Retiring from pelagics

Snowy Owl on the beach

 Since I got obsessed with birding and started making friends with birders in 2018 I've gone on quite a few pelagic birding trips. I remember the first one vividly seeing my first Shearwaters and Jaegers. We had a Mola Mola, Bottlenose Dolphins and even saw the fin of a Blue Shark.

  Since then I've seen almost everything out there that isn't crazy rare. My adventures have made memories of great birds, breaching whales, and a school of Pilot Whales that will last forever.

   The problem is, I get seasick on at least half of the boat trips I go on. I've tried every over the counter and prescription that I know of and more often than not, if it is slightly rough I add to the chum slick. Not only that, I stay nauseous the rest of the trip and have to lie down in the fetal position. Looking at the horizon does not work for me. Lying down in the cabin dozing in and out of sleep is the only way to keep me from getting sick over and over.

   I got so sick on a twelve hour pelagic in North Carolina that I opted out the second day wasting one hundred and seventy dollars.  The trip had been paid for months earlier but I could not bring myself to go out two days in a row.

  So I think I have made a decision to give up on pelagics. As I said, I really can't see much else as a lifer unless some crazy rare Bird comes up from South America or a Sperm Whale graces the boat with an appearance. 

  The irony is I love pelagics. While I may not seeing anything new for my life, every trip is different and you never know what you will see. I went on an eighth hour charter yesterday with most of my birding friends and spent about half the trip lying fetal along with two trips to the rail to mostly dry heave.  On the trip I saw two new species for the year before I got sick. But I missed another species. When we slowed down to watch dolphins I could barely lift my head up and did not get up to look at them.

 

Northern Gannet flying across the boat

   It is tough to justify going out for eight hours and spending one hundred ten when you feel so much like death that you won't look at Dolphins. So I decided that the only pelagics I'll ever consider will be in the Pacific. I've never seen the Pacific and if I went on a pelagic in say Monterey Bay, I'd get a dozen lifers and probably Grey Whales and other mammals. So a trip would be worth it. 

 Ironically I've never gotten sick on a whale watch.

 Many times I've just lucked out and it was flat. The whale watch I went on in April was glass calm. I could have kayaked from Plymouth to P-town across Cape Cod Bay. Other rougher trips for reasons unknown to me, I haven't gotten sick. My only hypothesis is that my stomach can handle the shorter four hour trips of a whale watch. Also I usually book whale watches for the afternoon so maybe waking up later has something to do with it. Though, I did get a great night sleep despite having to be on the road at 5:30 am yesterday. 

   Laurie thinks I should give up pelagics because of the cost and my habit of adding chum overboard. But she thinks I should go on whale watches because I haven't gotten sick. I suspect part of her thinking is because she likes whale watches as much as I do.

  Maybe next year I'll go on a whale watch and continue to go if my stomach allows. But as for dedicated pelagics and cod boat trips that last eight hours  anywhere in the Atlantic, I think I am done. 

Things that I am thankful for

 

I was happy to finally get a photo of a
Mourning Warbler

   Every year I write a post on Thanksgiving about all of the things I am thankful for. This year I was in New Hampshire and did not have time to write a post. The last couple of years had been hard and I was thankful for relationships, not drowning, and grateful for knowing people that had died. Before the last couple of Thanksgiving posts, I used to write about a few good memories from the year. I am always grateful for New Hampshire, Laurie, Dave, and Striped Bass.

   Having dividing my time between taking care of a bed bound Laurie and trying to see how many species of vertebrates  I can see in a year this year I am just grateful for nature. Without fish, the mountains, the ocean, snakes, and frogs I would be lost.

   I can not put into words how beautiful I think the natural world is. I love to fish, flip rocks, hike, snorkel, chase birds, and find any other excuse to be outside. There are many people that have mental health problems. I am lucky, other than every day stress that we all have to deal with, I do not have any mental health problems. I believe that would not be true if I didn't have the outside world. Being outdoors is my relaxation, but it also my adrenaline rush. It is my reason for planning sunrise to sunset adventures on my days off from work. 

  I could name every thing I enjoy about nature from seeing a rare bird, sitting on top of a mountain, to casting my fly or surf rod. But that list would be endless. While I may get overwhelmed in May, and wish the seasons wouldn't end in November, I understand these are First World problems and I am extremely lucky. 

It seems as though I have not had "a normal year" in the last few. With my back sidelining me a few years ago (awful) and then being healthy and not working (amazing) I had a strange couple of years. I thought things were back to normal when I got my job at Bass Pro in February. I had less free time but also had an income again. Then Laurie got hurt, broke her ankle, and had other medical issues. So many of my plans were derailed over the summer. So this year had more downs than anticipated. Still, I am grateful that when I had time... I had nature to go to. Chasing down many vertebrates was/has been a challenge that has kept me busy all year.

   Below is a list of a few of the things I m grateful for this year. While the writing above is more like my Thanksgiving posts from the last couple of years, I'd like to think about a few individual things that changed 2024 for the better for me...

    I am thankful for my job at Bass Pro Shops. Working in the fishing department is a place I thrive. I'm getting pretty good at my job and enjoy the people I work with. Management treats us well. For example, the last two days they bought us pizza. 

   I am thankful for the use of the seine. I have seen a lot of really neat fish I never knew were in both the ocean and freshwater. It takes two people to use it, so thanks to all of those that helped me.

   I am still thankful for stripers, New Hampshire, and Laurie.

   I am thankful for my birder friends.

   I love smallmouth bass

   I m thankful I got to fish with Dave a few times this year. Birding has really made it tough to go carp fishing. Glad I caught a few carp also.

   I am thankful for all of the lifers I saw this year. I got at least one lifer mammal, bird, fish, and herp. Each one was an adrenaline rush.

   I am thankful I sucked it up and bought an electric motor for my canoe. Just using the motor means more fish because I am not spending as much time paddling. Game changer!

   Call it consumerism if you want, but I am extremely thankful for my employee discount at work. I get a huge discount on Bass Pro brand gear and a very good discount on gear made by other companies. I have really improved my rods and reels along with a couple pairs of hiking boots.

   Lastly, as I said, I am just grateful I love nature. My mom had me outside as a little kid. She took me fishing and on nature walks. But I think it might not have been "nurture" in the nature vs nurture question. I think I would have wanted to explore and see all the fish and snakes anyway. For that, I am truly thankful. 

