Check out my Article in this months On the Water Magazine

In the March issue of On the Water I have an article about fishing for trout using a casting bubble and fly.  It is a tell all about best ways to fish it, and how to rig it.It is the first article I have wrote since 2004. You can pick up issues of On the Water at most tackle shops. It may possibly at Bass Pro Shops and Barnes and Noble also.

Bass Pro Shops Biggest Sale of the Year!!!

From February 24 until March 11 Bass Pro Shops has their " Fishing Classic". Not only is it a great sale, but they have seminars run by local pros, rod and reel trade in, and kids activities  during the event. For the purpose of this post, I will just be concentrating on the sale. First of, if you did not get a sale flier in the mail you can view one online.  Just click on  the store you live near and go to the flier. You might be interested in plenty of stuff that I'm not interested in. Look through it thoroughly, it is full of deals.

I have been going through my flier almost every night for two weeks now. I must have wrote down five or six lists of things I wanted. Then tried to drop my overall amount I was going to spend by realizing " do I really need that", or "how many zoom flukes will I really go through this summer."

Here are some of the things I bought that were on sale.

Trout Net    $5  How can you beat a five dollar net. It is not the highest quality, but I am sure to leave it on some riverbank long before it starts to fall apart. It is made of the nice soft cotton so it won't hurt the fish

Powerbait    is on sale from $3.99 to $2.97 also if you buy three you get a $4 rebate  ( to mail in) bringing the price to $1.64 each. That beats the hell out of the five bucks I paid at the tackle shop at the end of last year.

These are on sale for 3/ $4.47. Thats the least
I have ever seen trout leaders.

White River trout leaders:   These are the leaders I use anyway at the end of my fly line. There about the cheapest leaders I can find They are normally $3.19 each.  They are on sale for three packs  for $ 4.47. Less than a dollar-fifty each is over half off! I bought  four packs. I'm probably going to go back and buy so many that I won't have to worry about trout leaders for five years.

Line: All kinds of fishing line is on sale. Chances are whether you use mono or braid, fish fresh or saltwater, whatever you use is on sale. I bought 6# Trilene XL, 17# Trilene XT, and 12# and 20# Big Game.  I fish for a lot of species and use multiple reels so I need many line sizes. The  Big Game was a dollar off. However if you bought two you get a $5 rebate.

Rooster tails are on sale for $1.97. They are normally $2.99. At a dollar off I got 10. I bought three different sizes. I bought colors that I know work. These are such a good deal, when I found out how cheap they were, my original list had about 25 on it. I had to cut that back.

Zoom flukes:   Normally the original fluke is $ 2.99 a pack. All zoom products are 25% off. So the fluke is $2.25 a pack.  I use a lot of them so I bought 5 bags. Zoom makes great soft plastics. but I have everything else I need.

Bomber Square A : I f you haven't seen the price of bass lures lately you will have a bad case of sticker shock when you do. They have gone way up. When I saw these crankbaits at $2.49  ( 50% off) I picked two up even though I don't bass fish much any more. It was just to good to pass up.

There are plenty of great deals on all kinds of gear. Tackle boxes, hooks, weights clothes and boats are at the lowest price of the year. I did not need anything else that was on sale, except for the boat but that was out of the price range of my Christmas gift cards.

I also bought my float tube combo yesterday ( tube, pump, flippers). It was my plan all along. If I didn't use my gift cards yesterday on it, and just bought all the small stuff, I never would have bought it.  I also bought a reel. Its a larger freshwater reel made by bass pro. I'm going to use it saltwater fishing in Providence. Since fishing in Providence does not mean fishing in crashing surf conditions, it will be fine to use it for schoolies in the river.

My friend Jeff bought the reel he wanted. It is the Penn Battle. Although not on sale, the braid that he bought was. He knew he wanted this reel since Christmas. Like me with the float tube. It was time to get it before using his gift card on something else also.

