{"id":74,"date":"2018-09-18T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/fishing-report-2018-fishing-fest\/"},"modified":"2022-12-03T11:49:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:49:17","slug":"fishing-report-2018-fishing-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/fishing-report-2018-fishing-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"Rain Didn\u2019t Stop the Fun at Philly Fun Fishing Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2018<\/a><\/div>\n

As anglers awaiting the 2018 Philly Fun Fishing Fest were dreaming of landing their very own Schuylkill River trophy fish, the wee hours of Saturday, September 8, delivered a most unpleasant surprise: the weather gods had made a dastardly update in the forecast, one that was decidedly towards the damp.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In other words, it rained. Big time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was always supposed<\/em> to rain that morning; at least it would move on by mid-morning, the computer models told us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If only.<\/p>\n

And so it was that the organizers\u2014rising before dawn to see animated swirls of thick storm clouds stubbornly hovering over Philadelphia in the displays of every weather app\u2014wondered what the day would bring. Would anyone come now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Come they did, with plastic ponchos and hip-waders and rubber raincoats and umbrellas, some so spacious that they bordered on small dome pop-up tents.<\/p>\n

The surprisingly robust crowd stretching along the trail and greenery of Center City\u2019s Schuylkill Banks park<\/a> made for a colorful string of rain-proofed figures snaking some two hundred yards down the river.<\/p>\n

Roll on, Muddy River<\/h4>\n

Unsurprisingly, what with the on-and-off rain that peppered the days leading up to the weekend and persisted that morning, the water was muddy-brown and high, lapping persistently on the banks below Walnut Street Bridge.<\/p>\n

This, it seemed, spurred two types of fish to feed (or perhaps simply discouraged all other fish from doing so): of the more than two-dozen recorded fish caught on Sept. 8, only eels and catfish were in attendance. That stands in contrast to a cornucopia of catches anglers have recorded during past, sunnier, years: white perch, a rainbow of sunfish species, striped and largemouth bass, suckerfish, and even the odd fingerling shad, to name a handful.<\/p>\n

A Tale of Two Bojkos<\/h4>\n

Indeed, all three of the largest fish caught at this year\u2019s Philly Fun Fishing Fest were channel catfish. Alex Bojko<\/strong> of Haddonfield, N.J. notched the No. 1 fish for both his age group and overall, with a 24-inch channel cat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t the only Bojko from Haddonfield on the leaderboard either:<\/strong> his dad, George, just missed a first-place tie with his 23-inch cat<\/strong>, which earned him the biggest fish for seniors. The Bojkos each took home a tackle box and $50 gift card from Philly Fun Fishing Fest sponsor Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods.<\/p>\n

John McCann<\/strong>, who, like the Bojkos, has attended a number of fests over the event\u2019s 14-year history, won the award for largest fish in the adult category with the No. 3 fish overall \u2013 a 21.5-inch catfish.<\/p>\n

In a twist, the Lafferty family<\/strong> \u2013 another father and son duo, Jamie and Jamie Jr. \u2013 got skunked amid the soggy conditions. Having never missed a fest, they are often among the top fish-getters and familiar faces to organizers and fellow Schuylkill veterans.<\/p>\n

That dedication paid off, too. The Jamies each went home with gift cards and some nice Schuylkill swag: tackle kits from Flambeau Outdoors (also a sponsor!) and Dick\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Though the Bojko family\u2019s three-straight September appearances at the Schuylkill Banks do not yet stack up to the Laffertys\u2019, it\u2019s worth noting that Alex, our 2018 champ, is hardly as old as the Philly Fun Fishing Fest itself.<\/p>\n

East Coast Tour de Fish<\/h4>\n

Their appearance at the soaked Schuylkill Banks capped what was a spectacular summer of fishing up and down the East Coast:<\/p>\n

The Bojkos caught black sea bass and flounder in Ocean City, Maryland and Ocean City, New Jersey; shad and stingrays were hooked at the Oceanic Fishing Pier; exploring Rhode Island\u2019s Block Island offered sea bass, flounder, and porgy; a similar haul came via Montauk\u2019s \u201cphenomenal\u201d fishing; Jennette's Pier in Nags Head, N.C., produced an assortment of small saltwater fish; 10 days on a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. pier and deep sea fishing with a headboat saw them land snappers, grunts, yellowtail and assortment of exotic species, like French Angelfish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all of our travels, Alex researched what fish species we might catch and, whenever possible, created the rigs, on his own, that we needed to catch those fish,\u201d his (quite proud) father relayed. \u201cWas the fishing great everywhere? No, but we spent the summer together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storybook Finish on the Schuylkill<\/h4>\n

That optimism and appreciation for the subtler qualities of spending time on the water were what got them out onto the Schuylkill in spite of the rain, and being rewarded with the biggest and second biggest fish of 2018 furnished their magical summer with a true story-book finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom everything he learned from reading up before our trips, Alex knew that we probably weren\u2019t going to catch perch, sunfish and other species that hunt by sight because of the fast, muddy water,\u201d George said after the prizes were awarded. \u201cHe told me we had no choice but to switch to catfish rigs because catfish rely mostly on smell to catch prey. Clearly, he was right, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder. It seems I\u2019m raising a budding fishing guide.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s stories like that \u2013 stories that\u2019ll be easier to make as our rivers get cleaner and cleaner, opening up more recreation opportunities – which bring families and friends back, year after year.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI know it was a summer we will never forget,\u201d said George.<\/small> \u201cThis was a special way to bring it to a close.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thank you to all who came out, to our partners at Parks and Recreation and the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission, and to our sponsors.<\/p>\n

Until next year, tight lines!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wet weather didn’t stop anglers from lining up along the Schuylkill, including a father and son who caught the day’s first and second place fish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"custom_css":"","custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,23,37,83],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","tag-center-city","tag-contest","tag-fishing-fest","tag-schuylkill-river","wpautop"],"acf":{"suggested":null},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/phila.gov\/blog\/fishing-report-2018-fishing-fest\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Rain Didn\u2019t Stop the Fun at Philly Fun Fishing Fest","url":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/fishing-report-2018-fishing-fest\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/fishing-report-2018-fishing-fest\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Events","author":[],"creator":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"@PhillyH2O Blog","logo":""},"keywords":["center city","contest","fishing fest","schuylkill river"],"dateCreated":"2018-09-19T00:30:00Z","datePublished":"2018-09-19T00:30:00Z","dateModified":"2022-12-03T16:49:17Z"},"rendered":"