Sea Bass and Sea Tow

Never in my years of blogging has a post been easier to name. My day started out catching black sea bass in Buzzards Bay but for the majority of the day my view was of the back of a Sea Tow boat.


I took off three consecutive days the week in exchange for working three consecutive weekends. The result, two days birding and shad fishing in Newburyport, and one day on my friend Eric's boat to catch black sea bass.

The day started off quite well, We made a long run from the put in, in Dartmouth to the upper bay. We spotted some birds diving and saw a couple of breaking fish. It was fun to see, so it wasn't a big deal that we didn't hook up.

Eric bought this boat over the winter. It is a 22 footer, that is tailor made for fishing. It was a smooth ride to the fishing grounds. The motor was quiet. It handled the waves so much easier than his 19 foot

boat he used to have.

We started jigging as soon as we reached our destination. Eric was using bucktail's tipped with squid. I was using a much lighter bucktail with a curly tail. We started catching very quickly. It wasn't nonstop action, but every couple minutes one of us would be on. The main take away was that there didn't seem to be as many fish, but they were bigger than last year. Keep in mind, we only fished for about 90 minutes, so we probably would have found huge schools sooner rather than later.

About 30 minutes in, the motor shut off. Eric tried to turn it on but it wouldn't start. After another 30 minutes to let it cool, he tried again, but to no avail. So he called Sea Tow. We kept fishing while they came to get us. We landed a few more fish. All told, we probably caught about 20 fish. We didn't keep any under 16 1/2 inches. Legal size is fifteen, but we only kept big males. We ended up keeping

seven total.

Sea Tow arrived very quickly. The Captain tossed us a line and pulled us the thirty or so miles back to our port. It took 3 1/2 hours. Thankfully Eric is a Sea Tow member (it is basically AAA for boat owners). The membership is $170 for the year. Today's tow would have cost (sit down for this) $1750 dollars! They charge $350/hour including the their travel time for nonmembers. Since today's tow was free, it basically paid for the next ten years of membership.

After we got back to the marina, we drove the boat to Eric's boat doctor and dropped it off. Hopefully the problem is an easy fix and not too expensive. All in all, today could have been better. But what are you gonna do? Things break. Being towed at 8 mph was still more relaxing than being at work.

 

As you can imagine, we had a lot of time on our hands, so we had a lot of fun with the camera.

If there is one thing you should take away from this post, if you own a boat, investing in Sea Tow is well worth it!!!

Plum Island Overnight- Birds and Shad

The Marsh Wren that I watched make
a nest last week was defending it today

This is the second year in a row that I did an overnight trip the week of May 25 to Plum Island. I stayed at Salisbury Beach Campground ($33/night). Although I came home exhausted from being on the go from before dawn until after dark, I had a great time.

I left home at 4:50 Wednesday morning reaching the island before 6:30. Things were quiet at first until the fog started to burn off, then the birds came out to play! I saw a total of 68 species in my two days. Like my trip last week, I did not try to break any numbers records. If I found birds, I stayed with them. I didn't go looking for other species. When  the birding in one spot slowed down, I'd move to another trail.

I spent most of Wednesday morning in the Hellcat area. I walked up and down the road many times.I did the trails multiple times also. There were so many birds, I just stayed in that area for about three hours.

From there I went to the Pines Trail. Apparently, a Summer Tanager had been spotted there earlier. I didn't see it, but one guy did while I was there. I did see many more warblers.

After a late lunch, I birded the Mill Pond Rec Area. I saw an Indigo Bunting there last year. I didn't see one there this year, but did enjoy my short walk. I didn't get any "new birds"for the day but saw a Bobolink, Great Crested Flycatcher and Red Bellied Woodpecker.

Form there I went shad fishing in the Merrimack River. It was a bright sunny day, so I thought my chances of getting even one were slim. Luckily for me, the minute the tide started to drop, I hooked a fish. In the next ninety minutes I had six more hits. I landed four shad to about four pounds. I caught them all on a lime green shad dart. About ninety minutes down the fishing started to slow.  More text below fish pictures

I was going to set up my campsite (it was about 6 pm) but I knew I'd get bored. So I decided to go back to Plum for an hour. The only real highlight I got was a Glossy Ibis flying over. I went back to my site and set up my tent and ate very quickly before dark.