One other possible big savings for those interested. There is a rod trade in going on from Feb 24-29 and a rod trade in from March 2-6. If you bring in an old rod/ reel to be donated to a kids fishing charity you get money towards another rod/reel. The more expensive the rod or reel you want the more money you will get off. I'll give you two examples. The BPS Powerstick is a great surf rod. I have the eight footer. It is normally $79 dollars. It is on sale for $59. But if yo donated a rod during the period of March2-6 you can get another ten dollars off. Seventy- nine dollar rod for $49.

The real prize that I want is the St. Croix Mojo Surf Rod. I started drooling over it the day I took Dave's off his truck for him once last year. It was so light I almost hugged it. Anyway that rod will never go on sale. The eight footer is $169! If I trade in one of my old rods, I can get $30 off. A $139 surf rod is a lot more excusable than $169 when you already have two at home. At least it is in my mind!!!

If you go, do some research and make a list of what you want.That way you won't go home disappointed that you forgot something. Have fun!!!

The February carp that made for a good story

I complained yesterday that I wasn't sure how much time I would have to go carp fishing before the end of the month. I really wanted to catch a carp before March 1.  Since I caught one in January, I want to keep a streak going. As of last night I had not caught one this month. I wanted to fish all day today and tomorrow. This time of year its a waiting game. You just hope a carp will hit. My game plan was just to fish until I finally caught one. Not much skill really, just patience.

Then I found out I might have to work both days. So I could not out wait carp, so I did the next best thing, I went to work earlier than normal, so I could get out earlier than normal.  I hit the water about 1:30 this afternoon. I pulled up to my spot and it was taken. I asked the guy at the spot if he caught any. I started setting up my gear at the next opening. The guy at the spot I was going to fish told me there was plenty of room to fish near him. I asked him if he was sure. He said no problem so I set up about 8 feet from his pole.  We introduced ourselves. My new fishing partner was a guy from Seekonk  named Manny.

My first ever February carp

After only a few minutes, Manny hooked a fish on worms. He was fishing for suckers.  This was a carp. I only had my bridge net with me. I left my carp net at home. The bridge net is not made for a scooping a fish from shallow water while you are standing on shore.  Manny slid the fish into the net, I started lifting the net out of the water and it turned over. The carp fell back into the water. Worse than that, the hook came out and the carp swam away. You can not imagine how bad I felt about that. I could make all the excuses I want, but the truth is the carp was in the net and I let it get out.  Manny took this well. He really wanted to catch a carp. I'm not sure if he ever caught one before, he said he had two on last year but they came off.

A little while later, I hooked a carp. It was good sized, maybe 10 pounds. It was short but very fat and already loaded with eggs. Manny landed it for me. He was even nice enough to take a picture for me. Talk about pouring salt on a wound. " Hey guy I just met, I know I just screwed you out a carp, but would you mind getting a picture of mine for me" He was cool and we talked about all kinds of fishing.

 After I let mine go I explained my whole goal for the day was to catch a carp in February. Now that I accomplished that, I told him if any of my rods went off again he could take that fish. He was still using worms on his rod. Although he hooked a carp on worms, using corn on my rods gave him a better chance of hooking one. Also I had heavier line, so the chances of landing it were better also.

Thirty minutes after this guy invited me to fish with him ( Manny)
I lost his carp on him while trying to net it.
I'm glad he hooked another and I got a chance to redeem myself

About a half hour later, one of my rods started getting bumps. A minute later the line took off. Manny set the hook and caught a carp. Although it was on my rod, it was completely his fish. He picked it up, set the hook and fought the fish to shore. I was much smoother with the net and did not fumble his fish back into the water. After a couple pictures he let it go. It was also full of eggs. We shook hands and he thanked me for letting him have that one. Its nice to fish with people that appriciate a good gesture, but I was just returning the favor for him letting me fish next to him.

I had to leave after that. I had gotten a phone call from work and had to take care of something. All in all, a great two hours fishing.

Tick, Tick, Tick

Winter is definitely in retreat. It is February 22 and today was sixty degrees in North Attleboro, MA. The next two days will also be 55 or above.  Ice is only stubbornly around in small shaded waterways. All ponds, lakes and rivers are ice free.  I'm hoping that after the next couple of warm days, the freshwater fish go from sulking in the depths to warming themselves in the sunny shallows. We have had an extremely mild winter. Most days were above forty degrees. We only had two snow storms. One was a freak storm in October, the other was only about 4 inches a month ago.  It was been a very nice winter to be outdoors ( unless you like to ice skate or ice fish).

