baystateangler

I went down to one of my favorite trout spots yesterday for my last trip of the year. It was a bit nippy out and dead for most of the evening, but I was able to get a take from what I think was a rainbow, and I was lucky enough to land a nice little brownie right before the sunset. I only landed the one fish, but it was nice to get out with the spinning gear one last time to end the year, and it felt like a successful evening to me. Hopefully we can get some consistently cold weather soon, and it'll be on to ice fishing for me!

I'm a bit late in posting this trip, but last Sunday I got the chance to go down to Provincetown on a friends boat to go for some bluefish. It was the first time I had ever been down there and i had never caught a blue before so I was very excited. We first stopped to catch some mackerel on the sabiki rig and we got to see some pilot whales in the process; super cool. After that we boated the rest of the way to the spot and started trolling mackerel. The action was spotty at first, and it took a shameful number of missed opportunities before my dad was able to pull in the first fish of the day. After he and my brother got a couple more fish, I was finally able to get my first one. I had had a bad luck streak before that, as I lost one fish when some dude in a boat ran over my line, and another when the steel leader snapped at the boat. But after my first fish, the action picked up and we had a great rest of the day. I got maybe 3 or 4 fish, mostly on cranks, which I preferred over the live mackerel, and we ended up taking home 14 fish to use for lobster trap bait. We also got to see a couple humpback whales on the way back, awesome stuff. I got a nice dogfish on the sabiki rig as well, which was interesting. It was a fantastic day and I cannot wait to get out there again for stripers!

Took a quick evening trip last night with my dad and brother to go for bass. nothing notable happened until I was casting my super spook. I tossed it out and let it sit. before I even started to twitch it, a NICE bass slammed it and took off. I set the hook and started fighting the beast, and it felt goooood. The fish jumped and looked to be at least four pounds. Then I just felt dead weight and after a couple seconds realized the fish got me hooked on a damn stump. damn. After a couple minutes, I managed to get the lure unstuck, but no fish. I never thought I could manage to get a topwater lure stuck at the bottom of a pond, but I guess I was wrong. I got to see some beavers swimming across the pond, which was really cool. I may have got the skunk for the night, but it wasn't a total loss.

After spending a couple hours unsuccessfully trying to find a good spot to fish third herring Brook this afternoon, I made a run to Indian head with my dad and my brother. The bite started off slow but we snagged a couple brookies each when the sun started setting. It was all in all a good night to get out and catch a couple, especially with the nice weather. I still haven't managed to catch that first brown though, and the search continues...

After a bunch of trips for bass and trout during which I couldn't even catch a break, I finally got on some fish this morning. We hit up houghtons to go for stockie rainbows earlier today, and it was great. Fish were jumping here and there when we got there around seven, but the bite didn't pick up until after 8. I was finally able to catch my first couple trout of the year on some gulp eggs on one of my new rods. It was such a great feeling! And those houghtons stockies are pretty big, too. Great-fighting fish. I can't wait to get out to some other locations and hopefully hook into more trout, maybe even get my first brown! Tight lines everyone!

For some time I've been planning to go on a trip at some point this Columbus day weekend, and yesterday was the day. We set out for a certain pond targeting trout, whatever trout we could catch. We got to the spot and started fishing an hour or so before sunset, pulling out a couple miniscule larries. As the sun set, I decided to move, and me and my brother took a walk, discovering an absolute load of trout biting at a cloud of flies at the surface. We both threw out presentations, not prepared for topwater of course, and my brother hooked a friggin sunfish. damn. we kept fishing and the small stickbait I was twitching along got slammed. I set the hook and fought the fish for a good minute. when it got kind of close, I started thinking it was a rainbow. then I saw how dark it was. my brother and I start screaming that it's a big brookie, and I land the fish after a good thirty seconds of making sire I wouldn't lose him in some plants at the water's edge. Woohoo! This was such a nice fish, my biggest brookie by far and my first ever out of Massachusetts. We got some pictures and realized the fish. we didn't get a measurement but it looked to be around 14 inches, two or so inches away from a pin. we called my dad over and kept fishing, without topwaters of course, until I decided to move back to the original spot after it got dark. after a little while, something chased my stickbait almost out of the water. I had two little fights after that with fish that looked like trout when they jumped, and I hooked a little smallmouth to end things. it was a great night, and im hoping to go back soon a little better prepared to catch dome more biggins. I'll post pics separate because i don't want the weekenders finding out about this spot even though it's relatively well-known. Woohoo!

