There is no question that I have a lot of interests. I love history, hiking, birding, fishing, sports, going to the movies, photography, and day tripping. I also like to snorkel in the summer, ice fish and snowshoe in the winter. I enjoy sporting events although I do not like paying the price of a ticket. So I mainly stick to Pawtucket Red Sox games, Wareham Gatemen (of the Cape Cod League) and Providence College basketball and hockey.
To make matters more complicated, as any fisherman can tell you, there are many types of fishing. A non fisher thinks fishing is fishing. However we all have our favorite species and methods. A guy with a bass boat may fish exclusively for largemouth and smallmouth. Some guys just chase the saltwater bass with seven lines. Some of those guys just use bait on the bottom, while others might be lure and eel fishermen I enjoy chasing trout, carp and stripers. Those are my main interests. However, I also fish for freshwater bass, albies, catfish, hickory shad at some point throughout the year.
The point of all of this is...I keep busy having fun. That said at some points throughout the year, it just feels like there isn't enough time to do everything I want to do. Two examples would be May and September.
As I state every year, I love May. Although my definition of May" is roughly April 20- May 25, that six week time period is so much fun. That said, it goes by so quickly and I feel there just isn't enough time to do everything I want to get done. If I go fishing, it is usually for my big three ( carp, stripers, and trout) However, when I go fishing after getting out of work for one of those species, if I find out another species of fish were really biting I feel like I missed out and made a bad decision. I also love birding in May since it is migration. Birding is better in the a.m. than in the afternoon, and I work mornings. So I give up a lot of fishing trips on my day off to go birding.
I know it sounds like I'm complaining but it is a good problem to have. Like having too many starting pitchers or two really good quarterbacks, having too many things to do isn't a bad thing. I just wish I had more time in the spring to do them.
As for September, it's really about albies for me. Birding is really good in September and the weather can be perfect in New Hampshire. However, if the albies show up, I'll probably blow off the birds. I'd like to get to Wachusett Mountain where hawks can be seen by the hundreds, but I know I'll probably be on the West Wall. I'll probably go to NH at least once, but I know it won't be the second week of the month when albies seem to peak.
Where am I going with this? Having too many fun hobbies and not enough time can be a problem during certain times of the year (as I said a good problem, but a problem none the less). But having a lot of hobbies is a blessing in other parts of the year specifically summer and winter. If you only have one outdoor pursuit, things can get really slow. For example if your a surf fisherman in Rhode Island, in most years fishing can suck for three months of the summer (not so this year). What do these guys do?
Yesterday, August 21, was one of those days that it worked out for me. My plan was to go back to Plum Island and bird. However I didn't check the weather. It was raining really hard when I got up. So I nixed those plans. Birding isn't very good in the rain. More importantly, although I don't mind the rain, my expensive equipment does.
So I thought about going carp fishing. I know a spot that fishes well in the rain. But the forecast called for clearing skies. I have never done well in that spot when the barometer is rising.
So I went with a plan C. Since it was going to be clear in the afternoon and tide was low about 6:30, I decided to go to Prudence Island and do some snorkeling. I took the 3:30 ferry over with my bike. I rode my bike over to a little cove on the northwest side of the island and snorkeled. The water was warm and it was fun to swim with the fish for three and a half hours. I did get bit by one crab and it hurt like hell, but I had a really good time.
The cove was loaded with little baitfish. I was surrounded by them. They kept nibbling on me. The real small ones felt like non-stop little tickles. The ones that went five or six inches felt like a soft pinch. It was no big deal, but it does startle you when you get bit behind the knee. Swimming with thousands of little fish was a really cool experience, even though I was "attacked". I found a few quahogs and basically relaxed in the water the whole time I was there.
I took the 8:30 ferry home. It was completely dark on the trip back. I enjoyed looking at the stars as we made the three mile trip back across the bay to Bristol. What started out as a wasted day, turned out to be one of my favorite days of the summer, all because I had a backup plan
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