December 15 2008

We are now through half of December and our lakes and ponds are still not frozen over. On this day the air temps actually were near 60 degrees and figured that I might as well take advantage of this and get the kayak out for one last run. Unfortunately when you get nice temps like this in December you will pay with the winds that come along and I definitely did just that. Went out first thing in the morning as I knew that the winds would get stronger once it got a little later in the day. It didn’t matter as the wind was blowing straight down the pond and was going to make it tough for me to fish. This pond was half froze over so instead of breaking some ice I decided to stay in the open water and search for fish. I went back to an area that I located fish the last time that I was out there and found them right away on my flasher. I was vertical jigging my ice gear over the side and watching the flasher to see what these fish were doing and how they were reacting. They were very curious in my presentation and would keep coming to take a look but with the kayak moving around constantly were very tough to detect the bites. Finally I moved the kayak up next to the ice to try and slow myself down a little in the wind and this is when I was finally able to detect the bites and caught a sunfish. Felt good to once again get a bend in the rod as I knew that it wouldn’t last. The wind was blowing so hard that I only managed to stay out there for maybe an hour and decided to go and check some other ponds to see if they were easier to fish. Check at least 6 other ponds and they were all getting wind blown and where the wind wasn’t, there was ice there. I had some video of what I was doing and showing the conditions as well but with the wind blowing so much you couldn’t hear a word that I was saying so there isn’t anything to watch for this trip.

I think that the kayak is retired until spring as the cold weather has finally made its presence along with some snow. Went by one pond yesterday and that was still fairly open but in the next day or so that should be skimmed over. Hopefully the snow storm that is suppose to get here Friday afternoon misses us as single digits are in store and that would make some ice fairly quickly as long as it doesn’t get covered up with a white blanket. Hopefully we will start once again with our ice reports at Christmas time if not sooner crossing our fingers. May also make some trips up to New Hampshire this winter especially early season as the gas prices are so much more manageable right now and this would allow us to do a little more traveling. Good luck out there on the new ice season ahead and be safe as well.

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December 3 2008

Where or where is my ice this year? Here in New England we are teetering on those temps that it cools down enough to skim the ponds over but by late afternoon, the sun and wind takes all that was created away again to start over the process. Since this is the case I still need to resort to my kayak fishing and went back to the same pond that I was on a few days ago. Still looking for the nice sized crappies and they are still making me work to find the active fish. The air temps were in the upper 40’s and did have to paddle through a little ice but the winds of course were blowing once again as this pond never seems to be calm. Where I usually fish was getting hit pretty hard with the winds coming down the length of the pond so decided to try other areas that I have not fished before. As I paddle slowly I am watching the flashers screen for the tail of suspended fish. These are typically crappies and that is what I am always on the look for. Definitely was not finding pods of fish that you get use to over the times that I frequent this pond. I did find a few areas that had some activity but there really weren’t any masses of fish to be found. The sunfish were fairly elusive on this trip as I was only able to catch a few and the crappies were a more dominant species this time out. I was fishing in depths up to 20 feet of water and all the crappies that were caught were in the 10 to 14 foot depth. These crappies that were caught were much nicer in size than the previous outing as well but still wasn’t able to find those 12 plus incher’s that are in this pond. All of the fish were caught on a black/chartreuse colored T.H.E. Jig and had to add some extra weight to the line to be able to get the bait down there faster with the blowing winds. The bite definitely was tough and they were biting ever so lightly that many of the fish caught were felt as I was working the bait. The wind made for a cold outing and after a few hours decided to call it quits but I left my flasher going as I paddled back and went by one point that lit up the screen. I had enough at that point and continued on but if I get out there again soon will definitely check that out. Not sure if there will be another time out there or not but one way or another I will be on the water soon.

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November 29 2008

After eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day and then a day of rain following to keep you in the house, decided that I needed some time out on the water again. Driving to the pond there were numerous other ponds that had ice on them and got me a little nervous as to what I was going to see. Arrived at my ice fishing pond and found a few kayakers out there and no ice to be seen made my day and got ready to fish. Of course the wind was blowing as usual on this pond and not sure that I have ever been there when it doesn’t blow. I don’t mind the wind but when fishing out of the kayak, it makes it a little tough to fish as the anchor acts as a pivot point and turns me around the anchor rope. Paddled over to where I usually ice fish because this is the deeper part of the lake as I am always looking for suspending crappies. I brought my ice fishing gear as this is the best for fishing out of the kayak and allows me to vertical jig while watching the flasher screen. This is kind of prep for the ice season ahead and if you can tolerate the wind it is fairly successful. Was fishing in 16 to 19 feet of water and would move around until I seen activity on the screen. The baits of choice were Maki Plastics and T.H.E. Jig. On this day T.H.E. Jig was more productive but I think that I should have probably gone to the 1/100 size as the bite was very light and finicky. Fishing with my ice rods, I have a spring bobber on the end and that is what I use for bite detection. On this day that light spring bobber would not even move when there was a bite detected and made hooking fish a tough ordeal. As I was working the bait that was about the only time that I could tell that there was a fish there. There was always activity near the bottom and these were sunfish and nice sized ones at that. They are definitely changing as their brilliant colors are fading and not sure are this is because winter is approaching or not. Only was able to catch a few crappies and nothing to big as they were up to 9 inches but this pond does produce some much nicer fish. All in all for the couple of hours that I was out there I caught around 15-20 fish and it was just nice to get out there again. Towards the end of this week the weather will be going down hill fast and I plan on getting out once this week to give it another go. If we can get some nights of cool air with no wind the ice will form fast and the season will be a new.

