Fish are still biting

For those guys brave enough, there are still fish to be caught. I guess a little further north, the ice is safe and people are ice fishing. Down here on the RI/MA border the water is open. A few coves have a small glaze of ice, but nothing safe. When I went fishing the day after Christmas the cove I caught my brown the day before was under a half inch of ice. The next day it was ice free. The next week looks as though daytime highs will be in the mid-thirties while night time lows will be in the twenties. These could be the last days of open water fishing (freshwater) down here. Whether the ice gets thick enough to fish on is anyone’s guess.

The fish are still fish to be caught. Stripers are in the usual holdover spots. By all accounts (including mine) the fishing has been consistent and some nights have been spectacular. These fish are mostly schoolies. Fishing for them is simple. All you need is a light saltwater pole and some 4 inch zoom flukes, and 3/8 to ½ ounce jigheads. Move around until you find them.

18 inch trout caught yesterday

Trout fishing has also been excellent. Fishermen down the Cape have been catching lots of trout while chasing the newly stocked salmon. I was going to try for the salmon on these two days off at Little Pond in Plymouth. Since I have been catching big browns in northern RI, I couldn’t justify the trip. Yesterday I went trout fishing about 20 minutes from home. I cheated and bought half dozen shiners. I ended up catching six trout. Four were on shiners, two on a small silver Rapala. Tough to justify a two hour round trip to Plymouth when catching trout up to 18 inches right near home.

My guess is that if you have a lake full of pickerel they would be willing adversaries also. Fish are out there. There are guys out fishing for them. If there weren’t, On the Water and the Fisherman would not waste their time with fishing reports. Don’t let a little cold or wind stop you. Dress appropriately and keep your hands and feet warm… the tv will still be there when you get home.

An Apple Pie and Trout Christmas

 

Laurie with her world famous apple pie.

I sincerely hope everyone had a great Christmas. For those of you that don’t celebrate Christmas,I hope you had the best December 25^th of your life. We had a very good day and I managed to get some productive fishing in.

Laurie sleeps over on Christmas Eve and we watch a movie. I was invited to a party from a friend at work, but Laurie had a hectic day and wanted to relax. DJ went to a party at his girlfriend’s house. He sleeps over his mom’s on Christmas Eve, so she picked him up from there.
When we got up, we got food ready for the evening feast. Laurie made a pumpkin pie. I cut up potatoes. When DJ got home we opened presents. Besides the things I buy him, Santa brought a gift for both of us. We got us a new two person tent. It turns out that EMS was discontinuing an awesome tent and the last one (the floor model) was 50% off. So he couldn’t pass that up and he thought of us.

After presents I brought DJ to his grandmother’s house so he could open more. Laurie went to visit relatives at a nursing home. So I had about three hours free. I decided to go trout fishing. I never made it out this fall because of stripers so I thought I’d give it a shot. I was really hoping for one.  After about an hour I hooked one. It was a beautiful hooked mouth 17 inch brown trout. On the next cast I hooked a bigger one but lost it. Those were my only hits. I’ll say it again; any fish in December is a good fish. I was quite happy to get the Christmas fish. I let it go, I had plenty of food.
That night we had a Christmas dinner. Laurie made an apple pie on Christmas Eve morning that we ate for desert.  It was delicious. We never touched the pumpkin pie.
 
Today after work, I went trout fishing again. The spot I caught my fish yesterday had iced over. I had to fish further up the beach. I fished for an hour and caught one brown. It was a nice fish 15-16 inches, but not as big as the Christmas brown. I caught both fish and the other hit on a small silver sinking Rapala. I tried other lures but they did not produce.

Big Fish were had by ALL last night ( the two of us fishing)

I went fishing for holdovers Friday night. It was my third time this week. On Tuesday we caught over forty fish. On Wednesday I did not even bump the bottom. Not a fish to be had. I didn’t even see a rat or rabbit. Both of which I see ALL the Time. The wind turned north and maybe it turned off the fishing. Interestingly, I had my best nights last year when the wind was from that direction. You just can’t predict what winter stripers will do, where they will be, or if they are hungry.

So I went Friday night. When I got there Dave had been fishing for a little while. He caught a couple. On my first cast I hooked a fish that felt pretty big. After I hooked it Dave said “I should warn you, they have been good size tonight” He was right. This fish was large enough that when he offered to get the bridge net out of his truck, I said “Yes, please”

Between my line and his help, I caught what was about a keeper size striper. We didn’t measure it so it could have been 28 inches but if I had to guess, I’d say it was just under. Fat and healthy, it was though (Yoda). I left my small camera at home so it got released without a picture.

We each caught a couple more, but fishing wasn’t hot and heavy. They were all good sized though. I caught a couple 22, 23 inches but they were averaging over twenty five inches. Dave hooked into a nice fish and after a couple minutes and having his landing net handy he landed a monster. In terms of length, he both estimated it about 31 inches. It was ridiculously chunky. Dave, who has caught tens of thousands of stripers more than me guessed it was 15-16 pounds. I would concur. When we got it in, a light bulb went off that I had my big camera in the car. I ran up to get it. The batteries were almost dead, but I managed to take four pictures before they died completely.

 Although we both only caught four fish a piece it was nice knowing we were casting to very healthy keepers. Sure as hell beat wrapping Christmas presents!!!

Off the Disabled List

As I said a couple posts ago I have had to deal with a herniated disk in my neck since the last couple days of November. I am feeling much better now. I went to a chiropractor and amazingly after two visits I feel 90% better. In the next paragraphs I will explain what the pinched nerve felt like, so if you don’t want to read about someone’s medical issues skip down to the fishing.

