Memorial Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. Whether you went somewhere had cookouts or went to a parade, I hope it was enjoyable. DJ, Laurie and myself went up to New Hampshire for the three days. We tried to go Friday afternoon but Route 128 was so busy we stopped in concord,MA and came home. We left again 7 am Saturday morning.Here is an abbreviated trip report. I will leave out details like what kind of oatmeal I had for breakfast in an attempt to keep this somewhat short.

Saturday:

We stayed in the mountains so we arrived at the area we were camping ( free dispersed camping/ no reservations) around 10:30. It took a little while to find a tent site that wasn't occupied. That was our biggest fear with this trip- finding a place to sleep. After we found a campsite ( near a running brook and really flat, we lucked out) we took off again. We drove by some lady slippers and we got out and took some pictures. DJ had spotted them while looking for sites. There were two white ones, that was new to me.

It was cloudy and in some places misty. We decided to hike Cannon Mountain anyway. Part of the trip was to get in some exercise. The trail up Cannon was 2.2 miles and about 2200 vertical feet. It is a short but very steep trail. I let DJ go ahead. Laurie and I took over 2 hours to make it to the top. DJ made it up in 68 minutes( and down in 44). It was cold and windy up top. We went into the cafeteria and rested before we came down. The hike down was wet and slippery. It took as long to get down as go up.

After supper we fished Profile Lake in our waders. I caught 2 tiny brookies and three yellowperch. DJ didn't get any. We went back to the campsite. DJ started a small fire. I ate two marshmallows and was asleep before 9.

Sunday

When we got up Sunday the clouds were still blocking views of the mountains. I was not hiking anymore mountains without the reward of seeing the view. I was surprisingly not sore from Cannon Mountain. We hiked out to Arethusa Falls. Its the tallest waterfall in New Hampshire. Its a little less than an hour hike. It was full of water and very pretty. We got there just in time. Two other groups were at it when we got to the falls. By the time we left 30 minutes later at least 40 people were there. On the hike back we passed at least another 75 to 100. Everyone had the same idea not to hike a mountain in the clouds. We just got an earlier start. After going to the waterfall we ate at the picnic area at the Wiley House.

After lunch we fished Saco Lake. I let DJ use the kayak while I fished in waders. The weather got real strange. The sun came out then it rained then it got cloudy with blue patches. The wind changed direction many times also. I couldn't stay in a spot where the wind was at my back. I managed one brookie about 7 inches. I fished about 2 1/2 hours. Much of that time was spent walking to the calm side of the lake and bringing the camera back to the car when it started to rain. After fishing we went to Lincoln for supper. We got pizza. It was delicious

After supper the sky cleared and the ride through Franconia Notch was awesome. We stopped at the Basin and looked at the mountains of Franconia Ridge. We then fished again until dark. I took the kayak out while DJ fished in waders. I caught a 8 inch brookie. About 10 minutes later I hooked a huge fish. I played it a solid 5 minutes and it popped the hook. I was crushed I was hoping for a chance at a trophy brook trout. I got my chance and lost. I thought I blew my one chance. I caught another brookie about 10 inches long. Unfortunately DJ wasn't getting any from shore. All the fish were out in the middle. I paddled over to see if he wanted the kayak. He said no and I went back to fishing. Good karma must have been on my side. I hooked another big fish. This time after a ten minute fight I landed it. It was about 3 pounds. I did not measure it but I paddled back to DJ who snapped some pics before I let it go. After that DJ used the kayak. I didn't get any more fish. We went back to camp made a fire and then went to bed.

