With Saturday’s weather forecasting gale force winds out on the Atlantic Ocean Delaware Paddle Sports was forced to cancel its final tournament of the saltwater series. Unfortunately the two dates I was able to fish were both cancelled due to wind. This opened me up to stay home and volunteer at the final weekend NJ HOW event of 2015.

The venue was to be Merrill Creek a reservoir located in Washington NJ. A 45 min drive for myself it was to be a nice close one! I arrived late around 8:00 am due to vehicle problems. Just about everything was unloaded and it didn’t seem like there were a ton of people there. I figured since it was a cooler morning and the forecast was for high winds people would cancel. It was nice to see people there I haven’t seen in a few months. Always finding joy hanging with Val whom volunteers at the events taking photos for the chapter.

It was sunny and quite warm by the time we started launching the attendees and volunteers. After taking a few photos and loading my gear onto my Big Rig it was time to get out fishing. This was my first time at Merrill Creek. It is a large reservoir about half the size of Round Valley. It is probably a mile across at its widest part but a much deeper lake at over 250 feet. After launching and riding the wind out the harsh realization of the 15-20 mph wind became real. It was actually too windy to fish. I paddled over to a group of guys who were trying to fish but were pretty much paddling the entire time.

It was already 11:30 so we decided to begin the trek back to the launch for lunch. From reports over the radio unfortunately there were no fish being caught due to the conditions and the guys had a head in paddle directly into the wind. I stayed back and ran the sweep behind to make sure anyone who would need a tow could get one. These guys were fast though they paddled hard back. Once reaching the launch lunch was already out which was donated by the BMS Veteran Group whom also provided volunteers to help with the day. Lunch was jersey mikes assorted subs which were very tasty!

After eating some lunch a few of us got into a game of corn hole! The object of the game is two teams consisting of 2 people each the first team to reach 21 points first wins. Your team is awarded 3 points per beanbag in the hole and one per landing on the game board. The other team can then knock your bean bag off the board or score the same to cancel out points per round.  It is definitely a bar game such as horseshoes and Bocce Ball but is just as much fun! 

After the lunch break concluded quite a few vets their families and volunteers went back out on the lake. By this time the wind had subsided enough to be able to fish for a little while. It was now enjoyable to be out there on the calmer more surreal lake.

It was a great season for HOW in 2015 with over 15 events completed! The new Mid-Week events were a big addition to the chapter and thank you to all whom made those events possible by volunteering!