The symptoms are pain in my shoulder and upper arm. I can be tough for a while but being in constant pain is mentally exhausting. I had to sleep sitting up for about a week and even then I’d sleep about twenty minutes at a time. You have no idea how long a night is when you wake up twenty to thirty times.  Sometimes it felt as though a match was burning my bicep muscle from the inside. No word of a lie, the muscle felt it was like it was on fire. Other times it felt as though I had a nail being wedges into my shoulder. The pain moved and I could fall asleep with pain in one spot and wake up fifteen minutes later with it shooting in another. It is impossible to enjoy watching tv. To read a book isn’t even an option because it is impossible to concentrate for more than a line or two without going back to the pain. Honestly, I can’t imagine Hell being any worse. For those of you that have had your sciatic nerve pinched and giving you great pain, I can relate and you have my full sympathy.
Luckily, this chiropractor is amazing. Last time I had this happen I tried to work through it for six weeks. Then I told my boss I needed time off to heal. I went to physical therapy three times a week along with doctor’s visits. After almost another month of this rehab I was finally pain free and ready to go back to work. My job had been eliminated.

As you can imagine, when this happened again, my biggest fear was that I would be jobless again. So I was honest with my boss about the pain. Luckily for me I got to spend most of the last week training a new manager so I did not have to do much manual labor.
I was told to try a chiropractor that had done wonders for a customer at work. After a really painful day I made an appointment. Unfortunately, I called on Tuesday but he didn’t have any openings until Thursday so I sucked it up another two nights.

On Friday morning I explained to him my previous injury, how this was exactly the same and hoped he could help. He worked on me and the total visit was only 30 minutes. That night I was in a lot of pain. I had to sleep sitting up. The next morning about 10 am, the pain went away. In about a five minute period I went from a lot of pain to it being gone.  I still felt some numbness and if I sneezed I felt a quick shooting pain but for the most part it was gone. All day Friday and Saturday I did everything I could to not jar loose my disk. I walked down stairs on my tip toes. I walked on uneven ground slowly. I even got in my car slowly instead of bounding in like normal.

I had another appointment Monday. I asked him a bunch of questions and he was great answering them about how a herniated disk works. He explained what he did and what I could expect. He worked on me less than the first time and I left my upper arm felt a little pulverized like it had been hit by a meat tenderizer but it wasn’t too bad. Other than the pain being almost gone, the best news was he told me the act of casting a fishing pole would not hurt the disk!!! Bo-yah!!!!!

I didn’t go fishing last night because my arm was a bit tender, but you can bet your ass I went tonight. Fishing was great. Between Dave and myself, we caught over forty stripers. Apparently if I would have gone last night fishing was just as good. We caught them all on Zoom Flukes. I didn’t whip out the bucktail jig, I was happy just catching fish. Experimenting to see what they would or wouldn’t hit could wait for another night. Tonight it was just nice to get out and catch some fish. Honestly it was just nice to get out, fish, and be pain free. Catching fish made it all the more sweeter.
Hopefully, I can keep healing. I took a couple Advil tonight as preventive maintenance in case there is any swelling. A couple is fine. For the last month I was eating Advil like it is a food group. So if all goes well (meaning I wake up pain free in the morning) I should have more fishing posts in the near future. I have Friday and Saturday off this weekend, I do not plan to waste it

Sorry no pictures, we both left the camera at home

Post script: I wrote this last night about 11 pm. I woke up with a little tiny pain. I took some Advil and had some soda ( caffeine is a pain reliever for me, weird, huh?). I went fishing again tonight. Did not get a hit. Go figure.

I want to thank Angela Huestis for getting me the phone number for the doctor. I would also like to thank him, however I dod not have his name on me at the moment. I probably owe him my sanity and my the fact I still have a
job.

A Pinched Nerve in my Neck

 

Three years ago I had a pinched nerve in my neck. The neck did not hurt too bad but because of the nerves pinched on my left side, my shoulder and arm hurt like hell. It was the worst experience of my life. For almost three months I could not sleep more than 20 minutes at a time. I worked with the pain for over six weeks before I said enough was enough and I took time out of work. I don’t want to sound like a baby, but sometimes it felt as though I had a knife in my flesh and it was twisting. Other times it felt like a shooting pain that would move up and down my arm. I had to sleep sitting up because it hurt too much to lie down

Finally after three months, an MRI, and a month of intense physical therapy the pain subsided. Because my nerves were pinched for so long I lost a lot of feeling in my left bicep muscle and my left hand was weakened to half strength. It took a couple years to get the numbness out of my arm and I’d say within the last six months I regained most of my strength.   Unfortunately, after I took off the time to heal, my job had been eliminated. So I was out of work for a while.

Why do I tell you all this? Guess what I have again? Yup I have a pinched nerve in my neck again. It happened about ten days ago. I feel I am lucky that the pain is not nearly as excruciating as last time. Also on the bright side, I think it is already beginning to heal. I have slept in my bed the last three nights without too much discomfort. I still wake up ten times a night, but that is better than every twenty minutes.  I am optimistic that within the week I will be pain free.  

Needless to say, I have not been very active. Since I got hurt, I went fishing a couple of times. It sounds crazy to fish and risk further damage, but I think casting the pole loosens up some of the muscles. I am scared to death of reinjuring my neck or having a set back so I am past the point of careful. I am using my wrist to cast with very little upper arm movement. The little muscles in my shoulders I am using I am careful not to fatigue. I cannot risk losing my job again, so I need to heal this as quickly as possible.

I tell you all this because I have not put up any fishing reports in a while. Now you know why. Unfortunately for me, the winter time fishery for stripers has been very good so far. I could be cleaning up. I had my best month ever in November for stripers, and I am sure this could have been my best December ever if I wasn’t laid up.

The times I went fishing this is how I did; I went for sea run white perch one afternoon and caught quite a few thanks to a tip I got. I used my freshwater rod and had a blast for a couple hours.  It was cold that day and that felt really good to my neck muscles.
Last night I caught three schoolies in an hour and half fishing. I felt a little pain in my shoulder when I got home, so I think I might have to suck it up and take a couple weeks off from fishing. It’s weird that sometimes a little exercise makes my neck/shoulder feel so much better and then days like last night made it hurt more than it had in three days.  Stay tuned…?

