Polo is Awesome!

Yesterday I went to Portsmouth, RI to watch the Newport Polo Team take on the Palm Springs Polo Team. I had never been to a polo match. I didn't know if I'd like it or hate it, but one thing was for sure, It would be different. I knew nothing about the rules, how it is scored or even if it is called a match, game, or contest.

Some rules-

 Here is some of the stuff I found out. There are six chukkas that are seven minutes each. A chukka is a period. After the third chukka there is a twenty minute half time. In between each chukka is a time out for the riders to switch out their horses. Each rider rides three horses during a  match. Rotating the horses ( actually called ponies) gives them time to rest. Each pony competes for 2 chukkas or 14 minutes.

You score by hitting a ball with your cane across the eight yard wide goal line. If the ball gets hit out of bounds they play it from roughly that spot. There are other more detailed rules most of which I'm sure I didn't see. However, if a rider has a direct line to the ball, another rider can not cut them off. This is for protection of the ponies so they don't crash into each other. Violating this rule results in a free penalty shot for the opponent.

Each team has four players. There are no subs or back ups (that I could see). Each player is numbered 1-4. The one is the attacker, four the defender, the three the best player, and honestly I didn't hear what the #2 does differently. However, they all ride up and down the field.

Pregame-

For those you (us) that think/thought Polo is a rich person sport, our tickets were $12 each. The twelve dollar tickets will get you General Admission. This meant we sat near the end zone. The $20 ticket will get you a seat in the Pavilion. My boss who had been said it is more fun in the lawn so that is what we did. There are $50 tailgating tickets where you can park your car almost next to the field in a reserved space. There is no need for that since we parked our car literally a 45 second walk from where we watched the match.

We set up a blanket and lawn chair on the perimeter of the field. You are allowed to bring your own food and drink. We brought a couple BBQ pork sandwiches, cornbread, and lemonade. Some people set up tents with really eloquent food. Some tailgaters were making mixed drinks with hard liquor. There were also four food trucks selling pizzas, flavored shaved ice, hot donuts, and wraps.

Carlos Maldanado hanging out with fans
 before the match

Laid back atmosphere-

Before the match people are allowed on the field. Some people were throwing a football. Others were playing Frisbee. Kids were running around. One of the players came out and talked with fans while other fans took pictures with him and his pony. About 5 minutes before the match the announcer politely asks everyone to start making their way to the sideline. Once everyone makes there way out of the field of play, the announcer announces the players and we stand for the National Anthem.

The announcer who sounded like Robin Leach from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is hilarious. He absolutely has no filter. If he thought a rider made a bad play he said it. He complained about the cool weather in a funny way. At least 8-10 times this guy had me laugh out loud. He even yelled into the microphone to the referee that a goal was scored even though the line judge said the ball went out of bounds. By far, my favorite announcer I have ever heard live.

At halftime, fans are encouraged to go on the field and stomp down the divots made by the cane and
the horseshoe footprints. I guess this is a tradition.  After the game, another tradition is for the players to come around the edge while riding their ponies and high five the fans. We stayed for this before we left.

At halftime everyone walks on  the field to stomp down divots

As for the fact that Polo is for rich snobs, here is what I can tell you. For clothing most people were dressed casually. Some people did dress like Howell Thurston on Gilligan's Island. However, if you wore khaki shorts and a T-shirt, you were not out of place. Same with the women. Some dressed like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, others just wore normal clothes.

Some of the patio tables set up with food were pretty extravagant. Think cheese platters instead of cheeseburgers. While others were cooking burgers and dogs.

There seemed to be a lot of drinking. However, I didn't see one person become drunk, obnoxious, or belligerent. I don't think there was any security, and really, there wasn't any need for it. Everyone was super mellow. Other than a couple grills, I didn't smell any smoke of any kind, nor did I see anyone smoking.