  

Red and Gold

 

Over the past week I saw two species that have magnificent colors.  On my weekday off I took a two and a half hour drive to northwest Connecticut and caught Kokanees. Kokanees are a landlocked Sockeye or Red Salmon. They live in a handful of lakes in Connecticut. They can't naturally reproduce in the state so biologists collect spawning adults for eggs/sperm. They fertilize the eggs and release the babies back into the lake. 

   Just like the salmon you see on nature documentaries they die when they spawn. I saw many swimming fish where they were basically rotting away Sockeyes are plankton eaters but stop eating when they get ready to spawn anyway. They are very difficult to catch. Since they are not feeding the only way to get them to bite is to hope one gets angry and wants to kill your lure.

    I spent hours trying to get them to bite. I had dozens right in front of me but only had one offer at my little tiny Kastmaster Spoon. When I caught it I took a photo of it and released it despite its days being numbered. I accidentally snagged a couple others but I do not count those as being caught. I also tried multiple flies with my fly rod but didn't get any takers.

 

Golden Eagle

  On Saturday I met my birding friends and birded Burlingame Campground. Towards the end of our time there, Tim Metcalf and Carlos Pedro spotted a Golden Eagle soaring about. Most Golden Eagles live out west but some live in Ontario. These birds will travel south for the winter and every now and then one is seen in Rhode Island. We got great looks at it in perfect light. It was soaring pretty far away but in the binoculars we could see the perfect golden head and all of the other features that make it different from a Bald Eagle. This was a state bird for me and was so happy to see it my heart was racing.

   I didn't have my camera but Tim let me use his camera for a few seconds and UI snapped off a couple photos of it. I'm very greatful he let me. 

Black Bellied Redemption

 

  Laurie and I took a trip to Forsythe NWR in New Jersey in August 2021. While we were there I was told about a small flock of  Black Bellied Whistling Ducks. They had been there for weeks. Someone told me right where to look. Unfortunately, the day we were there they were not seen. Nobody had them on ebird reports. They were seen again the following day and for the next few days. I'm not complaining on that day I saw a lifer  Roseate Spoonbill, Gull Billed Terns and Caspian Terns. 

   Black Bellied Whistling Ducks are a Florida specialty. Some are also in extreme southern Texas and Arizona. The one in New Jersey was a big deal for the birders there. They are common in Mexico and South America but in the US, they don't live north of central Florida. 

  The day after I came home I went to work as usual. That day Dave Campbell found a Black Bellied Whistling Duck (BBWD for now on) in Warwick, RI. All day at work it was not lost on me the odds that a species that I had never heard of being in Rhode Island showed up the day after I looked for them in New Jersey.

   As soon as I got home from work I dragged Laurie to Apponaug Cove to see the BBWD. I've missed enough birds by mere seconds that we rushed down to see it as soon as I could leave work. When I got to the cove the BBWD followed a bunch of Mallards that came right up to us. It was pretty obvious the Mallards were fed by locals and hoping for a handout. The BBWD stayed back but still got to within fifteen feet of us. Unfortunately my camera was home! I had taken it out of the car to upload the photos from our Philly/ Forsythe trip. I didn't even think about it until I got out of the car and went to grab it. 

   As you might imagine, I was really annoyed that I left my camera at home. I could have gotten amazing photos without even trying because it was so close. Instead, I took a couple of "proof" photos with my underwhelming camera on my phone. It killed me to see everyone else with wallhangers of such a beautiful duck. We were the last people to see the duck (along with one other birder.) After it swam away from us, it kept swimming far down the cove never to be seen again. 

   Fast forward to this week...I was trying to figure out something to do this weekend. I checked the Mass Rare Bird Alerts and saw there was a BBWD in Holyoke. I also wanted to see if I could see spawning Landlocked Salmon from Quabbin and thought we could make a day trip of it. I was also hoping that there might be some foliage as we went toward the Berkshires (spoiler alert there were very few trees that were still pretty). 

 

 We left early and went to see if we could get the duck. It had been hanging out with domestic ducks and tame Mallards at a farm. The type of farm that has cider and hayrides in the fall. They also sold apple cider donuts, pumpkins, and ice cream. They had animals that people could feed and pet. Right out front was a duck pond full of many varieties of domestic ducks and Mallards. It seems this Black Bellied Whistling Duck found this place to its liking and has hung out for a while. 

   The BBWD wasn't hard to see at all. It was feeding in the mulch when I got there. It didn't have any fear of people. It walked back under the fence into the duck pond . I walked almost up to it to take photos and I knew from the beginning I was going to get redemption. I had as long as I wanted to take all of the photos I wanted of this bird. 

And I did... I took photos of it for thirty minutes. It did tuck its head and took a nap that I had to wait for. Luckily, a gull didn't want to see it nap either and gave it a little nip. This woke up the duck and it actually made the whistling sound that they are named for. 

  I enjoyed my time at the farm. Then we went to Holyoke Dam where I hoped to see a rare turtle but it was a bit cold. From there I went to Quabbin and walked down a dirt road to where a biologist told me I should go to see salmon run up river. The river was almost dry and there wasn't any chance that salmon was in it. They would have had to jump a mud dam to get into the river. I suspect there are hundreds of salmon staging just outside the river mouth waiting for a big rain to raise the water level in the lake and the river. 

Multiple photos of the Black Bellied Whistling Duck below. You can see the black belly

Multiple Lifers and State Birds

 

I've been busy lately trying to enjoy what is left of the warm weather and afternoon sunlight. I've gotten to see some pretty cool stuff. 

  Two weeks ago I went to New Hampshire fishing for two days. Fishing was tough and I had to work for every fish. I fished four lakes and did manage to catch at least one fish in each lake. Total I got six Smallmouth, one Largemouth, one Trout and half a dozen Pickerel. This sounds good but averages out to about a fish an hour. My highlight was one of the biggest pickerel I've ever caught. It went about twenty five inches or more. 

 

Black Throated Grey Warbler 

   When I got home, a few days later my friend Joe Koger found a Black Throated Grey Warbler in Barrington. This is another species that shouldn't be east of the Rockies. I got to see it after a very short search. It was a lifer. In a year of numbers, I have a weird stat. There are 35 warbler species that live in the east. I have missed a few of them including a fairly easy Cape May. Because of the rare western warblers that I have gotten to see, I've actually seen more than the eastern 35 despite my misses. 

