May 2012

News & Events

General Meeting - Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Bart Lombardo

“Warm Water Fly Fishing”

Many fly fisherman hang up their fly rods once trout season winds down. Why not keep those flies in the air by chasing warm water species of fish? Fish like Bluegills and Largemouth Bass are the perfect fly rod fish, especially if you like top water action. Warm water fisheries can offer a lot more, Smallmouth Bass, crappie, pickerel, pike, shad, carp even catfish can all be caught on a fly rod. Chances are you have a pond or lake in your neighborhood with fish just waiting to be caught. This presentation will provide information on the fish,the equipment and the tactics used to catch them.

Bart Lombardo is the current president of Central Jersey Trout Unlimited and has been fly fishing and fly tying for over thirty years. While it was his love of trout fishing that originally sparked his interest in fly fishing, he now pursues everything that swims with a fly rod. Bart is passionate about all things relating to fly fishing. As part of his desire to educate and share information about fly fishing and fly tying he started the Jersey Angler Blog. A blog devoted to all things related to fly fishing and fly tying for all species of fish.

American Legion Hall
137 New Market Road
Dunellen, NJ

Meeting starts at 8 PM - Non Members are always welcome!

Farmington River Trip Report

by Bart Lombardo

Last week eight members from CJTU headed up to the Farmington River in Connecticut for three days of fishing. Although the weather was not on our side we enjoyed some fine fishing. We arrived just after a nor'easter pounded our area. The rivers were up and off colored but dropping and clearing during our stay. We had to deal with residuals from the storm with rain and sleet showers every day, but nothing that would keep you off the river.

Members of our party had varying levels of success, but I believe everyone caught fish. We took fish on streamers and nymphs in the cooler (cold) morning hours and managed to pick off some fish on top in the afternoon. We managed to catch the tail end of their Hendrickson hatch as well as some caddis and crane fly activity.

Some of us had exceptional fishing. Rick Dooley and I experienced a 100+ fish day on the Farmington one afternoon. We found a huge number of fish staged in a riffle feeding on emerging Hendricksons and drowned crane fly adults. Fishing soft hackles we took fish on almost every cast for several hours. In fact, it was dropping temps and darkness that drove us off the river. We ended the day with a double and walked away leaving biting fish. We headed back to the same spot the next day and was able to do it all over again this time with three anglers. It was not unusual to have three rods bending at one time. On one occasion, fishing two fly rigs, we had three rods bent and five fish on at one time!

All in all it was a great trip. My thanks go out to Barry Russo who organized the trip and Hal Fish who's knowledge of the fishery ensured success. For those who have never fished the Farmington River it is located in northwest Connecticut, just a couple hours drive away. The river is well stocked with rainbow, brown and brook trout. They have also been trying to re-establish Atlantic Salmon in the river system so there are quite a few parr and smolt in the river as well In addition to the Farmington the River is nearby as well. These two rivers make up a great trout fishery that is very accessible to New Jersey anglers.

President’s Letter

May 2012

It looks like we may finally be getting some well needed water back in our rivers. Our dry mild winter and early spring has made for some great fishing conditions, but our rivers have been at summertime flows for months now. This may be great for catching fish, but not sustaining them through the warm summer months. Hopefully the wet trend will continue for a while and get things back to normal. I hope everyone has had the opportunity to get out and wet a line this spring. It has been a great season so far.

We are still waiting on information on some of our pending stream improvement projects. These projects are being held up by the permitting process. As soon as we are able to schedule some work will advise our membership through our Action Alert system.

As I previously mentioned the flea market at the Pequest Open House was a success for us. We are now beginning to collect donations for next year's event. We will except donations as well as items on consignment. If you have any unwanted or unused sporting equipment laying around please consider dropping it off at a regular meeting. We will be excepting these items at every meeting.

We are also considering offering a classified advertisement for members who have items/services they wish to sell. For a small fee, we will post your ad on our newsletters, website and Facebook page. Look for more information in the next month or so or reach out to me via email at president@cjtu.org.

I will be presenting a seminar on warm water fly fishing at the May general meeting. Many fly fisherman hang up their fly rods once trout season winds down. Why not keep those flies in the air by chasing warm water species of fish? Fish like Bluegills and Largemouth Bass are the perfect fly rod fish, especially if you like top water action. Warm water fisheries can offer a lot more, Smallmouth Bass, crappie, pickerel, pike, shad, carp even catfish can all be caught on a fly rod. Chances are you have a pond or lake in your neighborhood with fish just waiting to be caught. This presentation will provide information on the fish,the equipment and the tactics used to catch them.

Just a reminder, our June meeting is always held on the third Tuesday of the month instead of the second. In June Andrew Moy from Tight Lines Fly Shop will be giving a presentation on Spey casting. Our start time will be moved up an hour to allow for some outdoor casting demonstrations. So please remember an hour early and a week late for our June Meeting.

That's it for now. I hope everyone is out enjoying the fine fishing available this spring. Take a break form the water and come out and join us this Tuesday for our general meeting.

Tight Lines,
Bart

Fly of the Month

“Black & White Minnow”
by Ron Ruskai

Click here for the recipe!