Monday

In the middle of the night we had a huge thunderstorm. It lasted well over an hour. We had one thunder right above us. We all jumped to the roof of our tent! We got up hoping to hike Mount Jackson. I thought the storm would clear the sky and it would be bright blue. Nope, cloudy when we got up. We ate breakfast and decided it looked like it was clearing and hiked anyway. Mount Jackson is another 4000 foot mountain. Its 2.6 miles and about 2300 vertical feet. It was a lot easier than Cannon. The view at the top was awesome. The sky cleared and we had a 360 degree view. We stayed up top until 1 pm. Washington was even out of the clouds. I let DJ go ahead on the way down. If he got down ahead of us ( of course he would) we could fish Saco Lake in the kayak hoping to catch his first trout of the weekend. He beat us down. Despite real windy conditions he did catch a brook trout.

After we put the kayak on the car we went back to our campsite to breakdown camp. The tents were now dry and it was much easier than it would have been in the morning. We stopped in Lincoln where I promised DJ ice cream then we came home.

Useful information

If you've read this far here are some things you might want to know. We went as far north and east as Crawford Notch. The mosquitoes were not bad at all. There were some and I got a couple bites but they were not unbearable. They were worse at night and the bites I got were Sunday night and I didn't use bugspray. We were surprised not to see any hiking through the woods. I didn't use bug dope the entire Jackson hike. Saw two black flies they were not an issue.

Gas was $ 3.99 in Lincoln but only $3.77 in Twin Mountain

Year long NH non-resident license is a whopping $ 53 ( ouch!)

We didn't look for nor see any moose.

All my trout were caught on a size 14 hares ear fished just below the surface.
Most forest and state campgrounds were full over the weekend. If you were to plan a Memorial Day three day next year and you wanted a campground I'd make reservations

100th Trout of the Year

Caught trout number 100. I never thought I'd reach this number. I did blow off striper fishing. Not to reach 100 but because the trout fishing last week and week before was so good in the fly fishing only pond I was fishing at. After saying yesterday the fishing slowed down, I went back to Whitings Pond. The trout were stacked up in a deep hole I caught 7 in less than an hour. Fittingly they were all rainbows.

Here is a quick breakdown

Types of trout

92 rainbows

4 tigers

3 browns

1 brookie

Caught from 5 different lakes

Ways they were caught

Roostertail 10

Powerbait 37

Spoon 3

Casting Bubble/ Fly 21

Fly Fishing 27

Unknown 2

Caught the most out of Falls Pond 44

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. I will see you on the other side of it.

Nick

Streak Stays Alive... Just Barely

Right now I am on the hottest fishing streak that I have ever been on in my life. I have been reluctant to write about it in my blog posts because I don't want to jinx it. Unfortunately I know it is going to end very soon so I figure writing about it isn't going to change anything. What the hell am I talking about? you ask.

I have caught a trout on 26 consecutive outings that I have targeted them. Obviously days that I fish the ocean don't count in the streak. Basically all year I have fished for three fish, carp, stripers and trout. Twenty six times in a row, I have caught at least one trout. What is my definition of an outing?

Its like this...Its basically when I leave home to fish and then stop fishing to do something else ( go home, grocery shopping, etc.), that would be one outing. If I were to fish Saturday morning and then Saturday night that would count as two outings. If I caught fish in the morning, I couldn't count those fish if I went again in the evening. Also an outing can be multiple lakes as long as I'm just driving from one to another. Once I realized I had this streak going I had to make up some rules. Those are what I came up with.

In my entire life I have never had a streak like this. I've never caught fish 26 times in a row, never mind a target species. I wish I could say I've caught stripers twenty something times in a row. Carp would be nice and so would largemouth bass. I never had any reason to keep track of a statistic like this. I only realized I had a streak going when I looked back at my fishing reports. Sometime around 13 or 14 times in a row, I started to realize it. The streak started April 24. During that time I have caught 75 trout.

Once I hit fifteen times catching a trout, I started focasing on the next multiple of five. I knew/know sooner or later this will stop. I just hoped it would hit 20 then twenty five. I seriously doubt I will go 30 consecutive tripslanding a trout. Why? The water is warming up and it is getting much more difficult to catch them.