   At Trustom Pond my friends Allison and Sue found a  Grey Checked Thrush. This species does migrate through on their way home from Canada. It is really rare though. I was actually headed to Trustom when they found it. It took a couple hours of searching with Claudia but we ended up seeing it. Another lifer.

Grey Cheeked Thrush

   This Saturday I planned on doing a Salamander Walk in Taunton. I've been planning it for months. So it was kind of annoying when a Tropical Kingbird showed up in Middletown on Friday night. I didn't want to screw up my plans to go see a possible lifer salamander. Tropical Kingbird wouldn't be a lifer for me. I had seen one in MA a couple years ago at Daniel Webster. It would be a state bird for RI though. I hadn't realized how rare they are but it is Rhode Island's first official record. So I went. Again, it took a couple hours but  I did see it.

Tropical Kingbird

   I did see the Tropical Kingbird in time to make my Salamander Walk. The walk was crowded with about fifty people many of them kids. I did get to see a Four Toed Salamander which was my target. I also managed to find four other Red Backed Salamanders. All in all, it was a really good day off from work.

   I almost forgot, a few weeks ago a Great White Heron showed up in Narragansett. Great White Heron's are a mutated color variation of the very common Great Blue Heron. It is not a separate species though it very well could split into one some day. There is a national wildlife refuge in the Florida Keys for the purpose of protecting this subspecies. There are only about eight hundred in the world. So it is extremely rare and it is unbelievably unlikely one would show up but it did. I took my kayak out to Sprague Bridge and saw it pretty easily. As I said, not a true species but one of the rarest birds I have seen this year.

Great White Heron

 

  Though not a lifer, I saw a Ring Necked Snake in September. I have been looking under the same rocks all summer and knew I'd eventually find one. My photos kind of suck but happy to see it. I did pay the price though. I got chigger bites all over my ankles again. I have about fifteen Chigger bites on me. If it is a repeat of last year, they will probably be itchy for another four to five months.

Ring Necked Snake

   Lastly, the entire point of my New Hampshire trip was to catch a Northern Pike. As with all of my other attempts I failed miserably. So I went to Connecticut this week pike fishing. I finally hooked one and fought it for five seconds but dropped it. I did see a small one less than a foot in very shallow water. So although I still haven't caught one, I did see one for the year.  

How much sensitivity do you want to pay for?

    If you asked me a few months ago, maybe even last week, what the most important thing I was looking for in new fishing rods I would have told you sensitivity. I want to feel every bite but not only that but every rock my lure hits and every wobble of a crankbait. 

   Before I go on, you may be wondering what other things would someone look for in a rod. Price is obviously a big issue. Strength is obviously very important. Of course weight can be an issue. When most people pick up a rod they are always impressed if it is really light. Ten times out of ten, if the option is between two rods that are about the same cost, people will choose the lighter of the two. Light usually does signal that it is sensitive because it is made out of graphite. For the most part, graphite is strong. Another general rule is that a light, sensitive rod will cost you more. The only downside to light rods is that people want rods to be lighter and lighter these days. So rod companies are making them as light and as thin as possible. And there is your Catch 22. These thin rods are more brittle and break easier than a thicker rod. 

   However, this post is about sensitivity and not arguing tenths of an ounce. As mentioned, a sensitive rod will be light because it is made of graphite. The higher the quality of graphite, the more sensitive and the more expensive. This all makes sense but then I started going down a rabbit hole of thought.

   For instance, for the past twenty years my "trout" rod has been a Shimano Clarus. I bought two of them so my son and I could use them together. They have gotten a lot of use catching hundreds of trout, white perch,  and every other panfish. I caught a ten pound striper on one of them and even my first five pound Largemouth ever. These rods cost me $60 each twenty years ago. So for sake of argument, they would be about $80 rods now. This would be on the low end of the price scale.

  The question becomes how many more fish would I have felt with a more sensitive rod? The truth is, one will never know. How can I know how many fish I missed because I couldn't feel them. But... I can tell you this, I bet I didn't miss any fish. Reeling in a Roostertail or a Kastmaster means my line was always tight. So if a fish hit my lure, I'm quite sure I felt it. After twenty years, I do want to upgrade my rods. My cork handles are almost black from sweat, my oils, fish slime, dirt, and every other imaginable element. The truth is I want a nice rod, but I really don't need one. I'm looking into getting a six foot St Croix. I've been eyeing it for weeks, but the truth is I seriously doubt I will catch more trout with it. 

   Thinking about this lead me to many conversations at work about sensitivity along with other deep thoughts. You can buy a four hundred dollar rod for fishing the surf. You can even buy a thousand dollar custom made rod. These rods are light and strong. Some are so sensitive that you can feel every vibration of a six inch paddle tail shad. But here is the question...do you need to? As Mike Wheeler pointed out when he is casting an eleven inch metal lip swimmer if he gets a hit he is going to know it. Any striper big enough to hit an eleven inch lure is going to try to pull the rod out of your hands. Does it matter if the guy using a hundred dollar Powerstick can't feel every vibration of the lure? The answer is no. He/she is going to feel the hit of any striper worthy of being caught no matter how cheap the rod. Now, I'm not faulting anyone for buy a five hundred dollar  Lamiglass. They are strong, light and extremely sensitive. They are a pleasure to fish with. I'm just saying sensitivity would be over rated when it comes to selecting a rod for stripers.

   This also got me thinking that sensitivity is not even a factor to guys fishing bait. If you are not holding your rod because it is in a sand spike or a Y bank holder than sensitivity isn't important at all. For that matter weight really isn't much of an issue either if you are only making a cast every ten minutes or so.

   Now don't get me wrong, while I am making an argument that in many cases sensitivity isn't as important as I had thought, I do like the feel of nice equipment. As I said, sensitive usually means lighter and better made. I'm just saying that you could get away with a cheaper rod and be plenty satisfied or at least never miss a fish.

   So when is sensitivity important? When it comes to freshwater fishing the answer is when you are fishing deep or with a slack line. For example, when fishing for Smallmouth in the summer they could be in twenty feet of water or more. You need to get your line down to their feeding zone. I would almost certainly put a grub on a jighead as my number one deep water lure. I want to be able to feel any pick up or bang by a smallmouth on that bait. I have to let it sink to the bottom and many times you can get a hit on the fall while your line is slack. While hopping it along the bottom, you twitch your rod tip quickly alternating between tight and somewhat slack line. I want to feel those hits. In that case, a sensitive rod will absolutely put more fish in the boat (or in my case kayak or canoe).

