Exhausted!

Tiger trout in April

First off, you may have noticed that I didn't anything during the month of April. Although April was one of the coldest I can remember, I did get outside a lot. No, the reason I have not been writing is I am finally getting a new computer. I have been waiting to get my taxes back. Since I finally got them, I should finally be writing via keyboard by this time next week.  To be completely honest, I just have not had the energy or patience to type on my phone keyboard for an hour or more. So there you have it, the reason I went O for thirty in April...laziness.

I did quite a lot of fishing and birding last month. I had some good days and some bad. My first day that I went trout fishing down the Cape, I ended up with 19 trout including a few tigers.
I followed up that epic fishing by going to Wachusett Reservoir where I managed to fish for seven hours without a hit on shiners and lures.

I went birding a few times. I will write more about individual trips in later reports. Not because you care where I may of saw an osprey, but to give you ideas for places to visit. Even if your not into birding, there are some pretty places perfect for walking or light hiking.

Now that my absolute favorite month is here, I have been like a kid at a candy store. I am planning my next trip before I get home from my last one. As my friend Dave and I say all the time "everything is good in May". It doesn't matter what species of fish you chase, the water temps are optimal. The water is warm enough for bass, stripers, carp and cool enough for trout and salmon. If you throw in that bird migrations peak in May, there just isn't enough time. I had the last two days off and went balls out.

I started off Thursday by driving to Newburyport. I went to Parker River NWR. I was hoping for the migration to be in full swing. It wasn't quite yet. The wind was bad and I should have waited a week. I saw 24 species in a place that can give up over 100. None the less I saw some good birds. My highlights were a ruby crowned kinglet and a northern shoveler, which was a lifebird. Since there were so few birds around, I birded really hard and stayed there for five hours.
After leaving Plum Island I headed back down I-495 and went to Wachusett Reservoir. As I mentioned above, I went in April not getting a fish all day. I got there about 4pm and fished until dark (almost four hours). Again I never got a hit. I got home after 9pm, made some supper, watched an episode of Breaking Bad and got my gear ready for Saturday. I got to bed at 11:15.

Morning came quickly since I set my alarm for 4:45 am. My mission for the morning was to catch golden trout. I got up at such an ungodly hour to getting in and out before the crowds even woke up. It was an hour drive to Peck Pond in Burriville. When I got there, only 3 other cars were in the lot. I fished with a casting bubble and fly. I had only caught one golden trout and that was last year. Today I landed 11. Crowds got bad about 8 am so I left with my stringer of five.

Since it was so early, I went birding. I went to Swan Point Cemetery in Providence. This is a known hotspot for warblers and there are migrating eagles reported often. Birding was again slow (this was a theme for my weekend). I only saw a few yellow rumped warblers and a FOY Eastern Kingbird.

By 11 am I had enough. I went home for an hour nap then cleaned my fish. I had lunch and left the house again at two. I went up to Moose Hill to see if any wood frogs were still in vernal pools. There were not but I saw a cool salamander. I also saw a garter snake and blue grey knatcatcher. From there I went to Stony Brook. I saw 2 huge snappers, about 25 painted turtles and a muskrat. By the time I got back to my car it was 5pm. I was pretty pooped. I knew if left to my own devise I would go home for the night.

So I called my friend Dave. I wanted to know if he was going fishing. I had thought about trout fishing in the fly pond, but there was no way in hell I was putting the kayak on the car. When Dave said he was trying for stripers in the bay I asked if he wanted company. We met only 20 minutes from my house. At first the outcome looked bleak. Neither of us had any hits and the water was cold. Then Dave magically convinced a big schoolie to smash his popper. We took some pics and on my next cast I hooked up also. It was my first striper of the year. Dave caught one more. Although 3 small stripers is not by any means hot and heavy fishing, I think we were both pleased. With the warm weather this week and a few already around, it was a sign for good fishing to come.

I got home about 8:30. Tomorrow I go back to work.  It's probably a good thing... I need some rest.