A Change in my Fishing Philosophy

Why do I take crazy trips when these are almost in my backyard?

This is basically a journal entry to organize my spring plans. I do not think it makes for an exciting read but it’s your choice to read further or not.

Every February I look ahead to my days off during the months of March, April, and May. Assuming the end of March is somewhat cool and not biting ass cold, I have about ten weeks of daytrips I can plan on my “weekends”. Only a fool would attempt to plan something for every one of those twenty days. The spring weather is so unpredictable, that it’s not really feasible to plan every day off weeks in advance.

Last year the weather was so nice, I could day trip (all day fishing trips) almost every week. This year Mother Nature hasn’t been so kind. Even when we have had two or three days of nice weather, it has been ending right before my weekend. Those are the breaks, I just make do, and fish locally.

Usually my spring plans are about the same. A trip to Nickerson State Park, a couple trout trips to Plymouth and other Cape ponds. When Wachusetts opens, I try catching lake trout. This year I also want to try for walleye and tatoug.

However, I might be changing this philosophy of taking these “adventures” to more mundane exploits. I look forward to the adventures, but based on risk/reward, I am not sure I can justify them. Going to Nickerson for example could become a great memory. The state park is gorgeous and there are four good trout ponds. That said, its 90 miles away. I have to drive by many excellent trout ponds to get there and there’s no guarantee fish will be biting. Also being on the outer Cape, the weather is unpredictable. Last year when I went the wind was howling at 40 mph. I caught one brookie and one pickerel in five hours.

As much as I enjoy catching exotic fish (fish that I rarely catch, even if not exotic to others), I’m going to TRY to concentrate on five species this year, carp, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass (from shore at a pond close to home), stripers, and trout. I’m going to TRY to give up the silly notion that going to Wachusetts is a good idea.

I had today off. My original plan was to go to Wachusetts Reservoir in search of lake trout and possibly salmon. I chose not to go when a friend from work asked me if I wanted to fish with her today (she bailed so I had to come up with another plan). I went carp fishing. I ended up with seven carp. All were over ten pounds, the biggest was 18. Now if I went to the Chu, what would the best case scenario have been? I’ve gone about 10 times over the last three years. I have one laker and one salmon for my efforts. So best case scenario, I catch two lakers or a salmon. A big salmon is three or four pounds. A big laker is 4-8 pounds. How can I justify spending all that time chasing lakers when carp that dwarf any laker are twenty minutes away from my house.

My point I am trying to make (or really get through my own thick head) is these trips sometimes are not worth taking time away from fishing that I love.  I might go to Wachusetts next week or even Nickerson, but I think I will be spending less time going to these type places. It’s not even about gas money, just about value of my time spent fishing. (I think that makes sense)

I’ve been largemouth bass fishing a lot after work this year and for the first time in a decade have really been getting into it. Besides the largemouths, pickerel are fun to catch. I have actually been fishing for largemouths and pickerel so much in weedy lakes I’ve caught a lot less trout this year that I did the same date last year.

When I go striper fishing, bluefish and hickory shad, and the occasional fluke are also in the mix. So if I target the four fish mentioned earlier, I should still have chances at other species. Normally I end up catching somewhere between 25-28 species a year. I believe as of now that number will be much lower this year (Sorry Clay)

Do not get me wrong, this is my plan for the spring. I kind of plan my daytrips by season. Hopefully this summer I will see tons of license plates that read Live Free or Die. This fall I surely will be in Narragansett praying for a false albacore or twenty pound striper to come my way.