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| Polo is so much fun to watch |
Every year seems to have its own theme. This usually comes organically and I do not try to plan it. It just sort of happens. One year all I did was hike in New Hampshire. A couple years ago I spent many days trying to see new birds, just because it was fun and what I wanted to do. This year had two themes.
The first is- It was the worst of times then it was the best of times. My year was really two different halves. The first half did not go as planned. It rained almost every day I didn't work this spring. This made me cancel a camping trip and change many other plans. Also, I had to do a lot of extra work in May when one of our drivers got hurt. Of course, I made some extra jingle, so I wasn't complaining. It did mean a few missed fishing trips.
The second half of the year was awesome. I did a ton of fun stuff. As opposed to the spring, every time I had a planned day trip it would magically be sunny and 70 degrees, even in July and in the mountains in October.
The second theme was just to go experience new things. I went to multiple things I'd never done before. Many of which I wrote on this blog. Admittedly, I was a spectator to these events as opposed to actively participating (such as jumping out a plane). Normally, I just do what the calendar tells me. April is trout, May is birding and stripers, September is albies, etc... This year I also found time to go new places. Many examples would be Dropkick Murphys, Femmes of Rock, a Drive In, Newport Polo, Providence Waterfire, Montreal, Philly Cheese Steak, and Concord on the Forth of July, Rhode Island Philharmonic.
Daytrips, Vacation, and Hiking Stats
I went on 71 day trips this year. To compare I did 61 last year, but went to New Hampshire seven times to this years three. I did 67 in 2015. A daytrip is a broad term for me. It usually just means something I'm really looking forward to. I don't consider afterwork fishing trips or hikes a daytrip. However, I usually consider ticketed events such as plays, concerts, and museums, a day trip. All day fishing trips or fishing trips with long rides count.
Philly vacation was awesome. No need to write about it here. I did five posts on it before
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| View of Big George across Pinkham Notch from Wildcat D Summit |
Fishing-
Because of the wet spring, everytime I had to change my plans, the back up was a fishing trip. Because of this, I caught a lot of big fish the first half of the year. I mostly went saltwater fishing once the stripers came in. Until then, I spent more time carp fishing than I did trout fishing.
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| I could catch these all day |
As with my friend Dave, schoolies were easy to come by. Catching as many as you wanted was only hindered by how long you fished. Many times, catching was almost a guarantee just by casting Admittedly too high of a percentage were micros, and I found myself less likely to drive any distance to catch them.
One thing that has baffled me the last 2 years has been the lack of big schoolies. The year class of 2011 was very large. Those fish should have been just under keeper size this year. Two years ago, they should have been 22-24 inches, yet I caught very few in that size range.
As for keepers, I didn't kill them but got my share in the spring. I got a 20 and 15 pounder in May. Both were far away from the craziness near the menhaden in Providence. I got a few other small keepers.
During the summer I followed the fish to the Canal just like everyone else. I only had one good day of the four or five attempts. However, I did see the basking shark and that is a highlight.
Striper Grade
Micro 8-18 inches- A+
Schoolies between 18-27 inches) F
Keepers c+
It was a banner year for albies. But, I just did not get lucky. On my days off, the albies were scarce. I only got a couple. Other days, I'd rush down after work. Fish would be busting all day, but shut off around 2 pm. This happened multiple times. As they say "them's the breaks".
No grade for albies. If you could fish for them everyday it was a banner year. I can't judge the albie season based on my bad luck
There were a few big blues around this year. Again, as Dave said in his end of the year review, the blues were scarce. They never really hit the RI oceanfront this fall. Still, the few bluefish I caught were huge. I caught them all three times I targeted them in my kayak. I caught one that my scale says was 19 pounds. Other times when I got bored catching micro bass I'd put on a popper or Jumpin Minnow hoping to get a big blue. More than once (and ALWAYS) when I had my small freshwater bass rod, I'd hook a big blue. I had some memorable fights this summer with ten pound fish on medium freshwater rods.
Grade for blues- in terms of numbers C-. In terms of size A+++++. Of the twenty five or so blues I caught I think the smallest was 8 pounds
Carp-
One goal I had this year was to fish for carp more often. That goal was accomplished. I fished for them a lot from March-May. I ended up getting my second largest ever at 28 pounds even. I also got a 25# in the Connecticut River. I had the pleasure of landing three carp for Dave that were over 30 pounds. And when I say I "had the pleasure" what I mean was, I was frigging jealous!!!
Trout-
I only went trout fishing a few times. The highlight was a tiger I caught in Seekonk. I didn't fish for them in New Hampshire. I can't say I had a successful or unsuccessful season because I only fished for them a few times.
Others-
My fishing highlight for the year may have been catching a salmon and two lake trout in the same day at Wachusett. Other highlights included tons of sea bass from Eric's boat. I caught 24 species of fish this year. I got lazy and missed a bunch of fish that could have put me around 30 species. Fish that I missed include yellow perch, brown bullhead, and yellow bullhead. One fish that eludes me almost every year are tautog. I fished for them three times without a hit.
I did have one great trout day. The day we went for Golden Trout, I ended up with 11. Also caught my largest trout to date, a 20 inch rainbow (along with a 19 inch golden) I took my friend Eric and his son. They both got 20 inch fish and their first Golden Trout.
The other lifer was a Channel Cat from the Connecticut River. I was pumped to get it.
Birds-
Really the only way to see a lot of birds is to go birding a lot. I didn't do that this year. Because of that fact I only saw about 140 species this year. That may sound like a lot but my personal record is 182 in New England. To put either of those numbers into perspective the leader in Rhode Island has seen 289 in that state alone this year.
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| A barred owl that DJ and I saw the day before he left for the Grand Canyon |
Other cool animal sightings include-
My first ever Right Whales at Race Point
The Basking Shark in the Canal
A couple of coyotes at Matunuck
Cow and calf moose in Crawford Notch
Summary-
If you read each section, you can see that I did not catch too many trout, albies, or carp. I didn't see nearly as many birds as I have when I put in the time. Other than the albies which was just bad timing, the other low numbers were to be expected. When I fished I was usually looking for stripers and blues. I especially like targeting big bluefish from the kayak. Your not going to catch a lot of trout when you are out in the bay with a Jumpin' Minnow.
I spent a lot of time this summer just looking for new things to visit/see/try. I have absolutely no regrets. I made some great memories. Truthfully from July 1 on this was a great 180 days. One of my best years ever. My vacation was way more fun than I expected (I'm not a city guy). The three times I went to New Hampshire the weather was almost perfect. The sky was bright blue everyday. I can only hope that the folks reading this also had a great year full of happy memories also.
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