the fish, or does it quickly leave the fish once it leaves the contaminated area? If the contamination quickly leaves the fish, then it would make sense that the fish in the cleaner, southern part of the Hudson are healthier. However, if the fish are permanently affected, then wouldn't they be just as contaminated when they are in the upper Hudson as they are in the lower Hudson? Or even in the ocean for that matter?

Here goes nothing...

References:

* NY Times Article
* Hudson River - Health Advice on Eating Fish You Catch
* 2011-12 NYS Fishing Regulations Guide

Trip Report

Thursday, 10/20/11

I headed toward NJ after work, and I met J at the Belvedere Motel at around 9:00PM. We grabbed dinner at Hemingway's. I had a decent burger. We went to the Motel and took a 2-hour nap before starting to fish. We parked at the first parking lot in IBSP and fished for a while, but didn't catch anything.

Friday, 10/21/11

We took a short nap before sunrise and went to the far end of IBSP. At sunrise, J caught a nice weakfish. We didn't know the regulation size, and J tossed it back into the sea, but it turned out that with a 13" minimum length, it was a keeper.

http://stripersurf.com/scast101_1.html

We fished the sunset, but didn't see any action. We ate dinner at --- ------. It was not good. Sitting next to me at the bar was a guy who seemed to have serious mental problems cleverly disguised by his extreme drunkenness. He was making strange clucking noises, groaning, drooling, and mingling with the large wooden beam 6 inches in front of his face while his tour guide was trying to make him drink more. I ordered the "softy", a soft-shelled crab sandwich. I asked if these were in season, and if they had been frozen or not. He said that they were never frozen, but we were at the tail end of the season so the crabs are on their way out. I ordered one, but I should have taken the hint. It was cooked extra crispy (probably a good thing), and after I finished most of it, I decided I had enough. We scurried out of there happily unstabbed and unpoisoned. We hung out for a bit before taking a short sleep (or long nap depending on how you look at it).

Saturday 10/22/11

We got up early to start fishing the pre-dawn. The beautiful sunrise refused to share its fish with us.

We napped and headed out and fished before and after the high tide. We walked down the beach toward Governor's Mansion. Halfway down the beach, we started fishing areas that had a lot of clam shells in the wash, and more importantly some pieces of sand crabs and mole crabs. We met with a bit of excitement shortly after high peak. We watched somebody pull in a short bass down the shore. Before long, he walked by us and told us he was using a ------ ---- ---. He said that he has had a lot of success with them over the last season or two. He also had a teaser tied on with a large dropper loop (with a notably smaller knot than when I make a dropper loop - thinner leader? braided line? fewer twists?), positioning the teaser 2.5 inches from the leader. It looked like a great way to tie on the teaser. I have been tying two leaders to a barrel swivel, but it gets a little bit tangled up sometimes. I put on a storm shad with a teaser, which has the similar tail to the ------ ---. J saw a fish jump, felt a few bites, and something bit the tail off my plastic lure. We fished until the sun went down, and decided to return to the spot on the next high tide.

We grabbed dinner on the boardwalk. The area was surprisingly alive compared to most of the area, mainly because of the bright lights, but there were some people there as well. A lot of video game arcades with some gambling machines were open for business. We ate at the Sawmill Cafe. We both had really delicious cheese-steaks, and there were some good beer choices. Not too bad for the off-season. We went back to the Motel and got in some good sleep.

Sunday 10/23/11

We woke up and started fishing at 3am. We walked in the dark until we found a familiar log near our favorite spot from the night before. We fished an hour or so until high tide. J suggested that we keep walking to the Governor's Mansion. We walked for a while and were lucky enough to spot the silhouette of a chimney behind the sand dunes, indicating something that perhaps a Governor could live in. We took a nice relaxing break before gearing up and hitting the surf. It was dark out, and clouds covered the moonsliver more often than not. I tied on a Deadly Dick with a dropper looped black teaser. After a half-dozen casts, I found myself physically connected to a swimming torpedo. The drag on my new reel zipped beautifully as a big fish unmistakably rocketed into the dark horizon. I set the hook and yelled "fish on" as loud as I could, but the crashing surf drowned my cries. The fish was calling the shots, he was running. When he finally took a short break, I started reeling him in slowly. We were back and forth for a while. I tightened my drag a little, and started bringing the fish toward me. I could feel the fish getting close, rising and falling with the incoming waves. He found his wind and took off one last time. After that I reeled him in and dragged him quickly to the safety of dry sand. At a glance, the fish made 28 inches look small, making this an obvious keeper. It measured 31.5 inches. We buried the fish to keep it cool. Twice actually because a dog came by and dug it up. We fished for another hour or so through sunrise and packed it in.