   Other bass fishing techniques that would require a sensitive rod would be casting jigs into cover, plastic worms on a Carolina or Texas Rig. Of course, Ned Rigs and Dropshot need a sensitive rod to be effective. 

  Another time when a sensitive rod would be handy is fishing bait from a boat. Whether it be straight down to catch Lake Trout or Haddock, if you are fishing deep you really want to feel the bait get taken. Species such as Tautog can have very subtle hits. In fifty feet of water with a cheap rod you could get your hook stripped of a crab and not even know it. 

   So what does this all mean? It means for many types of fishing you are not going to miss any fish because you do not have a three hundred dollar GLoomis. You are going to catch just as many trout on a Roostertail as "that guy". It also means that maybe if you you need to buy a couple of bass rods, you could spend a little less on a topwater rod ( where you can see a fish hit your lure) and a little more on the one made for lures twenty feet deep.

   I did this very thing. I hated a rod/ reel combo that I bought in March. I only used it once, I hated the color and the microguides. It didn't feel right. So I returned it and used the money to buy a top of the line sensitive rod ( I do get a hefty discount so  it only cost me an extra $16 after my refund). So I bought a Johnny Morris Platinum rod. This rod is really sensitive and I will be using for lures where I want to feel every tap. For lures such as topwaters or reeling in jerkbaits I'll use my cheaper rods.

   Hope this helps you save a little money when picking out a rod...unless you just want a really nice rod anyway. 

Freshwater Spinning Reels

 Working at Bass Pro Shops has meant that I have learned a  lot about gear. I take good care of my equipment so many of my reels are over ten to twenty years old. This has been great for my wallet but when it came to learning my job it meant that I had to learn about ALL of the new equipment. To be completely honest, if you came to the Reel Counter and asked about saltwater conventional reels I'd tell you straight out that they are not my strong suit and you know more than I do. I'd rather be truthful than bullshit you. However, I do know about all of our freshwater spinning reels and can get by with our baitcasters. 

  One thing you need to realize as you read this is... no  matter who you talk to at Bass Pro Shops or a tackle shop there is bias and strong opinions. Some guys have brand loyalty. The good news is the bias is usually based on experience and /or the experience of friends. Think about this, if I see three of the same rod come back to the store broken I'm going to quickly assume that rod is garbage. I won't recommend them to people. Another positive is that we aren't sponsored by anyone. Fishing pros get paid to use a product and promote that product. No one at Bass Pro has ever told me to push Bass Pro (or any other brand) products. We don't even get in trouble for talking people into cheaper equipment if it fits their budget (or level of experience). 

   With all of that said here are some general tips before I get into specific reels. Everyone I work with thinks Lew's reels are garbage. The most famous bass fisherman in the world, Kevin Van Dam, is sponsored by Lew's but everyone thinks it is overpriced junk. Shakespeare, Zebco, and Quantum sell either lower price gear or in Quantum's case they sold out to Zebco. The quality has gone down because of this. Abu Garcia is considered decent equipment but you can spend the same money on better equipment from other. Rands. The best companies are Shimano and Daiwa. Bass Pro reels are pretty good and they are actually made for us by Daiwa (shhh, our secret). Most of the newer companies such as Proficiency sell junk.  

    Lastly, before I begin, remember that all companies make cheap equipment and really expensive equipment. Just because a thirty dollar reel is made by Shimano does not mean it is good. An analogy that people can relate to are cars. Toyota makes great vehicles like Tundras and Camrys, but the also make the Yaris. You can't expect a Yaris to be as comfortable as a Camry. It can not be expected to last as long either. The same is true of reels. You do get what you paid for. However, after a certain point there are diminishing returns. I can promise you that a three hundred dollar freshwater reel is not twice as good as a one hundred and fifty dollar reel. 

     What makes a reel more expensive than the one next to it?

    I get that question a lot. The answers are this. More expensive reels are lighter. They have more ball bearings which makes them smoother. The more expensive reels also have higher quality ball bearings. This last fact is less known. When reading the description of a reel they will all tell you how many ball bearings they have, but you can't tell how good the quality is of them. There really isn't any way to tell. 

   When I was a kid, my mom would buy me a new reel at Benny's every spring. It would be a cheap reel about $15. She would tell me to take care of it. I would and it would last the summer. I'd put it in the shed for the winter. When we took it out the following spring it would undoubtably make some sort of clicking or hissing noise. The handle would no longer turn smoothly. She would get annoyed with me and we would repeat the cycle where she would buy me a reel and tell me to take better care of it. But I did take care of my reel. They were cheap reels and the one ball bearing would corrode and the guts would rust. It took me years to realize that I didn't do anything wrong. Don't expect to get years out of a twenty dollar reel. It just won't happen.

Under $50

   Please keep in mind when buying cheap reels, they won't last very long. Hope to get two or three years out of them. If you do, it is a win. The Daiwa Crossfire LT is probably the best reel at this price. It gets good reviews. The Bass Pro Tourney Special also gets very good reviews (the rod does not!). The only thing I don't like about the Tourney Special is that no matter the size, they are really on the same frame. The handle and body for a size ten (which should be for trout) is the same as the size 40. The only difference is the spool size. So I would go for the Daiwa LT. Any reels under this price are made. Any reel cheaper than the LT is made out plastic with really weak internals so don't expect it to last. 

$50-$80

   Despite being the second cheapest tier on the list, you can get a recent reel at this price point. In the same way teams look for "value" in the later rounds of the NFL draft, you can find good quality reels for under $80. Throughout most of my life this has been the price range of almost all of my reels. 

    The most popular reels we sell in this range are the Shimano Sedona, Pflueger President, Daiwa Regal, and Bass Pro Shops Carbonlite. To be honest, these four reels outsell all others combined including the other Bass Pro and Shimano cheaper reels. 

    I'll start with the President. Here is a situation where bias comes into play. We sell a lot of Presidents. It is a solid reel. It will last a long time. You could call it a "workhorse". I own two of them and I don't like them. A few years back I decided to treat myself and buy a new trout reel. So I bought a Pflueger President ( I don't remember when I got the second one). From the moment I bought it, I never liked it. I didn't like the look or the feel. If you read the reviews, they are generally fantastic. But for me, I didn't like the feel. With that said, do your own research and find out for yourself. You will probably like it far more than I do. Another added bonus is they go on sale quite often.