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November 24 2008

It has been quite sometime since I have been able to wet a line, with the cold and windy weather that had overcome New England. Having put the big boat to sleep for the winter it is now time to concentrate on these smaller ponds with my kayak. Typically this time of year I fish out of my kayak using my ice fishing gear. By jigging over the side and watching the electronics, this is getting me in tune for the coming ice fishing season. With many nights in the teens lately, I knew that the waters were going to be cooling but I was surprised when I arrived at the lake to see a skim coat of ice. Luckily the area that I was looking to fish is the deepest part of the pond and that was not frozen over but I had to break through some ¼ to ½ inch ice to get there. Luckily I was able to get the paddle through the ice to break it some as I went and once I made it through I was in open water once again. Definitely was hoping to see the fish activity picking up as the water is cooling as they start migrating to this area for the winter season. Definitely was a tough day in locating fish as I paddled around watching the locator, there was not much activity in fish location. Found one nice perch and finally found one active location but these fish were very tight lipped to say the least. One nice crappie fell to my presentation as many others were looking at it but I couldn’t entice them into biting. After trying a few more areas, the fish were very elusive and decided to call it a day and head out. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get out once again as the temps have risen a little so it is somewhat comfortable and after yesterday’s all day rain and high winds, think that the ice may be gone from any body of water once again.

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November 3 2008

Since things are slowing way down for me lately, I decided that I needed some water time to clear my head once again. Took the boat over to my favorite bass lake and of course my intermittent motor fuel pump issue showed up again and was unable to get the motor started. Went back home and loaded the kayak and equipment into the truck and headed off to my local crappie pond. This is a little early yet for kayak fishing and me but since I did not have a choice why not. What I generally do once I store the big boat for the winter is fish out of my kayak with my ice fishing gear. By this I will have my Vexilar with the transducer hanging over the side, use my ice fishing rod/reel and vertical jigging while watching it on the screen of the Vexilar. I usually do this type of fishing until the hard water comes and then the ice season starts. This particular pond is shallow for a majority of it except in the back cove is the deepest water. It gets around 18-19 feet as the deepest point and this late in the year this is where I concentrate my efforts even during the ice season as well. Not many people fish in this area but a majority of anglers are running tip ups and looking for other species of fish. What I generally do is paddle the kayak around watching the electronic screen until I locate fish and then drop anchor and set up. Bait wise I will use either T.H.E. Jig or a jig and Loby Baits plastic. By watching the Vexilar screen I can tell when a school of fish come through and when they are going to bite. Later in the day it seems to always be the most productive and when I have to leave this is the time that the bigger crappies come out. I started the day in 14 feet of water and was having good success catching a variety of sized sunfish. The sunfish have never been the draw in this pond but they seemed to be very active on this day. The air temperature was 45 degrees with cloudy skies and no wind at all with the water like glass. Moved over to deeper water and this is when I found what I was looking for, crappies. The size was definitely smaller than previous years but when the schools were located the action was intense at times. Once an area slowed down I would pull anchor and move a little and there was another school. When you hooked into a nice fish you definitely new that this was what I was looking for but unfortunately there were only a couple of these sized fish caught. They were inhaling T.H.E. Jig and had it deep in their mouth almost every time. It was a fun couple of hours with around 30 crappies and 15 sunfish caught but no real size that I know is in this pond. There will be plenty of more opportunities to find these fish as I frequent this pond quite a bit in the fall time and winter.
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October 12 2008

I am going to have to start this report out by saying that half way to the lake I realized that I had forgotten my camera at home and any angler knows what happens when you leave your camera at home.

With that said, this morning was one of those beautiful fall New England mornings with air temps at 45 degrees, no wind at all and clear sky’s for as far as you could see. There were a couple of trailers in the lot already and this time of year is great as the lake is void of boat traffic and as each week passes, it gets to be less all the time. The lake is still high for this time of year and never got over to the dam area to see if they are letting the water out yet. This is one practice that I don’t like here as they lower all of the lakes 1-2 feet for anticipation of snows and then we don’t get the snow and come spring the lakes are low. Anyway, the water temps are still hanging around 57 degrees which is still fairly warm for this time of year and with the warmer fall weather we may be out here through November as well. Started fishing on a deep hump that usually holds some bigger fish in the fall as there are plenty of smaller fish, sunfish, crappies and white perch that hang around here as well. Was using a technique that is used here in New England quite a bit in the fall and that is vertical jigging a Silver Buddy. A Silver Buddy is a blade bait that vibrates as you are jigging it and works great for fishing deep structure vertically and by using my Vexilar I am able to watch what is going on down there. I was jigging up a lot of action down there and could see that there were fish checking out the Silver Buddy but none of them would hit it and I assumed that they were probably white perch. Next time out I will bring along my underwater camera and see if I can get a look at what is going on down there. I tried this area for about 45 minutes moving around the area with no takers so I then headed off to the next spot.