Do not get me wrong, just because the winter was so warm, does not guarantee a warm spring. Last spring was freezing. I remember having 10 days with cold north winds  in late March early April. I was still catching trout in Massachusetts and Rhode Island into June. I learned a long time ago not to worry about or predict the weather. I can't change it, so I just go with it. I just fish for whatever I have the best chance of catching. This I know, whether a cold spring or a warm one, spring is almost on us and fish patterns will be changing real soon.

One of my Janauary carp, will I get one in February?

This leads me to a couple of goals of mine I had this winter that I may not achieve. The first has to do with carp fishing. Since I caught a carp in January, easily the hardest month to catch one, I want to keep a streak going and see how many months in a row I can catch one. Well I only have a week left in February and so far... nothing. I've only gotten to go carp fishing twice and both times for only about an hour. On days I work it is much easier to go striper fishing after dark than it is to make time to carp fish during daylight hours.  I planned on having the next two days off from work. With both days predicted to be over 50 degrees, my confidence was high .I planned on fishing sun up till sundown if need be, to catch one. Then I got thrown a curve ball. The person that covers my days off from work is extremely ill. So with her in and out of the hospital, I'm not sure how much free time I will have the next two days. Hopefully I will get lucky and catch one, but I will not have as much time to fish as I had planned. This year being a leap year, may be just what I need to catch one. I will keep you posted.

The other goals has to do with the wintering stripers in the Providence River.  Since December 1 which is my unofficial beginning to winter time stripers I have caught a total of 48 stripers. I would really love to catch fifty. Unfortunately, I have been stuck on 48 for some time now. I guess you could say my " unofficial " end date for wintertime stripers would be March 31. So I have plenty of time. However, with the warming weather, the fish that were in the river may have moved into the bay. It's possible they might not come back at all. The more times in a row I get blanked, the less likely I will want to  fish for them.

Of the forty-eight I have caught  this winter, I have caught 39 since January first. If I can manage to get those two more, my next goal will be to reach fifty for the first three months of the year.  Again it depends on the fish. Also another problem, my goal is to catch fifty over wintering stripers. When the fresh ones arrive in the spring  whether before or after my unofficial end date of March 31, then winter striper fishing is over.

Keep in mind none of these goals were any of my beginning of the year goals. Things change though, since I caught  48 stripers of course I want to catch the nice round number of fifty. After catching a carp in January, of course I want to catch one in February. Its just the competitive nature of the beast.

The Age of Aquarium

After weeks of planning, we went to the New England Aquarium today. This is school vacation week so Amber and DJ both have the week off. Laurie has Sundays off  this was my weekend off from work. We have been looking forward to this day since before Christmas. Unfortunately so was every other person that lives in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

We took the red line in from Quincy Adams and got off at South Station.  We could have transfered  to the orange line, then transfer again to the blue line and get dropped off at the aquarium. However it is just a ten minute walk up Atlantic Ave. So we figured we'd walk instead of dealing with the hassle of train transfers.

When we turned the corner from Atlantic Ave to the aquarium, we could not believe how many people we saw. There was a line extending sixty yards from a big circus tent.  We got into line. Once inside the much warming, wind blocking tent, there were about fifteen switchbacks beore getting to the ticket booth. We stood in line for about ( pause for dramatic affect ) NINETY MINUTES!!!  When we finally got in, our feet were already starting to hurt.

As you can imagine by how long it took to get in, the place was packed. All of the smaller exhibits were three or four people deep with people looking at them. The big tank in the middle wasn't so bad. We watched the big fish swim by  from many different view points. 

The highlight of the day was without question the ray tank where you can pet sting rays and sharks.  It was tough getting near the tank with so many people. Basically we figured out to get behind a group and when they left to get in. We went to the ray tank twice. Both times for about 5-10 minutes. I could have stayed there all day petting rays, but out of curtousy, we had to give others a chance. We did not go to any shows or feedings. A half hour before any scheduled feeding or show, the area around that exhibit was already crowded.