Monay morning I got up real early to catch a tiger trout ( catching a fish I'd never caught before was more important than my streak, yet it was in the back of my mind). It took me three hours to catch my first fish. It was a tiger. I was real excited to catch something I'd never caught before AND keep my streak alive.

This morning I did the same thing. I wanted to catch some more tigers so I headed back to Whitings Pond. After three hours and ten minutes! I caught another tiger trout. A couple minutes after that a rainbow. I stayed another hour and didn't get anymore. Four and a half hours/ two trout. After two hours troutless, I was writing this post in my head about the streak ending.

Its going to suck when it finally ends. Right now my streak is the equivilant of fishing everyday for almost four straight weeks and catching at least one trout. Unfortunately, the weather is gettingt warm. I'm fishing for longer periods of time without a fish. Sometime this weekend, I'm guessing I will catch a goose egg in the trout catagory. I could stop fishing for them right now and start fishing for bass and more carp. I wouldn't consider that cheating. That way my streak could last until the weather cools in the fall. Bass fishing is better then trout fishing in my neck of the woods right now anyway.

I won't do that though. I have another goal that will motivate me to keep trout fishing for another week or so. I am seven trout short of 100 for the season. This weekend DJ, Laurie and I are going to New Hampshire if the weather forecast stays the same. I hope to do some trout fishing up there. Although the water is cooler and trout fishing is in full swing, I don't know the ponds and my time may be limited. So I do believe sometime early next week I will be writing the companion story to this one about my streak ending.

For what its worth, its been one hell of a run!!!

Tiger Trout !!!

I was fishing Falls Pond Monday night. I was stuck near home because DJ was over a friends house and needed a ride home sometime that night. This left striper fishing at the ocean out of the question. The weather was comfortable but cloudy and rain was approaching. I had caught two rainbows when someone in a blue car pulled up and asked me if I caught anything. I told him about the two 'bows and I'd only been there about 20 minutes. I thought he was going to get out his rod and stay.

Instead he told me he had just come from Whitings Pond. He said a guy there had just caught 7 tiger trout in a half hour. The biggest going almost 3 pounds. For those of you that don't know what a tiger trout is : Its a sterile hybrid between a female brown trout and a male brookie. Because they are a hybrid, they grow rapidly. They are very aggressive. You have a much better chance of catching one on a moving lure than powerbait. The small ones go about 14 inches. Until this point, I had never even seen one, never mind caught one. The state stocks about 6000 ( compare that to 320,000 rainbows). They are a rare treat to catch. To top it off, most of these tigers go to big famous trout ponds like in Nickerson State Park and Peters Pond. After the guy gave me this tip, he left and I thanked him for the infomation.

I picked DJ up from his friends house and we headed to Whitings Pond. We fished from about 7pm until dark but did not get any. The fisherman that caught the 7 was still there and told me all about his experience. So at least I knew what I heard earlier was not a fish story.

Not being able to sleep thinking about tigers, I got up really early to try my luck again. After about an hour without a hit on my roostertail, I switched to a spoon. I also put powerbait on my other rod. I figured it couldn't hurt my chances. Within minutes the powerbait rod started banging. I brought in a nice rainbow. The hook fell out when I picked it up. I picked it off the ground and placed it back in the water. I started walking the beach with the spoon. On my way back from my farthest point I hooked a fish. As I was reeling it in, it was green and had a big mouth. I thought I had a pickrel.

Nope! it was a tiger trout. It was about 14 inches long. I took some pictures of it. I l had it out of the water a bit long. It took a couple minutes to revive it, but it did swim away. I left after that fish. I went trout fishing again later that night ( so much for stripers) and picked up two more tigers both the same size. These were caught on a rainbow trout colored roostertail. One from the kayak. One from shore. All were released after pictures.

I got a sunburn on my feet the other day when fishing in sandals. Hence the picture of my feet in the kayak with socks on to protect them from the sun. Click on the pics to see the trout markings. They are pretty cool.

