Easter Photo Shoot

Today I had an Easter photo shoot with my daughter. I was hoping to get 1 picture but managed to get a few. Here are the best ones.

Shutter Speed: 1/160
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 48.omm
White Balance: Auto








Shutter Speed: 1/160
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 59.omm
White Balance: Auto







Shutter Speed: 1/160
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 67.omm
White Balance: Auto







Shutter Speed: 1/160
Aperture: f 6.3
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 61.omm
White Balance: Auto







Shutter Speed: 1/160
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 59.omm
White Balance: Auto

I Tought I Was Trout Fishing

My friend Eddie and I decided last week that we wanted to go trout fishing yesterday. Tired of
pond and lake fishing I suggested stream fishing. We had a few places picked out in order for the day. Not thinking about the amount of rain we got we headed out at 7AM on Sunday morning with the initial plan in mind. We didn't get an 1/8 of a mile from his house in Lodi before encountering our first closed road due to flooding.

Still intending to stream fish, we headed to our first destination; my old spot when I lived in Pequannock, NJ. My spot was under the RT. 23 bridge in Pequannock, at the end of Pequannonck Ave. We couldn't get to it as the whole street was under water. At that point we decided to abandon the idea of stream fishing all together. Every stream and river we went to had 1 of 2 problems, flooded or moving way too fast.

We decided to headed to Shepherd Lake in Ringwood, NJ. We fished there for a while but the wind was relentless. Not to mention no fish. Not even a hit. We left there and headed to Monksville reservoir, also in Ringwood. We had the same problem there, very strong wind. Needless to say, we left there after 10 minutes of trying to fish.

Almost to the point of quitting for the day, Eddie suggested we try the lake at Saddle River County Park in Ridgewood, NJ. I know the 'Duck Pond' from when I was a kid. My dad used to take me and my siblings there to feed the ducks. The park was very crowded and I had my doubts. There is also the Saddle River flowing along the edge of the park. We tried to fish it but again, it was too fast and high.

We wound up fishing the Duck Pond. I asked Eddie if he was sure there were fish in it. We were both using our trout lures, small spinners. After about 10 minutes I caught a small largemouth bass, and I mean small, under a pound. At least I caught a fish. About 10 minutes later, I caught another one. A few minutes later, Eddie caught one.

Eddie caught a really nice bass, went at least a couple of pounds. We were both surprised that a bass that big was pulled from the pond. Not waning to be out done, I landed a huge bass. A female full of eggs (spawning season just around the corner) and ready to pop! It put up an awesome fight. In fact, seeing as how I was set up for trout and not bass, for a few seconds I thought I was going to lose it. Eddie asked if I wanted him to use the net and I said yes. The problem, it wouldn't fit in the net!! So he guided it onto shore using the net.

We estimated it to weigh between 4 and 5 lbs. The second biggest bass I ever caught!! And from the Duck Pond!!

When the day ended, Eddie had 3 bass and I had 4. Plus we each had a trophy fish. Not too bad for a day of 'trout' fishing. I can't help but wonder if we go largemouth bass fishing how many trout we'll catch.

Below; Me and my 'hog'









As always, until next time ~ Tight Lines

Photoshop

From time to time I go through my pictures and pick one at random and play with it in Photoshop. I try different things and like to explore with settings I never did before.

Here is the before picture. Very dark and you can't see any detail.
Here is the after. It is a lot brighter and the colors 'pop' more. There is also a nice border around it which I think makes the pictures stand out more.

April 10th, 2011

A few of the pictures I took around Hazlet and HOlmdel on April 10th, 2011.

Trout Fishing

After the cormorants ate all the trout in Holmdel Park Pond, I had given up on it. I still had a real hankering for fresh caught trout cooked on the grill so figured I'd head out after work today. I checked the New Jersey Fish And Game web site and saw that Holmdel Park Pond was stocked on Wednesday with 160 trout. I was going to fish Spring Lake since I work right down the road in West Belmar but I had to go home to walk and feed my puppy, so I figured I'd give Holmdel Pond another try. I mean, cormorants eating 160 trout in a day seems unlikely.

I brought two poles and set one up with power bait and a small split shot and the other I threw spinners. Within 10 minutes the power bait rod was hit. An 11'' rainbow trout. Nice!! Baited up again and had a hit within 10 minutes again. I was casting the other rod and was late on setting the hook and lost it. Oh well.

I moved about 40 yards down and set up with just power bait this time. Again, within 10 minutes another rainbow trout about 11''. Now I am getting really pumped. I fished about another 20 minutes and lost 3 more fish. At least I know there in there now.

Here are my two 11'' rainbow trout. Each caught on Florescent green Power bait.








Here is how I prepared them;
Clean each fish and cut off the head. On a sheet of aluminum foil (1 sheet per trout) put a couple pats of butter. Season trout with lemon pepper on both sides and lay trout on foil. Put a few more pats of butter on trout. Close up foil loosely around the trout. When on the grill the trout grills and steams at the same time.