So all in all, the day was okay. There was just to many people. We got passes from the library so it cost us ten dollars a person to get in.  Regular price for an adult is $22.95.  I enjoyed petting the rays and seeing hundred pound tarpon swim by. The kids  made the best of it, they seemed to really have a good time.I'm glad I went because it was the first time in about ten years, but I should have known better and gone on a weekday not during school vacation!

Falling for Stripers

I went striper fishing tonight in Providence. Tide was good, wind direction was very good , we got some rain and it was warm out. I hoped for a good night. I learned a while ago, never to expect action winter fishing or you set yourself up for disappointment.  Its okay to hope though, you must stay positive.

I caught two stripers. One nice schoolie about 24 inches. The other was a little more pedestrian at about 15 inches.  The most memorable part of the night was the nice spill I took climbing back up some rocks. I fell flat on my side.  At first my ankle and knee hurt, but after a minute, I was okay. I kept fishing, I figured if I was bleeding, I'd take care of it when I got home (no blood just a couple scrapes and a skinned knee) .

As I get older I noticed I don't heal nearly as quickly as I used to. To make up for this, I have added a thicker layer of padding through the years to protect my insides. Buffalo chicken and pizza potentially saved me tonight from internal bleeding.

Two stripers and walking away from a fall with nothing more than a little skinned knee = a good night

All hail pizza!!!

Rambling on

Pre script: If you read this, it is basically a journal entry. I make no claims that I tried in anyway to present myself as a good writer. It jumps around a lot and is basically me trying to organize some of my thoughts.

    I realized tonight that over the past year, I learned a lot about fishing. It may sound strange to say that. I have been fishing for 34 years now. Of course there is always something to learn. I don't mean that " I think I know everything, theres nothing you can teach me" Quite the opposite, I always want to learn a new lure, spot or technique  I did realize that over the last year, I learned more than I have in most other years. You have to realize that I love to learn about fishing. I spend many winters reading new and old magazines, books and internet sites. I for all intensive purposes am a fishing nerd. I ask way to many questions and spend to much time lying in bed thinking about fish.

So it kind of surprised me tonight when I realized that this past year I learned a lot of new things, more than most other years. I'm not going to sit here and write everything I was taught, figured out, or got lucky enough to do. The title is called rambling on, but come on, that would be ridiculous.

I have often wondered why I enjoy trout fishing so much. I keep telling myself all the reasons I shouldn't like it. Most of the places I go trout are stocked not wild. They are no where as big as the stripers, blues and carp I catch. Compared to similar size smallmouth bass they don't fight nearly as hard. Yet I keep fishing for them. I spend a lot time asking myself, Why? I gave up some striper nights last year to fish until complete darkness catching rainbows in a fly fishing only pond.

Every time I think I have an answer to why? I easily contradict it. I love to cast my fly rod. Okay, but I caught only 1/3 of my trout on the fly rod. I still chose to fish for trout other ways so that's not it. I can fish for trout close to home, okay why am I planning a trip to the Connecticut lakes 5 hours away? A lot of places I trout fish are pretty natural settings, yeah but not all of them. Trout are pretty, but so are other fish. I think all of those contradictions added up and this one fact is why I love fishing for them : I have only been fishing for trout a few years so its still new to me.

For me, when I started fishing for trout a few years ago. There was a whole void in fishing knowledge that I could fill. There were ways to catch them I never used on other fish.  Also I got to learn about flies and the real insects they represent. I learned the life cycle of insects. The movements of trout throughout a river or lake. How they react to different weather conditions. I believe that my wanting to learn and adjust is the reason I almost always outfish other guys( with way more experience) on the shoreline. I don't always catch more but I would place the bets on myself in a tournament. So after spending so much time wondering why I enjoy trout fishing so much, thats what I came up with. Its still new to me and I still have a lot to learn.