  The reel that I wanted to replace when I wanted to upgrade was the Shimano Sedona. I had it for fifteen years and  wanted something fresh. After buying my President and not liking it, I went right back to my Sedonas that I paid $60 for fifteen years earlier. I own three Sedonas. Two I bought for my trout rods (size 1500) and a 2500 that I found in a lake that I dried off and sprayed with grease. It has worked great for me. So needless to say, I am a huge fan of the older model Shimano Sedona.

   That said, the Sedona is closer to $100 now (it goes on sale for under $80 every couple of months). It is a good reel but the most expensive of this lot. I used to recommend it as the best reel in this price range, but because of the cost I think it is the third best.

   The Daiwa Regal is a damn good reel and may be the best reel under $100. If I didn't get a discount on Bass Pro brands, I would say of these four it is the best value. Although I'm only writing a few lines about it, is a damn good reel. The 3000 model weighs in at 7.8 ounces and has eight ball bearings. 

   The Bass Pro Carbonlite comes in at $80. I bought one in March and I love it. I love the 3000 size so much that I bought a 1500 for trout fishing ( to finally replace my old Sedona). The Carbonlite is really buttery smooth.  I promise that it you feel it, you'd be shocked at the cost. The drag on both the 2000 and 3000 is an amazing 22 pounds. Many saltwater reels do not have 22 pounds of drag. The other advantage is this reel is super light. Both of the above sizes weigh 7.4 and 7.8 ounces. The downside is that because of the wide spool (which makes it easy to cast and also a lot of line pick up per handle turn) it holds less line than others of equal size. As I said in the introduction, Daiwa makes Bass Pro spinning reels (shh!). The Carbonlite is basically a Daiwa Fuego that costs twenty dollars more. So you are getting a hundred dollar reel for eighty. As I said...value.

There are a ton of reels at each price range and there is no way that I could review them all. As I said, these are the most popular. Bass Pro makes another reel at about $80 called  the Pro Qualifier. I own five Pro Qualifier rods, but the truth is I do not like the reel at all. It feels heavy and cheap to me. But the part I really don't like is the oversized handle. The handle feels far too big for a reel of that size. The Daiwa Legalis is the reel in between the Regal and the Fuego. It is a very good reel but for reasons I really don't know, it is not a popular reel for us.  

$100-190

   While each manufacturer might have half a dozen models between $30-100  they only have a couple in each price range after that. Most companies make a model that is about a hundred dollars because that is a nice round number. 

  The Daiwa Fuego is a really good reel. As I said though, the Bass Pro Carbonlite is really a Fuego. However, if your brand loyalty is to Daiwa then you really can't go wrong for a buck ten. One huge advantage to the Fuego is that it does hold a ton of line.

    The Bass Pro Johnny Morris Signature reel is a hundred dollars. Compared to the Carbonlite, it has less drag and it is heavier. The Carbonlite's drag is 22 pounds while the Signature is only eleven. However, the added weight is because it has really good internals. It is really smooth reel and will last for a long time. I bought a 2000 size for my second trout rod

   I think the cream  of the crop of hundred dollar reels is the Shimano Nasci. I really like how this reel feels. It is as buttery smooth as the Carbonlite. Shimano has a habit of passing down reels to the next lower model when they upgrade a higher end reel. So this means that the Shimano Nasci at one point was really a Stradic a couple models ago. (with a few tweaks). So you are getting a great reel for a hundred dollars. It is slightly heavy. The 3000 model is 8.5 ounces but it does have twenty pounds of drag. 

   The most expensive reel I'll suggest in this price range is the Daiwa Procyon ($179) It is a top of the line reel at a modest price. It is light and silky smooth. 

   Believe it or not, there is actually a lot of crap in this price range. Lews and ProFISHancy make a lot of hundred to two hundred dollar reels. I've seen a lot of ProFISHancy reels and rods come back broken. I love the Johnny Morris Signature Series, but I am not a fan of our top of the line reel the Johnny Morris Platinum ($129). I was told that the gears can grind by a co-worker. Then a couple weeks later, I saw it for myself when a guy brought one in that he had for two weeks and it sounded like it was full of sand in the gears. The Shimano Miravel is a good reel but it is basically a Nasci with a graphite body. This cuts back on weight but in my opinion, it makes the reel weaker. 

Over $200

If you ask mw what my favorite reel is with the cost not being a factor it is the Shimano Stradic. The reel is not cheap. It costs $229. It is also not super light. It weighs 7.9 ounces. However, it is smooth. It is also a workhorse. I got one a month ago and although I can't vouch for its long term dependability yet, I can tell you how much I enjoy using it. I bought the 2500 model because I like the smaller handle that it comes with. It has a slightly smaller spool than the 3000 also. Other than that, it is the same reel. It has the same body, weight, and drag(twenty pounds).  Some people use the 4000 size in saltwater mostly from kayaks and catch very large fish. I watched a YouTube video where a guy frequently catches sixty pound Tarpon with it. I would never put a two hundred dollar freshwater reel in saltwater but it does show that the drag holds up to any fish that would swim in freshwater.

    The Stradic is the only reel in this category that I have personal experience with. However, the next Shimano up the ladder is the Vanford. It is basically a Stradic with a graphite body. It weighs under seven ounces. One of my co-workers has five of them. I'd worry about that graphite body like I would the Miravel but it is a top of the line reel.

   At this price range Bass Pro doesn't make any freshwater spinning reels. So the only reel that is comparable to the Stradic is the Daiwa Tatula. I will be honest with you, it is smoother than my Stradic. I like the Stradic more because I feel the reel is solid. But I would never try to argue against a Tatula. If someone offered me one with the receipt, I would not return or replace it. Great reel. 

  Summary

   There are reels more expensive than two hundred and thirty dollars. However, as I said at the beginning you are getting diminishing returns. For example, Shimano makes the $320 Sustain. I do not see any difference between it and my Stradic. I seriously doubt it could last much longer. For that matter, it is not three times better than a Nasci.  I also know that most fishermen are not going to ever need a $320 reel. 

   One thing to remember, the fishing gear industry is there to make money. A good reel may be twice as good as a shit reel, but only twenty five percent worse than a great reel. I advise you to reach the seventy dollar price range and buy a Fuego or Carbonlite if you want your gear to last. If you want to feel like you have a top of the line reel then a Stradic or Tatula may be the way to go. If you want something in between there really are a lot of good options. 

   

400!

 

I didn't get a photo of today's Stilt Sandpiper
but this is a photo I took of one a couple years
ago.

