Jacked Up!!!

For the past two weeks I have been fishing for carp and trout. Most days were decent with the occasional goose egg to remind me Mother Nature is all powerful. Mixing in some birding with the fishing and I can safely say I've had a good time. However, today was different.

Today I went striper fishing. I got a call to see if  I wanted to go fish for holdovers ( sorry guys, the "fresh" fish were not here quite yet, although the countdown is on). I jumped on the opportunity to fish for stripers before the invite was finished. Then after I already committed, he told me that a lot were caught over the weekend.

Well, I'll tell you what. At that point my heart started racing and my adrenaline started flowing. I had the exact same feeling one would have when they open up their last Christmas gift and inside are tickets to Disney World. No joke, no over the top exaggeration. I was so excited. I can't even explain why striper fishing, even for holdover schoolies gets me so jacked up, but it does. 

So we go fishing. We don't get anything for an hour. But, I don't care. I'm fishing a backwater. I have my new seven foot rod that I only bought  two weeks ago. No fish, but I am on cloud nine. Then Dave hooks a fish. It's a tiny little guy. We wonder how a fish that small ever migrated up the coast, nevermind over wintered in New England. Then nothing for a few minutes then a bump, then a hook up. I'm on! I reel in my first striper of the season. 

After my first striper, Dave goes on a run of four consecutive fish and a few other hits. For me, nothing. I start to wonder at first to myself then out loud if he is getting so many fish and I'm not because I'm using braid. Then boom! I get a real solid hook up. It's not a big fish, but it is spirited. I release it.

And for the next 90 minutes we catch stripers. They are not big but they are plentiful. We catch an embarrassingly lot of fish. Neither of us go three consecutive casts without a hit. Truthfully, I'd have been happy to get four or five fish combined. We got twelve times that. Then as quickly as it started, it was over. We fished the last ten minutes without a bite. Did the fish move on? Did they just stop feeding? These are important questions that we discussed. Of course, we will never know the true answer. 

What I do know is the striper season has started for us. I enjoy fishing for carp and trout. I get a thrill out of catching exotic fish such as bowfin, landlocked salmon, and even weird green sunfish. But to catch those seven lined bass on a warm spring evening. That is something I love.

A Big Day for Small Adventures

Don't worry, I wasn't squeezing him tightly. It was released none the
worse for wear

I had planned on going to Wachusetts Reservoir today. The weather was supposed to be around 50 degrees and overcast. That would be very good conditions for salmon and lakers. I don't do very well at the "chu" under the best of conditions. So when I woke up to a beautiful sunny spring day I knew my slim chances of catching anything went down to none. The problem was, I didn't have a back up plan so I lollygagged around the house until almost 11 am. During that time I did look some stuff up on the computer and came up with some ideas.

The first thing I did was go fishing in a small pond that was stocked with brook trout. I used my fly rod and caught four trout in roughly 45 minutes (olive beadhead hairs ear, size 14) The little pond is in an urban area. I am pretty sure there is going to be a youth fishing tournament there this weekend. Because of that fact, I did not try to catch every trout in the pond. Only hooking four fish should leave plenty for kids to catch that do not have sore mouths.

By the time I left the pond it was almost noon. My next stop was an hour ride. I wanted to get some
pictures of the King Eider I saw at the Cape Cod Canal. The day I saw it, it was snowing. The sky was a dark grey. I hoped with today's bright blue sky I could get some wall hangers  of the duck. It was in the same area I had seen it before but a little further from shore. The wind was howling making for some rough conditions in the canal. I took about 85 pictures and deleted almost seventy of them. It was tough to focus because the bird was bobbing up and down in the waves.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching the ducks. I planned on spending about 30 minutes there. I ended up staying 90 minutes. Time just flew by.

After I left the King Eider I took the very long way home via Tiverton. A friend of mine from the Ocean State Bird Club posted that three Glossy Ibis were seen in Tiverton. I think they are a cool bird and hoped to see them. I went to the spot they were reported. The ibis weren't there however a lot of other birds were. I saw about a dozen Greater Yellowlegs, a Northern Pintail, Green Wing Teal,
and a pair of Northern Shovelers. The Shovelers alone would have been worth the trip.

Since I was in the area I made a quick stop at an Audubon refuge in the area. There are two Yellow Bellied Sap Suckers at the refuge. I have seen them a couple times. That said I have looked for them dozens of times. Needless to say I didn't see them again today. I did see a first of the year Great Egret.

Not a great picture of the Pintail, but it was the best I got

Remember the post I wrote that something good usually happens? Well, I didn't see the Sapsuckers, but while looking for them I came upon a flock of turkeys. Leading the pack was a huge blue headed gobbler. I couldn't get any pictures because they were in thick brush, but it was really cool to see him strut his stuff.