Nothing Better to do

Nothing better to do

I fish almost every day. I find myself saying this to a lot of people “I had nothing better to do”. Usually this phrase has negative connotations. For example “Even though it was a blowout I watched the Sox game because I had nothing better to do”. For me it is the opposite. Within driving distance and within a reasonable budget I really can’t think of anything better to do most days or nights than fish.

I love going to the movies and compared to most people I go much more. Yet over the past year, almost every time I think about seeing a movie, I think about it cutting into my fishing time and that turns me off to the idea.   I have no problem going to the movies alone during a weekday. I used to do it all the time. Lately as you can see from my posts I choose fishing instead. I have gone to the movies a few times this year, usually with Laurie or DJ. If I make plans with them, I force myself to go.
I used to go on a lot of day trips. DJ and I have been everywhere within an hour and a half drive. When he was growing up I took him everywhere. Zoos, the Freedom Trail, Concord, Salem, Plymouth Rock, Battleship Cove and Museums are places we have gone. We have done most of those things multiple times. I don’t know if it’s because he is grown up or if I have gone to these places so many times that I have lost interest. Given the choice of going to Plymouth to see all the small attractions or to fish …well it’s a no brainer. The only exception to this is the Museum of Fine Art which is awesome. However the hassle to get there limits my enthusiasm to going only once every couple years.
So next time you see me out in the cold, fishing for winter time stripers or sitting in a cold spring rain carp or trout fishing, if I tell you “ I had nothing better to do”, just smile and know I am enjoying myself.
On a side note does anyone every say something had “positive connotations”

Numbers

This is number three in a series of posts about things I have been thinking about. Some are rants and some are just things I have been thinking about. This one is about numbers and keeping track of fish. enjoy

Numbers

I have always been a numbers guy. I keep track of a lot of things. I have a five subject notebook that I have labeled “Journal”. It is not a journal in the same way people keep a diary. It is really more like a series of lists. I have been keeping it since I was about twenty. In the different sections are lists ranging from books I have read to the number of animal species I have seen in each year. I know exactly how many movies I see each year separated by rental and going to the movie theater. I keep track of daytrips I’ve gone on and who was with me. I have a list of concerts I’ve been too.

The only time I write in “diary form” is when I go on vacation. At the end of each day I write down what I did or saw that day. Since my notebook is nine years old (I’m on my second since I was twenty) I leave it home on vacation. I take some scrap paper with me on vacation or another notebook and transfer the trip log when I get home. I am very thorough. If I did it I will write it down. Sometimes I will get detailed as eating a turkey sandwich on top of a mountain if it was a real good sandwich.

You’re probably asking yourself why I do this and where I am going with this. The answer is I don’t want to forget anything. I am very visual so if I write it down I remember it better. If I reread something it reminds me of it. Even when I keep track of movies, if I write it down, I am more likely to remember the plot five years later. 

The same thing is true of fishing. I keep track (usually on the computer) of the fish I catch and where I caught them. I know exactly how many trout I have caught over the last two years. This year I have been better at writing down the other species. Although I probably couldn’t tell you exactly how many stripers I have ever caught, I think my guess would be within fifty.

Some people keep track of these things and some don’t. To be honest, it is all about personality and what is fun to you. Some guys need to know how many they caught while others just go out and hope to catch fish and don’t think about how many. Neither side is right or wrong.

So when I write a blog post about a fishing trip it will usually include the number of fish I have caught. I write the number down for two reasons. One, I actually know how many fish I caught. Second, if I write “the fish were really biting” or “we caught a lot today”, I assume you would actually like to know how many.

Do not consider this bragging or boasting at all. It is not boasting. Besides there are only about five of you that read this and most are good fishermen so who the hell am I bragging to anyway?  Here are my reasons.

I put in a lot of time fishing. I assume if others fished as much as I do they are going to have just as many days where they run into large numbers of fish. If I write about a fifty fish day, I assume the reader knows that the fish were stacked up and anyone with reasonable common sense knows fishing was easy that day. If I have a day where I catch twenty stripers or trout it isn’t to boast. It is to share my experience. I want others to want to do the same thing. Maybe and hopefully it will get others to go fishing or get outdoors, which is the point.

Also, numbers really aren’t very impressive after a certain number anyway. I will give you an example This March I caught 9 trout at Fearings Pond. It was a good day, I had a person that read my blog say” You nailed them yesterday.” A month later I caught 26 in a couple hours. But is that number really three times more impressive than nine. Did I seem like I am three times better of a fisherman because I caught 26. The answer is no. I ran into some fresh stockies. I kept fishing for them because I rarely run into browns and brookies (I catch brookies in New Hampshire but not too many in MA) and that is what these were, so I took advantage of the easy fishing.  It wasn’t to pad my stats or to brag about how many I caught. I had only caught three browns in my whole life until that day so each one I caught was really fun for me.    

The point is some people keep track of how many they have caught. Some don’t. Some fishermen write down in fishing reports with tide, date, weather conditions hoping to learn from it. Some keep track so they can add up how many they caught at the end of the year. In the end, who cares? Just have fun doing it your way.  When I write how many I caught in a post it is because if I was reading someone else’s blog (and I do) I would want to know how many “a lot “was. If you read about how many fish someone caught they are trying to make a point of how good the finding was, not how good a fisherman they are. With a little luck and a lot of time everyone will have great fishing days.  Don’t read anything into it, but keep reading it.

 

Schoolies

Over the next couple weeks I plan on discussing some topics that have been on my mind. Most with be just thoughts others might be classified as rants. they are just things I have been thinking about. I have been fishing almost every day this month but I am in my winter mode. This means I am fishing the same place roughly the same time every night. There is only so many times you can write about the same thing. So instead of writing I caught seven this night or one ( I only got one last night) I thought I'd tackle some of these ideas in my head.