Congradulations DJ!!!

On Monday night DJ and I went striper fishing in Providence. We tried a place I had never fished before based on a tip from my friend Dave. On Sunday night I went fishing at one spot while Dave fished another. I ended up with two big schoolies while Dave caught 12 schoolies with much less effort. Since DJ isn't in love with fishing like I am, I took him to the place that had the best chance to catch some fish.

It was a short walk from the parking lot to the water. After we put on our waders we walked down. DJ tok both a spinning rod and his new saltwater fly rod from Christmas. The plan was to practice with the fly rod until he got bored or tired. If the fish were to far out or not hitting the fly, he could switch over to the spinning rod and catch fish.

By the time we got into the water, Dave had already caught a couple small ones and had a couple more hits. I started casting and within a minute or two landed my first schoolie of the night. The problem was all Dave's fish and mine were being hooked way out at the end of the cast way past fly rod range. Luckily about 10 minutes into fishing I hooked a fish in close to shore. As I was reeling it in DJ got a strike too. He set the hook and the battle began. As both Dave and myself were a little in disbelief that DJ hooked a fish so close to shore we both stopped fishing to watch. Never catching a saltwater fish before on a fly rod, DJ didn't know how to play it and actually asked out loud " What do I do?". We told him to play the fish until it tired some. It wasn't a giant so he got it in pretty quick. It ended up being about 20 inches long ( just a guess). Luckily, luckily, luckily Dave had a camera on him and took a picture of DJ fighting the fish and one holding it. Then DJ let it go

Two other guys showed up so there was 5 of us in a very small area fishing The fish continued to hit for about the next 45 minutes. Dave caught about 5 . I caught 3 and had five other hits I couldn't hook. Of the two new guys, one caught a keeper and as far as I know the other guy just had bad luck and just got one. As for DJ he caught one more small schoolie and had three other hits. Considering he was the only one of the five of us using a fly rod and we could out cast him by three hundred percent, he more than held his own with four VERY EXPERIENCED striper fishermen.

So I am sure I will be reminded often that he caught a striper on a fly rod before I did. He only beat me by 21 years. Also many thanks to Dave for having the camera on him.

Good job DJ !!

Castle Island

Today my good buddy Laurie and I went to South Boston to visit Castle Island. Castle Island is a park that juts out into Boston Harbor. There are views in all directions. I had never been there before. We knew it was going to rain, but we took the chance we would leave before it started.

We arrived around noon. After we parked we walked along the paths. This is not hiking. Just a nice place to take a walk. There is a well protected beach. I am sure the beach is very crowded on nicer weather days than today. You can watch the planes coming in landing at Logan Airport. To the west is Boston's skyline. To the east, the islands in Boston Harbor. To the north, Logan and to the south, the JFK Library. Also some large yachts and dinner cruise ships come in and out of the harbor. There is plenty to see

The whole area looks find of fishy to me. I would like to try my luck. There are two outlets of a huge salt pond going into the ocean. The water was cranking there today as the tide was dropping. There is also a fish pier. A couple guys were fishing bottom.

In the center of the park is Fort Independence. There have been forts at Castle Island since 1634. The one at the island now resembles Fort Adams in Newport a little to me. Starting Memorial day, you can take tours of the fort.

There are picnic areas as well as a pretty cheap fast food shop. The place had burgers, hot dogs, lobster bisque, fries and a large assortment of quick food. The prices were pretty good.

Laurie and I definitely plan on going back during nicer weather. We already have out picnic planned out. Chicken Salad, chips and root beer under a tree is our plan. I am sure Castle Island is mobbed with people during busy summer weekends. I'm not a huge fan of crowds, but I can definitely understand why people go there. Its a really nice place to spend an afternoon.

