Week of July 27th 2025: Midsummer Malaise

Week of July 27th: Midsummer Malaise

Malaise is too strong a word, but it is alliterative and makes a good title for this report.  Midsummer is accurate as July 24th is considered the midway point of the season and is celebrated in England, to some extent, during the summer solstice.  The long, hot days can make anglers feel lethargic out there, looking for fish and swatting mosquitos.  Our TCAs on the Musky, Pequest, and South Branch are getting fairly low, typical of summer, and survival rates for trout are low.  I spend time on the NJ Fish and Game app planning the next sojourn.

The ponds and unfamiliar portions of our rivers keep busy during the week and there are fish to be found - which reminds me, if anyone found my chest pack on the Spruce Run peninsula, as I call it, let me know.  My folks called me “space-cadet” when I was a kid and this is not the first time I simply placed something I own down - and walked away.  I went from fishing to the supermarket and was putting groceries in the trunk when I noticed, or didn’t notice, the bag that had nine spools of tippet, at least six fly boxes, my thermometer, split-shot, and the time and effort it takes to fill those boxes was not in the trunk.  I raced back to the spot and, in less than an hour, poof - Keyser Soze. Hemingway gave up on fly fishing for trout after his rods and tackle were stolen from a train platform, maybe in Idaho, which is not exactly how I feel but I now understand a wee bit.

Luckily, all of my flies didn’t fit in those boxes so I can still fish.  The Little Lehigh, the Saucon, and other PA streams can be productive in the morning and evenings, with trico and BWO hatches around sunrise and intermittent caddis and Adams opportunities throughout the day.  Our parks offer shore fishing for panfish just about everywhere and bass at the more hard-to-reach lakes and ponds.  The north and south branches of the Raritan have smallmouth and the opportunity to stalk carp.  Did you know that carp will eat cicadas and other topwater flies?  We have them in stock.  

We now carry Saluda beads and have a wide selection of chest, hip, sling and convertible packs to choose from - lucky for me. The second half of summer has begun and there is enough time and water to fill the days and fly boxes before fall. Here’s hoping the days don’t pass too fast.

See you out there, Roy B.