There is a flat that I fish frequently that is at the mouth of a creek arm and the water depth is from 4-8 feet of water. In the fall time I am always looking for green weeds and there were plenty here and the weeds that are here are of the grass looking type in clumps spread around the area. The bass use these clumps as ambush points waiting for a quick meal to come along. The bait and technique that was only used was the Carolina Rig with a BearPaw Freedom Fry for the bait choice. Casting this rig into the weed clumps and working it slowly back through the grass all the way to the boat is very critical to get the most bites that you can. Was only a few casts in this area and the first fish pickup was happening with a hook set and battle on hand, the first 2 pound largemouth was in the boat. To me if I get a bite fairly early when getting to a spot, this tells me that these fish are using the area and should be more there. Was nice not having any wind which allows the boat to just sit in the spot and not move which lets you to work the area much better. Kept working through this area and caught a couple more of the same size fish as earlier and these fish definitely are in the feeding mood as when they pick the bait up, they definitely didn’t drop it at all. Things were slowing down as there was a light breeze picking up and decided to try a few more spots to see if the fish were hanging in other areas of grass. After trying those areas with no results, I had 45 minutes left before I needed to head out and went back to the flat in the creek arm. Was only a few casts once again and a fish hit and swung another 2 pound largemouth into the boat and sure felt good to be catching fish once again. Made a few more casts and a bigger fish grabbed the bait and fought it to the boat and as I was reaching to grab the fish I could see that the line was lassoed around its mouth and as I untangled the line the hook wasn’t even in it’s mouth and he swam away. This fish looked to be a 3 pound largemouth and all of these fish were very healthy looking fish. After a little more time there the clock said it was time to go home and loaded up and ended my day of fishing. This day goes to show what I have been talking about the last couple of weeks in that fall fishing can be feast or famine and today was a feast. Would have been nice to have my camera along as there were plenty of things that I wanted to show from the fall leaf colors, what types of things I was fishing and the water with the weeds to give you an idea of what these fish are relating to. But there will be plenty more times out there and hopefully the fish will be feeding like they were today. For the three hours that I was out on the lake, I had boated 5 nice largemouth bass and probably was one of the most productive days that I have had on this lake. If you have put your boat away for the winter, you don’t know what you are missing as these fish are feeding and as each week goes by they will be feeding more every day.

October 9 2008

Another beautiful day here in New England and why not spend a little time seeing what the fish are doing once again. Decided to head back to the same lake as the previous day and noticed that the wind was a bit stronger today with temps around 73 with a nice fall day. I have four places along this lake that I usually target and go to the furthest one first and then work my way back towards the truck. Was fishing once again with T.H.E. Jig in the blue/chartreuse color pattern and once arriving at the first location, with the wind blowing in there wasn’t any action happening there. Then moved over to the next spot, which is an opening in an overhanging tree that you cast the bait into the open pockets of the tree. Was able to pull a few sunfish out of this location but after those few there wasn’t any action happening there anymore. Moved over to the next location which is more open and has some branches hanging into the water and started catching sunfish right away. This area was fairly active with a number of sunfish caught but definitely seen the size was smaller than the previous day. But since we are into fall fishing, as long as the line is being tugged that is all that really matters. Usually when I hook a fish I will take the hook out and then walk down the shore a little to release them so they don’t disturb the others that are there. While releasing one of the fish I happened to look into the brush along the shoreline before releasing the fish and there was a black snake lying in the branches. This was kind of a rude awakening as that is something that I am not use to seeing around here, in the branches. I know that this lake has a very high population of snakes around it especially on the warm fall days they seem to really come out. After a while of catching fish in this spot they stopped biting and I knew that I needed to get back to work anyway. So as I walked the trail around the lake back towards the truck, I kept watching the brush for more snakes and of course there were more of these same ones in the branches of the brush. Not sure what they were but I wasn’t going to find out and headed off and hopefully will get out there again tomorrow and see if I can catch some more fish.

October 8 2008

I have been very fortunate to have lakes close by to my place of employment and this allows me to get away during my lunch time to clear my head and be able to think things out. Today was another beautiful day here in New England with temps around 70 and the sun shining as well as little to no wind to contend with. Decided to got to my favorite panfish lake and see if their activity has picked up at all. One nice thing about going here is that you have to walk around a good portion of the lake down a trail to get to where I like to fish. The scenery is getting better every day as the leaves are changing to their falls colors, especially if the sun is out and shining on them and it is getting to be quite a scene to see. So far I haven’t been able to find any schools of panfish in this lake and today wasn’t any different. I was able to catch fish but you would catch one here and catch one there and just not able to get more than one out of a spot. I was fishing T.H.E. Jig in the blue/chartreuse color pattern under a stick bobber. Of the fish that were caught I am definitely seeing the size going up as the sunfish that were caught were good palm sized fish and very colorful for this time of year as well. Haven’t seen to much crappie activity along the shoreline yet and may have to get the kayak out and search deeper water to find them. But, I have been having a good time catching these bigger sunfish and always look forward to going back again soon. After catching a few fish and clearing my head, this makes it a little easier getting through the rest of the day at work and the stress that goes along with that.