Questions and Comments Welcome

The blog is a little over one year old now. It is finally catching on. In the last 3 months I had as many visitors all the months before it. I don't know how many people would have came to my site if I did not take off the summer from writing. The reason people write in a blog is because they have something to say. Whether it be a fishing/ outdoors site, political, or the challenge of making every recipe in a cookbook, we want it read. If I didn't want what I wrote read, I'd have a diary or a journal ( although I don't know of any 36 year old men with diaries ). The point is, its fun to share thoughts and experiences.

So what I am saying is... now that more people are checking out my blog, if you have any questions or comments do not be afraid to leave them. If you have any questions about fishing, daytrip ideas, campgrounds or birding chances are I have either been there, done that, or researched it. I will gladly take any comments. I am fine with criticism. Let me know what you like and what you don't. If you like any outdoor movies or hate them, let me know. I love the show River Monsters, you might think its the dumbest show on Animal Planet.

If you want me to write about a technique or a place I may have daytriped 5 years ago, let me know. I've done just about every free or close to free thing in Southern New England. I can give plenty of advice on where to hike in New Hampshire. Where the easiest mountains are and the farthest away waterfalls. My friends at Catch-m-All asked me to write about the casting bubble/ fly method to catch trout. Its a good feeling to know your helping out other outdoorsmen. I was glad to write it. I am looking forward to seeing how they cook a carp when they catch it, I wouldn't eat it unless there was money on the table... yuck

Lastly, feel free to let me know what you've done or seen. If you saw a moose or caught a big fish let me know. I want to hear bird reports, fishing reports and hikes. People actually fishing are much more reliable and believable than tackle shops. If you catch 20 stripers one night, don't consider it bragging to tell me. I want to hear about success and even failure. If you catch a fish at a secret spot, just tell me the town or even state. If you want people to know where they are hitting, all the better. You will probably get a shout out from me either way.

The point I am making is interaction is fun. Feedback is a good thing for both of us. The reader and writer can both get someting out of an exchange of information

50th Trout of 2011

I caught my 50th trout of the year at Falls Pond early this morning. My goal for the entire year was 50. I had never spent enough time trout fishing to even come close to that number ( in New England). Starting the year I was not sure if 50 was a realistic goal. Because I spend so much time carp fishing and chasing fish with stripes, I didn't know if I'd come close.

I know theres a bunch of guys that have caught double that number already. I am not jealous of them at all. On days that I went trout fishing, I usually stopped after I caught 3 or 4 to go carp fishing. Many days I'd limit out in 90 minutes then try my luck at Hopping Hill carp fishing. Also if I was catching them on Powerbait I'd usually put the rod away and fish with lures. I wasn't going to have trout swallow the hook just to pad my stats.

Here are some breakdowns:

50 trout- 46 rainbows, 3 browns, 1 brookie

Number of days where I caught at least one trout- 16

Number of different lakes I caught trout -4 ( three of them within 15 minutes of my house)

Lake I caught the most- Falls Pond 30 ( was there any doubt? )

Day I caught the most- May 8 ( 12- 6 in the morning, 6 fly fishing in the evening )

Ways they were caught

Roostertail 6

Powerbait 20

Spoon 1

Unknown ( didn't write it down) 2

Casting bubble/ fly 12

Fly fishing with fly rod 9 (all in the last three evenings)

So whats next for trout fishing for me ? Well, I reached my goal of fifty. I still enjoy fishing for trout. The journey to fifty was a lot more fun than reaching 50. I have had so much fun fly fishing the last couple of nights, I will probably put the spinning rod away for the year. I will fly fish during insect hatches. I'm not keeping any more trout to eat. Letting fish go is a lot easier on a fly rod then Powerbait. The dilemma for the next ten evenings or so is, the tide will be great the next couple weeks for my favorite striper hotspots. With as well stocked as this fly fishing only pond is, I could easily catch over five trout every evening from my kayak. Tough call.