I got up at 5:30 and packed my tent. I went back to Parker River about 6:15. The morning was bright. My first stop were the S curves. It was loaded with birds. In a half hour, I saw almost every single warbler I saw Wednesday morning. I also added a Nashville Warbler. I ended up birding the S curves, Pines Trail, and Hellcat until noon time. Birding really slowed down and I was pooped so I stopped at Subway for lunch and went home

All told, I saw 68 species. Like I said, I wasn't making it a contest. I didn't go to Sandy Point to see

Black Throated Green Warbler

the Piping Plovers that I saw last week. I really wanted to see woods birds like warblers. I saw 14 species of warblers. They were (* means it was a First of the Year Bird) Yellow, Yellow Rump, Common Yellowthroat, hundreds of American Redstarts, Black and White, Northern Parula, *Magnolia, *Canada, *Blackburnian, *Black Throated Green, *Chestnut Sided, *many Bay Breasted, *female Blackpoll, *Nashville.  This is by far the most species I have seen of warblers in a day.

On top of eight of the warblers being first of the year, I also had seven other first of the year birds (Orchard Oriole, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Wood Pewee, Short Billed Dowitcher, Pheasant near my campground, White Crowned Sparrow, and Hummingbird).

My trip got me 15 new species of the year, bringing my total to 174. I'm glad I saw so many species, but it is just so cool to look up in the trees and see all the color. Going to Plum Island and birding is so much easier than birding in Rhode Island. Plum is one of the best birding spots in the country. No where in RI can match it. I suspect all the species I saw at Plum have been seen by the best birders in RI. The difference is in Rhode Island, you might get one or two of those species in a morning of birding. Go birding enough days and those numbers add up. However, so many species migrate through Plum Island in May with all the different habitat, birding is so much easier. I had a blast. Can't wait for nest year!

Oriole

Singing Yellow Warbler

Catbird using my car as a perch

There are a lot of turkeys on the island 

Sunset was brilliant over the marsh

 

Changing stripes

A tiger can't change its stripes. However as a fisherman that has been chasing fish that have seven black stripes, today I decided to go after the fish with one pink stripe.

I don't remember the last time I went trout fishing. I bet it has been a month. Every night that I went fishing the last few weeks, I've fished for stripers. My daytrips on my day off usually resulted in me going birding during the morning and fishing for stripers during the evening.

Today, for no particular reason, I went to the fly fishing only pond. Normally I spend many  a spring night there. Not this year, I went three nights in a row in April, and that has been it. I arrived at the pond late because I was reading the last thirty pages of a book, and couldn't force myself to put it down. I was in the water at 7:10. This, it turned out, gave me ninety minutes to fish.

The water was dead still. I was very surprised that there wasn't much bug activity on the water. Up until the last fifteen minutes, I barely saw a splash. Because there wasn't many feeding fish, I blind casted my beadhead hare's ear.

By no means did I kill 'em tonight. I landed two and had two others on. The big story was how annoying the sunfish were. The sunfish are in pre-spawn and the females are loaded with eggs. I don't know how many I caught but it was ridiculous. I tried to avoid them by stripping my fly as fast as I could, but it was no use. Any slight pause and I was pulling in a six inch bluegill.

Since trout fishing is usually over by the end of the first week of June, I'm going to try to get in another night or two if I can pull myself away from stripers again!

Changing Tactics Results in more Stripers

I went striper fishing three times this week. Tuesday I already wrote about. However, the stripers were around in decent numbers this week but I used tactics that I haven't used all spring to catch them.

Wednesday my friend Dave and I fished Narragansett. We didn't have any luck in one spot so we drove to another about 7 pm. We fished an outflow to a small tidal pond. There were a couple other guys there. We arrived about the time the sun was behind the trees. Almost immediately I caught a small schoolie on an old stand-by, the Jumpin' Minnow.

The other guys were using slug-gos and the Jumpin Minnow. They got a few fish. I didn't get anymore hits on the Rebel, so I switched lures. I didn't have any big Slug-gos in my bag and the wind was in our face. My small light 7 inch soft plastic wasn't even an option. I figured since the fish seemed to be near the surface, I'd try a swimmer just below the surface. I put on a Jointed Redfin. That did the trick for me. I landed a few more fish and had multiple other hits. Fishing wasn't lights out, but trying something different made my night productive.