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October 5 2008

Fall is definitely in the air here in New England as I had started my day on the lake in 41 degree air temps. Luckily there wasn’t any wind and the lake was like glass with steam rising off of the waters surface. Water temps are hovering right around 56 degrees in this particular lake as the color of the water is fairly murky with about 2 feet of visibility and the is allowing it to retain some heat from the rays of the sun. This time of year I really enjoy fishing as the waters are void of boats as once Labor Day weekend passes many folks put their boats away for the winter. There was one other boat fishing this particular day and they didn’t hang around to long. First thing that I had noticed was it looked like the lake is possibly in the turn over phase as the water is murkier than usual and also more things floating on the surface. By seeing this there is a feeling that the day could be a tough one until the lake stabilizes once again. Plans for the day of fishing were to fish deep structure as well as shallow structure and cover. Started out in the middle of the lake as there is a bar/ridge that runs across that drops deeply off of the backside and on top has gravel and rocks around the edge. I usually position the boat on the shallower side of this ridge and cast to the deep side and bring the bait up the deeper wall onto the top of the ridge. Was fishing with a Carolina Rig worked slowly up the wall with a BearPaw Freedom Fry for the bait. Was only a few casts and had the first bite and a decent 2 pound largemouth came flying to the surface. Figured that being I had caught this fish so soon, which maybe the lake was going to produce very well today. But fall can be like this where you have days that the fish are on fire or you have days like I had today that this was the only fish that I had caught. After fishing the ridge for a while I decided to fish some shoreline cover with a weightless plastic and targeted a variety of shore with different covers on them. There wasn’t anything going on there and tried a Spinnerbait along the shoreline as well and that wasn’t producing as well. Tried another couple of deep water points with the Carolina Rig but that ended fruitless as well. The panfish were working the surface quite a bit but I had forgotten my panfish gear at home so wasn’t able to at least spend sometime catching them. As the days go by the fishing is only going to get better and then the hard water season comes and I can’t wait for that to start.

October 2 2008

The fall winds have started blowing and the leaves are beginning to change with the nights cooling with winter coming soon. It has been a while since wetting a line and was getting to be too much that I went to a local lake during lunch to catch a fish once again. Decided to try for some panfish and went to the lake that I ice fish frequently. With all of the rains lately the water level was considerably higher for this time of year. The wind was blowing onto the side that I was fishing so casting was a little troublesome and you had to wait for that in-between wind gusts to cast where you wanted. Wasn’t long and my quest was answered as the sunfish were still occupying the shallow shoreline areas. I was fishing T.H.E. Jig in the blue/chartreuse color pattern underneath a stick bobber. Casting this setup around and near overhanging branches and wood that is in the water as areas that didn’t have any type of cover, there weren’t any fish there. The bite wasn’t fast or furious by any means but consistent for the work I had done to try and catch them. Also was able to catch a couple of smaller bass on T.H.E. Jig that were chasing small minnows around the surface of the lake in a calmer cove. Definitely going to keep fishing and hopefully get the boat out this weekend and won’t be long and will also get the kayak out and start searching for deeper crappies up to the hard water season.

September 14 2008

The fall weather has taken over and here in New England and we have also been feeling some of the effects of the hurricanes that are crossing this country. The rains have been falling and winds have been blowing, but at least the temps are very mild. Today’s weather was on/off rain, with strong westerly winds and the water temps are hovering right around 68-69 degrees. Went back to the lake that I had previously fished a few days ago and what a change compared to then. The bite was very tough and I concentrated again in the thickest weeds that I could find. Was switching between fishing a Carolina rigged BearPaws Freedom Fry and also a Texas rigged BearPaws B-Bug. Fished these baits as slow as I could through the weeds and the bites were far and few between. The bites that I did get were solid but missed every one of them and figured that they were picking up the tails of the baits and that was not allowing a good hook set. Tried a number of weed flats and only had a couple of areas that had any type of activity at all. It has been a long time since I have fished in the rain and it reminded me of the days of tournament fishing when you had to be out there no matter the weather. Today there is a lot of wind and blue skies and warm temps comes along with that but starting tomorrow another major cold front coming through once again and this must mean that fall is here. Definitely going to have to start throwing a crankbait or spinnerbait now and cover as much water as I possibly can. Fishing is only going to get better and as the hunting seasons start, the lakes are going to be void of boats and the lakes will be back to those diehard anglers that utilize the best season of the year.