Tonight's topic is schoolies.

I think the great thing about striped bass is that they come in a variety of sizes. Even though we would all love to catch thirty pounders on every cast that is not a reality. Because Narragansett is an hour away I can't fish there every night so I fish Upper Narragansett Bay a lot. This spring was exceptional, and this late fall even better.

 There are keeper stripers that come into the bay. When the menhaden come up in the spring often big keepers follow them.This is primarily a boat fishery. Thats not to say keepers can't be caught from shore. They are fairly common. However for the most part the Upper Bay is a schoolie fishery. Most keepers will run between 28 and 33 inches, most on the low end. If you fished the Upper Bay every night from late April to June you would be very happy to land one forty inch fish.

So I choose to use gear for the size fish I expect to catch, not gear for the biggest fish I could catch. Why? It is more fun, if I'm into sub keeper size bass on a shallow sand bar why the hell would I use my surf rod. of course keepers will come along and it is awesome to hook one. Thats when experience plays a part and landing it is a combination of skill and luck.

I bring this up because so many people have schoolie fisheries. The West Wall is famous in the spring. The Thames River is the most famous winter time fishery on the East Coast and that is primarily schoolies also.

I would love to catch keepers on every cast but catching twenty three inch stripers on every cast is a hell of a lot more fun to me than catching ten inch trout ( and I do that also) or fifteen inch pickerel. I am glad that schoolie stripers are there because they fill the void waiting for the big one!

Solitude

I have been fishing almost every night. However I am in winter mode. This means I am fishing the same spot every night at roughly the same time. There is only so many times I can write I caught seven fish or one fish at the same place. So instead of writing that I thought I would write about some of the things that have been on my mind. Most of these are just thoughts others could be classified as rants. This first paragraph will be the heading of all these "editorials"  Tonight's subject is solitude and fishing alone.

I make no secret that I have no issues fishing by myself. I also have written many posts about fishing with fishing buddies. I want to make it clear I enjoy fishing with other people. This is not me being a recluse or snubbing my nose at friends. Some of my best fishing memories are with my son or friends.  This post is not in any way me saying I would rather fish by myself for the rest of my life.  I just don’t mind fishing alone, that is all.

I know people that do not like to fish by themselves. Sometimes they stay home because they don’t have anyone to fish with. I am not bashing anyone by saying that, I just do not understand this philosophy. Why anyone would choose not to fish because they don’t have someone to go with is beyond my comprehension. I guess they need the company for a long ride. Maybe they feel the need someone to see the fish if they catch one. Maybe they feel it’s more fun to catch fish with someone else (it is more fun). These are all justifiable arguments. Long rides do suck, having someone see your catch does verify it, and yes two people catching fish is more fun.

I just don’t understand why these reasons would keep a person from doing things they enjoy alone. I have given deep thought to this. I know I am not a hermit, I know I enjoy company. I also know I need more alone time than the average person. I would say it’s because I deal with a lot of people at work every day. That theory is thrown out the window because I was like this as a kid. Even then I would fish by myself. I’d take my dog for a walk just to “get away.”

So I don’t worry about being alone for extended periods. I know this is surprising, but I really do not get lonely. In 2010, I took a trip alone to Shenandoah National Park. I was gone for eight days. Of course I missed my son, but he was with his mom that week either way. I hiked every day for about ten miles. I watched deer and stopped at Antietam on my ride home. The trip itself was a great vacation

Why do I even bring up such a boring subject about whether I fish alone or not? Just because people tell me all the time they would never take a trip alone. Girls at work ask me all the time if I am afraid to camp by myself. Even my boss tells me I should carry a gun.

A typical Monday conversation at work will go like this

Girl-“What did you do?”

Me – “I went to Narragansett Thursday night fished till I couldn’t stand. Drove my car to a spot I could sleep. Woke up about sunrise and fished all day.”

Girl- “Who did you go with?”

Me “No one”

Then they ask me if I got bored spending all that time by myself instead of asking the more important question “how was the fishing?”

   When I have a day off during warm weather, I plan long distance marathon fishing excursions. During the spring I went to Wachusetts Reservoir a couple times. I drove to the Outer Cape to trout fish Nickerson State Park. Of course I did some all-nighters sleeping in Narragansett this fall. When driving so far away I like to make the trip as worthwhile as possible. Since gas is outrageous, I make a whole day of it. Sometimes I am gone from sun up till way past sundown. Honestly, I know very few people that enjoy fishing for eight to twelve hours. So instead of convincing someone to go, I just go alone.

It works out more often than not. When I went to Nickerson, I caught one trout and one small pickerel in five hours. I left and headed home. I decided to stop and fish a pond along the way. I caught twenty six trout there. It would have been very hard to convince anyone to try that pond after 5 hours of almost nothing. Going alone means you make decisions that only affect yourself.

Last winter while fishing for stripers, I would go for a couple hours even if the fish weren’t biting if I was alone. I went many times with a friend and he was always ready to leave before me. I would give in after ten minutes and take off after only an hour or so. Since this spot is about 20 minutes from home but we usually got in traffic, I spent as much time driving as I did fishing. One night it was cold, raw and wet, I decided to go alone because of the weather. Dave was fishing there and we got talking and lost track of time. After two and a half hours we only had one fish each. We were working our way back to our cars ready to leave, then they really turned on. We both caught over ten fish. Dave caught at least three keepers and I got one 31 inches while using my trout rod. The point of the story is, if I went with my friend, I’d have been home an hour and a half before the fish even started hitting.