I got back on the highway about 4 pm. I thought about carp fishing with my friend Dave in the evening. I was going to ask him if he was going to be fishing in  the area. As I was thinking about it, he called and invited me to go fishing with him. Unfortunately, where he decided to go fishing was almost a two hour drive from Tiverton.. So I decided to do something else I thought of. I explored vernal pools.

I went to a state park that Dave had told me was loaded with vernal pools. I was hoping to see some

One of the bigger vernal pools

wood frogs or get really lucky and see a spotted salamander. Well I found vernal pools. Some were on the trails, others were in valleys off the trail. I ended up finding seven. Unfortunately not a frog was to be had. I didn't see any movement in any of the pools.I did come across a Veery in the woods. It started to rain around 6:15 pm and I had my big camera with me so I headed back to the car. Thus ending a big day for small adventures!

Veery

Carp Fishing every night

I guess when I don't write a post for a while, I feel like I should. I don't know if anyone cares or not if I go a few days without writing.  One thing writing blog posts does is make it easy to look up things I want to remember. These posts are basically journal entries so if I want to find the date I caught a certain species, it is easy.   As for the last few days, one thing I can tell you, despite very moody weather, my evenings after work have been the same- carp fishing.

I've gone carp fishing five times since Friday. I've fished in a snow squall, a downpour, misty days, and one rather nice evening. You would think the fishing would be at worst awful or at best, inconsistent. However, I have found the exact opposite to be true. I've gone carp fishing seven times since March 27. I have only blanked once in that time. The goose egg was last night (Tuesday). However my friend Dave got a 14 pounder, so although I didn't get one, fishing wasn't bad that night either.

I  got my season's biggest (18 pounds) during the snow squall. I haven't been killing them since my best nights have averaged two fish. Still, considering the extremely cold water for April, I will gladly take it.

All of my fish have been caught on sweet corn fished behind a method ball. I am using a size 8 hook.  I use a hair rig all of the time. I have decided to use a method ball one hundred percent of the time this year even in spots that historically they have not been needed.

I am really hoping the warm weather early next week gets the bigger carp active. I plan on putting in some serious time over the next ten days. Although I do not plan on abandoning carp like I did last year once the stripers come in, I'm sure that is all I will think about. Until then, I'm enjoying my evenings chasing carp.

Something good usually happens

If you read my last post, you see that I had a miserable day fishing for trout but later that evening had a great experience catching my first ever goldfish.  Obviously, for me, that was something I will always remember and will most likely be one of the things I am grateful for on my annual Thanksgiving Day post. That said, I'll let you in on a secret of mine. I fully believe that I will have something memorable happen more than fifty percent of the time when I'm outside. I'm not going to tell you every fishing trip is great or every hike is world class. What I can say without hesitation,  something good usually happens.

Usually when I go out after work or on a day off whether it be fishing, birding, or hiking there will be something that will make that trip worthwhile. Rarely (but it does happen) will I drive home totally frustrated thinking I completely wasted my time. On the other hand more often than not I drive home thinking "wow, that was awesome" about something.

Obviously, when we have great days fishing, we all remember that. I'm not going to tell you more than half of my fishing trips are spectacular because that would be a bold face lie. What I mean is, while I'm fishing something memorable will happen. Sometimes of course, that "something" will be a huge fish,or a blitz will happen right in front of you.  You might even miss the fish, but you will never forget the splash.Other times fishing might not be very good but an eagle will fly by. I might be fishing in Charlestown and see half a dozen shooting stars. On the drive home from a spot I might see a coyote. One time I was striper fishing with eels and caught a four foot shark!

When you do a big trip, you are bound to have some memorable experiences. I could probably name five awesome things about each of my camping trips to New Hampshire last year. And of course one of the highlights of 2016 was looking for a rare loon and watching whales feed just offshore at Race Point.

Still, even when doing everyday outdoor activities good stuff usually happens. How many times have you walked in the woods and spooked a deer? To me, that makes the walk totally worth it. I don't know how many times I've had days where the fish weren't biting, but I'd see a wild animal or cool bird. Sometimes you can be at the right place at the right time. One day last June I tried bait fishing for tautog but all I could catch were bait stealing choggies. Finally in the late afternoon I tried for stripers hoping to get one or two. It so happened that the National Guard Airshow was going to be the next day. While I was fishing, I watched a plane drop out parachuters. They practiced their jump. I also watched one of those small engine trick planes practice over the Atlantic Ocean. I did end up catching two schoolies to salvage the fishing for that day, but honestly, watching those planes was way more exciting.

Today was no different. I got a call to see if I wanted to go fishing. I had woken up expecting snow on the ground but it was barely sprinkling out. This screwed up my day, since I was expecting to be house ridden all day, I didn't plan on doing anything. When I got the phone call, I jumped right on the idea of going fishing. The conditions were terrible. It rained and sleeted for most of the trip. The air temp was about 35 degrees and the wind was in our face. But you know what? The fish were biting. We each caught two carp and a sucker.