As for whether people seemed snoby or not. Think about this, at a sporting event how many people do you really interact with not in your group? Its not like I play checkers with the guy behind me in the bathroom line at Fenway. However, I did talk to a couple people at the match. While waiting for the bathroom, the guy behind me did tell me he will be in trouble "once the seal was broken". All in all, everyone seemed laid back, and there for a good time.

My experience was nothing but positive. From the very beginning finding a good spot, watching the match, giving high fives the players, and not getting stuck in traffic, it was a great day. The Newport team did win by a couple of goals.  If I had Saturday's off every week, I'd go quite a bit.  Many more pictures below

One of the food trucks

The Pavilion Area well before the match

At halftime you need to watch out for the
"steaming divots"

High fives all around after the match

Shark Week?

I know that shark week is wrapping up on the Discovery Channel and their is significant backlash with Micheal Phelps racing a shark simulation. But what if you actually saw a real live shark?

Same picture but cropped with focus on the tail

I went to the Cape Cod Canal after work today in hopes of getting in on the striper action. Spoiler Alert: almost no one got any fish this afternoon. However I had quite the eventful day. I fished on the Cape side of the canal today and rode my bike. I was almost in front of the Herring Run and saw two fins way out. They looked so far apart I thought it was two porpoises. A minute or so later I saw the fins again almost directly in front of me in the middle of the canal.

I got my camera out just in case I saw the fins again. I was pretty sure after my second look that it
was only one animal. Shockingly, about ninety seconds later, within twenty feet of me, the fins came out of the water. The fish turned around and headed out never to be seen again (I thought I saw it heading toward Bourne Bridge thirty minutes later).

I got off two pictures. I'm sure now it was a shark and not a mammal since the tail was vertical and not horizontal. Also, I never saw it expel air through a blow hole. I went online to figure out what kind it was. My best two guesses are Sand Tiger and Sandbar. I sent a picture to Marine Fisheries. If they respond I will update the blog. What a cool experience.

This guy was parked next to me when I got back to my car

Water Fire, Providence

Amazingly, until tonight I had never been to Water Fire. For those that don't know, the city of Providence lights wood in the middle of the river that runs from the Providence Place Mall to Point Street Bridge. This happens at dusk a few times a summer (mostly Saturdays). To go along with the fires, it is basically a festival. There are street vendors and street performers.There are Del's Lemonade Stands and other food venues.

I had never been so I didn't know what to expect. We found a parking spot fairly easy, but we did park a half mile from the cauldrons. This so happens to be the area I fish for holdover stripers in the winter, so I know it very well. The festival and the fires start just north of Hemingway's restaurant.

The fires don't get lit until 20 minutes after sunset, but it would be a shame to get there that late just to see the fires because the daylight is much more fun. We got there about 7 pm, and I took a lot of pictures knowing I wouldn't be able to after dark.

All in all, I thought Water Fire was really fun. I was really looking forward to it, so I could have set myself up for disappointment. As I said, it is a festival, so it is best to get there early and enjoy it.  If I would have got there just at the lighting, it wouldn't have been worth it. Of course food vendors cost money. However, Water Fire is free, you don't need a ticket. It is a cool thing for Providence to do.
Many pictures below.

These kayaks were part of the Ceremony. When the cauldrons were lit

the kayaks, decorated with koi were paddled up and down the river.

My two favorite women in the world peeking out from the"donut"

There are Venician gondola rides on the river. The cost is ridiculous.

These boats carried extra wood for when the fires start to die out.

Amber at  a fountain

This is a woman not a statue. If you put a dollar in her vase, she would bend down for a

picture with you

Part of Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial

Korean War Memorial

View from one of the bridges

The wood piles are in the middle of the river. I think there are about 100

Glass Blower

Tiles on the 9/11 Memorial

The main lighting area near Providence Place Mall

Canal Timing

I went to the Cape Cod Canal fishing yesterday morning. As I did last Friday, I started at the Herring Run and worked my way east. I suspected the fishing wasn't as good as it had been based on the number of cars in the parking lot. While, the lot was full to capacity last week, Thursday the lot was barely a third full.