I hope to get up to New Hampshire a couple times this summer to fly fish for brookies. There are two lakes that have wild trout. I would love to catch some of them. There also some back country lakes that are ariel stocked with fingerlings ( baby trout ) that grow in the lake. I hope to fish some of them. If I blow off striper fishing the next couple weeks ( unlikely) and have good fishing in the White Mountains, I have an outside shot at 100. But if I only catch a few more trout this year and a whole lot more stripers, I will still be one happy fisherman !!

A Day of Firsts

Sometimes you have days when there are a bunch of firsts. First fish, first species, first fish caught with a new method. Sometimes its not a day of firsts, sometimes one fish can be the first of many things. I know this isn't making any sense yet, but bare with me.

I'll give you an example. Last year DJ caught a trout in Beartooth Lake in Montana. That one fish was his first wild trout. His first fish on a fly rod. His first fish on a dry fly. His first fish caught from a mountain lake. Lastly, it was his first cutbow ( a cross between a rainbow and a cutthroat trout). Maybe these "records" don't mean much. To a 14 year old boy, catching that one fish ten minutes before dark was something that he talked about the rest of the night. He was particularly proud of it being the first trout on the fly rod. I had never caught a trout on the fly rod so he was quite happy to beat me by 21 years. For the record I had to wait one more day.

Today was like that for me. Nothing as significant as a kid getting his first trout on the fly rod. None the less a fun and productive fishing day.As you can see from the post that is below this one, I caught my first stripers on the year today. I didn't catch them on any special tackle. Just a 3/8 oz. jighead and a zoom fluke. The three stripers are also significant for me in another way. They are the first stripers I have ever caught during mid day. I always fish for stripers in the evening and well after dark. I used to fish from 2 am until dawn when I was a baker. When I first started striper fishing I'd be at the Cape Cod Canal at first light and fish the herring run. Once I stayed until 9 am. I hooked a big striper right before I left. It was a bright day. Still the bass were at the run for one reason- TO EAT HERRING.

Never in my wildest dreams, have I ever thought about fishing for stripers in the middle of the afternoon. Since I struck out carp fishing and was 3 miles away, I thought I'd make a few casts. Low and behold, I caught three stripers in four feet of water.

Tonight after playing taxi driver for my son, I went fishing for trout at a pond I had never fished before. It is a fly fishing only pond in Rhode Island. Even though I'm having a fun year for trout, I had yet to catch one on the long rod. I've only had the chance to use it a couple of times. Falls Pond really isn't a good place to fly fish from shore. All the fish I've caught with flies are with the casting bubble.I got to the lake about 6:20 giving me about 1 1/2 hours before dark. I caught a crap load of sunfish. I could have caught tons more. There was one spot on the lake I caught 6 sunfish in about 2 minutes. I had to move from that spot. I ended up landing one rainbow about 13 inches long.

The significance of the fish for me was huge. First it was my first fly rod trout of the year. Also it was my first fly rod trout ever in New England. Remember I caught my first last summer out west, well after the 2010 spring trout season. Today's rainbow was also my largest fish caught on a fly rod to date. I do expect that record to be destroyed within the next two weeks when I catch my first striper on my saltwater fly rod.

So I had a bunch of firsts today. I know most of these "records" don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world ( Casablanca quote paraphrased ). I know most of you reading this could care less what today's fish signifies. I'm not writing this to brag about one 13 inch rainbow or three stripers under 22 inches. I am writing it for myself. Catching a trout on a fly for me is an accomplishment I am proud of. These are goals I set for myself. I could care less if I ever get married. I could care less how many friends I have. I sure as hell could care less about going clubbing, but for whatever reason, the gods made me want to catch a trout on a fly rod and catch a striper in the middle of the day

First Stripers of the Year are MONSTAHS !!!