One last example, when I go to New Hampshire alone, I have to deal with a three hour drive each way. To be honest the ride there I am jacked up and it flies by. The ride home is tough. I stop at the rest area sixty miles from the MA/NH border and buy a couple sodas. I never drink caffeine, so I get high from the soda, at least enough to keep me awake.  When I go to New Hampshire by myself, I spend the whole day going from pond to pond. I will get up around five am and fish till the fish stop hitting flies after dark. To me this is a great day, but I couldn’t even convince my son to do that. When he goes up with me, we do a lot more hiking. We will climb a mountain or hike to a waterfall. This is also great and I can enjoy mountain top views for hours. Two different types of trips, both great, just different memories.

So I guess the point of this post is just to separate the two points of view of spending time alone fishing or in the woods or needing someone to go with. I guess part of it is feeling comfortable alone. At many places I go, if I got hurt there would be little help for hours. The surf in the middle of the night can be a desolate place. I also think part of it is confidence. You need confidence in yourself to sleep in the woods for a couple days or fish big waves.. You need to know what you are doing (how to set up a tent, pack a back pack, stay dry, etc.) You only get that confidence from experience. I also think some of it is being male. I know girls that tell me they would be scared to be alone in the woods. I guess I see there point. Yet I see girls jogging alone in Providence after dark a lot and I think cities would be scarier than any fuzzy black bear.  

Things I am thankful for- Outdoor Style!

I obviously have friends and family that I am thankful for. I am lucky enough to have a roof over my head and a decent job. More than anything I am greatful to have a son that I love and am extremely proud of. I have a couple of great best friends, the youngest I just melded crayons with in her Crayola Crayon Maker. Watching Thursday night shows, having buffalo chicken and watching football with Laurie are memories I will always have. I have a brother that I know would do anything for me along with many other friends and relatives that I could say the same for

… But this is an outdoor blog so I came up with a few things I am thankful for. I purposely chose only things in New England or this list could get R-E-A-L-L-Y     L-O-N-G. So here I go…

 

1.       I am thankful for stripers, without them I would be lost

2.       I am thankful for New Hampshire, because it is there I never feel trapped in my little corner, because Canon Mountain and Profile Lake are only three hours away

3.        I am thankful for smallmouth bass, no freshwater fish puts up a more noble fight

4.       I am thankful Laurie lets me fish when we go to New Hampshire, she never complains and enjoys putting her feet in the water

5.       I am thankful I was in Narragansett to witness the best day for False Albacore in Rhode Island history, just pure luck but it was spectacular

6.       I am thankful for moose, bears and bald eagles, they are far more impressive than any human

7.       I am thankful for all the advice and tips DP has given me through the years. There is no hiding he is my mentor. I would not know nearly as much about fishing without his help. He has shared many spots with me and answered countless email questions. On top of all his knowledge, he is a good friend

8.       I am thankful for twenty fish days, but I am also thankful for the days I struggle for one or two so I can appreciate the great days that much more.

9.       I am thankful for all the access to the trout ponds down the Cape. Sure the trout are hatchery raised but some of the places I fish are just beautiful.

10.   I am very very thankful for wintering over stripers. Before I met them I hated winter to the point of depression, now winter is a season I welcome

11.   I am thankful very few people fish for carp because a lot of the places I fish for them are small and would crowd easily

12.   I am equally thankful for Providence and Narragansett

 

13.   I am thankful for having a smallmouth lake only ten minutes from my house ( and never knew it until this year)

14.   I am thankful for mountain top views and waterfalls, both awe me.

15.   I am thankful for the Shimano Baitrunner 3500, Shimano Spheros 4000 and Shimano Sedona, all great reels at a reasonable price

16.   I am thankful my mom taught me how to fish, if she would have lived long enough I could have repaid her tenfold because I could have taught her so much more

17.   I am thankful for all the summers I spent on Toddy Pond in Maine as a kid.

18.   I am thankful for Bass Pro Shops Fishing Sale in March, it is a sale guys love

19.   I am thankful for lakers and salmon in Wachusetts Reservoir

20.   I am thankful for the enjoyment I get from fishing and the outdoors. I wouldn't want to be any other way

21. I am thankful I live in the greatest country in the world where I have the freedom to fish where I want. A place where the best scenery is open to the public and not reservered for the elite.  Even if I fish ten days in a row, I don't take even one of those days for granted.Thank you

Good Fishing/ Good Conversation

I along with the two guys I fished with caught quite a few stripers tonight. How many we caught is unimportant. What was important was how much fun we had. Tonight was chilly but the cold temps did not put a damper on any of our moods. I fished with my good friend Dave and another guy that I have seen many times the last couple weeks named Paul.

The three of us caught fish, but what made it fun were the laughs. A cracked up more than once. Other times we just made jokes teasing each other. On a cold night it is nice to fish with others. Time goes by much quicker when you have someone to talk too when the temperature is below freezing.

I can be a bit serious when fishing. I concentrate a little to hard on hooking up. Sometimes I need those nights/days when its not about the fish, but about the laughs... tonight was one of them.

100 Fish Week!

A fish from Nov 3

Of course there are some days when a fisherman runs into non stop action that is considered catching not fishing. Occasionally this fishing can last all day and someone can rack up huge numbers, even 100 fish days.

I can't say I have had a week anything like that. However, throughout the course of the week, I did manage a hundred schoolie stripers. I have switched to fishing at dusk and well into dark. I have run into some really good fishing.  As mentioned before, the only night I have not fished this week was during the snowstorm. I planned on fishing even in the snow, but as road conditions worsened, I chose not to be my normal idiot self and used self control.

Other than that night though, I have dealt with some nasty northeast winds, some bitter cold northwest winds and a couple 25 degree nights. I fish all winter, so whining about fishing in the cold isn't really for sympathy, I don't expect any. Most people do not think its worth leaving there cozy house to fish for stripers. I do.

Anyway, every night this week, I have ran into large numbers of fish. I did not find any blitzes, or birds. I did have to keep moving and keep looking for them as I did not find more than a couple stacked up in any one spot.