September 10 2008

Finally back on the water and really didn’t know what to expect for a bite as the previous day a major front had passed through and dropped the temps by 20 degrees. Weather was bluebird skies with a good breeze from the NW and temps were in the mid 60’s with water temps down to around 67 degrees. I wasn’t sure if the fall pattern had started yet but with the cold front that had gone through, decided to fish deep in the weeds. The area I concentrated on is the mouth of a creek arm and has a big flat in the front of it that ranges from 5 to 8 feet of water. There is milfoil and grass mixed all around this flat and has always seemed to hold fish from previous outings here. Started out on the front of the arm in 8 feet of water and surprisingly started getting a few bites right away. But, they were grabbing at the tail of the bait because I could feel them pick it up and when I went to set the hook, they either ripped the bait in half or I just missed the hook-set all together. I was fishing a Carolina rig with a BearPaws Freedom Fry in the largemouth bass color. The fish were definitely active and I was amazed as I figured that it was going to be a tough bite for the day. Finally was able to start catching a couple of bass but they were only 12-13 inches long. Then the wind shifted from the NW to the NE and that definitely made a difference in the fish biting more frequently. Every few casts I was either catching a bass or getting and missing a bite but they definitely had turned on. Then a solid hit picked up my bait and as I reeled in the slack and went to set the hook, all I heard was a pop. I stood there looking dumbfounded as I didn’t know what just happened and I looked at my rod because I thought that I had broken it. Rod looked fine but the line broke right at the reel and that created that sound. I stood there dazed and then looked in the water to see if I could see my line as there was going to be quite a few yards dragging behind this fish. I used the rod and stuck that into the water trying to see if I could snag the tail end of the broken line but unfortunately was unable to find that line anymore. Kept working the area and picking up a couple more of the same 13 inch bass and then the wind shifted back to the NW and that seemed to shut the bite down all together. Moved around to another couple of areas that weren’t productive at all and decided to call it a day. This probably was one of my most productive days on this lake and I had figured before I even got there that it was going to be a tough bite. Goes to show you that no matter how much time you spend on the water, nature always throws a loop into your thinking. The technique that was the most productive was working the Carolina rig through the thickest weeds in the area. Cast out and work the bait slowly through the weeds back to the boat and all the way back to the boat as there were bites right next to the boat as well. Fall is definitely in the air and once these fish start moving on their feeding binge, then it will be time to break out the crankbait and start covering water.
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August 31 2008

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August 10 2008

After a long time away from the water, finally found some time to get the boat to the lake and look for a few fish. Weather conditions were calm with a heavy fog that lingered for a couple of hours throughout the morning. The fog burned off and then the hot sun was beating down and without any wind made for a tough bite along with all of the storms and rain that we have been having. Went to a small pond and started fishing on a deep water ridge. Dragged Carolina rigs and jigs over and around but there weren’t any bites to be had. Decided to go to the shorelines and fish with a weightless BearPaws Hippie Stick and that finally produced some bites. The fish were very small in size but at least something was biting my bait and this produced 3 largemouth bass. The sun came out of the fog strong and any shoreline bite seemed to end and then I headed back to the deep water ridge but there weren’t any bites there and decided to call it a day.

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July 19-26 2008

Summer time brings along with it family vacationing and we were fortunate to embark on our trip heading south. With camper hooked up and pointed in the southerly direction, Virginia was the destination and opportunities were waiting ahead of us. We were fortunate to be able to camp on the Chesapeake Bay and look out at the water from our camper. There was a totally different type of fishing going on there and one that I had found fascinating to sit and watch and learn the how’s and what’s to do to get some of these saltwater creatures. 

The campground had some piers that allow the angler opportunities at fishing and crabbing without having a boat.  From my observation I didn’t see anyone catching any saltwater fish from these piers and not really sure if they do much or not. The big draw for the angler here is the clamming and crabbing. We didn’t partake in any clamming but made several trips out to do the crabbing. Crabbing is something that all ages are able to do as my 6 year old son became quite the crabber fairly quickly. 

There are a few ways that one can catch these blue crabs, a weighted string with a chicken neck tied on, throw out a crab pot and also a string basket laid on the bottom and lifted every so often to see if there are any crabs in the netting. Many crabs were caught but the legal size had to be 5 inches and these were hard to come by for us. Between 6 of us and a few trips out we were only able to catch 3 legal crabs and they are still swimming in the bay. Unfortunately we were unable to catch enough to try these tasty little morsels but that is part of fishing that we all go through.

All in all it was a good vacation, to hot for me, but the kids were able to swim in the ocean which was warmer than they are use to in New England. The drive there was long but we were able to see parts of the country that none of us had seen before. Camping with the family is a great way to stay in touch with your kids and we always look forward to our next trip.

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July 17 2008

The fishing during my lunches, this weeks fishing trips have not been much to talk about as I am having problems finding a bass no matter where I have been trying. The lake that I frequent during lunch, I have not had the same success as last year and not quite sure what is going on there. The weeds are growing and not having a problem finding those and fishing them. The only major difference that I am seeing so far is that the water levels are 2-3 feet higher than they were last season and this is the only thing that I can think of contributing to the tough bites but maybe the forage isn’t there as well, don’t know.

I needed to get some bites so I put the bass gear down and went over to my ice fishing pond in search of panfish. Made my long walk around a good portion of the lake and armed with my ultralite with an orange/yellow T.H.E. Jig, wasn’t long and a few small sunfish were being caught. The size definitely wasn’t there and kept casting around trying to find better sizes until I hooked some wood and ended up breaking the line. Tied on a blue/yellow T.H.E. Jig and the bites started picking up better than the previous color. Was getting long into my time to be there and started walking back and stopped at one other spot that I never catch fish at. Casted over towards the overhanging branches and bang, the first nice sunfish came in. Casted back again, bite after bite and then it started dying down. After a number of sunfish and better sized ones at that, I figured I better get going as the action was going away. Just before leaving the water’s edge I was going to make a cast at one more spot until I seen a big black snake lying right next to the water and then that concluded my fishing for the day. All in all once changing the colors, the bites came in and actually a spot turned on that usually hasn’t produced.
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July 13 2008

