Winter Trout Fishing by: Steve

 It is a new year and I have done something I never have before: I purchased a New Jersey freshwater fishing license. My idea was to take my 4 weight fly rod, (my first fly rod, dating some time) and try for some winter trout. I went to the Pequest River.

What I really wanted was to take my little old rod and a few flies I tied from Wendy's wool and the fur from the Island Beach roadkill rabbit of last year, and hike into the woods, and try for some trout. I drove hours north from Philly. Instead of the gradual fade into woods I thought of, I went first through Allentown driving, and Easton, and Phillipsburg next, of course, we are beset by towns here. By a little parking lot, by a sign for a fish hatchery, not far from some other fishermen, there is the Pequest. Has the solitude, the autonomy of the kayak spoiled me that I am a little disappointed? This really is a pretty little spot.

I hooked a rainbow on one of my homemade flies which is always a surprise to me, and even more a shock, considering I'd been snagging bottom all day, to have a snag moving up from the bottom, and seeming like a fish. I saw the little red cheek once, but I did not land it.

These are the flies I used, I fished them in tandem on a 5x tippet, I didn't need to add weight as the stream was very shallow. I saw two other fish caught, clearly it is not a bad winter spot, but I'm not sure that I'll go back, I'm going to keep fly fishing through the winter, but I'm looking for something a little further on from the beaten path.