End of the Year Review Part 2 Fishing

End of the Year Review
This is my favorite blog post to write for the year. I look forward to writing it starting the end of November. It gives me a chance to look back at fond memories from the previous year. Writing my end of the year review also makes me look back on things I could have done differently and also to see if I achieved my goals I set at the beginning of the year.  

To begin, this was my best year ever fishing. I probably fished a couple hundred times. I caught more fish of many species than I previously had.  I caught more big fish of some species than in other years and I broke my previous largest in a couple species. Let me preface this post by saying that although I make this public, it is my way of reliving events over the past year. I enjoy making memories and this post is a way of organizing them. Part two is about fishing. Obviously I spent so much time fishing this year, I neglected some of my other fun outdoor activities ( bird watching for example)

Stripers;
I had an unbelievable year when it came to catching stripers. I broke some of my own records.

1 I caught more stripers this year than ever

2. I caught more keepers this year than any year since 2001

3. I had my best night ever for keepers (5)

4 . I had my best day ever for stripers (not including days they blitz) 27

5. I had my best month ever for stripers  this November) 203

6. I had my best 30 days ever from Oct 14-Nov 14                  215

I spent a ton of time striper fishing this year. I really enjoyed fishing both down at the ocean and in the Upper Bay. Just as an example of how much time I spent fishing for them, in the 30 days of November I went out 22 days. This spring the fish came in very early because of the warm winter. Fishing was unbelievable the end of April and early May. The fish moved on earlier than normal so I stopped fishing for them earlier this summer than I normally do.  From May 18- Sept 15 I fished for other species.

The fall was one of my best ever. Because the bay anchovies were around during most of September, so were the stripers. I watched thirty pounders feed in water one foot deep to feed on them.  Although I didn’t get any big ones that day, it was an awesome sight to watch. Also because so many stripers were around this fall I went from September until December 2 without a skunking.  The only down side to my year striper fishing was my big fish was only 36 inches. I didn’t get any 20 pounders. I can’t complain. I had at least 15 double digit fishing trips.

Striper Fishing- A  ( would have been an A+ if I caught a 40 inch fish)

Trout;

I caught less trout this year than last year. However that is because I spent so much time chasing stripers.  In terms of how many I caught during each outing, fishing was outstanding. I caught a total of 221 trout this year. I caught them in 22 outings. That averages out to 10 fish/outing. This can easily be attributed to finding fresh stockies a couple times. Also one day in New Hampshire I found every fish in the lake stacked up on a windward shore.

Here are some breakdowns.

How caught
Spoon                          49
Roostertail                 52
Powerbait                     2
Casting Bubble             3
Fly Rod                          85
Small Rapala                 20
Shad Body/Jig head     10

Caught from 12 different locations. The pond with the most was Echo Lake, Franconia Notch 75. I broke my personal best day three times with 26, 29 and 57. I did not catch any trophies this year until late December. ( I consider a trophy over 17 inches) However I had so much fun trout fishing both home and in NH.

Trout- Easily A+

Carp
One of my goals this year was to catch a carp in all 12 months. I screwed that up by spending most of October fishing for stripers. However, carp fishing was very productive for me this year. I caught a 24 pounder which is my biggest carp ever. I also had my best days ever. I caught 12 on March 24 then had 14  on July 17.  I had very few skunkings and did really well fishing for little carp in July. I ended up catching 80 for the year. If I would have fished for them at all in the fall, I may have broken 100.

Carp Fishing- All things considered, carp fishing is hard. I could have caught more big ones or fished for them more in the fall and summer but I still think I have to give this year an A-

Bass
I went bass fishing more this year than the previous 10 years combined. I fished from shore almost exclusively. I was shown a lake that had smallmouth and fished there a lot ( more time taken from carp fishing). I had some really good days. I caught quite a few over 12 inches, but did not catch any three pounders or bigger.  Because I didn't catch any big ones and had a few days that I caught 0-2, I would grade bass fishing B-

Everything else condensed.
I landed three species I had never caught before.
I caught my first ever landlocked salmon from Wachusetts Reservoir after many tries. I caught my first ever False Albacore and four more. I witnessed the best albie day ever in Rhode Island.  I also caught quite by accident a northern puffer fish. Somehow, the little red brested sunfish has alluded me for another year.

I fished for snapper blues ( skipjacks) a few times. I quickly realized this was a waste of time. One, I tried eating them and just like larger blues- YUCK!. Second they were everywhere so instead of targeting them, I should have been chasing stripers because  I found snapper blues most of the time I was striper fishing anyway.

I caught over 100 of  four different species ( stripers, blues, trout, hickory shad), and am kicking myself for not spending more time carp fishing.

Wrap up-  I love fishing. I had the great luck finding fish this year. Having  nothing to do with pure skill, I has so lucky to pull up to a spot and find so many fish I could get bored. I ran across a bluefish blitz that stayed within casting range for so long that I moved to go find stripers.

I found trout three times were I caught them on every cast. I had 10 or more striper days about 15 times. Keep in mind that I have a job and had to pick my days when I could get to Narragansett, I was just fortunate to run across superior fishing.

I spent more time fishing by myself this year than last. Most of my fishing in New Hampshire was alone as was over half my my trips to Narragansett. DJ did not do much fishing as he was chasing girls.  I brought two people fishing that caught there first carp ( a girl and a kid). I also brought a firend to the Upper Bay striper fishing. He caught a  few stripers, but he was seasoned at striper fishing but we had a good night.

This was easily my best year fishing ever
A for the fishing and A++ for all the great memories I made