Frank, Scott F., Philsey K., his brother Jim, and Pete A. fished the 7 mile stretch above Port Jervis using the Kittatinny Raft livery and shuttle. The weather was gorgeous (except for a little bit of upriver breeze through one of the slower pools, which meant paddling, ugh). But outside of the little bit of paddling it was a care-free day of floating and fishing. The upper stretch between and below the ledges did produce some fish on Ned Rigs and spider jigs and a few swimbaits, although not quite up to previous year standards. Over the course of the day, we also caught fish on the SSM, cotton-candy twister tails, averaging better than 20 fish per man overall. We caught fish just about all along the route, with some areas producing better spurts than others. Some of the "traditional" hot spots were on fire, while others were lukewarm. Perhaps a couple of cool nights that lowered water temps drastically had the fish a bit sluggish to start the day.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our raft, we had the requisite number of dinks, but quite a few solid fish in the 12" range and another couple handfuls of 14 to 16.25" fish. Frank took the lunker for the day as part of our final "double" but I jinxed us by mentioning to Scott to get the camera before my fish made it all the way to the raft. Wouldn't you know it, he snapped off before he got there and I lost my best fish of the day while Frank was celebrating his.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had another great time overall, and really enjoyed introducing Scott to river smallie fishing. (His experience is lake fishing for LM). After a tentative start, he really got into the swing with a swimbait and it was hard to pry that lure out of his hands for the rest of the day, although he eventually did catch a few on the spider jig and I think the SSM.

Water conditions were favorable, around 3.0 - 3.1 on the Port Jervis gage, clear to 6-foot or better visibility, and with only a little bit of snot grass and weed issues, despite the earlier low-flow and warm-water conditions. Maybe we need to figure out a camp or motel arrangement to help shorten the day, so that more people can enjoy the trip next year.