Today on the might Passaic

[Eagle Claw]

Today ranked in the top 3 list of worst fishing experiences. I was reading a recent post saying there are Pike and Walleye in the Passaic River, I started thinking, could I be missing some good fishing just 15 minutes from my house. Had an idea, I know of a tributary that empties into the Passiac, now it does have 3 sewerage treatment plants along its way that dumps "clean" water into the stream. I started a few hundred yards up from the Passaic thinking maybe the pike and walleyes spawn in this stream. I saw no sign of fish life, there was this clumpy algae the size of peas tumbling in the water and getting all over my wooly bugger. I changed flies a few times being careful not to touch my face with the smelly scum on my fingers. I moved down to the main river, the Passaic. Visibility was one foot and even bigger chunks of this green matter. As I inhaled to take in the fresh air, I smelled something rotten , turned out to be a raccoon and there was a foot locker and suitcase within 10 feet of it, I had no interest in finding out what was in the luggage and was satisfied to assume it was the the coon that smelled up the air. I went back to my car and applied gel hand sanitizer to my hands. My hand started itching on the way home and is now a rash.
Now, I dont care if there are pike, walleye,smallies or tuna in that river, I will never disgrace my fly fishing gear again subjecting it to that insult. They say the river is much cleaner today than ten years ago, just imagine how bad the water is in summer conditions. To the guy who wanted info on fishing that river, have a ball just remember the hand sanitizer and that log you hook into may not be a log, it may be soft, if you get my drift. The passaic river in Wayne sucks. Now isn't this a beautiful story of a man on river on a beautiful day in the spring ?