fishing report: 7/8 - 7/9

[Troutjig.com]

I got to the Park around 8am on Saturday. Started at the bathroom hole with a gold tinsel jig. Caught 3 pretty quick, but they were all small. Didn't seem any big fish, so went down to the next hole. Caught a few more there on a green tinsel jig. The fishing was a little tougher than normal. Made my way down to the bridge and found where all the fish were hiding gold tinsel was working from down in the water, then I started fishing off the bridge with a black and white rubber-leg jig and wore myself out going up and down to release the fish. A guy next to me was using a green and white jig and doing pretty good as well. If you can get a good cast on the fish when standing on the bridge, the rubber-leg jigs never fail.

There was a group of about 7 or 8 down at the bridge hole snagging trout like crazy. It was pretty disappointing to watch. A few of them had only a large trebel hook on. Sad!

Sunday, we got down to the bridge about 5 minutes after the morning buzzer. Right off the bat I landed 15 or 16 fish on the gold tinsel jig, but they were all the exact same size. They must have stocked that area the night before. Went up to stand on the bridge to see if I could spot any large fish. Some of our friends that were still down in the water already had 2 or 3 really nice trout on their stringers. My fiance and I caught a couple more from the bridge and then headed back up stream on the wooded side. We spotted a nice sized fish on the walk up and Amy (my fiance) caught it on a green tinsel jig. It weighed in at 2lb 12oz. We went up to the bathroom hole and had pretty good luck. Amy had the silver tinsel jig working really good. I started with a black and white rubber-leg jig, then switched over to a all brown rubber-leg. Although hard to see, the trout love this jig. I netted a nice 2.25 - 2.5 lb fish, but for some dumb reason, I pulled the jig out of its mouth before putting it on my stringer and bye-bye it went. DOH!!! Rookie mistake.

Just to see how it was up front at the Step hole, we drove up there and checked it out. We caught a few each on the green tinsel and gold tinsel, but there just didn't seem to be many fish in that area. It was really crowded there when we drove by earlier in the morning, so maybe a lot of anglers did very well

One of our friends that started down at the bridge had the largest out of our group. 3lbs 1oz. Pretty nice fish. All in all, a good, fun weekend of fishing.

[jrbhc8]

I too was down at the park on Sat morning to try to catch a few rainbows on my new flyrod. A friend and I made it down to the bridge before the bell, and got in the water with the 5 other people who beat us down there. Being that we had the flyrods we tried to space ourselves to give us room and to be considerate of the other fishermen that beat us down there. We noticed tons of fish everywhere and I had a good feeling I was going to get some good practice with the flyrod. Right before the bell rang the usual rush made it down to the bridge and 4 more locals hopped in the water and waded to the right of the 5 original guys at the bridge hole. Then 3 more older locals got in the water and crowded around me and my friend. I literally had one guy standing on my right shoulder, and my buddy had a guy sitting on his left. The bell rang and everyone casted catching plenty of fish. Everyone at the bridge was using ruber band jigs except us, so I knew that they would light them up. I only made five good cats at the bridge and looked at my friend and told him, I've had enough. No one would let us get a drift in, and they all just wanted to keep catching fish and not taking turns. I was very consdierate of everyone, and even stopped fishing for about 5 minutes to let the guy next to me reel in a nice fish. It's unfortunate that he never returned the favor.

Overall I am pretty disgusted and this will probably be the last time I will fish the park this year. The worst part was that I knew most of these locals. Hopefully one of these days these guys will stop worrying about catching numbers and just fish to fish. There will always be plenty of fish to go around.

Sorry about the long post, needed to vent a little.

Good luck to all who plan to fish Maramec.

[rmueller]

Trout parks in the summer, especially at the opening whistle are typically free-for-alls. I have had great luck fishing Maramec park during mid-day (fly fishing). It is much more relaxed after the people who are taking fish have gotten their limit. Try the park (during the week if possible) after noon. Often, the fish have taken up holding lies that allow for sight fishing. Also, the winter catch and release (last year it was open 7 days a week) provided good fishing and a lot of solitude.

Good luck with the new fly rod.

[Troutjig.com]

I think it is for that reason that you don't see a lot of people using fly rods. If the Park was bigger, they could break it down into zones. If we want to use the fly rods, we make our way down later in the day. There are some pretty good spots that hold fish from the bathroom hole on down to the bridge along the bank opposite of the road that usually don't get fished much.

[shawncat]

Everyone at the bridge was using ruber band jigs except us,

Sounds like someone beens reading our post.

[Seth]

We used to always go down at the buzzer, but I never get down there before noon anymore. I can usually still do pretty good in the afternoon hours on my fly rod and a beadhead or san juan.

You just have to move around to the different holes and find fish that are feeding.

[jrbhc8]

Everyone now knows about the rubber band jigs. I've been using them and tying my own homemade ones for years down there, but after awhile it just gets too easy. That's why I have been picking up the flyrod more this summer, to try to master another skill.

[Kayser]

It does get too easy after a while. After a while, the fly-rod became a bit too easy fpr me(40+ fish a day, fishing 4-5 hrs a day). The last trip that I went on, my friend and I mainly fished outside of the park (Montauk). We only went into the park midday when the river fish headed really deep. But, i think my buzzer days are over for now, just because those wild(er) browns look so good. That and you can fish as late as you want.

Rob

[Troutjig.com]

jrbhc8 - it sounds like you have mastered fishing with a jig. Some people have a tough time picking it up.

There are still plenty of people out there that don't know about the rubber-leg jigs. I give at least one away every time I'm at the Springs to someone that's not catching anything and show them how to use it. It's awesome to see their eyes light up when they hook one.

The bigger fish are usually a lot more challenging.

[jrbhc8]

Good to see someone out there is helping others. I'm the same way, I'd rather see the little kid next to me catch fish after fish, even if I couldn't get a bite. It is a great feeling to finally start to get into the trout, and there is no doubt that your jigs are helping people do this. I just wish that other people would realize that is not always about catching fish, it's about the expierience.