From the Herring Run to the Sagamore Bridge I saw three or four guys fishing. Last week guys were evenly spaced every 50 yards or so. Past the bridge, there were a few more fishermen up to the pilings. I was amazed that in a two mile stretch I saw maybe twenty fishermen. However at Pip's Rip I saw an easy hundred guys in a two hundred yard area.  From there, some guys were on the jetty.

There was no way I was going to muscle in and fish with all these guys. It did cross my mind that they must be bunched up for a reason. I watched them for ten minutes. There were a couple of fish breaking on the other side of the canal.  I did see one guy get a big schoolie. It was the only fish I saw all day.

The weather was disgusting. I hoped there would be an ocean breeze but the air was hot, humid, and thick. I sucked it up and fished various spots until 11 am (high tide was about 10). It was so hot, I really didn't enjoy myself. I never got a hit. Other than the one schoolie, I didn't see another fish. No one had a keeper on a string or walked out with one. In all the spots I fished, I didn't see bait anywhere.

I caught two fish Friday morning last week and I saw multiple fish caught including quite a few keepers. There really wasn't anything Friday afternoon. From my understanding, fishing had been very slow since. Those reports you are reading about how hot the Canal has been and all the forty and fifty pound fish that have been caught are true. Unfortunately, those reports are ten days old.

I was at a movie today staying out of the heat when I got a phone call. When I returned it, I found out the Canal was loaded with small keepers today. Apparently, this morning a lot of fish came through. The phone call started with "Nick your not going to believe this". Actually I was not surprised at all. From what I have learned about the Canal, is you have to be there at the right place at the right time.

Actual surf fishing in Rhode Island, requires you to think about, the tide, season, wind direction and bait. Know how a place fishes during those conditions and theoretically you should be successful. Other than slack tides at dawn, there isn't any rhyme or reason when stripers will show up at the Canal. I'm sure like most places, if the bait is in, so are the predators. That said, fish can and will feed at any stage of the tide. Time of day and brightness do not seem to matter. Last week I fished under cloud cover all day. Yesterday, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the canal seemed lifeless. Again today, there wasn't a cloud and fishing was great.

The other interesting thing is no one can predict how long the fishing will be good. It could be bad yesterday and great today, then bad again tomorrow. Or fishing could be great for two straight weeks.  It was good almost the whole second week of July. There was a time period last year where keepers were stacked up between Sagamore and the Herring Run for three weeks. It was a slaughter. You just can't predict it.

Since the Canal is an hour drive, I've come to accept these facts. I mentally prepare myself to be ready for a big fish. I want my gear to be in perfect shape if I hook a 40. That said, I know there will be days where no one catches a fish. I'm okay with that. I'll go back a couple more times this summer. Hopefully, one of those trips will be a red letter day. That is my advice to anyone going to the Canal. Expect to catch fish, but don't be upset if you don't. You just can't predict it.

Niagara (not me)

The last two nights I have been at the local carnival in my town. I've eaten tons of blade meat sandwiches and watched fireworks both nights. I was going to do a whole blog post on it. I decided not to because my son's mom and sister went to Niagara Falls and got some great pictures I wanted to share.


DJ's sister Brittney is a prodigy when it comes to bowling. She qualified for the Junior Nationals which are in Cleveland. DJ's mom, Crystal, drove her out there so she can compete all week in the tournament. On the way there, they stopped at Niagara Falls. I went there a few years ago with Laurie for a couple of days. Crystal and Brittney only got to spend a few hours but they had a blast.

The reason I'm posting this is 1. Niagara is close enough to New England to easily take a road trip there. 2. I took 1500 pictures in Niagara Falls. I saw the falls from many angles and got some great shots. We watched the falls at night, but none of my pictures at night came out very good. Quite frankly, Crystal's night time pictures of the falls are much better than mine.

I asked Crystal if I could post them and she gave me permission

Crystal and Brittney on the Maid of the Mist

Fireworks over the falls. Talk about a memory!!!