I learned a lot of new places to fish this year. I can't say, I am a great fisherman at these spots. I learned where a few spots are and maybe what tide or weather they fish well. Dave showed me a spot in Narragansett that fishes well at high tide after dark in November. Apparently this is no secret. Many guys were there and they were catching. However it was new to me. I caught a few fish there, but I still don't know the best wind.  I caught trout in about 10 different lakes I had previously never caught one. I caught a few in rivers, something I had never done before. I am no expert on river fishing. I barely know what I'm doing. Yet, I now have the confidence that if I start fishing a river, I will figure it out. Before my first few trout, I was wide eyed and intimidated by the easiest rivers to fish.

I learned a few ways to catch fish this year that I previously never had. I caught a striper on a homemade deceiver. That was fun. I used spoons to catch a lot of trout. I figured out when to use them and when to leave them in the box.  I've caught more stripers this winter than in the past. I know the tide and way more importantly the weather pattern to fish for them. I will say this not everything I learned was trial and error. I got a lot of helpful advice from good friends.I was all smiles when Clay brought me to the little trout pond. I caught about ten little wild trout. It was as much fun as I had all year. Even tonight as I'm writing this, I got a tip about where the stripers are right now. One thing I learned was that a corn called pesciviva works awesome for carp. How did I learn this? I was the one not using it watching one carp after another get caught while I watched.

Rock bass

Because of my constant goals I keep giving myself, I want to catch new species of fish ( yes Dave K and Clay this is inspired by you guys). I now want to catch things that I never even thought of. I am not going to " quest to catch every fish in MA". However I found out redfin pickerel live in Ponkapoag Pond in Canton. I learned that red breasted sunfish live in Sudbury Reservoir in Marlboro and rock bass are in Clinton and Sterling, MA. I also found out longear sunfish live in Lake Archer, only 15 minutes from my house, however all the shoreline is privately owned so I can't fish there. For whatever reason, I will get more satisfaction catching a little eight inch pickerel and a 6 inch red breasted sunfish than I would a five pound bass. So this spring, I plan on taking trips to those places to fish for sunfish and a pickerel that grows to about eight inches. I am really hoping to get to Center Harbor and fish for rock bass and to Sunken Meadow Cove to fish for giant white perch. Why?  Why will I drive 2 1/2 hours to fish for rock bass? a little fish shaped between a sunfish and a smallmouth bass, but only about eight inches? Because its different and doable.

I can't fish for peacock bass in the Everglades and have very little interest in leaving this great country even to vacation, but I can go catch a pretty little red breasted sunfish.


So, with what I have learned over the past year, I am well prepared for 2012. I think its going to be a great year for fishing. I plan on catching a bunch of trout and stripers. I want to catch my biggest carp.I am going back to the Chu for lake trout. I hope to get to New Hampshire a lot. Lastly, I hope to catch some wild trout, rock bass, redfin pickerel, and red breasted sunfish. Why?... just because I haven't

Lead free Jigs

In case you didn't know it, if you live in Massachusetts, jigs and sinkers under one ounce are now prohibited in all freshwater. The ban took place on January first.  The purpose of banning lead is to  protect waterfowl including ducks and loons.

I have been using ultra steel sinkers for years. They are readily available. I have seen them at Kmart and Bass Pro Shops. I think the cheapest place to buy them is Cabelas. You can buy the sinkers by the 24 pack there.  The 1/4 ounce sinkers are $4.99 a pack they go up to one ounce and cost $ 12.99 for a pack that size. I use tin split shot which is also not that expensive.

The problem I found is buying non lead jigs.  I can't find anywhere in MA that sells them. I use a lot of small jigs for catching panfish with shad bodies.  I wish I knew about the ban a few weeks earlier than I found out about it. In December, I stocked up on a lot of gear as I always do. Sort of a Christmas present to myself. I hate buying gear during the season. I buy it in the winter, enough to last me throughout the year. Unfortunately, I bought a lot lead jigs. Now the only time I can legally use them is in saltwater or fishing in RI. I hardly fish in Rhode Island  for largemouth bass and panfish so I will have them for years to come.

