Awkward or what??

JimNovo

JimNovo

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2021
Messages
638
City
Milford, NJ
So I went out this morning to clear my head and fish my local river in NJ for a few hours. As I set up to fish my favorite pool a stocking truck shows up and starts to literally throw big rainbows into the river (by big I mean some serious 20-24” fish) from the bank above me. Along with the truck came 3-4 stocking truck chasers with their spin rods who after the truck left proceeded to stand 20 feet from me and flip their “something” at the bulky shadows now on the river bottom.

I honestly felt very awkward. I wasn’t a truck chaser, but was now one of the people casting to the fish deposited at my feet. The leader of the group was very friendly (and from PA) as are most fishermen, but it just didn’t feel right. I left quickly….

Awkward or what???
 
JimNovo said:
So I went out this morning to clear my head and fish my local river in NJ for a few hours. As I set up to fish my favorite pool a stocking truck shows up and starts to literally throw big rainbows into the river (by big I mean some serious 20-24” fish) from the bank above me. Along with the truck came 3-4 stocking truck chasers with their spin rods who after the truck left proceeded to stand 20 feet from me and flip their “something” at the bulky shadows now on the river bottom.

I honestly felt very awkward. I wasn’t a truck chaser, but was now one of the people casting to the fish deposited at my feet. The leader of the group was very friendly (and from PA) as are most fishermen, but it just didn’t feel right. I left quickly….

Awkward or what???
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Yeah right! You knew about the delivery. You planned to be there. The first step is admitting it.
 
I’ve been in that situation before. Just tie on a pink squirmy wormy and enjoy the bounty.
 
Ha, ha. Like to the time I went into a bar and it took me two scotches to realize that I was the only man there?
 
JimNovo said:
So I went out this morning to clear my head and fish my local river in NJ for a few hours. As I set up to fish my favorite pool a stocking truck shows up and starts to literally throw big rainbows into the river (by big I mean some serious 20-24” fish) from the bank above me. Along with the truck came 3-4 stocking truck chasers with their spin rods who after the truck left proceeded to stand 20 feet from me and flip their “something” at the bulky shadows now on the river bottom.

I honestly felt very awkward. I wasn’t a truck chaser, but was now one of the people casting to the fish deposited at my feet. The leader of the group was very friendly (and from PA) as are most fishermen, but it just didn’t feel right. I left quickly….

Awkward or what???
Click to expand...

I don't usually target stockies, but I've certainly been in situations where I pulled over to look at a bridge pool and there they were. Of course, I'm going to throw at them.

I've even been in that situation and - let me be very careful here, given recent threads - some "differently abled" anglers saw me fishing and pulled over to throw spinners at them. Oh well. I headed out.
 
JimNovo said:
So I went out this morning to clear my head and fish my local river in NJ for a few hours. As I set up to fish my favorite pool a stocking truck shows up and starts to literally throw big rainbows into the river (by big I mean some serious 20-24” fish) from the bank above me. Along with the truck came 3-4 stocking truck chasers with their spin rods who after the truck left proceeded to stand 20 feet from me and flip their “something” at the bulky shadows now on the river bottom.

I honestly felt very awkward. I wasn’t a truck chaser, but was now one of the people casting to the fish deposited at my feet. The leader of the group was very friendly (and from PA) as are most fishermen, but it just didn’t feel right. I left quickly….

Awkward or what???
Click to expand...
Dear Jim,

One time about 30 years ago I stopped on the special regulation stretch of Cayuta Creek near the Tioga/Chemung County line in NY. I was on my way to see a customer in Ithaca and figured I toss a few casts to see if I could turn anything up. I put on an IPW, an early chenille version of the modern squirmy worm, and caught 4 fish on 4 casts just below a bridge on a side road.

I had time to kill so I figured I'd go check another side road for access. I quickly discovered the reason for my immediate success. It turned out I was about 10 minutes behind the stocking truck because they were just finishing up stocking at the next bridge!

I just kept going to Ithaca and met the customer after washing the fish smell off my hands at a mini-mart.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
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JimNovo said:
So I went out this morning to clear my head and fish my local river in NJ for a few hours. As I set up to fish my favorite pool a stocking truck shows up and starts to literally throw big rainbows into the river (by big I mean some serious 20-24” fish) from the bank above me. Along with the truck came 3-4 stocking truck chasers with their spin rods who after the truck left proceeded to stand 20 feet from me and flip their “something” at the bulky shadows now on the river bottom.