I went back to the ocean on Friday evening after a day of birding. Like Wednesday, almost immediately I landed a fish. I was fishing the surf in a shallow rocky area. I used a float with a three foot leader. The business end was one of those light 7 inch Slug-gos. I thought I was in for a big night.

Then after I landed the first fish, I missed four more in ten minutes. They would swirl or pull the tail, but I couldn't hook up. I thought "the hell with this". I left the float on, but replaced the soft plastic with a bucktail jig. That did the trick. First cast with the bucktail landed a schoolie. For the next two hours I caught a bunch of fish. I ended up with twelve. Near dark, I tried a popper hoping for a bigger fish. I did land my biggest fish of the night on it, but missed multiple fish as I did with the soft plastic.

Because I was not afraid to "try something different" I had two productive nights that could have been frustrating. These lessons were something I will try to use the next time I'm scratching to catch a fish or two.

Plum Island Highlights

Towhee

    I went to Plum Island today to do some birding. I'll keep this short so not to bore my fishing buddies. I left home at 6 am and got back at 4 pm. I saw 46 species for the day. This number is a little low.However, I saw nine species new for the year. Least Tern, Common Tern, Magnolia Warbler, Bobolink, Purple Martin, Willet, Least Sandpiper, Brown Thrasher and Marsh Wren.  For reasons I don't know, I didn't see some very common birds including any hawks, great blue heron, or nuthatches. There are many other ones I didn't see.

I wasn't really trying to see how many species I could see anyway. I went up just for a relaxing day outside. If I saw a "good" bird, I watched it for a while. An example, I watched a Marsh Wren build a nest for almost a half hour. If I was trying to see as many species as I could I would have looked at it for ten seconds then moved on.

I'm going back up to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge next week from Wednesday to Friday. I am really looking forward to getting early starts an not feeling rushed. I'm also going to do some shad fishing.

American Redstart

Female Common Yellowthroat

Piper Plover

Marsh Wren

Purple Finch

Yellow Warbler

Least Terns

Catbird

Common Terns

Still Learning

Third Cast

There is a place in Narragansett I have been fishing for almost fifteen years. It is one of the first places I learned to surfcast. I used eels there often. I was a baker, when I would get out of work around 1 am, I'd drive down and fish until after dawn. I did extremely well there in the old days. I would almost always get at least one keeper.

The spot is a low tide spot. After spending enough time there, I realized, the best fishing occurred from one hour after low until two hours after low tide. Much after that, the water level would be too high and the spot would become dangerous.

I have only fished this area a couple times a year since my services as a baker were no longer needed. I have switched to lures instead of eels. I also let go my fish now, where as before, they were actually keepers.

When I fished this spot, I would always go out to the same rock .I would fan cast for hours. I might move to a new rock if I didn't get anything for an hour. Occasionally it would be rough, so I couldn't get to the spot I wanted, but I would fish as close to it as I could.

As anyone who visits the ocean knows, the shoreline isn't all sandy beach. It's not all rocky either. You might have a mile of beach followed by miles of rocky coast. Some of the shoreline might be bowling ball sized rocks like  Point Judith. Others might be great cliff slabs like Beavertail.

Today, I fished within ten yards of my old productive spot. It was completely different water! First off, where I fished is a good high tide spot. Secondly, I used to fish exclusively at night in the summer. This spot is a good day time producer in the spring. Lastly, where as I used to fish into fairly shallow sandy water, the spot only thirty yards away, is pretty deep with a lot of rocky structure.

I went to the spot on the advice of one of my friends. I had to go to Narragansett tonight anyway for a Surfcaster's meeting. High tide was at 6 pm. I got out of work late, so by the time I got there it was 5:45. Conditions were absolutely perfect. Cloudy, just a little rough, nice breeze. The water was clean. I couldn't have asked for better. On my third cast, I landed a 25 inch fish. Then a couple more about the same size.

Since my meeting started at 7 pm, I only had less than an hour to fish. I picked up four in that hour. I wish I could have stayed all night.

However, it wasn't the number of fish that got me thinking. It was the productivity of a spot I fished, and never even thought about. On my walk to my old spot, I never gave this spot a second look. On nights that I got a goose egg, I never even made a cast into that beautiful fishy water. How  many big fish were right there looking for my eel? How many schoolies were chasing small bait on nights I was a thirty second walk away, and my back was turned to them as I was making my way to the car?