I woke to a very strong wind that was on the face of the slowly approaching front and time to head for the lake in search of fish. There are three lakes fairly close to my house that I fish regularly with these rising gas prices keeping me near home. One had a tournament going on and was not going to go there, the other gets very busy early in the morning with water skiers and also I have a tough time there in the summer as opposed to spring and fall. So I went to the third lake which is a small body of water that usually only a couple of boats out there at a time. The water color here is very dark and a majority of the weed growth only goes out about 5 feet of water. The shoreline is what most anglers’ fish when fishing this lake and I started doing the same. After a short time I decided that I was going to do something different that I wanted to do there but never did. There is a ridge that runs down the center of the lake and I decided that I am going to spend my time fishing that and see if I can dig some bigger fish up. The top gets to about 6 feet of water and drops off of each side fairly quickly with a little vegetation as well as gravel and rock on the upper portion. I had to fight the wind the whole time that I was on the lake and it was coming from different directions consistently. Was tough staying on this ridge but did manage to do it enough to find a fish. I was casting a Carolina rig with a BearPaws French Fry bait with a 2 foot leader. I would make the casts over the top of the ridge and off of the other side and this would allow me to bring the bait up the side of the ridge and then over the top and a little down the other side before it was back to the boat. Definitely could tell that there were rocks down there and at one point that feeling felt a little different and set the hook. The fish took off for deep water and I had to hang on and let this fish wear it-self out. This was a nice 2.5 pound largemouth and of course now I had it in my mind that this was the ticket and finally something worked out the way that I had planned it. Unfortunately there weren’t anymore caught from this area as well as a few other similar areas I had tried as well. This was another experience that I will be keeping in the back of my mind for similar situations on different bodies of waters that I can employ in this summer time of year.
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July 4 2008 Vacation Week

Summer season is finally here and vacation time comes along with that and camping and fishing go hand in hand. This year’s vacation was a little different than usual as my parents had come to visit for the week and spent it camping with us. Was very nice for them to actually have good week weather wise for a change on their visits and everyone had enjoyed their time. From the reports that I was hearing the fish were definitely in the biting mood for a change on this lake. This particular lake has been a tough fishery the last 2-3 years since the heavy rains that had water logged New Hampshire around three years ago. The vegetation definitely looks to be back to normal which is a good sign as the recent years those particular weeds were non-existent except for the long stringy grass. Didn’t take us long to locate fish in our normal spots finally once again and as we were all catching bass, the trend was starting to form and the size was all the same. Of all the bass that we had caught they were all 2 pound cookie cutters and we were unable to locate anything larger than that. We had a number of broken lines on the hook-set and that always keeps you wondering as well as to what that fish was. I did catch a couple on a crankbait again this year but that was not the dominate bite as it was last season. The patterns that formed were working the weed edge and into the weed bank itself with Texas rigged plastics as well as Carolina Rigs worked through the weeds. There was no particular plastic bait that out shown any other and we were constantly changing baits as we went along. The beginning of the week was much better than the middle and then the end it started to pick up better once again. The stormy days were much more productive than any other and the days that were calm and sunny were very tough to fish. All in all it was a great week and now that vacation is over and we are back to work once again.

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June 24 2008

With the ongoing rain storms coming through you never know how much time you are going to have to get to a fishing spot before the next lightning bolts start flying. Since there was a lull happening I decided that I might as well take a hike to my panfish pond and see if the fish are still frequenting the shallows or not. Upon arriving at my destination I was taking a moment and tying on T.H.E. Jig since I lost my last one on a carp or something like that, I was mesmerized as I looked into the shoreline waters. Normally I will see a small school of minnows swimming along the shoreline but today was different. As I gazed into the waters, there were thousands of minnows continually swimming past my spot and they just kept coming and coming and I have never seen anything like this before. Then things started to happen to my surprise as all around the area the waters were bubbling and exploding and there were fish everywhere chasing these minnows. This whole bay area was loaded with these minnows and the ones that were swimming near the shoreline were the only safe ones. I stood there and watch as you could see where there were others out in deeper water and the fish were schooling them and chasing these minnows while gorging themselves on the feast in front of them. The fishing action that I encountered after this was basically nonstop as the panfish were scattered everywhere and in a very hungry mood today. There were a few smaller sunfish caught but most were the colorful bull sunfish. I am noticing though that their colors are starting to fade and this means that the spawn is starting to wind down here and things are going to be changing soon. The bait of choice for this adventure was an all yellow T.H.E. Jig fished a foot under a float. More fish were caught out in the open water versus relating to the wood and overhangs of the last trip. Watching anywhere that the fish were chasing these minnows you could cast to that spot and get a bite on almost every occasion. Mostly sunfish were caught but a bass and also a decent crappie came to the hook as well. I don’t think that in all of my years have I seen such a feeding frenzy going on and it was something that I found myself a number of times just standing there watching. These are rare occurrences and if I were to go back there tomorrow none of this may appear ever again. Pending on the weather conditions tomorrow will dictate if I will be chasing panfish or if I feel that the bass are going to be cooperating that may be what I will do.
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June 21 2008