Today, I decided to fish during the day since it was my day off. I started about 11:30, but ( and this is painful) I didn't get my first hit until after 3 pm. After the first couple schoolies, the hits were very consistent for the next three hours. I ended the day with 24 fish. I unexpectedly ran across Dave and a couple other guys. They all caught over ten fish each. I stayed longer than everyone else, that's the only reason I caught the most. All my fish were caught on Zoom flukes today, others were caught on white grubs and a jighead.

I hope this fishing continues for a while. Since the ocean access is iffy right now, I am glad to find all these fish 20 minutes from home.

Striper Fishing has been Great!

This is one of the smaller fish I got this week

Many of you know the ocean front is really bad right now. Parking and access are very tough. I am happy to report I have been catching a lot of fish in Upper Narragansett Bay. I have been out every day/night this month. From Nov 1 to Nov 6 I have averaged 11 fish a night. I have been finding them in upper reaches of salt rivers and salt ponds.  So there are fish still around.

Keep in mind these fish are not giants. They have averaged 18-22 inches. A couple have run 24 or 25 inches. I have been using a seven foot medium freshwater rod to catch these fish. The reel is spooled with 10 pound line. All fish were caught on 3/8 ounce jigs or zoom flukes. These size fish are a lot of fun on light tackle.   I have found the fish to be very aggressive. I have seen some fish chasing bait even after dark. I have not run into any concentrations of blitzing fish. Most of the fish seem to be alone and I have to keep moving to find fish.

 I have been out in northeast and north winds the last few nights. I assume the night time temps were in the high twenties the last few nights. One day I fished in the rain. I know that the good fishing won't last much longer so I have been willing to be out in these uncomfortable conditions to catch fish.

The point of this post is to let you know not to give up yet.

Making bucktail jigs

I have been stubborn when it comes to bucktail jigs most of my life. I decided to try them this year. The reason I wanted to use them was actually because I thought it would be fun to make some. So this spring I made some bucktails just for the hell of it.

I started using them regularly this year. I should have been using them for years. I have caught more fish than I can count on them. They are easy to make. To buy bucktail jigs it is very expensive. I was at Bass Pro yesterday and they had small bucktails 3 for $5. The slightly bigger ones were running about two dollars each. To make my own, its a lot closer to 50 cents each. When blues are around or fishing a rocky bottom, a fisherman can go through them fairly quickly.

Many anglers are not even carrying them in there tackle bags any more because of soft plastics. However, they can sometimes work better than the plastic because they will dig a little deeper in the water column. I've caught a lot of stripers in the last three days. All but two were on a 3/8 ounce white bucktail.

To make your own all you need is a bucktail ( from the fly fishing section of a well stocked tackle shop). A jig head. I buy regular flathead jigs from Bass Pro 10/ $4. Some red thread and a vise to hold the jig. Here are some pictures on how to tie a bucktail jig. They did not come out very well but they should give you an idea on how easy they are to make.

Put the jig on a vise and wrap some red thread to give your bucktail some thing to grip

Take a small amount of bucktail and place on hook. Wrap the thread around it

Do this two more times. Trying to cover a third of the hook each time

Pictures are deceptive. Tie very sparsely

Once you get the bucktail on all sides wrap the red thread tightly and neatly around the neck
Use a whip finish to tie the knot

Use a little head cement ( I use Gorilla glue) to seal the thread

These are the jigheads  I start with

I make jigs in four sizes  1/4, 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4 ounce. To see a video, my friend made one on how to tie a bucktail jig. Its easy and they are an unbelievable lure to have. I am a believer. Click on link below.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss9ati-DKTQ&list=UUDZxqPVXrtCj1GwZeU0UoGg&index=13&feature=plcp

They are still around

One of the pleasant surprise stripers from yesterday

Yesterday I went on a scouting trip to see if any stripers were around since the big blow a couple days ago. I was afraid the stripers might have taken off getting flushed out of the bay by the high tides and rain.

I didn't expect to catch anything. If I caught one or two I would at least know that fish were still around and I still had an excuse to get out of my house. It turned out that I found a mother load. Believe it or not ended up with 16 schoolies. They were very small but I was extremely happy to catch a bunch of fish. I caught them all on a small bucktail jig. I never had to switch lures. I found between one and seven fish at a bunch of different places.

Today, I went back along with my friend Dave. The wind turned northeast and messed with fishing. However, we both caught a couple fish. We each got two stripers. I caught a couple hickory shad. Dave surprisingly got a couple snapper blues. Surprising that they are still around in November.

So I guess this means that if you were catching fish in back water areas, salt ponds, or salt rivers the fish are probably still there. Go give those spots a try again. It may be a little while before we all have access to the ocean again. Just because the ocean is not an option, don't give up on fishing. The season is almost over, get in your time now

Call this post " Failure" or "O for October"

As many of you know, I am trying to catch at least one carp every month this year. Well, that quest failed today. I did not catch any carp during the month. Many excuses start with " it wasn't for lack of trying" for me it was completely lack of effort.

I did not spend any time fishing for them until Oct 27. Then I only spent two hours due to two commitments for my son. Then tonight on Halloween I felt terrible that I didn't catch any, so I fished for four hours and all I could show for it were a couple bullhead. So that's it quest fail.

During the beginning of the month by all accounts carp fishing was awful. I wasn't fishing for them since I was spending every waking not working moment chasing stripers.Some days that I didn't have to work I was getting up at 6 am and fishing for them till well after dark.

During the second half of the month carp fishing was much better by all accounts. Again, I was chasing fish with stripes all month. I went fishing at least 22 days this month yet only twice for carp. I dropped the ball, but all I could think about were the schoolie stripers. Schoolie fishing has been great. I haven't been blanked in many outings, maybe a month. So I enjoyed catching them,now I regret not pulling myself away to get a carp.

So the streak ends at nine months.

The Streak Ending Culprit!!

Some pictures from New Hampshire

When we went to New Hampshire a couple weeks ago, we only had fun because we made the most of the cold wet weather. Still we saw some cool things (mostly rainbows). Here are some pictures.