I think it's time I put a little more time into exploring some fishy looking spots. I've already said, I'm going to commit to more night time fishing this summer. You can bet, this spot will be one of those places.

Picking them off one at a time

   I have been striper fishing a few nights a week since April. Early on, I was having great success
with good numbers of fish. Over the last couple weeks my tally has decreased dramatically. I have been fishing multiple locations in Narragansett Bay. No matter where I fish, I seem to land between 0-3 fish.

In what is the prime month of the early half of the year, I can't complain. Most nights are finding me getting at least a couple of hits. I got a goose egg two nights in a row in Warwick last week. However, one of those nights I had multiple hits but no hook ups on a popper.

Tonight, I landed one fish, a decent schoolie on a Zoom Fluke. My friend Dave was fishing on top and had a few hits and landed two fish. I am not sure if the ocean is better right now. Maybe there are big numbers in the bay, but I'm not fishing the right places.

The truth is, I have no problem getting a couple of stripers an evening. I might go explore other spots but if I keep getting a few a night, I'm content. The places I have been fishing are very close to home. It is nice to be back at the house twenty minutes after I pack my gear in my car.

It is true, if I go trout fishing, I'd probably catch more fish than I have been. If I went carp fishing, if I land one, it would probably weigh more than the schoolies I'm getting. However, I have been enjoying my striper evenings. Even though my last two outings were skunkings, while I was at work today, I thought about striper fishing a lot. That is how I know, I'm still enjoying it.

I Broke My Year Record For Birds Today!

Mourning Dove from today

One of my goals this year was to break my record for number of bird species for a year. My record
came from last year. I saw 143 species.

 Not only did I want to see more than 143 species of birds, but I am also counting how many species I am seeing in Rhode Island. Many people would call this a "Rhode Island Big Year" however I have modified my plans. When a very rare bird is seen there are many places to find out. People put the alert on websites like ebird and Facebook. I am no longer chasing those birds after work anymore. It just puts too many miles on the car for a "chase". So I have been concentrating on fishing after work and birding on days off during migration. Because I am not chasing these rare birds, I'm going to miss a few. Sometimes a rarity sticks around a few days, more often, it is gone the next day.  I'm saving thousands of miles on my car and the frustration of chasing  birds that I can't find.

My day started off at Swan Point Cemetery.  I got there about 7:15. At first I didn't see much. The highlights were the ever present colorful Baltimore Orioles and Yellow Warblers. After checking out the south side I went to the "pond". There I ran across a lady named Joan who I had never met. We started talking and decided to bird together. After looking at the pond, we went back to the south side and walked the trails. Together we found Ovenbird (her) and Northern Parula (me). These were new birds for the year for both of us.

It worked out quite well that I birded with Joan. She found the Ovenbird. I never would have found the Parula if I went at my normal pace. Going with her forced me to slow down and really look. We tried by the ocean where we saw some Warbling Vireos but not much else.On our way back to our cars we saw chimney swifts, which were also new. She left to go grocery shopping and I left for Foster, RI.  Both of us were very happy to get three year birds for the morning.

I got to Ponaganset Road in Foster at 11:30. I had planned on being there by 10 but stayed long at Swan Point. I really took my time and looked for birds. I was happy the birds were still active (morning is by far the best time to see songbirds since they are eating, they rest at mid-day).

At first I was hearing a lot of birds back in the trees but not seeing much. I got out of my car and walked long stretches of the road. I came upon a turn in the road near the lake. That little spot was loaded with birds. I saw woodpeckers and a young oriole. In that spot alone I saw three more year birds (Yellow Headed Vireo (lifer), Black Throater Blue Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat).

Later on I came across my record breaking bird, and what a bird it was, Scarlet Tanager! I watched it for 30 minutes. It was high up in the trees but kept moving around and I had a great time watching it. In the same general area  I saw, new for the year, Great Crested Flycatcher and Veery. This gave me a

Grey Catbird

total of six new species at this location and nine for the day.


I currently have seen 146 species of birds. I have seen 138 in Rhode Island and 8  species that I have only seen in Massachusetts. I should obliterate my old record. I still haven't seen most of the shorebirds. I have purposely been avoiding them until the fall. I wanted to concentrate on forest birds during the spring. Also I missed quite a few winter birds that I should hopefully see in Nov/Dec.