   Today I reached my 400th vertebrate for the year in New England. Getting my three hundred and sixty fifth bird on July 20th meant I had a pretty good shot at 400. This would have been much easier if Laurie wasn't wheelchair bound with a broken leg. 

   Still, I've gotten out on my days off from work setting her up in the morning before I leave for a half day. Since July 15, I have been going to Ninigret Pond and/or Napatree to find shorebirds. Birding has been terrible and I have missed way more species than I expected.

   On the other hand, I've seen a bunch of tropical fish while seining. On this quest I have gotten eleven lifer fish species and many others that I had only seen for the first time last year.

   My biggest nemesis has been Brown Bullhead. I've targetted them five times. Once I got blanked. Three times I was into White Perch so thick that any worm I casted was gone before it hit the bottom. Finally, the fifth time was the charm. I went to a pond that has catfish last night and had one within five minutes. Brown Bullhead species #399

  Today I had to lead a bird walk with my friend Danielle in Little Compton. I didn't really plan on getting anything new, but after the walk I was going seining with four other friends in Newport so I thought I'd have a good chance of seeing #400 today. But, it turned out the four hundredth species was a bird. At our second birding location we saw a Stilt Sandpiper. It was a far away look but the bill was unmistakable. So I can clearly count it. 

   Later on, I went seining with Dick, Marge, Louise and my seining partner Allison and didn't see much in the seine. However, the tidepools had some really cool tropicals. We saw two species of Butterflyfish, Spotfin and Four Eyed. We also saw a juvenile Snowy Grouper. We didn't get photos of any of these fish but I encourage you to Google them. They are all very pretty. 

By the numbers

Birds 288 (252 in RI)

Mammals 25

Herps 25

Fish 64

Skimmers and Seahorses

 At some point I plan on doing a blog post discussing freshwater spinning reels. However, life is still getting in the way and I have been extremely busy. I have gotten out a few times since my last post. Mostly seining and failing at catching some target species with hook and line.

   During my adventures, I have gotten lucky with two things, I've gotten some amazing photos of wildlife. While my camera sucks compared to my old one, the light has been great and I have gotten photos far better than I thought when I was taking them. The second thing is that when I've gone seining I have gotten lucky with some cool species. The coolest was a Seahorse. More precisely, three Seahorses. 

    Last week I met my friend Allison for a day at the ocean. The first stop was Napatree Point in the hopes that Black Skimmers would still be there. They had been around for a couple of days so I was nervous they would take off over night. However, we got lucky. There were five juveniles in the lagoon. Once they woke up, they went flying around and skimming the water to catch food. The birds were close and the light was great. Photos below and then after that...the Seahorses. 

After we left Napatree we went seining at different places. We went to multiple spots in Ninigret Pond and at Quonny Pond. In one of our seines we hauled up three Seahorses. We were both really excited and high fives were had. We were very careful with them and took quick photos while they were out of the water. He put them back quickly and they swam off. I was surprised at how big they are. One of them went eight inches or more. The other two were over six inches. We also got some other fish but that is for another day.

When life gets in the way...

 I am not a fan of real life getting in the way of my nature. The last month has been really hard since Laurie has had some serious medical issues which lead to a broken foot. She has been in either a hospital or rehab (not drug rehab) since July 15th. So if you are wondering why I haven't written much, I've spent almost all of my time either working, sleeping, or visiting. 

   While none of us wants to deal with health issues of our own or loved ones, I realized something... when I'm birding, fishing, hiking, etc... for me it is real life. I don't look at those things as something I do when I can but rather something I need to do to be human. It was an interesting realization, but I think it is probably true for anyone passionate about their hobbies. Our hobbies are just as important to us as our jobs, wealth and maybe even family and health. I mean, when I was injured, I can't tell you how many times I dreamed of albies or how heartbreaking it was for me when I couldn't chase a rare bird. Health first, yes, but then love life.

 Anyway, I have gotten to sneak off a couple of times since July 15. I figured I'd share a few photos of some cool things that have been around

 

 I've actually gotten two lifers since Laurie got hurt. The first was the famous Flamingo that has been vacationing in the Northeast. I got to see it on the first day it was in Rhode Island. My phone blew up with reports of it from everyone that knows I'm a birder. Today I got to see a  Lark Bunting. This is a midwestern bird. It was in Norton and I went to it after visiting Laurie right before dark. Weird, everyone told me about the Flamingo, but no one has sent me messages about a Bristol County first bunting. On a downside, I didn't have a memory card in my camera today.

  Last week I went snorkeling and seining with Allison O'Connor and seining with Louise. This is the time of year when tropicals get lost in the Gulf Stream and make it to New England. The day did not disappoint. The only bad part of the day was I dipped on catching a Dogfish at Fort Adams despite hearing they are so plentiful they are a nuisance. 

The most beautiful fish I saw was a Beau Gregory. They are a stunning tropical fish that I saw snorkeling. I don't have an underwater camera so I didn't get any photos.

Crevalle Jack

Mojarra species

Pompano

Permit

Same Permit

   I've been leaving my minnow trap in the water hoping to catch this little native. It is a Banded Sunfish (in bad light). It took weeks of baiting it up everyday. It only had any species of fish a few times but it had crawfish every time I checked it. One day when I threw the crawfish back in the water a Bullfrog that I hadn't seen hopped over and devoured it. So after that whenever I caught crawfish, I always threw one over to my new friend. I fed it all summer. 

Below is the friendliest Buff Breasted  Sandpiper ever. For three days it would walk right up to anyone sitting still. It got so close to me I could have pet it. 

This morning I went and saw baby Diamondback Terrapins as they were hatching. With the addition of the Terrapins and the lifer Lark Bunting I am up to 381 New England vertebrates for the year

Short Bigeye

 

Both photos by P Carl

   Today I got another lifer and it was a tropical fish that most certainly got caught up and took a ride on the Gulf Stream. The species is known as a Short Bigeye. They get to twelve inches or so. When they are adults they live in six hundred feet of water on the Continental Shelf in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. It stands to reason that the big eye is so they can find food in the deep  almost dark water of the deep

   As with many of these southern species, I had never heard about them until a couple weeks ago. They have been showing up in Rhode Island and on Facebook. Apparently, enough got swept up the coast that people have been running into them.

   Thursday I got a phone call from my friend Carlos that he was seeing a bright orange tropical fish. I had remembered seeing this fish on Facebook and sent a photo to him and my friend Sue and that is what they thought they saw.