Grill on medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes. Check to see if it is done.

When done the skin comes right off the meat. Be careful of bones as they are very small and thin. If you carefully scrape the meat off with a fork you can grab the back bone and pull all the bones off of the meat on the bottom. Enjoy!!

Until next time, Tight Lines!!

Too much going on

I was thinking today about everything I have going on and decided I have too many irons in the fire, so I decided to scale back a bit. As of now I have my personal Facebook page, a Facebook page and a website for my business, Celtic Photography. I also have this blog, a photography blog, a Twitter account, a Flickr account and a You Tube account. Whew, I think that's it.

Anyway, I have decided to shut down the photography blog and post all my photography stuff here. At least it's one less thing to keep up with. Now hoprfully I will have more time to post here more often. :)

Opening Day of Trout Fishing

Saturday April, 10th was the opening of the trout fishing season. My friend Eddie and I went to Holmdel Park in Holmdel, NJ like we have for the past few years. Historically, opening day tends to get very crowded, so in order to secure a good spot, you have to gt there early. In our case, 6 AM. The park doesn't usually open until 7 AM. This year, however, They opened the gates at 6:40 AM. Every year it has been a mad rush of vehicles heading to the parking lot and fishermen grabbing their gear and getting to 'their spots', this angler included.

As I am heading to the lake I notice there are not nearly as many people as previous years. I simply figured it had to do with the economy and all. Well, 8 AM (the official start fishing time) came and went and not one fish was caught. It wasn't until well after 9:30 when we saw the first trout caught. I don't know if it was a rainbow, brook or brown but it was small. It turned out to be the only fish caught, out of 210 stocked, in the 3+ hours we were there.

On the way out we were talking with a few people and they mentioned about the birds eating all the trout. The bird they were referring to is the cormorant. The cormorant is a diving bird that gorges itself on fish that it can fit in it's mouth and swallow whole. I must admit that I only half believed this to be true.

We headed home and Eddie had to go to work, so I took a quick nap and in the afternoon headed to Hooks Creek Lake, in Cheesequake State Park in Matawan, NJ. I fished there for about another 2 hours or so. Again I heard about the cormorants eating all the trout. One guy I talked to there said he was at the lake as the trout were stocked and a couple of hours later the cormorants flew in and spent a few hours diving in the lake eating all the trout.

At 8 AM the shore line of Hooks Creek Lake was crowded with anglers shoulder to shoulder fishing. About 20 trout out of over 400 stocked were caught. Any trout fishermen will tell you that with that many trout stocked, the ratio of fish stocked to fish caught is way off. So now I am more inclined to believe the cormorants did indeed eat all the trout.

Although opening day 2012 is a year away, we are already making plans to fish a different lake.

I just can't help but wonder if the cormorants used butter and lemon pepper with a few lemon slices like we planned.

~Tight lines~

Striper Fishing II

Went out on the beach in Cliffwood Beach again on Monday. Fished from 5:30 until 7:45 and didn't get anything...again. I was fishing with my friend Brian and his friend John. We were using clams with a fisher finder rig and 4 oz sinkers.

While I didn't get any giant hits I did notice some movement of the rod tip that didn't seem to be from the tide. It may have been flounder and or crabs. After about 45 minutes of no action, Brian caught a striper about 22". Not a keeper but a fish none the less.

That was the only action the whole night and there were about 25 to 30 people fishing. Well, it's still early in the striper season and Saturday at 8AM the 2011 trout season opens. I hoping to better with the trout than I am doing with stripers.

'Til next, tight lines.....

Striper fishing

Well, here we go again. Heard stripers were hitting clams at Cliffwood Beach so yesterday I packed all my gear in the truck and got ready to go. It was 12:45 PM when I was ready to leave and remembered I didn't check the tides chart. Low tide was at 2:09 PM. I really didn't want to go at low tide but I have so little free time I figured I'd give it a try anyway. I got there and first cast was about 1:10 or so. I didn't have my waders so I wasn't able to get out as far as I would have liked but managed a few decent casts into a wind blowing about 20 to 25 knots. 4 oz sinkers were about the lightest that would hold.

There were a few guys already fishing when I got there. One kid, Adam, was there since 11 AM and he had no hits and didn't see a fish beached all morning. Although the wind was blowing rather hard it was coming in off the water which should have pushed the bait fish in but we saw nothing. There were a few birds in the area but none were working, just hanging out.

I fished until 4:30. By this time, the wind picked up and must have been blowing at 30 knots with some gusts that seemed to top 35 knots! The whole time I was there not one fish was caught. In fact, no one had a bite.

Well, fish 1 me 0. I will be going back to Cliffwood Beach tomorrow night at 6 PM and try again. This time high tide is at 10:07 PM so hopefully I will miss the slack tide and fish the incoming tide. I am going to try and get out on Thursday as well. If I don't get anything at least I have opening day of trout season on Saturday at 8AM. A lunch of striper and trout with a few beers on Saturday would be nice. Well, fish or no fish there will be a few beers.

Tight lines!!!