This left me finding  a lead alternative. I looked online and found a site called www.greentackle.com 
They sell environmentally friendly jigs. However they are not cheap. Keep in mind I can buy Bass Pro brand 1/8 oz.lead jigs for $3.49 The one-eighth ounce non lead is $9.38 for the same amount.  I didn't think I had a choice so I bought what I thought I needed to get me through the year. I bought three sizes and had to pay six dollars shipping. I bought 75 jigs. After shipping total cost was $35!!!

I went to the fishing expo in Worcester this weekend. I was not on the lookout for non lead jigs. I already spent enough on them. However I did run across some. Another small company was at the show www.timmytoms.com  I looked at their jigs. They were cheaper than I paid at green tackle. They were selling ten packs of jigs for $2.42.  Twenty five jigs would be about six bucks. Not to bad. So I bought a few and took a flier.  Their shipping isn't to bad. If you spend 15- 29.99 shipping is four bucks. It is cheaper and more expensive depending on how much or little you spend.

I thought I'd write this post to make life easier for those of you looking for non lead jigs. It was kind of a pain finding some. If you know of a place cheaper than timmytoms please let me know. If they are the cheapest out there, I hope I saved you some money.

The Price of Success

You know the credit card commercials that end in the word" priceless"? Its usually about making a memory like seeing your kids face on Christmas morning or seeing a sunset at Key West. The point of the commercial is you can't put a price on the memory.

The $201 Lake trout

I beg to differ. As you all know I spent a lot of time going to Wachusetts Reservoir this year searching for lake trout. I finally caught one on my last trip there on November 12. It was the first and so far only lake trout of my life. I would like to tell you that finally catching a " togue" after all those attempts was priceless. However after thinking about it lying in bed a couple nights ago I figured out exactly how much that memory cost me.

I went to Wachusetts five times this year searching for the elusive trout and once last year.  So that's six trips. According to mapquest it is 50 miles from my house  to the southern part of the lake ( the closest point to the highway). I do not know the exact distance around the lake but it has 37 miles of shoreline. I think its safe to say its around 40 road miles around the lake. I did that each of my six trips. So each time I went to Wachusetts I drove roughly 140 miles, if not slightly more.I get about 22 miles/ gallon of gas. Also to keep things simple, lets say gas averaged $3.50 a gallon for all my trips combined. Again, I think I'm low balling, but I don't want to exaggerate either.

I stopped at the bait shop each trip. I knew my best chances of landing a laker were with bait. I would buy worms, small shiners, and medium shiners. Sometimes I'd get a dozen of each size, other times just six of each. To make things round and easy, I averaged about $10 a pop every time I walked into the bait store. Also I put braid on one of my carp rods so I would get better casting distance to fish deeper water. This paid off because its the rod I caught the trout on.

Although I brought lunch with me and stopped at the Cumberland Farms a couple times for drinks and candy, I will not count that as adding to the expense.. I have to eat anyway whether fishing or home. I will count the stop at Dunkin Donuts with Jeff. I work at a donut shop, so I get free coffee, hot chocolate and donuts five days a week. Also, I stay out of donut shops on my day off because I try not to think about work when I'm not working. However, we were cold and hungry, so I stopped. I bought a muffin and hot chocolate. I don't know the cost maybe $4?

Six times to " the Chu"  times 140/round trip=  840 miles

840 miles / 22 mpg= 38 gallons x 3.50 gallon= $133

$133- 10dollars ( the time Jeff went he chipped in on gas) = $123

$123 + 60 at the bait store= $183 + 4 ( Dunkin Donuts) + $ 14 for braided line=   Final answer of $201

There it is. Two hundred dollars, one fish. I kept and ate it. It was 19 inches long. To be fair there were some good size fillets, so I might have gotten a full pound of meat. So I can say I paid two hundred dollars a pound for fish. I wouldn't pay that for Kobe beef!!!!!!!

Now truthfully the question becomes, was it worth it? The answer to that is simply this: I wouldn't have gone and tried a fifth time after getting shut out the forth if it wasn't important to me. I'm not upset I spent so much time and money chasing one fish. I'm just having a little fun looking back. We both know ( the reader and the author) that I'm going to do it again next year. Hopefully with the knowledge I've gained I will be more successful.