 

Laurie eating an apple at the Robert Frost Farm





 

 



Apple at Robert Frost Farm





Rainbow over Mount Washington Hotel

My last Narragansett Overnight and tons of schoolies

Laurie's biggest

I haven't wrote anything for over a week. Usually when I don't write it means I didn't have anything worth while to write about. For a change I haven't wrote any posts because I have been to busy fishing. When I haven't been at work, I have been fishing. Usually I have been going fishing straight from work. It has been a fun week.

On Sunday it was to nice out too watch the Patriots game. So my friend Laurie and I went out to enjoy the fall weather. Somehow I easily convinced her to go fishing. We headed to Upper Narragansett Bay and fished within site of the Providence sky line. We tried a couple of spots. Within minutes we found a school of breaking fish. We started catching fish almost immediately. It was fun catching schoolies. They were not very big but they numerous. I was catching mine on shad bodies and zoom flukes on a jighead. Laurie was catching them on a homemade bucktail jig that I made. It was all white with a red collar and weighed 3/8 of an ounce. Believe it or not, we ended up catching fifty between us. It was cool watching Laurie catch over twenty stripers. Not only that but she also caught the biggest one.

Obviously, the next night  I went back. I ended up with 15. All were caught on bucktail. I learned something from the night before. To keep this short, fishing the Upper Bay I caught over 50 stripers  this week. None were very big. The biggest was maybe 23 inches. I used my light schoolie rodwith only ten pound test line so each fish felt like a good fight.

On Wednesday night I went to the ocean. I am really enjoying my  Narragansett overnights sleeping in the car. However, if my last trip didn't go as planned, this one was a complete shock. I went to Narragansett and the waves were huge from the hurricane in the Atlantic. I went to the East Wall to sleep and I was in such awe of the size of the waves that I watched them for 20 minutes first. I saw one set of waves not break on the wall, but actually roll over it. They were coming in at over 10 feet. It was unfishable, but it was an awesome sight.

I did decide that I'm not going to do any more surf fishing over nights this year. The nights are so long now. Since it gets dark at 6:30 I can get in a few hours of fishing and still be home before midnight. On the flip side, I could get up early and fish from first light throughout the day  and fish into the dark. There is no need to sleep uncomfortable in my car more so now since the nights are getting colder.

Yesterday after sleeping until 11 am I decided to try for the schoolies again. A guy I know named Tom was there. Dave showed up a few minutes later. Between the three of us, we hit a bunch of spots. We only caught six fish between us. So apparently, this spot has cooled off too. Although six fish in a spot is a disappointing number in a location that would have held 100 fish a week ago, I admit I enjoyed myself. It was a nice day. I hung with a couple good guys and I caught a couple fish. Honestly when I left, I felt like I had a good day and was" high on life". I guess thats what it is all about.

4 Blankets and a sleeping bag

I got up to New Hampshire for a couple days this week. Laurie and I went up one last time for the year to see the foliage. We went up on Wednesday morning and could have stayed till Friday, but the weather was not in our favor.

Wednesday morning we left around 9 am. We could have left earlier but we thought of a great plan to stop at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry on the way up. I checked the website and written in black and white, it was open until October 11. We went up on the tenth so this was good news to me. I have wanted to stop and see the farm for a couple years, but normally I'm leaving for NH either at an ungodly hour in the morning or after work. This was my first chance to go there and I was excited.

We pulled into the small dirt parking area about 10:30 and there was only one car in the lot. We got out and walked around the building and saw a CLOSED FOR THE SEASON SIGN. So we got back on the highway and headed to the mountains. Before we left we grabbed an apple off the apple tree and each of us took a bite. Maybe Frost himself planted the tree.

When we got to the mountains it was lovely out. It was about 45 degrees and rainy. The wind was blowing out of the northeast. Just the kind of weather that makes setting a tent up an adventure. After setting the tent up we drove around looking at the scenery. I thought about calling my friend Clay, but he was teaching school. Instead we went to Chutters and got candy and fudge. So we made some mac and cheese for supper, which was delicious. then we bundled up in the tent ( see name of post)

Next morning it was a balmy 36 degrees. Actually I'm being sarcastic but we knew in advance that it was going to be "brisk" The issue I had with Thursday morning was it was still rainy. The weather forecast was for a dry 55 degree day. That is something I could live with in mid October in New Hampshire. The drizzle was a disappointment. We still decided to drive around. We went down to Tripoli Road and Waterville Valley. It was pretty and we found some sunny areas.  We took a couple short walks.

Around 2:30 we decided it wasn't worth staying the extra night. The forecast for Friday morning was 35 and rainy. I did not want to take the tent down in that condition. It was Laurie's decision. She chose to go home.

So I had Friday to go fishing. I went to Narragansett. I didn't have a great morning. I caught a couple blues and a hickory shad. There were huge blitzes of blues off the avenues but they were way out. About 1 pm I decided I could do something more productive and headed home. Maybe the fishing picked up in the afternoon... I will never know

It didn't go as planned...

I went on another 30 hour fishing adventure from Thursday afternoon until Friday night. I got to the ocean about 2:30 pm on Thursday. I went to the East Wall where my friend Dave and I watched helplessly as False albacore were busting bait a quarter mile out. They never came in close. A few blues came in and Dave caught a couple I hooked two but missed them. I did manage to get my leader stuck between some rocks, not once, but twice. I lost my rigs both times. Luckily I only lost a fly and a zoom fluke. Nothing to expensive.

Night Fishing

I went to an outflow for some night fishing. Jeff and Dave were already there. Dave hooked a small fish but it came off. A few minutes later I hooked a giant seal and it broke me off almost instantly. Because the seal was around there were no other fish as it scared them all off.