Lastly, I want to take at least one Pelagic trip to see offshore birds. If I do, I will be able to see 8-10 lifebirds since I have never done that. If I take the boat trip, then 175 should be a very obtainable goal. Even without it, 165 should be easy.

For those of you who think I brag on this blog, let me put my 146 species into perspective. I have seen 138 in RI/MA and 8 in Mass only. In Rhode Island alone there have been 240 species seen. The "leader" who has seen the most has seen 222 of those 240 species. The leaders generally end up with about 300 species.

At this point, I have no chance of being near the top of any leader board in Rhode Island. These people do chase those rare birds. They also have a huge advantage, because they know ALL the bird songs. How many birds others see is of little relevance to me. I'm still learning. Clearly, I'm learning at a good pace since I beat last year's personal best on May 12. So I am very happy with myself. I'm having a lot of fun, I'm seeing new birds, and I learn more everyday. To me, that's all that matters.

Not a great picture, but a Great Crested
Flycatcher on the broken limb

The First Saturday is May is Christmas to Me, but it didn't start like Christmas Morning

 The day of the year that I most anticipate and lose sleep the night before because of excitement is the first Saturday in May. The reason- Golden Trout. Rhode Island stocks these unbelievably beautiful fish for their free fishing weekend. Between 4000-6000 are generally stocked in five or six ponds across the state. I make sure that my day off coincides with this date.  Last year, I got up very early and caught thirteen goldens before the crowds made it too uncomfortable to fish. I was gone by 8:30.

This year, I had a dilemma. The bird club that I joined had a walk at Swan Point Cemetery at 7 am-noon.  Swan Point in May is the best place to see migrating birds in the state of Rhode Island. Alone, I would choose the trout over the birds. However, the walk was led by a true expert. There were many others who are also experts. If conditions were right, being surrounded by these guys, I could have seen tens of new species for the year. What to do?

I decided to do both. My plan was to find out which lake was closest to Providence to be stocked. I would get up at 4 am. Drive to said lake, fish until roughly 6:20. Then drive to Swan Point for the walk. After fishing on Friday night, I spent an hour preparing so when I woke up, I could brush my teeth and leave. I made lunch, got my trout rod set up, got my saltwater gear organized in case I went later in the day. I got a bucket, cleaned my car, and most importantly SET MY ALARM.

The closest pond that was stocked was Silver Spring Lake in North Kingston (about 30 minute drive to Swan Point) I'm not  a fan of that lake. It is always extremely crowded and there isn't much room to spread out. I wanted to be there by 5:10. This would give me 70-80 minutes of fishing. Also, arriving that early, should mean I'd beat the crowds.

So I was PISSED when I woke up at 5:15! I do not know if my alarm went off and I didn't hear it, or if it didn't. I did have it set for AM. I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth and got in my car. I got to Silver Spring Lake at 6 AM. At that point, all the open shoreline was taken. I squeezed in as best I could, but it was uncomfortably crowded. I couldn't look for fish. The best I could do was cast directly in front of me. As you can imagine, I was furious with myself. I stuck it out until 6:30. I saw a couple fish caught, but I never got a hit. Basically, I thought I ruined the day I look forward to all year.

Since Silver Spring was so crowded (it was even worse at 6:30, at least five new cars pulled up in that half hour) and since I had little chance of catching anything, I left for the bird walk. I arrived at 7 am. Dan Bedard was the leader. This guy knows everything. He could hear birds from great distances. He knows all trees,flowers, mammals, etc. I have never seen anyone so knowledgeable about nature.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. We have had northeast winds for a week. Migrating birds like a tail wind. That would be from the south in the spring. So most of the birds that should be here by now are still south of us waiting for the winds to change. I did see one lifebird, a Blue Headed Vireo. It was the only new bird for my year list. Honestly, for this time of year, I was hoping for at least ten. So the walk, no fault of anyone but Mother Nature, was very disappointing. I saw some very nice local birds including a couple hawks, a bald eagle, and some Yellow Rumped Warblers, but like I said, few migrants. By far, the highlight of the day was a coyote. Since it started to rain, the walk which was scheduled until noon was over by 10:15.

