Hardwick, New Jersey

Who would've thought that fishing a low, crystal clear creek with August overgrowth and spooky fish would be a bad idea. Not me apparently. The creek was at least 1 foot lower than the last 2 times I came here in June. The problem wasn't the low water levels, but instead the low flow rates. You can see in my last 2 pictures the difference it makes in a hole. What once was white water is now a trickle, which meant that the splash of my hopper dropper spooked any fish in every hole. The fish also easily saw me coming. I would be approaching a nice hole, and 2-3 small holes back, I would watch 20 ripples rush towards the cover in the pool. My only success came when I hid behind trees and rocks and dipped my flies in without seeing the water. I caught 3 fish, one of them is most definitely the smallest trout I've ever caught. I also hooked the same 12 inch fish I lost twice last time. This time I hooked him good, but he swam under a log jam. He was hooked for a bit and I saw him hooked, but he managed to get away for a 3rd time. When I was hiking back, I wanted to fish a few of the better holes coming down, but the swimmers had other plans. There were people in every hole on the way down. When I snuck up to a hole where I saw and spooked a 15" fish in the morning, there was a girl waist deep in the water. Nobody cares about the million No Swimming signs posted around and there is nobody to enforce it. The day could have gone better, but at least I caught some fish early on.

Got back out to Dunnfield Creek last week. This time it was less fishing, but I did the full Mt Tamanny and Sunfish pond hike. Amazing hike, but very tiring since I brought along all of my fishing gear plus lunch and lots of water. I didnt fish very much, but every single hole I either missed a fish, spooked a fish, or caught a fish. This little creek is by far one of the most scenic rivers in the state, and is full of fish. The pond itself is another story. It is full of stunted sunfish. I didnt see a sunny over 4 inches, and all of them look like some type of pumpkinseed or bluegill hybrid. I saw some golden shiners as well, and could've caught them if I switched to a smaller dry fly, but I was too lazy. I will be back again to catch a tiger trout.

Went to Dunnfield Creek in search of a wild NJ tiger trout. I fished my way up the creek and all I landed were browns, no bigger than 12 inches. I was throwing a double nymph indicator setup for most of the day, but switch to a dry dropper later. While i failed my priginal goal, i ended up catching fish out of a few holes that I always spooked during previous visits. The water was low and clear, so I was able to successfully sneak up on those holes. Also, I performed a perfect bow and arrow cast that resulted in a final brown to end the day off. I did miss 2 really nice brook trout further up. However, I also caught some brown trout in the same holes, so I know how far up the trail I need to go the next time I search for the wild Tiger Trout

Caught 2 small browns on an orange bead pheasant tail. The water was low and crystal clear, which did not help me. The trout spooked when they saw my fly line on a false cast or even whrn the nymphs hit the water. I saw a nice fish 50 feet above the water on the trail, and after staring at it for 5 seconds, it saw me and swam off under a rock. I switched to a dry fly too late, as I had to go to work. I do think I had one denial though. There were some sulphers, some small bwos, and a smaller dark blue/grey mayfly, about size 18 that I didn't know what it was. I'll have to hit it again after a rainstorm, and try to fish the water farther up away from more people

Took the day to hike Dunnfield Creek to try and catch some brookies. Was very successful, as I caught 7. The river was raging, and I would say 50% of the hiking trail was underwater, but in the end it was a good day of fishing. There were only a handful of fishable pools (the other ones were too turbulent), and there were multiple fish in each pool. I had low expectations at the start because of how much water was in the system, but was happily surprised. I can only imagine how the fishing would have been with normal flows

Caught one small brown and 2 common shiners on Sunday. We went to Van Campens Glen, and didn't see any large fish. The only thing we did see though was people swimming in the best holes. There was a park ranger that kept patrolling the trails kicking people out of the water, which was nice to see.

Wacky rigged General