I have friends that have been catching stripers for a couple of weeks now. One of my best friends has caught over 100 fish already. I on the other hand, have not been able to pry myself away from trout. The way I see it, the trout fishing will only be good until about May 20 depending on weather the next couple weeks. On the other hand striper fishing should only get better and be good until at least July. Also while guys were out catching one or two schoolies at the end of April, I was catching the same number of trout, if not more with the expense of driving my car 1/2 mile from my house. Do not get me wrong, I would much rather catch stripers than any other fish on the planet. I just want to know I have a great chance of catching some, to give up my carp and trout time

Now that the bay and ocean have warmed up, there are a lot more schoolies around. Catching multiple fish is more common and skunkings much less common. So... I started striper fishing. I know, better late than never. I went down to Providence and caught three stripers in my first 5 casts. I made the mistake of thinking the spot I was fishing was stacked up with fish. After my 3rd fish, I didn't even get another hit. I tried two other places in Providence but no more luck.

I was very happy my striper season started. Clearly the three I caught were not monsters, but they pulled my line none the less.Starting next Tuesday, the tide will be right for the next couple of weeks at my favorite spots to fish in the evenings, I can't wait!

Pineapple Vodka Flavored Corn is a Hot Bait Right Now

The carp I have been catching lately have all been caught on Pineapple flavored vodka. I always set up one pole with sweet corn ( until the water warms a little more then I will use field corn). On the other rod I use a flavor. I start with whatever I caught my last fish on. If I don't get any hits on the flavored corn, after about 45 minutes I will switch to another flavor. I use the sweet corn on the other hook as a" control group " I will switch from the sweet corn to a flavor only after I've had two hits or more on my flavored corn.
Lately, the pineapple vodka corn has worked so well, I haven't switched from it, and I end up using it on both rods. Pineapple Vodka is what I caught my carp at the fish in on. The last time I went fishing, I caught 4 carp in a little over two hours. Every hit was on pineapple vodka.

It is extremely easy to make your own. Open a can of corn and pick out the biggest kernels. Put the big kernels in a waterproof container. Get yourself a nip of vodka and dump it into the container. Put the cover on and shake. Its that simple. I have been heating the corn in the microwave until it gets hot then dumping in the vodka, I think this helps the corn absorb the vodka. I'm not sure, but I have been catching fish either way.

I am sure many of you are wondering if I'm drinking the vodka also and chuckling to yourselves. I bought a 750 mL bottle. It smells amazing. I did make ONE drink with it. Its good but as a carp bait- its to damn expensive to waste it on myself!

Hope this helps anyone looking to catch a carp.

Rhode Island Fish In Yesterday

Saturday was the Rhode Island Carp Anglers Semi Annual Fish- In. A fish- in is almost the exact opposite of a fishing tournament. It is an uncompetitive social get together for the members. While at the fish-in everyone shares information, tips and believe it or not hotspots. We all root for each other and since there is so much catching up and exchange of info, catching fish almost becomes secondary. Although I am a Mass resident, I am a member of the Rhode Island CAG. I have been friends with some of the Rhode Island guys for years. It is a great group of guys and we all get along real well.

I spent a lot of time yesterday talking with a beginner named Jason. He had never caught a carp. He will though, he had already spent a lot of time doing his own research and asked the right questions. Anything that I couldn't answer we found out the answer from one of the other experienced guys. Although I tried to help him as much as I could, I asked him as many questions as he asked me. Jason is an expert fishing for Steelhead on the Salmon River in New York and does a lot of fly fishing on Connecticut Rivers. Like I said, its a great exchange of info.

The fish did not really co-operate. Between all of us we got a couple of fish in. Both were over ten pounds. Once a fish is hooked everyone comes over to watch the fight. Once the fish is landed, the small digital cameras come out of pockets. Everyone lines up to get a picture to remember the day. After a couple pics and congratulations the fish is let go. We fished until well after dark. The guys that live the farthest away usually bail out first. Even when your one of the guys that go fishless, you still look forward to the next one. Fish- ins are a lot of fun.

If you want to see pictures go to http://www.ricarpfishing.blogspot.com/