On a personal note. I needed this day off to do these "fun things". In doing so, I traded my Saturday in the middle of the month. This means I have to work three consecutive weekends. So, trust me, not catching any trout or seeing many new birds was awful for me to digest!

On top of the trout, the birds and the Kentucky Derby, another big event was going on today. The RI Carp Anglers Group was hosting a big tournament called the Yankee Challenge. I chose not to enter it because of the trout and walk. However, my plan was to drive over (it was held in Woonsocket) after my walk ended at noon. I was going to be spectator and also, eat my lunch while watching others fish. Since the walk ended so early, I headed to the Blackstone River to watch. Conditions were no better for the 18 participants. The temp hovered around fifty degrees. There was a sight breeze mixed with mist in the air. It felt much colder. I watched for 45 minutes. I was freezing. I figured if I was going to be cold, I may as well fish.

Things look up

I left Woonsocket to chase the Golden Trout one more time. I went to Peck Pond on the Connecticut border. My hope was it wouldn't be very crowded. My optimistic theory was that the people that got there at an ungodly hour (like I did at Silver Spring) would have caught their trout and left. I also hoped the crappy weather would keep others away. When I got to Peck Pond, I was happy to see only about 7 cars in the lot. When I got to the water, there were about 10-12 guys fishing. There is a lot of open shoreline for this small lake. There was plenty of elbow room for each angler.

I knew that the morning would be a bloodbath. Even if the state stocked a thousand fish, by 1 pm, there would barely be a couple hundred. These remaining fish would be spooked from sinkers, lures, and Powerbait being dropped on their heads for the last eight hours. I knew I would not be catching thirteen. If I could hook a couple fish, then the day would be worth it.

The thing about Golden Trout is, if they are near the surface, you can see them because they are basically swimming lemons. They are so bright. As I was approaching the water, I could see a small school (Sidenote- last year the "school" was a giant ball of hundreds of fish at dawn). The school I saw today had about a dozen fish. Anyway, they were within casting distance of my bubble/ fly combo. On my third cast I caught one about 14 inches. On my next cast, a smaller one about 11. In my first five minutes, I caught two trout. I was happy.

Then nothing for the next hour and a half. Along the whole shoreline, I saw two or three fish caught in that period. After a few guys left, I moved to another spot. I blindcasted but picked up two more in the next hour and had a couple more on. The third one I caught was seventeen inches. During the last hour fishing picked up. At anyone one time while I was there I'd say there were a dozen guys. Someone would leave, and another group would show up. One guy caught five on the fly rod during this time peiod, and I saw another eight or so caught besides mine.  I left after 2 1/2 hours.

After a very slow start to my day, it ended up pretty good. I did get a lifebird. I saw an eagle, coyote, and two baby Great Horned Owls. I caught four of the most beautiful fish in freshwater. All in all, it was a memorable day.

Author's Note- You can not photograph at Swan Point without a permit. I could not take my camera on the walk. Even if the trees would have been dripping with colorful bids, I wouldn't have any pictures to post. So  you will have to settle for two shots of gorgeous Golden Trout

Two Things I have Learned about myself

My first striper from last spring

As I have said so many times on this blog, I love the time period from April 20- Memorial Day. There is so much to do. For years I have internally battled all the things that pull at me. Every day is a "what should I do today" and "but I haven't done (fill in trout fished, caught carp, or fished for stripers) in a week"). For the first time in years, I am at inner piece with my decisions.  I have come to two important conclusions.

( Before I go on, let me say, that having too many hobbies is a good thing, so yes, I know that my "problem" is nothing compared to real world shit.)

They are

1. It is okay if I change my mind on what I enjoy doing most. No one is asking me to stick to my guns.

2. Striper fishing is my favorite hobby. I love doing it more than just about anything.

Explanation

A few years back I got into trout fishing. If you read my blog, I was obsessed. I kept meticulous track of every fish. I knew how many I caught on Powerbait, fly rod, spoons, and spinners. I knew the exact number of each species. I tried to see how many different ponds I could catch them from. I had a streak going where I caught trout on 32 consecutive fishing trips. I even figured out how many trout I averaged per trip (ten/ trip in 2011) Trout fishing was new to me. I was so into it, I spent three and a half hours casting before I finally caught my first tiger trout. I wanted to learn everything I could and master the sport.