I honestly felt very awkward. I wasn’t a truck chaser, but was now one of the people casting to the fish deposited at my feet. The leader of the group was very friendly (and from PA) as are most fishermen, but it just didn’t feel right. I left quickly….

Awkward or what???
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I hear you. That's why I'm probably headed to the D this weekend. No stockies, no stockie chasers, and certainly more water.
 
I only fish a few stocked streams, and had that happen to me once...

Ever since, I always check stocking schedules to make sure it doesn't happen again as I hate crowds. 1 - 2 weeks AFTER a scheduled stocking or the last stocking is my usual MO.
 
One time I was fishing Kettle at a very nice run. You sort of had to crawl down the hill to get to the creek. I heard some commotion and voices above me. All of a sudden, some gentleman yells down to me would you mind dumping this bucket in the creek. Needless to say, I ended up dumping several buckets of fish in that run. I did continue to fish and didn't catch anything. Other than a bunch of grief from my fishing buddies. I would hardly think those fish would be ready to eat after being transported in a dark tank for who knows how long. Lou
 
Lou said:
One time I was fishing Kettle at a very nice run. You sort of had to crawl down the hill to get to the creek. I heard some commotion and voices above me. All of a sudden, some gentleman yells down to me would you mind dumping this bucket in the creek. Needless to say, I ended up dumping several buckets of fish in that run. I did continue to fish and didn't catch anything. Other than a bunch of grief from my fishing buddies. I would hardly think those fish would be ready to eat after being transported in a dark tank for who knows how long. Lou
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Fish would be ready to eat? Dang, that's a grim existence, eh? We grow you in a concrete pool of water and feed you kibble. We cram and jam you into a truck and bumpily drive you to God knows where. We stuff your finny butt into a bucket and schlep you down a steep hill. We dump you in a foreign creek and wish you the best, and then 5 minutes later someone hooks you in the face with some powerbait they pulled out of a jar, rips your guts out, and then slap you directly on the grill.

Oh, to be a stockie.
 
salmo said:
Ha, ha. Like to the time I went into a bar and it took me two scotches to realize that I was the only man there?
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Or were you? 🤔
 
Reminds me of the time in the early 70's when I was fishing Cool Spring ( Mercer or Lawrence Co ?) and had to retreat to the bushes to relieve myself. About that time I hear all this commotion and hootin and hollerin at the bridge. I'm thinking, Oh great these guys, can see me and are bustin my balls. It took 5 trout on 5 consecutive casts to realize that these guys had just stooked the stream.
 
Didn't you know it's a SUPER accomplishment to catch a stocked fish before he even has a chance to flush the hatchery water out of his gills?

Years ago I helped stock the breeches. Truck went down a dead end road and we turned around to leave. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes elapsed time since we put a hefty 18 inch brown in the hole above. I kid you not, some dude already was putting him on the stringer.

I guess sometimes my filter malfunctions. I told him next time, I'll save you the trouble and just hand him to you so you don't even need to get out of your truck.
 
I’ve only had this happen once. I was ice fishing and was far enough away from the chaos that it didn’t bother me. I was chasing perch anyways.

I spend most of stocked trout season chasing crappies on Chautauqua and then begin transitioning into walleye as the water warms.
 
Stocking. So hot right now.

In all honestly, stringers full minutes after presumably an in season (and not pre-season, Fall, or otherwise special regs) stocking is EXACTLY what the PFBC is going for. And really, who cares. If there’s wild fish there, you want as many of those stockers yanked out as quick as possible. And if there’s not, and you’re into C&Ring stockies, then go for it. Nothing wrong with it. If you don’t like catching stockies or the crowds they can create, don’t fish stocked streams, especially around stocking dates. Problem solved. (I get that stocking dates can change and the OP was caught off guard and not planning on a stocking that day. If so, do what he did, and leave, if that’s not your cup of tea.)

The average license paying angler likes (relatively) easy to catch stockies put into places where they are (relatively) easy to catch. Our camp helps with the pre-season stocking of Kettle and Little Kettle, neither of which should be, or need to be stocked. At least not above Ole Bull for “Big” Kettle. I am the only camp member out of about 10 or so that has that viewpoint. The rest want it stocked. FWIW.
 
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