Warm Water Mini- JAM 7 August 2010

[jdaddy]

If you show up a little early maybe you could watch the boats and I will take my car down to the take out so we can get back to the launch point.

 

[Fishidiot]

Mo,
The float distance is, I think, slightly over 6 miles. You'll know you're most of the way at roughly 4.5 miles when you go under the highway at Millerstown.

We'll discuss further at the noon gathering. I'll be departing shortly.

 

[gfen]

Well, its like 3am, and it was a long day of much fishing... Was nice to meet some new people and reaquaint myself with some prior people (which sounds so impersonal, but "folks," which sounds nice, just isn't the sort of thing I can say, even though I did, but its different when its paranthetical, y'know).

The drive in wasn't too bad at all, I'd definatly try this again, but I've learned a very important lesson:

GPSes made for hiking are not made for navigating highways. Sure, they work, but not in the most reliable manner.

How do I know? Because it sent me home via BFE. I have no idea why, but I ended up going NORTH, then east, and then finally down the long, long and ever so boring PA-61. 60 miles out of my way...

Six-zero, people.

Yeah, even the cop in Sunbury was baffled at what I did.. Cop? Yeah, y'know, the flashing blue and reds, the one who was kind enough to give me a little keepsake:

(to be fair, he didn't ticket me for the running the red, to not be fair, you're in a freakin traffic circle, there's two lanes, a green arrow points left, right, and there's a red dot above them, wtf did i know, i thought you could go in the lane... i hate circles)
(to also be fair, i earned it)

He wasn't sure why I was in Sunbury, or why I was going home that way, either.. I think he felt bad for me. Nice guy, doing his job, etc.

Damnit.

On a more positive note, presenting:

Good Fortune, Ben (hates me), Fish Idiot (tried to coerce dog to like me), at start of their float.

Good Fortune, at the end of his float.

Maurice and family. Maurice stated he thought my avatar was, at one point, part of a scantily clad lady bit. I'm not sure how I think about that, but I'm pretty sure I'm flattered (or should be).

BassistJon, laying down some loops.

Matt Boyer, about to miss a take.

Nice to see everyone, special thanks to jdaddy for making me want a 'toon that much more. Unfortunatly, I'm now $109 further away thanks to the PAVC 3111.a.

 

[KeithS]

It was a great day. Beautiful river. I did NO catching, but that'll only move up the kayak acquisition. It was great to put faces to names. Thanks, Fishidiot, for all the planing.

 

[Fishidiot]

While I think we may have had the nicest day of the summer, sadly, the fish catchin was very poor. Water conditions were nice: low, clear, 82 degrees F. And frankly the river wasn't as crowded as I would have expected for such a nice Saturday. To be sure, some bass were caught as well as some good sized fallfish from riffle areas, but overall it was very disappointing. At least PAFF Team WWI didn't catch the skunk (although I did myself). I felt bad for some of the PAFFers who drove long distances: Trust me, the Juniata is usually better - we just hit an off day. As you know, that's fishin. While I certainly saw smallies, and some good ones, even seeing fish was poor yesterday. Many of the boulders and ledge rock runs where I'd normally expect to see bass had few. I didn't see any muskies (saw four the last time I paddled in that area), although a couple PAFFers saw muskies. No strikes came from the toothy guys. Usually postfrontal conditions and bluebird skies make for slower bass fishin but this trip was very disappointing. This has really been an odd year - bass fishing started gangbusters in the pre spawn but the summer fishing has been pretty poor, at least for me. I've yet to have a steller day of bassin this summer.

Gfen: sorry to hear about your ticket. Now I wish I'd taken some time to discuss your travel route further.

On the bright side, it was a great day to be on the water and esp for a canoe/kayak trip. Great comraderie, as usual, nice scenery, saw lotsa birds, including bald eagles, and some fellas new to bass fishing and fishing from small boats got to experience a different type of fly fishing.

I'll post some pics soon.

 

[Acristickid]

Glad yous had a good time. No soup for me- Dr's orders.

 

[afishinado]

Great day, I think everyone had a good time. Yeah the fishing wasn't so great except for chubs/fallfish for me at least...lol. This was my first time fishing the Big J, it's a real nice River. This has been a "off" summer with SMB for me too. like FI said. Hopefully the fishing will turn around during the last part of summer.

Thanks to Fishidiot for doing such a great job planning the WWI jam. We should put this Jam on the calendar every summer.

 

[wgmiller]

I'll echo the sentiments of others and thank Dave for organizing this trip. He did an excellent job setting things up and making sure it went off without a hitch.

I almost took the "skunk", but was saved by a 6" rock bass. I saw plenty of Quillbacks?(Carp), a large catfish, plenty of suckers and one bronzeback. The water looked "fishy" the whole way down, but they just weren't there. Regardless, all was not lost as it was a beautiful day and it was just nice to be on the water. Great to put some faces with names as well.

I'd definitely be up for making this an annual event. Perhaps next year SMB fishing will return and it will be more productive...

 

[KeithS]

I'd say let's do 2 trips next year. One in earlier summer, one in early fall.

 

[gfen]

Fishidiot wrote:
Now I wish I'd taken some time to discuss your travel route further.

Nah, my fault. At the time, it didn't bother me, as I thought the timeframe was a little longer, and almost relished the thought of a leisurely drive home in the nice summer night weather.

However, this reminds me of something I forgot to say: Fishidiot's planning is nuanced, detailed, inclusive and terriffic. He took names, insured floaters were set with shuttles, and kept on top of everything all day long.

A special note of thanks was due to him, and I'm very glad I was able to get out for this.

 

[troutbert]

Did you see any white flies?

 

[wgmiller]

A few white flies, mid-day, but no "blizzard hatch" in the evening. Not much airborne bug activity to speak of actually...

 

[albatross]

I went bassing on the Loyalhanna in SW PA last evening to be in solidarity with you guys. I think I had better fishing than you all did (sorry to hear the catching wasn't so good for you). I think I took seven bass from 4:30 to 8:30. One nice enough to break me off.

I broke my reel as I was tearing down to leave. The cast aluminum reels are just too fragile and can't withstand a drop from waist high onto gravel. That is the last cast aluminum reel I will ever own.

 

[jdaddy]

That was an incredibly well put together float and I really appreciate the effort Dave put into organizing everything.

 

[gfen]

Alpabuck wrote:
This thread sucks. Where are pictures of monster muskie and small mouth I was promised?

 

[bassistjon112]

When i was walking i saw a hugeeeee muskie. It was awesome....

 

[wgmiller]

I can say that the lack of fish wasn't due to a lack of line in the water. There was a lot of line cast by the fly guys and line spun by the spin guys, but it just wasn't our day.

 

[gfen]

"You guys get anything good?" I asked.
"You should see the fall fish I got," JayL, paraphrased.

 

[jdaddy]

I think it was . . .

"All I got was a fall fish . . . but it was HUGE!"

I specifically remember emphasis on the HUGE part, which is what got us laughing.

 

[gfen]

I believe you're correct.

I know he was hitting Spring today, after the saga of my return trip, I should've faced the wife's wrath and just stuck around.