I know, nice laundry basket, right

 Two years ago, I participated in a three month carp tournament. I knew I couldn't win, but if I put in
enough time and caught a few good ones, I could place second. So that is what I did. During my favorite time period of the year, I carp fished A LOT. I gave up striper tides, I didn't go to the fly pond much. Almost all ( but not everyone) of my trips fishing were for carp. I really wanted that medal. Nothing mattered to me more than that tourney. I placed second, and am as proud of my effort as I am the actual medal. What I wanted to do most was carp fish. However, in the back of my mind, I was mad I didn't fish the good tides, On slow nights I wished I had the fast action of trout fishing.

Between carp, stripers, trout, birds, and hiking, I usually feel there isn't enough time for my passions. Then it occurred to me this year: do what makes you the most happy. If that changes and I want to do something else, go ahead, who cares.

Explanation of #2

What I have realized is, my favorite hobby is shore fishing for stripers (blues and albies). I can't just call this
"surf fishing" because I will gladly fish for stripers in downtown Providence. I'll fish for them in rivers and put my kayak in a salt pond. I also can't limit this to just stripers, because I love albies and won't walk away from blues either.

I really like catching carp. I truly enjoy casting my fly rod and having a fifteen inch rainbow almost pull my rod out of my hands, but I LOVE fishing the saltwater. I know some people scoff at catching schoolies, but I realized, I'd much rather catch small stripers than big trout ( not monster once in a lifetime trout, I'm not an idiot). As much as I like getting the bigger 14-16 inch trout, I'd rather chase 24 inch stripers with the hopes of a small keeper mixed in.

There is no place within an easy driving distance I'd rather be in September than the Narragansett Shore. If I had tickets to Patriots/ Broncos and the albies were in, I'd give them away. Many times I have shore fished from before sun up intil well past sundown, and those days still fly by.

Back here in the present month of May, that is still what I have been doing. I have been fishing for stripers most every day after work. I've gone carp fishing. I went trout fishing three nights in a row after work (catching 7,9,7) while the stripers were still only at the West Wall. I've had some really good nights, and I had two back to back skunkings last Friday and Saturday. Even getting skunked, and honestly, very frustrated the second night, I still wanted to fish for stripers.

Conclusion- I'm not going to tell you that I gave up fishing for carp and trout altogether. I'm still going to fish for both of them. I am going to concentrate on stripers, just because that is what I enjoy most. They are around in big numbers right now. Since I can striper fish every evening after work (a perk of being single) that is my focus. If I want to cast my fly rod at rising trout, I'll take a night off from my seven lined friends. On my days off, I am going to do a lot of birding during the day. Spring is by far the best time to see migrants. I will still find a day or two to fish for pre-spawn trophy carp, but most nights will find me breathing in salty air.

I doubt any of my present hobbies will over take my love of fishing for stripers, blues and albies but who knows. Maybe someday, maybe soon, I'll find another hobby that takes my attention away from standing in knee deep water with my eight foot surf rod bent. If that happens, I'll ride that wave. I'm allowed to change my taste if I desire.

I'll Sleep in June

Tadpole at Trustom

I had Friday and Saturday off from work this week, and I played hard. My "weekend" started Thursday night when my friend Laurie and I went out to eat at a place in Lincoln, RI called The Lodge. It was a spur of the moment idea. The food was very reasonably priced ( I got a 16 oz prime rib for 14.99). Just as importantly it was delicious. I do not like chain restaurants so to find this locally owned establishment was awesome.

Since I stayed out kind of late Thursday, Friday morning came early for me. Both days I planned on birding during the day, then fishing after supper time. I started my day at Ponaganset Road in Foster, RI. This place for reasons I don't know, is an excellent place to see spring migrants. I ended up seeing a Broad Wing Hawk and Yellow Rumped Warblers there.

 Then I took a fairly long ride to Atlantic Ave in Westerley, RI. There was a Eurasian shorebird there the day before called a ruff. I managed to see it, but did not report it since none of the "experts" would have believed me.