Suckers- either you think they are kind of cute or homely

You might ask what is so memorable about that? Well, for starters we caught fish when we both didn't expect anything. No one expects to catch open water fish when ice is falling from the sky. Secondly, I caught my first sucker of the year. Third, we watched a muskrat swim by us multiple times To top it off I caught a carp just under 20 pounds. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.If you add all of those things together, even watching a muskrat swim around  made for a day I won't soon forget.  Of course, I'd have been warmer indoors, but I had the rest of the day to warm up.

So today was a day I will always remember. Truth is most days will have something worth remembering. I could go on and on with a hundred cool memories from the last year, and thousands over the last few years.
The point I'm trying to make here is if you go outside good things are going to happen. You will never know what surprise awaits you at the next fishing hole or around the next bend if you sit at home watching tv. Good things are waiting, get outside.

A golden reward after a long day

I had today off from work. I planned on trout fishing all day. The weather was going to be sunny in the low 50's. Friday's forecast is for 2-6 inches of snow/rain mix, So I figured I'd better get out and enjoy today. When I go on trout adventures I either make a day of it down the Cape or Plymouth. Today I chose Plymouth simply because it was closer.

The lakes kicked my ass today. I tried four different ponds and fished about 4.5 hours. The only fish I caught was an 8 inch largemouth on a spinner. I tried all types of lures including spoons, spinners, casting bubble/fly. I even stooped so low as to use Powerbait. Nothing. I probably saw fifteen other guys fishing today and never saw another fish caught. My theory is I never found schools of fish. I can't believe that fish in four ponds casting everything I had at them were just "fussy". Whether my theory is right or not, the only thing I came home with was a big goose egg.

Believe it or not, when I was about ready to come home I texted my friend Dave to see if he was going carp fishing in the evening. Maybe I'm a sucker for punishment. He called me up a few minutes later and told me he was skiing but planned on fishing on his way home. This was a good idea for him. The pond was only a few minutes off of the highway. Yesterday he caught over 20 fish at this spot!!!

For me, if I wanted to fish with him it meant driving another hour in the direction opposite of Plymouth. He called me back when I was in a mile long traffic jam at the rotary in Middleboro. I told him, at beast the chances of me going were 50/50.

I  got home about 4 pm. I sat in the house wondering what I'd do if I didn't go out again. The thought that Dave caught twenty fish and a goldfish kept running through my mind. So I was off again at 4:45.

Man am I glad I went. When I got there Dave had already landed 8 fish. He ended up getting about five more while I was there. I did not catch a carp. However, I caught my first two goldfish ever. I have wanted to catch these guys for years. I was fishing with Dave one night a few years ago and he caught a few of them. He knew how bad I wanted to catch one so he had me cast right in his spot. He continued catching them while I couldn't buy a hit. That was probably four years ago, and I have wanted to catch one ever since.

The goldfish was decent size, maybe just over a pound. They are short but full of eggs so tough to accurately guess the weight. It is irrelevant anyway. What matters was catching a really cool new species. Glad I took the ride down.

The red that you see is not blood.
these fish have little tiny specks of red in
some of there scales. Some scales have more red than
others, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason

First carp

I went fishing with my friend Dave tonight. It was raw, but sitting on a lawn chair in the rain seemed a lot more fun than sitting in the house. I'm happy to have broken the ice for 2017 and got a carp. The fish was about eight pounds. It was caught on a white piece of artificial corn and a couple pieces of sweet corn fished behind a method ball. Hey, one eight pound carp and hanging out with a friend sure beat being in my living room all night. I'll take it

Finally did some fishing

This must be the latest in the year I have ever gone until I went fishing. Today I got out and did some trout fishing. I can't say the weather was springlike since I spent most of the time fishing in a hail squall (not sure if that is a real thing, but that was the weather).

Surprisingly, the fishing was pretty good. I assumed the trout would hit Powerbait, but didn't have any confidence they would hit lures. I fished one rod with Powerbait, while I casted a Yellow Coachdog Roostertail with the other. Usually, when the water is really cold I have absolutely no luck at all with lures.

So I was mildly surprised when on my second cast I felt a solid bump on the spinner. On the next cast I landed my first fish of the year, a foot long rainbow. Not only did I hook it on the lure but it even jumped once.

To make a boring story short, I ended up with six trout today, all about a foot long. Four on the spinner and two on the Powerbait. Both fish caught on Powerbait were hooked in the lip, henceforth they were released. I only fished for a little more than an hour. Considering the sky was dropping ice pellets on me and into the water, I was thrilled with the production. I was even happier the fish were willing to chase lures