Finally have my major projects done that have been consuming all of my time for the last 4-5 weeks and seems like so long ago since I had the boat out in search of fish. Decided to get up early and head to the lake and my son wasn’t happy with that but with vacation coming soon, he is going to have a load of water time coming to him soon. Arrived at the lake to only find a few boats at the landing with the calm winds and sunny skies that had greeted me when I arrived I was pumped for the day ahead. The first thing that I wanted to do was check out and see if the crappies were schooling on the waters surface as they normally do on calm days as this. I wasn’t able to find any of those pods of crappies as they may still be doing their thing or recovering from the spawn that has recently passed. So I continued on to my best spot for nice bass that I catch on this lake. The area that I concentrate the most on is a flat that is in the mouth of a creek that goes quite a ways back. The water depths in this area range from 8 feet up to around 3 feet of water and there is a variety of different grass types as well. What I have found in the past in this area is that there are clumps of vegetation and then clear sandy areas mixed in and around these clumps. The fish are relating to these clear areas and when you bring your bait through these areas the fish are sitting in ambush and grab your bait at that time. There was a bait fisherman that had come into this area and was fishing shiners under a bobber. Was fun watching him as the floats would disappear and looked like he was catching a few pickerel over there and doing fairly well at that. I was fishing a few different bait presentations that consisted of crankbaits, jig/plastic, floating plastic jerkbait and also a Carolina rig. My confidence presentation that you will almost always find on my deck is the Carolina rig and this was the presentation that paid dividends for me again this day. I had a BearPaw Grizzly Jerk on this presentation and this is a type of bait that you usually throw weightless as the plastic jerk baits are catching fish all over the place. Last year I started fishing this bait on the Carolina rig and it has been paying off very well. I had been working this presentation through these areas and felt like there were some weeds on my bait. I kept feeling and feeling to tell when it was through the weeds but it had that weird feeling that it wasn’t a weed and proceeded to set the hook. The rod bent over and the fish fought back and the drag was singing its tune but as fast as this was happening the fish came off and never got to see what it was. Anytime that I fish this lake I always seem to spend a lot of time in this area as there may not be a number of fish here but the ones that I have caught in the past, the quality is second to none. As I continued doing the same thing finally once again the line felt funny so I set the hook and there was good weight there and the fight was on. This was one of them fish that didn’t want to show itself but when it did, I definitely new that I had a good fish on the line. I couldn’t seem to get it to the boat and then that bad sign when they dive under the boat and go either towards the motor or trolling motor and you do everything that you can to get them back to the surface. Kept directing the fish to get it to come back and finally it came back to the surface and a couple of more runs and finally able to lip this fish. This is why I fish this area as the quality is always there, but you won’t catch a number of fish but like I said the ones you do catch are usually always nice. I worked a couple of more hours throughout this area and not much time left and the line felt weird once again. I set the hook and got a couple of reels of the reel but that fish came off once again and had to call it a day. The bait of the day was the BearPaw Grizzly Jerk fished on the Carolina rig and if you haven’t fished this rig you definitely need to give it a try. You are able to cover vast amounts of water with it as well as different plastic baits that can be put onto this rig...
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June 20 2008

I had decided to head over to a pond that has some decent bluegill in it with a bonus bass and such. When I arrived there, there were a number of anglers out fishing in blow up boats and I really couldn’t tell if they were catching anything or not. This pond is a very off colored and looks like coffee with cream added to it. The weeds have grown in very quickly this year and I was hoping to see the bluegill spawning but with the color of the water you couldn’t see any fish at all. Wasn’t long and the first fish was nibbling as the bobber started dancing. Went to set the hook and wasn’t a crank of the handle and the bass came flying out of the water and through the bait. Then the sunfish started taking over and catching these was a matter of keeping the bait moving so the fish could find it. I moved from location to location looking for fish and catching one here and one there. Time was winding down and I wanted to try one last spot as in the past have done well in this particular area. Casting from spot to spot wasn’t really giving me what I was looking for and figured that I only had a few casts left and I had to head out. Landed the bait next to some weeds and the float went under, I reared back to set the hook and this fish took off like a mad man. This was not a bluegill as it didn’t cut and circle like they normally do and it wasn’t a bass as they generally take to the air fairly quickly. What could the fish be and seeing other commotion around this area I started having a suspicion as to what it maybe. I was fishing T.H.E. Jig on my ultralite with 2 lb line and there seemed to be no stopping this fish. It was barreling out into the lake and all I could do is stand there and listen to the drag rip off of my reel. Then that heart breaking feeling when your rod goes limp and the bobber floats to the surface some 25 yards away. The line had broken and the way that this fish was running I had made the conclusion that a carp had grabbed my T.H.E. Jig and was going to show the bait who was the boss. That fish had won that battle but there will be another day that I may be able to tangle once again with this fish and after spooling on some new line I will be ready to do it again...
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June 19 2008

Lately the fishing for bass has been very uneventful and believes that we are in that transition phase that they have left the shallows and are migrating out into their summer haunts. Since this had been a slow week I decided it was time to switch gears and go after some panfish that are swarming the shallow waters right now. The setup that I am using today is a short ultralite rod and micro spinning reel spooled with 2 lb test line. For bait selection I am going to use a bobber setup and below tie on T.H.E. Jig in a full yellow color pattern. Wasn’t after too many casts that the fish let me know they were hungry and ready to fight. Only sunfish were caught as the crappies have left the shallows already and are heading to deeper water. The sunfish that were biting were the male bull sunfish in deep dark brilliant colors. I was fishing a lake that I frequent quite often in the winter and there is a trail system around the whole lake and I was fishing from this trail as I walked. It didn’t take long to figure the pattern that these fish were relating to and that was the fish were positioned near tree over hangs that had some wood in the water. If you didn’t fish near these, you didn’t get a bite. Any place that I could find an opening in the shoreline brush I was able to catch fish but you had to get them out of there quickly as they would dig for the tree branches. Was a very fun lunchtime break and will have to do this a couple of more times before they start migrating away as well.