 From there I went to Trustom Pond. I was doing a sort of "Big Day". Doing a  normal big day would

The deer did not move at all.
It assumed, if it stayed still I
wouldn't see it

mean seeing as many species as you can. Not spending much time in any one spot.  I was trying to see as many new spring migrants as I could. I wasn't worried about time. I wasn't trying to see as many species as I could. For example, I have seen many Great Egrets this spring, they are pretty common in salt marshes, yet I didn't see any on Friday. I didn't go out purposely looking for any because I had seen them this year.

Trustom was pretty good to me. I saw new for the year or for RI, Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Kingbird, and Yellow Warbler. My kingbird was the first to be reported in RI this year (many others on Saturday were reported). I also saw other cool things such as a deer, tadpoles, towhees, and ruddy ducks.

After I left Trustom, I hit multiple spots on the shore. I looked for ducks and shorebirds at Succotash Marsh. Then I went for a walk in Narragansett. As of writing this, I lost the paper I kept track on. I think for the day I ended up with 42-43 species. I got six new species for RI on the day including the Ruff.

I then drove north to do some fishing in Warwick RI. I went to the same spot I went on Wednesday night where I got three keepers. I couldn't go Thursday because Laurie was over. My friend Dave went and the fish were in big time. He caught five times what I caught Wednesday. So it was a no-brainer to go back Friday. The conditions were the same, except, no fish. I fished for two hours without a bite. I couldn't stay till dark because I was plain old exhausted. If the fish would have been there, Id have stayed. They weren't so I left about 7:15.

I got up even earlier on Saturday. Ocean State Bird Club had a walk at Great Swamp in South

Members of the Ocean State Bird Club.
All the orange is because it is turkey season and hunting
is legal at Great Swamp

Kingston, RI from 7-11 am. Since I have only been a member for two weeks, I did not show up fashionably late. I mistimed the distance, so left a little later than I wanted but still pulled into the parking lot at 7:01.

The bird walk was a wicked lot of fun.There were probably twenty participants ranging from late teens to seventy. We did not see any really rare birds. All total, I counted thirty five birds. There were a couple others heard but not seen, ovenbird and yellowthroat. Some people counted them but I did not. Counting heard birds is "legal" in the birding world because you identified it. I wanted to see both species so I don't count heard birds. I got another five birds for the year on the walk. They are American Redstart, Warbling Vireo, Blue Winged Warbler. The other two were new for RI, but not I had seen them in MA, Swamp Sparrow and Field Sparrow. Although not considered rare, I think the Blue Winged Warbler is a life bird for me. Many others got a  Black and White Warbler as a lifer.

I really enjoyed the walk. The people were super friendly. Although some of the people including the leader were true experts, I did not find anyone to be a "bird snob". As most walks do, this one ran late. We got out of the woods at 11:25. Some folks went up the street to eat lunch. They invited me,

Glossy Ibis

which I thought was a nice gesture, but I declined. I had other places I wanted to go.

After leaving the nice people from the OSBC, I went to Jamestown Marsh. My goal was to see a Glossy Ibis. Glossy Ibis are an awesome wading bird. I usually see them randomly somewhere during the year, but hadn't yet this year. I am happy to say that at Jamestown Marsh, there were five today. I watched them for fifteen minutes eating in the shallows.

From there I went to Miantonomi Park in Newport. There was another rare bird there. A Summer Tanager. It is a beautiful red bird. I looked in vain for forty five minutes around 1:30. Around 4 pm, I saw a report that it was still there. So, I guess it was hiding from me.

After my unsuccessful chase, I worked my way up the East Bay. I stopped at Seapowet in Tiverton. I went for a walk at Rueker Wildlife Sanctuary. My last stop was the big field at Pardon Gray. I then drove home, where I at a salad and was off again in twenty minutes.

I met my friend Dave at our predetermined fishing spot. After the bad fishing Friday, the plan was to
leave if the fish were not there. Dave was going to check another good spot on a dropping tide. I was going to meet Laurie and watch a movie about 8 pm. I can't believe it, but the spot was fishless for a second night in  a row under perfect conditions. We worked the whole shoreline for well over an hour. True to our words, we left. Dave found a couple small fish at his next location. I enjoyed a sub with Laurie and kept my eyes open through the movie.

Tree Swallow at Pardon Grey

I'm not sure what my plans are next Friday. However, Saturday is the first weekend in May. A lot is going on. For me to do everything I want to do, I need to leave my house at 4 am. Like I said, I'll sleep when there is less going on during the summer!