However for fun I was thinking of things I could have spent $200 on that would have been either better use of my time or more fun. Here is what I came up with

50 pounds of steak tips when they are on sale at Stop and Shop                     =200

lobsters on sale ( I will never pay full price) 6.99 pound  Roughly 25 that weigh 1.25 pounds     =200

Two weekend trips to New Hampshire and an overnight to Myles Standish State Park               =200

Eight trips to Narragansett( the same distance as Wachusetts without buying  bait    =200

Daytrips to Aquarium, MFA, Concord, MA, Franklin Park Zoo, Battleship Cove, Roger Williams Zoo combined= 200

The two big things on my want list, a 9 foot carp rod and a float tube                   = 200

Two cheap seat tickets to Kenny Chesney, parking,food and alcohol                       =200

Your getting the idea. Maybe I'll get a laker my first trip up to the Chu in April. That would almost cut my expenses in half to $ 100 per fish......Sounds better already            

Not much around right now

I have been fishing pretty hard the last few days with nothing to show for it. I've been to Olney Pond in Lincoln Woods. I fished for trout on Saturday and Monday. I had one hit total. I do know at least three trout were caught on Saturday including a 17 inch rainbow on a Kastmaster spoon.That is the only good news I have to share

Striper fishing has cooled off. After great fishing 10 days ago, my friend Dave and I have been both skunked five times in a row. The other way to tell  theres no fish around is that we are the only two nuts still fishing. For the last week, I have either fished alone or with Dave. When fish are around there is a core group of about 10 guys that fish the upper bay regularly.

I have Thursday and Friday off this week.  Friday, I will be at the fishing expo all day. I may give carp a try on Thursday. However, I think the smart thing to do would be to sit where I am right now ( my computer chair) and do my taxes.

My new surf bag

The bag that I have taken saltwater fishing with me the last couple years isn't really a surf bag. It was really a small over the shoulder cooler for the beach. I prefer fishing "light" carrying everything I need but as little as possible. The problem with this bag is/was the top was small so it was tough to get stuff in and out of. Taking out baggies full of small plastic was a pain in the bum. So I decided I needed a new surf bag. Because surf bags by definition are used in saltwater, they take a beating. The cheap ones ( cheap being a relative term) are about $30 bags go up in price from their. Aquaskinz, a high end but well respected manufacturer sells their bag for $ 250 ( not a typo and no decimal point). I obviously could not spend that money on a bag. I am also afraid the cheaper bags will corrode in a couple years.

Also, I don't want to be the fishing snob with a $250 bag. Many of those guys don't know how to fish anyway. They think because they own expensive gear they are somehow in a special club. One thing I have learned, expensive gear does not catch you more fish. Time and knowledge do. Besides, its a bag not a reel with a nice drag to help land big fish. A surf bag is nothing more than a box to hold gear. Two hundred dollars... really!

So what to do? I found out about some great surf bags. These bad boys don't rust or corrode. If anything breaks, they are very easily fixable yourself. You do not need to throw it away. It will not tear or rip. It has a nice wide mouth on top for easy access to your gear. It is made with an adjustable shoulder strap.  Also they can be made with as many or as few compartments as you want. Totally customizable!!!!

The most amazing part of this bag is the price. With all the great features ( see them all below) you would expect to pay top dollar for a bag like this. Keep in mind most of the cheaper bags are in the forty dollar range. This bag cost me a grand total of about six bucks. That's right $ 6.00

Here are some pictures to show you some of the great features of the bag.  Look at all the pictures of the features before you check out the brand name in the bottom two pictures.

Adjustable shoulder strap. Only some companies actually make them adjustable.

Completely waterproof top. Most bags are canvas and water will get in.

Aluminum rivets and bolts. No more rust for me.

Outside compartment for easy access to flashlight and pliers

Instead of zippers, Velcro is used so no more zippers that won't zip.

Big wide mouth with easy access and plenty of room for all my gear

If you want one this is the brand

Yup, my new surf bag is homemade from a kitty litter box. How awesome is that!!!