Macking at the Canal

Thirty inch striper caught on homemade and home painted popper

All week I had planned on fishing the Cape Cod Canal today (Friday). Having Friday and Saturday off this week meant there was no way I was dealing with the traffic and crowds on Saturday. Unfortunately, as it goes, I heard the "you should have been here yesterday story about how epic both Wednesday and Thursday were. Since I didn't have Thursday off this week, it was a little annoying to think about what I missed. I hoped there would still be fish there when I arrived this morning.

As always, I brought my bike. I parked at the Herring Run and made my way east. At 7:30 am, the parking lot was almost completely full. People were parking along the median. As I went down the trail, from the run to the Sagamore bridge, there was a guy every 50 yards or so. This wasn't shoulder to shoulder crowding, but it did mean I saw about a hundred or more guys fishing.

I started casting at random spots just past the bridge. I looked on the rocks and saw two Great Blue Heron and four cormorants fishing along with a bunch of gulls on the rocks. It looked promising. I saw some mackerel swim by. I tried a homemade popper that I had painted mackerel color ( all the rest I painted white). Within a couple minutes I caught a 30 inch keeper (that I let go). I fished the spot for another 20 minutes without a hit so I moved on.

During my bike ride I saw a few fish jump here and there. Mostly on the Sandwich side of the canal. There wasn't any blitzes and very little was showing on my side. About ten o'clock I tried a random spot toward the East End. I saw a school of mackerel swim by me just feet from shore multiple times. I tried the popper and the Daiwa SP Minnow in the mac color. I didn't get a look on the popper. However I got at least four follows by what looked to be big schoolies on the minnow. I couldn't get any fish to commit. While this was going on the mackerel kept appearing in front of me every 2-3 minutes.

After a half hour I put on a snag hook and waited...and waited...and waited. Okay, it was only about a five minute wait. But since I had the snag hook on my rod, it was five minutes that I couldn't fish. It took me a couple times of the school to come by before I snagged a mackerel. I brought it in (about ten feet) and hooked it through the lips with the snagger...And like that the mackerel was gone. Their lips are too paper thin to hook them that way.

The next mackerel I snagged was right at the back of the tail. It was so close to the tail, the hook basically cut the tail off. This obviously made it difficult to swim and it really just fluttered in the current. I used him for a few minutes but didn't get a hit.

The next mackerel that I snagged was perfect. It got hooked just behind the head. I didn't even take it off and put the hook where I wanted it. On my second cast I got a follow as I was reeling it in. I saw the fish and stopped reeling. The mac started to slowly sink. The bass turned back around and hit. Game on!

It took ten minutes to land the fish and it peeled 80 yards of line. I knew it was a pretty good fish since I had seen it. When I finally got it in, it measured 39 inches. I took some pictures and attempted to let it go. I spent fifteen minutes trying to revive it but didn't have any luck. Everytime I thought it was regaining strength it would start to go belly up on me. I had no choice but to keep it. I don't have any problem eating a striper, it was the killing it I didn't want to do.

Since I had no plans on keeping any fish no matter how big, I was not prepared. Luckily my friend Dave was driving down. I had to carry the 20+ pound fish for a mile and a half on my bike, but at least I didn't have to go back to my car. I cut a fin off because that is what you are supposed to do in MA if you choose to keep a striper, and stashed it in Dave's truck. Luckily, it stayed cool and cloudy all day. If the sun would have came out, I'd would've left much sooner so the meat wouldn't spoil.

I fished with Dave for a couple more hours trying various spots. I didn't get anymore fish but Dave got one. We saw three or four schoolies and a 32 inch fish caught.

Same fish, but near parking lot

Fishing for Larrys

Lynn with her second fish ever

The last few nights I have been out in my canoe fishing for largemouth bass. I wish I had something to "brag about" but I don't. Fishing was only okay.