Related Links

* Striper Surf NJ Forums - Great fishing reports here
* Fishing at IBSP, NJ - A great article
* Surf Reports at Betty and Nick's
* Bite Club Episode 1 - Motivational video for surf fishing
* Rigging a Teaser

In the evening the trout were extremely skittish. The only place I was able to get them to bite was under a very low bridge. As long as I could cast the lure in the 8 inches or so between the water and the bridge, a fish would usually chase the bait. At sunset some amazing colors reflected off the creek.

I cooked up one of the small trout, and it was a tasty treat. I forgot how much of a pleasure it is to cook a trout, because there is really no work in cleaning it. Mmmm. The cheeks were the best part.

Barometric Pressure

Today was a great way to get a feel for the effect of barometric pressure on the fish. In the morning, the pressure was reasonably flat, and the trout were actively feeding. In the evening, the pressure was on the rise and the trout were very noticeably hesitant to come out of their deep hiding places.

Related Entries

* Tiger Trout on the Wynantskill
* Trout in West Sand Lake

Related Links

* Wynantskill Public Fishing Rights

A bald eagle sat perched in a tree.

The dam at lock 7 watches me from the west.

A scenic tour of the Mohawk River wouldn't be complete without a couple of old car tires floating by.

A large bird, probably a heron, is fishing nearby.

Related Links

* Someone Else's Pictures of Bald Eagles on the Mohawk River in Niskayuna

I fished at Saratoga Lake on the evening of the 9th and the 11th. I have never fished more than a few casts in Saratoga Lake before these outings.

On the first day, it seemed as though the fish were really biting at certain spots, and not so much at others. I was excited to catch a few rock bass because I have not seen one of those in many years. They have intense red eyes. I caught one as a little kid and I cried hysterically until somebody unhooked it for me. At the time it looked like like a devil fish come up from the fiery pits of hell. I have to admit that a very small feeling of lingering fear of these fish remains to this day.

I caught a few small and medium-sized largemouth bass.

Towards sunset, I found an area where lots of smallmouth bass were biting every other cast. Some were tiny, and some were probably around 12 inches or so. I rarely encounter smallmouth bass. I have always heard that they are mean fighters. "Pound for pound, smallmouth bass are some of the strongest fighters of any fish". These fish were insane, including the small ones. The fish would leap into the air repeatedly on their way towards the boat. I worried that they were going to leap into the boat. I was using a Rapala Shad Rap which has two sets of treble hooks, which proved to be way too much for these fish. While one hook was properly in the fish's lip, they thrashed about so much that one or two of them were injured pretty badly by the extra treble hooks that were not on their lip. One managed to put a two-inch gash in it's belly. It caught me off guard because I catch all kinds of fish on this lure, and I've never seen anything like this happen before but now I realize that if I am catching smallmouth bass, then I need to do something different. I could use a different lure, or perhaps remove one of the treble hooks. The fish were still thrashing around as I tried to remove the hooks making the whole process dangerous for me and the fish alike.

The second day was very windy, and the waves were rough. Occasionally a well-timed wave would wash over the top of the kayak, adding a few pounds of water to the boat each time. I thought about turning back and finding a calmer spot for fear that I was going to swamp the boat and lose my equipment, but I stuck it out. Luckily I stayed afloat.

This time around I removed one of the treble hooks from my favorite lure in order to avoid the problems that I had on the first day. The fish weren't really biting besides a few tiny little guys. Then again, I wasn't as focused on fishing as much as usual due to the rough water.

The barometric pressure for the two days would suggest that the first day should have been pretty good (relatively stable, low pressure), and the second day should have been bad (rising pressure). This seemed to be the case.

August Barometric Pressure