Having Fun Doing What I Love

One of the bigger fish of the night

As many of you know, sometimes I get the ideas for fishing adventures. I always say I will fish for anything. Sometimes these adventures become some of my favorite fishing experiences of my life. Earlier in the year I caught my first ever salmon. That was great. Sometimes though things don't work out and I burn myself. For example, last year I went to Wachusetts Reservoir one day in October looking for lakers and salmon. I did not catch a fish. That same day, the Narragansett shore was lit up with miles of blitzing stripers, blues and false albacore.

More often than not, when I fish for " the exotic fish, like lakers, salmon, or walleye I don't have a good day. this week, I planned on trying a spot in Warwick for scup. Although scup may not be " exotic" for me they are a rare catch. I have only fished for them about 10 times in my life. So for me  scup fishing is adventure or at least a departure of my normal fishing- trout, carp, stripers.

However my friend Dave was catching tons of carp at a spot that has not been that good the last couple summers. This year it is on fire. On Friday, the tide was perfect for scup fishing. Low tide would have been exactly where I wanted it. Yet there are some variables the most important being the bay is as warm as bathwater. So I  would have no idea if the carp were there.

Instead, I took the safe bet and went carp fishing. Normally I choose the adventure and get burned. The safe bet was not only productive ( between us we caught 24 fish) but also a hell of a lot more fun. I don't know if I would have caught any scup, I do know that everytime my alarm went off it was euphoric. I had a great time. For three hours one of us or both of us would have one ( or two on). Also, the carp world is not competitive. We root for each other to catch fish. If Dave catches more than me or vice-versa it only matters that WE are catching.

Record breaking fish number 13

Last night I went back to this spot. Again, fishing was awesome. I think combined we got about 27. I broke my record for carp. I ended up with 14. My old record was 12.

My point being, sometimes I over think my fishing options. Sometimes I try to chase an adventure. Yet, more often than not I have more fun catching the species that I fish for most.