On Monday, I took my friend from work Lynn fishing. She has only caught one fish in her life. So I brought her out in the canoe, a first for her. As her guide, I wasn't worried about how many fish I caught, I just wanted her to get some. I spent a lot of the time putting the canoe in the right spot or facing it into the wind. We each only caught one fish on plastic worms but both had a fish on about three pounds.

The next night, determined to catch some fish and using the excuse that I spent a lot of time paddling on Monday, I went back for seconds. Fishing was not much better. I only landed three bass and had a couple others hit. I tried the plastic worm along with hard baits with very little luck. The few fish I caught were tight to cover. Interestingly, that did not change after sunset. The bass did not start to search  for food and become more aggressive.

I'm going to spend more time bass fishing this summer. I'm going to try different ponds. However, I think I'm going to stay local. Although I drove all the way to Connecticut two weeks ago in an unsuccessful attempt at walleye, I'm going to keep my bass excersions within 30 minutes of home.

July 4th in Concord, MA

I love the 4th of July weekend. I try to get to as many fireworks as I can. As a lover of history who respects the people that fought for our freedom, I know what the holiday means. Today, I went to Concord, MA where the shot heard around the world was fired, where Paul Revere was made famous, and where the first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. In my forty three years, I have never done anything more Patriotic on the 4th of July.

The reason we went today was a reading of the Declaration of Independence. The reading was at 1 pm and I had to work. I took a 1/2 day and hauled my butt up to Concord. We got there with fifteen minutes to spare.  The reading of the Declaration was at the North Bridge (the first place that Colonists fired on British troops). My biggest fear was that all the parking spots would be full. Happily there was a lot of parking on the grass at the Old Manse for overflow parking.

A Patriot reading the most famous document Thomas Jefferson
ever wrote.

After the reading a company of Musket men fired off 3 rounds off the bridge. I was not in a very good position to get a picture

The Minuteman Statue sculpted by Daniel Chester French. Only 21 years old at the time. He also sculpted the Lincoln Memorial

The North Bridge and the Minuteman Statue had their pictures taken a lot by people that celebrated the 4th. View from the Visitor Center.

Many people were at the Minuteman Historic Park today including kayakers on the Concord River

Sometimes it is tough to remember that there was another side. Here lies the two British soldiers that were killed at the North Bridge. That is two men, three thousand miles from home, that never got to see their mother or family again.

After we left the North Bridge we went to the Concord Museum. I had been there once a few years back but Laurie had never been there. The cost is ten dollars and well worth it. With so much history in Concord from the battle to famous authors, there is a lot to see.

This is actually one of the lanterns from the Old North Church in Boston  "One if by land, two if by sea!". Probably the most prized museum possession.

                       A fife played during the battle. Usually fifes were played by teenagers.

                                                  Paul Revere by John Copley Singleton

                         A small version of the Lincoln Memorial statue by D.C. French

                                               Thoreau's bed from Walden Pond

After the museum we went to the Calf Pasture which is a field that Colonists grazed their cattle.There is a very busy boat ramp and a trail. Three minutes of walking down the trail leads to the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers to form the Concord River

            Very busy boat ramp (mostly kayaks but I did see one trailer). View from the bridge

From the Calf Pasture we drove to the Paul Revere Capture Site and rode our bikes three miles (each way) on Battle Road. I stopped at most of the information plaques. The trail is solid packed dirt (with a few soft spots). The scenery is woods, farm fields and wetlands. Even if you are not a history buff, the scenery is worth the ride.

Another reminder that it wasn't just American's that died that day. I believe the final numbers were 49 Patriots and 73 English soldiers lost their lives April 19, 1775

I do not think I will ever do anything more Patriotic in my lifetime to celebrate the 4th of July. Today was incredible. You could hear a pin drop when the Declaration of Independence was being read. Although Thomas Jefferson used vocabulary that no one uses today, the meaning, and the events leading to our Independence were all powerful. Even Laurie said later," this was the best 4th of July ever". I concur