At least that is what I wish happened. The truth is much more embarrassing. While I was at the wall, I realized my braid was low and in a long cast I could see my backing. So I went to a tackle shop to buy some. The tackle shop did not have any  to buy but they could put some on for me. I brought my reel in and the guy behind the counter spooled it for me. I paid for it and put my spool back on my reel and restrung my pole with a new leader.  I went to the outflow and fished. Dave did hook the small blue. A few minutes later I hooked a BIG fish. It snapped me off within seconds. My drag was to tight. The guy put it back on the reel and tightened it to tight. I should have checked it. I can't believe I forget to check it. I missed easily the largest fish of my year so far because of a careless mistake!!!

I went to sleep in my car for the night around 10 pm. I was exhausted. I got up about 5:45 am. I bought some breakfast and started another day of fishing on Friday morning.

I checked  a bunch of spots. I fished everywhere I went. I didn't just look for birds. I found fish in a couple spots but they were on tiny bay anchovies. I fished near Narragansett Pier. There was a huge school of bait. Every five minutes or so fish would drive into it. I casted into these schools fifty times. They I landed a few blues then a few small stripers. They were so picky it was almost impossible to get them to hit.



Then I got a phone call that huge bass were crashing the shoreline a couple miles away. I drove down and sure enough I saw a blitz of 15-30 pound stripers tearing into bait six inches from the shoreline. Ben Pickering had one about 30 pounds. I took some pictures for him then started fishing. Apparently, the fish were not fussy at the beginning of the blitz of the blitz, but once they filled up on one inch fish, they were also picky. Ben landed 2 more while I landed one. Ben's were one schoolie and one just keeper. I caught a schoolie.

After things died down, I went other places. I caught a couple more blues before dark. 



Lots of pretty colors, it would be cool if it
didn't hurt so much

So considering how long I fished I did not have near the quality of fishing I did the last three weeks. It would have been great if I would have landed the big one Thursday night or even one of the twenty pounders at my feet on Friday. Considering how meticulous I am about my gear, I can't believe I didn't check my drag. I also fell, cut up my knee and severely bruised my big toe.  I ended with six blues and 6 schoolies. I casted into fish almost all day so this is quite a disappointing number. Oh well, there is always next week

An all Nighter

I know I start many blog posts with " I had these two days off this week so I did, blah,blah blah" but it makes sense since most of my adventures are on my days off. I'm finding it harder and harder to justify long drives after work because I can only fish for a few hours. On days off I can fish all day or stay up late as I want. I have not figured out the risk vs. reward divided by four dollar gas equation yet, but I think you get the idea.

So having today and Saturday off I chose to fish last night. I had this crazy plan all week to fish Narragansett until I could barely stand, go find a spot to sleep in the car then wake up and fish during the day today. The only question was whether or not I would "lazy out"

My friend Laurie comes over every Thursday and we watch the NBC sitcoms until 10. So I left on my adventure at 10 pm. She offered to stay home, but only a bad friend would have blown her off to go fishing ( unless its a new moon then it is understandable).

 So I got to the ocean about 11:30. The waves were not too bad and happily there was a lot of cloud cover. I got my waders on and walked out to my chosen spot. Within minutes I hooked and landed a 33 inch striper. No matter what, I felt good about that. At least my adventure and half tank of gas would not be for naught. I fished for about three hours at this spot. I caught five keeper bass up to 36 inches. They were all caught on four inch shad bodies and 5 inch wildeyes.  I tried swimmers but with my eight foot rod and my vertical challenge I just did not feel I was getting the distance I needed to fish the plug effectively. So I concentrated on shorter casts towards structure. The strategy paid off.

At about two thirty I headed to the East Wall to sleep in my car in the fishermens parking lot. I laid my head down at 3 am. I slept on and off until 6:30. Some tool decided to pull in and park right next to my car. Mind you I was sleeping not facing the water in the back corner of the lot. I guess its good I got woken up but another hour of sleep would have been nice.

  When I woke, the waves were significantly larger.  I started fishing different spots, most of them were dirty. Even when I found clean water, I did not find any bait. I managed one snapper blue. I decided to fish a back estuary ( read; out of the big surf and wind) This paid off for me also, I found a school of hickory shad and caught them until my heart was content. They were a lot of fun. They are acrobatic leapers that put up a hell of a fight on a light rod. They are very aggressive and will devour a small jig that resembles a small baitfish. I was using a 1/4 ounce jig and 2 inch shads and 3 inch zoom flukes. Both were equally effective. As I am sure small grubs, wildeyes or bucktail jigs would work well. One guy was using a fly rod but could not reach the school that well and picked up a couple.

After catching my fill I drove home The waves were still building and I decided not to spend the rest of my day looking for clean water. . I tried to stay up but my bed was calling my name.

Never leave fish!

In my last post you saw that Jeff, myself and a bunch of other guys caught many keeper stripers Friday. At the bottom of the post I wrote " the fish were still biting when we left". I know that fish were hitting all night for various fishermen. Some of the stripers were over 40 inches. Some guys fished this spot in the wee hours of the night.  I am very happy for these guys. I don't get jealous, if anything, I root for other fishermen to do well.

When we left between Jeff and myself we caught four keepers up to 36 inches, a couple schoolies and one big bluefish. That would be a good night striper fishing. However... we did leave while they were biting. We were soaked and had been out all day and had an hour ride home.

The next night Jeff went back to the same location. Who can blame him? The fishing was great the night before ( and the night before that when we were not there) he certainly expected some good fishing. I could not go because I had to work Saturday and Sunday and was on call both days after work.  There were twice as many fishermen as Friday and only one fish was caught.

Sunday he went back again, Jeff was the only one there (again I was on call). He didn't get any that night. Jeff knows how to fish. There is no doubt in my mind if fish were there, he would have caught them.

The lesson is this... Don't leave fish. You never know if they will be there next time. We were wet but we had been wet for three hours. We had been out all day but whats another hour...

Don't leave fish especially big ones.