1 Kynor Avenue

MY RAMSHACKLE CABIN in Stanhope/Hopatcong, NJ in summertime. Google Maps will show you that it is the saddest house in the neighborhood if you click full screen to enlarge and the arrows to move/rotate the view. But for me it is King of the Hill, Top of the Heap, A Number 1--my paid-off, half-acre, one-hour drive refuge from the city. I hope by posting this I will be inspired to get out of Maspeth and do some work there when it gets warm.

Canal Town

TEN MINUTES from the Hopatcong house is Waterloo Village, a restored 19th century settlement on the banks of the old Morris Canal, the waterway used to transport anthracite coal from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley to New York City during the American Industrial Revolution. For canal workers then, the village was an overnight rest stop on the two-day journey to the coast, and it had "all the accommodations necessary to service the needs of a canal operation, including an inn, a general store, a blacksmith shop to service the mules on the canal, and a watermill" (Wiki). But there were other travelers. The alewife herring, anadromous fish like salmon, also used the waterway as a conduit to travel up the Delaware River from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Hopatcong, the reservoir in the highlands that fed the canal. There they became landlocked with the building of the dam in the 1800s, but thrived so well in their new habitat that they are now the abundant basis of the lake's fish food chain.

The grist mill, Waterloo Village

Bermuda!

FROZEN STEAKS, Spam, spicy Ligo, Lucky Me noodles, everything needed to cook inside the club is packed to avoid paying $20 each for a restaurant meal and limit buying Bermuda groceries. Temperature forecast averages 70F next week, not sure if it's warm enough to go in the water, but bringing the snorkeling gear anyway ($10 each on eBay). Ready to see some coconut trees again on Friday.

Good To Go

SPRING BREAK in the Somers Isles for some snorkeling, and visita iglesia for the wife, except that Bermuda has only six Catholic churches. I think the Unfinished Church will make a good seventh. Pricey trip, but sometimes necessary. And today is a good day to buy. Now what was that about Trump?

Hoppie, The Hopatcong Monster

HERE'S ONE FOR Halloween, from the August 4, 1894 issue of the Lake Hopatcong Angler. Apparently, highland lakes attract water monsters. A nice distraction from the heebie-jeebies of the November elections.

Some Resources

Click to enlarge. A useful guide to finding where the boat rentals and biters are. Always keep out of private property. Download a Boating Safety Manual here. Map courtesy of  Mark Evans.

If you run into trouble: New Jersey State Police, Marine Services Bureau, Lake Hopatcong Station, 341 Espanong Road, Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849, phone (973) 663-3400

Freebies In The Mail

GO AHEAD; make sinigang out of that muskie. Jersey is far from being just a polluted suburb. For the most versatile and durable rod and reel combo that won't break the bank, respected angler Owen James Burke (not the mystery novelist) recommends pairing the Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2 6.5 ft Medium Heavy with the Penn Battle II 5000. As for my own, no-name gear, it came from a garage sale in Budd Lake.

Muskrat Love

"NOW HE'S TICKLIN' HER FANCY, rubbin' her toes,
muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes..."

You Read It Here First

TO CATCH SOME SALMON, you must go with the flow.

Gear Up For The Season!

THIS JUST OUT: The 2013 New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Digest. Get your fishing licenses, boats, tackles and baits at these Lake Hopatcong spots:

Lake's End Marina, 91 Mount Arlington Boulevard, Landing, NJ, 07850, phone: (973) 398-5707
  

Dick Dows Fishing and Boat Rental, 145 Nolans Point Road, Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849, phone: (973) 663-3826  

Bait and Boat (no licenses sold), 13 State Route 183, Stanhope, NJ 07874, phone (973) 347-5797