 

Today I went to the mudflats looking for birds and hoping the fish were there. I brought my seine just in case. Myself, Sue, Carlos, and another birder named Carl caught six of them in one swoop of the seine. We took a bunch of photos though mine are terrible. Luckily, Carl took a lot of photos and many came out great. The two photos in this post are his.

   Juvenile tropical fish end up dying when the water temps drop in the fall. They don't have a chance to make it back into warm water. Because of this, the fish we caught today were donated to a local aquarium. This way the fish get a second chance at life and the public gets to see them.

Saw two new birds today. Up to 372 species.

Tell me you don't know how to fish without telling me you don't know how to fish...

    Working at Bass Pro Shops the past few months has put me in contact with fishermen from all skill levels from pros to people that are buying their first fishing pole.  I have literally had hundreds of people come up to me and ask advice on their first pole. I've had mothers and fathers ask me what to buy their kid and I've had retirees tell me they want to get back into fishing for the first time in forty years. I am certainly not going to make fun of their ignorance. We all have to start somewhere.  Whether you are a six year old or a sixty year old picking up a new hobby, you need to build a foundation based on info and learning through repetition.

    However, many of these one on one conversations are exactly the same. I find myself telling ten different customers the exact same thing on a busy Saturday. While many people will tell me straight out they know nothing about fishing, you'd be surprised at how many others will pretend they know what they are doing. Here are some interactions that I have on a regular basis and some funny stories...

   Everyday I have multiple people come up to me and ask what they should buy. When they say they want a pole for "just for pond fishing". They always say "just" and they don't say freshwater or lake, they say "pond". This ALWAYS translates to... they do not expect to catch anything big so direct them to the cheapest pole in the store. These people do not want to spend any money on a pole, but since they don't own one, the cheaper the better.

   You'd be surprised at how many people actually think "Ugly Stick" are good rods. We sell ten or more a day. Some of our employees recommend them just because the rod is not going to break. The reel is junk though. I hate selling the combos to people because there are way better products for only ten dollars more.

On a regular basis, usually on Friday's (before people start vacation) people will come up to me and tell me they want a single rod for both fresh and saltwater. They don't understand that a freshwater rod will corrode in saltwater or that saltwater fish (and live bait) are too big for freshwater gear. Despite my explanation, I've had to sell rods far too big for freshwater to people that were going to use it in both ponds and the oceans. I've sold freshwater combos that I know were going to get used at the Cape Cod Canal.

  You'd be surprised at how many people ask where the saltwater line is or the freshwater line. To which I explain to them their choice is mono or braid and the line can be used in both the ocean and ponds.

   I had a guy on Friday come in with two junky rods. One was a six foot spinning rod with a 4000 series reel and an extremely light baitcasting rod that was falling apart. The line was a total bird's nest. He wanted me to put six pound fluorocarbon on both rods and got me a 250 yard spool of Vanish. The spinning reel could easily take over 400 yards of six pound line. I explained to him that both rods should take twelve pound line and that fluoro casts like crap because it is stiff. He wanted the fluoro because it was invisible underwater. He was going to Long Island and using the rods for fishing a lake and a bridge over a saltwater channel! So I told him these rods were not made for the salt to which he didn't care. I also explained if he got a two pound fish from the bridge he would break the six pound line trying to hoist it up. He did end up getting twelve pound line. BUT he had me use the 250 yard spool of Vanish for both reels. When I was done, the spinning reel was only one third spooled at best. There was a half inch of empty space between the line and the edge of the spool.

   Understandably, but so many people do not know that a baitcasting rod has a trigger and spinning rods don't. I show at least three people a day the correct way to hold a spinning combo. 

   You'd be amazed at how many people buy rods based on color. We sell these junk "Krazy color" combos. We sell bright orange baitcasters. People buy these things based on color even though they could get stuff so much better for cheaper.

   Combining the last two thoughts, I had a guy come up to me right before close last week who wanted me to "show him the most expensive rod" so I brought him to the G Loomis rods for freshwater. He then decided he was going to buy a baitcast rod (with a trigger) for a spinning reel. I explained why this wouldn't work (for one, you hold the spinning reel upside down and a baitcasting reel  reel side up) Not to mention the trigger! Then he told me he was going to use it in both fresh and salt. Then he wanted to see "the most expensive saltwater surf rod". Jesus, I wanted to get away from this idiot. He then proceeded to tell me he bought one of those Krazy Color spinning rods at Dick's last week and asked my opinion. While I did sugar coat it a little, I did tell him it wasn't good quality. He would be better off returning it and even if he couldn't get his money back maybe get store credit.

   Yes there's more... he then decided he was going to get a Krazy Color baitcaster (right after I told him it was junk) as a "back up rod" So I explained that there is huge learning curve and he would get tangles. Also, it wouldn't be a "back up" because a baitcaster is made to do different things than a medium spinning rod. So, he could buy a second rod, but it really wouldn't be a back up. He ended up buying the junk Krazy Color baitcaster anyway. I learned a very important lesson not to waste time with morons. Let them buy whatever the hell they want.

   You'd be amazed how many people have more money than brains. A guy that owns a high end auto dealership ( BMZ, Mercedes, etc...) came in one day after catching his first fish. It was a striper and he was hooked. He came in with his wife and three kids. He bought all the kids push button poles. However, for himself he wanted to buy a thousand dollar Shimano Stella. One of our employees talked him down to a nice $260 Saragosa. Still, they guy wanted the Stella right up till he paid. 

   We had a guy put 80 pound braid on a small baitcasting reel. I doubt it held forty yards.

    We had a guy put a 5000 size reel on an ultralight trout rod with heavy braid. His target...squid.

   Lastly, a Portuguese man and his wife came in yesterday. His race only matters because he was going on a trip to Portugal. He had huge reel for thirty years that finally died. Obviously, that reel has been discontinued for twenty or more years so he was looking for something similar. He was talking to my boss and he wanted a reel that would be huge for tuna. Think about an eighteen wheeler for carrying your lunch. The reel he was looking for could hold 600 yards of 50 pound mono (yes  600 yards, and yes, mono, not braid). Then my boss asked him what he was fishing for and he said and I'm quoting "small fish like fluke". Good lord!!!

   

Operation 365!!!