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June 11 2008

The weather in New England has been perfect temperature wise for the fish, but not so much for us anglers. As the near 100 degree temps have finally vacated this region, this should have helped warm the shallows very nicely. Have been noticing the sunfish are moving in and staking their territory and moving into their spawn phase now. The bass fishing has been fairly slow and I still haven’t figured out yet if we are still getting into spawn or if we are into full post spawn already. From my previous records when the sunfish start showing in the shallows that is when the bass are in full swing of their spawn so we will have to see how this pans out.

The end of last week and the beginning days of this week, I had tried a variety of depths to see what mode these bass are in. The efforts were uneventful to say the least with no action shallow or deep. Today the weather finally was a little cooler so I made my hike back to the flat that I had been fishing most of this spring. The wind was blowing into this area and made casting a little tough but watching and gauging the wind gusts for that perfect time to cast made all the difference. Was fishing water 2-3 feet deep and using a Texas rigged tube bait, wasn’t long and the line started moving. Set the hook and a decent smallmouth came flying out of the water a number of times and the fight was on. Was nice to finally catch a decent fish once again and after a couple of photos gently put the fish back in the water to fight another day. Moved around this area and picked up another smaller largemouth that was cruising through the area. Those were the only two fish that were caught but now this has me thinking that maybe they are finally starting to move in and time will only tell.
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June 5 2008

What another crazy day in the weather department for New England as well as what is going across the upper northern tier of this country. The previous day was rain all day and cool and this day was overcast with drizzle, mist and light gusts of wind. Tried for a little while and decided with the conditions to go to the deep water summer spot. I had fished all along a 100 yard stretch that was from deep water over to the other side that has a flat that comes up into a shallow weedbed. There wasn’t any activity what so ever in the deeper area so we must still be in the post spawn phase and they haven’t moved out here yet.

I had to take my daughter to her tumbling class and decided to hit a small pond/river backwater area and was fortunate to even find this spot with all of the different roads it took to get there. I started fishing for bass but after covering the area they were not going to cooperate at all. I had brought along my panfish rod with T.H.E. Jig tied on and that saved my little half hour trip. Casted out a couple of times and the bobber started dancing and an 8 inch crappie came to the surface. Casted back a couple of more times and bobber danced again and a nice hand sized bull sunfish was battling. I was only there for 30 minutes and caught 10 fish between the crappies and bull sunfish. Was using an all yellow T.H.E. Jig and working it slowly along with each cast. There were a couple of other guys down the shoreline and I didn’t see them catching anything over there. There was too much brush between us so I don’t think that they seen me catching the panfish. This is not the first time that T.H.E. Jig has saved my day and will not be the last. May try and get back to this spot this weekend and take my son along as well as he hasn’t been fishing in quite some time.

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June 2 2008

The last week or so has been fairly tough out there for me catching fish and it surely isn’t from lack of trying. After taking a look and thinking about the conditions that are happening, it isn’t so much weather related but the transition from spawn to summer patterns may be starting to shape up. Probably going to stay in this area that I have been fishing for this week yet and see if things change at all as the water warms, but I am starting to think about moving out to my deeper water spots in search of fish. Today I went back to the spot that I have been fishing recently and decided to change from the tube bait that I had been fishing and put on a BearPaws B-Bug in the watermelon color. I have been doing the same thing all along and by putting on the heavier ¼ oz slip sinker to get some distance in my casts out to around 3 feet of water. Seems that there is a general area that the bites have been coming from and today was no different as the fish picked up my bait and the fight was on. This was a fat largemouth bass and really was reluctant to come into shore but after a good fight I lipped the fish and took some pictures and back in the water to fight another day. Probably only going to spend a few more days in this area as the bites have been getting less and less and start going to my deeper water areas and see if anything is going on there.

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May 27-30 2008

After the holiday weekend, and doing a number of projects around the house, tried a few times during the week from shore. The weather was very cooperative as well as the winds were working in my favor as well. This location that I have been fishing lately the fish are not moving in like they had in the past. I am not certain as to what stage the fish are even in and this time last year the smallmouth bass were on fire. This is not the case this season and only had one outing that brought nice smallmouth to my hook and have been somewhat struggling this spring. I did catch a couple of bass during the week but they were small male largemouth and all were caught on the tube bait. Did try one day in the deeper summer places but was nothing going on there either. Will probably spend another week in this area and then start transitioning out to deeper water and locations that the fish congregate in for the summer months. Keep checking a couple panfish spots as well but have not seen any activity at all in these locations either. Hope that the panfish are still coming because I would like to try a few outings catching them.
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