Piney Run Early Bird Fishing Tournament and the Return to Piney Run

My son and I signed up for the Piney Run Early Bird Fishing Tournament last Saturday.  It was officially the first day of fishing for the park.

The tournament cost $40 per person and $20 for a boat rental.  The start time was 6am and ran until noon.  The flyer that we got said that they would open the gates at 5am, but you couldn't start fishing until 6am.  We got there at 5:45am and were greeted with.......a long line of idling cars on Martz Road waiting to gain entrance to the park.  I soon realized that there were 2 lines, one using the entrance, the other using the exit.

Soon a park employee walked down the line and some cars moved into the exit lane.  The right lane was for boaters and the left lane for shore anglers and renters. Off we went into the left lane.  After about 15 minutes of more waiting in line, another park employee walked by and asked if we had already registered.  Ahhh...... that is why it is taking so long.  There should have been a line for idiots who wait until the last minute to register and another for people who are responsible and registered before the event so that they can just drive in and start fishing.

Upon dropping our gear in the boat, we realized that the entire boat was lightly frosted. There's nothing like sitting your buns on ice cold aluminum.  As I hoofed and rowed, great billows of frozen breath lingered in the air behind me.  It was cold.  31°.  Why are we fishing?  Are the fish really smarter than us?

I took this picture with my cellphone (hence the glare of my misplaced finger).  It was certainly darker than this picture makes it out to be. I guess the lens was open for a bit longer allowing in more of the light than was really there.  You can see the white lights across the surface of the lake.  These are the lights of the other boats.  I estimated about 50 boats were on the water.

I think we won the Charlie Brown prize.  For six hours worth of fishing, all we caught was a stick.  And not too many other people caught fish.  We saw a couple of big catfish that were caught.  The leader for a long while was a 19" striped bass.  A few people caught yellow perch. And a half dozen caught some trout.  It was a tough day for fishing.  I basically paid $100 to row a boat for the day.

On Monday we went back.  It was a lot nicer.  Or so we thought.  The temperature was over 50°, which relative to recent days is really warm.  However, as you can see, it was quite windy.  I've never seen it this windy at Piney Run Park.  White caps?  I thought those were for the Bay!  The greatest workout ever would be to let the wind drift you to the dam, then fight the wind and row back to the docks.

Sadly, our fishing lasted an hour and the results were the same as Saturday, less the stick.  Warm weather - please return!!!