 Since January 1 I have been on a quest. I've told very few people about it and even most of my close birding friends don't know. I have spent the last six and a half months trying to see 365 species of vertebrates in New England this year. I chose 365 because that would mean getting an average one species a day for the year. I originally had hoped for 350, but I got that the end of June so I knew 365 was very doable. 

  Today I hit the magical 365 with a very magical bird. The first ever American Flamingo to land in RI since records of such things were kept was my three hundred and sixty fifth vertebrate species this year! This Flamingo has been hanging around the Northeast for a month now. It touched down on a Cape Cod Beach twice but has spent most of its time on Long Island. Today it showed up in Little Compton. I got to see it along with very few other birders because it was at a private beach. I got very lucky.

   I've actually been at 364 since July 9th. I could have ended it very easily by catching a very common Brown Bullhead catfish. I didn't try because I didn't want Brown Bullhead to be the winning species. I wanted it to be something special. I got a Common Galinule a few days ago but I had to take a Boat Tailed Grackle off of my list the same day. I'd say Flamingo counts as special. 

   This journey required a lot of research but more than that it required planning. The most important factor was staying true to nature's calendar. For example, birding as much as I could in May was a no-brainer. But there were many other much smaller windows to get specific targets. Herring only run upstream in the spring. My only chance to see Sea Lamprey was at a fish ladder in Manchester in late May. The easiest Spotted Salamanders would be during a rainy night in March. Wood Frogs are in vernal pools for a short time. The list goes on. 

   I planned as many of these events as I could. If I felt the urge to go trout fishing but the weather was good for looking for snakes, I looked for snakes. I purposely took off the six weeks after May from birding to look for herps, go seining, and day trips. Since May, Laurie and I took a trip to Boston to see Italian Wall Lizards, went up to Maine on a Puffin Cruise (got four targets) and went to NH for NH specialty birds, Eastern Newt, and fish. 

 

 One thing I tried to do was bundle. I wanted to keep my driving/gas expenses down as much as possible. I would spend an entire day off in nature. I'd bird in the morning, go seining in the late morning, and try for herps around lunch time into the afternoon. I went to New Hampshire trying to get all of my species in one trip, but my car radiator and a couple of dips foiled that plan. Still, I had very productive days getting a large variety of species.

    I also put myself in places where I had a good chance to see things I couldn't easily see. At Bioblitz I got ten species most of them were fish. The reason was that RI DEM used a hundred foot seine to haul in a lot of species. They also set out lobster pots and when they brought them in, I got Sea Bass and Scup. My Puffin boat had four species. The whale watch I went in April had seven mammal and two birds. The whale watch I went on last week had the other two Shearwaters I needed.

If I was going to chase a single species, I wanted it to be either a lifer vertebrate or a state bird. I wanted to see many new species as I could. This meant I had to get off of my butt when a rarity showed up in Rhode Island. This has worked out far better than I could have hoped. I've gotten ten lifer birds so far this year and one state bird for RI (Black Necked Stilt).  For the sake of records the lifer birds I've seen so far this year are- MacGillivary Warbler, Northern Shrike, Little Gull, Hermit Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, White Winged Dove, Mottled Duck, Swallow Tailed Kite, South Polar Skua, and the Flamingo. 

Eastern Chubsucker

 
 


I knew going in that the wildcard would be fish. I know that I would get somewhere between 250-280 birds. I know what mammals, reptiles, and amphibians I could get within ten. Fish were the wildcard. I've caught in my best year 33 species in New England, I knew that would be an impossible number. To catch that many, I'd have to take too much time away from other animals. I couldn't spend days trying for a Bowfin when I could get five or more birds in that time. However, I have a new weapon, a seine. This allows me to catch small little fish I could never get on a hook. With the seine or with RI DEM I've seen twenty three fish species. I've also caught sixteen while fishing. There are certainly a lot more species out there so fish will still be the great variable (along with winter birds I missed) on what I end up with. Five of the fish are lifers (Smallmouth Flounder, Rainwater Killifish, Four Spined Stickleback, Sheepshead Minnow, and Eastern Chubsucker). All but the Smallmouth Flounder were in my seine. The flounder was at BioBlitz.

By the numbers... 

   Birds    276  (240 in RI, the other 36 in other states but not RI)

   Mammals 21 (one lifer Red Backed Vole)

   Reptiles     12

   Amphibians   11

   Fish               45

   Total lifers    15

Dips...

    Obviously, on a quest like this you are not going to bat 1.000. There are going to be dips. For fish, my biggest dip was American Shad. I tried for them at the Merrimack River and a fish ladder but never saw one. I tried for Northern Pike but since I had never caught one, I really don't look at it as a failure. For herps, I've tried for Green Snake a dozen times without success.  For mammals, I have very few rodents and didn't see a moose or bear in NH, I got very lucky on whale watches and even saw my only coyote from the deck of a whale watch boat.  

  I didn't get a chance to try for Bicknell's Thrush in NH. While I was in New Hampshire Merlin picked up Ruffed Grouse in the place I was looking for them. Despite my best concentration, I did not here them so I didn't count it. At that place (Pondicherry) I did get Mourning Warbler, Alder Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Purple Finch, and Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, so I'm not complaining.

   The one person that I talked extensively about my gameplan was Charles Avenego. I bounced ideas off of him multiple times a week for the last few months on  Messenger. I explained gameplans and listened to advice. I didn't always follow his advice. Even when I didn't, he has always been supportive and congratulated me on my victories. Thanks buddy!

Easy ones left...

   By far the easiest species left would be Brown Bullhead. There are other easy fish like Yellow Bullhead and White Catfish. I'd probably see Cod and other bottom fish on a Cod Boat and the Cape Cod Canal usually has a run of Mackerel in the summer and another in winter. I also haven't seen Bay Anchovies or Menhaden.

  I've got most of the easy herps, but I'd like to chase some of the harder ones but they require long drive to Connecticut or the Berkshires. Most of those would be lifers. I can get Leopard Frog at Great Meadows in August. I also need Diamondback Terrapins which will require a special trip but should be pretty easy. I'll keep plugging away at Green Snake

The easiest birds left are shorebirds. I should be able to pick up another five between shorebirds and terns. More if I get lucky. I missed a few winter birds, so I'll be doing this up until December 31. 

 You can't really predict mammals. I was told where otters live but haven't gone to look yet. I want to buy a small mammal live trap to try to catch different small rodents. That would be the biggest variable on adding to my number. Other than that, I am going on a bat walk on Saturday. So I could get lucky and see a species with people capable of identifying them.