Going back...

When I was a teenager my mom bought an aluminum rowboat and a 6 horsepower Evenrude from one of her friends. My dad had a friend that lived on Falls Pond. Mr. Gibny was nice enough to let me keep my boat there all summer. I would fish from that rowboat every night. Before my parents bought that boat all I knew of fishing was how to drown worms. I would fish any chance I got but it was always fishing worms on the bottom. At the same time, I graduated 8th grade. My mom gave me a choice of a new cd player or $50 to buy anything I wanted. I bought my first $50 worth of lures. I bought a couple topwater lures, spoons, and crankbaits.

A few days after I bought my lures, I was fishing in Falls Pond. I caught a 13 inch largemouth. For whatever reason, I thought this fish was huge. I had caught big perch before. I guess seeing the big mouth made me think " trophy". I put it in a bucket and had my mom bring me to Airport Bait Shop to get it weighed. Although I thought I had a five pounder, it ended up being 1 pound 3 ounces. Realizing that I did not have a monster, I brought it back to the lake and let it go. For the next 7 years I was out in the boat almost every night fishing for largemouth bass. Falls Pond does not have a lot of bass and for that matter, very few large ones. Still I have so many great memories from those times. Most nights I'd only get between two- four fish and if I got a 14 incher it would be a good night.

This lasted way longer for me than most teenagers. I fished so often, I was naive to the fact that most of my classmates were at parties drinking on Friday nights. When I got a serious girlfriend, of course I spent time with her, and fishing went to the back burner.

Fast forward a few years after that. When DJ became old enough we went fishing all the time. Because the rowboat and motor were no longer around, a new Coleman canoe became our mode of transportation around lakes. We fished everywhere from Peters Pond in Sandwich to Lake Chauncy in Westboro. We were always looking for largemouth bass. We took trips to New Hampshire putting the canoe in smaller lakes in search of smallmouth. We had a great time and made a lot of memories

Then... I discovered stripers. I fell in love with striped bass almost instantly. It was amazing to me that the smallest stripers were bigger than anything I was catching in freshwater. Almost overnight, I gave up freshwater fishing to concentrate on stripers. I learned as much about stripers as fast as I could. Over winters I would scout out new places to fish for them.

Then... I discovered carp. Carp are as big as stripers, yet they live in freshwater. Actually if you count all the schoolie stripers, carp probably are of a much larger average size. Between carp and stripers I completely stopped fishing for largemouth bass. I would go a couple years at a time without fishing for them. Even when we put the canoe in freshwater, we usually did like we did the other night. Using small jigs catching a variety of small fish.

Fast forward to the present...

Gas is ridiculous. It used to cost me exactly $22 to go to Narragansett. I could buy 4 eels for six dollars and gas would cost me $14. I almost always caught fish. When I didn't catch fish it was usually because my spots were to rough due to offshore storms. Now to go to 'Gansett its roughly $30 not including eels. Fishing is not as good and the possibility of a skunking is extremely high.

I love going to New Hampshire, but realistically, I can't be doing that every week. If I could I would. I get more satisfaction catching brook trout on my fly rod, than I do just about anything else. Trout fishing in southern Massachusetts is just about over.

So... lately I have been going back to my roots. Saturday DJ and I fished Lake Mirimichi for small fish. Between us we caught 40 fish, mostly crappie. If you read that post, you know he killed me. Today I went out bass fishing in the rain. Using my favorite lures of Zara Puppy and a weightless rubber worm, I caught 5 bass and 3 pickrel in about two hours. The fish were really biting, but without my raincoat and my canoe flooding, there was only so much I could stand.

So I think, I am going to be spending a lot more time fishing for bass. Most of the lakes close to home have a lot of bass. Although there are some lunkers in all the lakes, quantity is what I will be fishing for. Lake Mirimichi, Turnpike Lake, and Norton Reservoir are loaded with bass and pickerel. Over the summer I will still carp fish and I want to go catfishing a few times. I do think you will see more lake reports from me about bass lakes. I'll let you know what I caught them on. I know I had fun catching bass today and it was a lot cheaper and a lot less effort than driving to Narragansett.

The picture is of a 14 inch bass caught today. Notice the rain drops. It just started raining while I was reeling this guy in. Then it really started to pour.

DJ is Killing Me Fishing

I haven't gone out much the last week fishing nearly as much as I would like. With the combination of friends coming over, giving DJ rides and still having this nasty head cold, life has not been about fishing to much. That said, I have gotten out twice since I got home from New Hampshire. Both times DJ has gone with me.

Saturday night we put the canoe in Lake Mirimichi which I think is on the Plainville/ Foxboro line. We brought 4 rods. Two equipped for bass fishing and two rigged with a small shad body and 1/16 oz. jighead for panfish. We never actually ended up bass fishing. The fish were hitting the shad really well. The nice thing about the little shad is anything will hit it. Although we usually use the 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch sizes, you wouldn't believe the variety of fish that will hit it. Big fish will hit it also.The first five pound bass I ever caught was on a two inch shad body and a small jig.

On this Saturday night DJ and I made a one dollar bet on who would catch the most fish. Usually its pretty close when we make this bet. The winner winning by a fish or two. Using the small bait usually means catching a lot of fish. To win, twenty fish is most likely needed. Well I only ended up with thirteen. DJ caught 27! He caught four different species. Largemouth bass, crappie, sunfish and yellow perch. For both of us the dominant species was crappie. It just so happened he doubled me plus one.

On Sunday I was getting texts from my friend Jeff Henderson that bass and blues were busting bait all over a spot in Barrington. I could not go because I had dropped my car at the mechanic Sunday afternoon to be fixed Monday ( my check engine light from my New Hampshire trip). Jeff ended up catching 18 stripers and blues. My car was fixed Monday so I went to Barrington Monday night hoping but not counting on a repeat performance from the fish. Jeff brought his son Matt and I brought DJ.

There were some fish around but they were not thick by any means. Once every ten minutes or so one of us would get a hit. All four of us caught fish. DJ, again, did the best. He landed three fish. Two blues and a striper. We think his striper although by no means a monster was the biggest of the night.

Although DJ likes fishing, like all teenagers he has different priorities. Getting him to go usually involves buying him food first. Sometimes he goes when he has nothing better to do.Looking back at fishing reports through this season, he is having a very good year