After a painfully long fishing drought, I finally got to fish today up at Hale Reservation. We arrived at Noanet pond at about 4. Seeing the bucket brigade had commandeered the dock we usually start at, we moved to a different spot. No big deal, plenty of room to shore fish at this spot. Things started out pretty slow, although my brother caught a couple pannies on his new fly rod. Eventually, my dad hooked into a lunker on a spinnerbait. The fish fought like a tank and did not give up. We were able to get him in, however. The spinnerbait he was hooked on got DESTROYED! The wire was bent almost completely straight from the fight of this fish. He was 4 3/4 according to the scale. A recruit from the bucket brigade even came over and took a pic of my dad with the fish! While my dad and brother were handling the fish, I managed to get a rattle trap stuck in the rocks about 50 feet out. Damn. After quite the effort, I got the lure out and didn't lose either of the hooks. I eventually moved to a nice big dock and started throwing a swim jig. After less than ten casts, the jig gets hammered and I set the hook. I can already tell it's a big one. I called to my brother as I was fighting the beast. I was getting more and more excited. The fish got super close. And then... he.. jumped. The fish completely left the water. I could tell he was at least 4 1/2. Then the hook came out, flying through the air and barely missing my brother. The word that left my mouth was a loud one. But oh well, back to fishing. That was really it for the afternoon, and we left before the rain hit. Great afternoon overall.

After what has been a rather long wait, I finally hooked into my first striper today. We hit up Wollaston Beach around ten in the morn. There's a full moon around now so there were some big tides. High tide was a bout 12:45. We threw out cut mackerel from the freezer on bottom rigs and just at back and waited. Most of the day was uneventful, but I eventually felt a nice hit on my 12' rod at about one in the afternoon. I got super excited and my cousin grabbed the gopro to start filming. I fought the fish for a little while before finally getting him in. It was no keeper by any means, just a schoolie weighing maybe 7 pounds or so. But it was great for my first striper. We released him and left about a half hour after that. After many unsuccessful trips in the past, getting that fish in was awesome. Now on to the mysterious blue. Tight lines!

The place where we stayed up in Tamworth had a nice pond on it called Moore's Pond. The pond isn't to big, but gets up to forty feet deep. I was excited to fish here when we arrived. Camp rules made the boat rentals difficult at first, which was pretty annoying, but I eventually got to spend a morning out on a row boat. My brother and I first tried out going deep for smallmouth with a drop shot rig and deep divers. This yielded nothing, so I tied on a swim jig and started to work a huge area of pads. This pads were only in about 1-3 feet of water, and looked like killer largemouth territory. After the swim jig didn't really work out, I threw on a Scum Frog hollow body. I hadn't ever caught a fish on a hollow body before, and I was ready for my first. On the very first cast, a fish explodes on it twice, missing both times. I cast and work the frog into the same spot and the fish explodes on it. I set the hook as hard as I can on my medium power rod, and fight the beast for a solid minute. When he gets close, he looks like a hefty four pounder and I get pretty excited. He then gets caught up in a bunch of pads and gets unhooked. Oh well, back to fishing! Through the course of the morning, I get between 10 and 15 its on the frog, some of the fish hooked, but none of them landed. (It got to the point that every time I hooked up with a fish and lost him, I belted out some very salty language and hoped I hadn't drifted too close to the camp site for any children to hear.) After repeating this over and over, a bass finally slams me in some thick pads and I land him. The fish is only two pounds, but I am as excited as when I caught my 4.5 earlier this year. I had finally caught one on the hollow body. The next day, I fished the same pads again, but only had a small slime dart and a couple other hits to show for it. Determined to end with a bang, I grabbed my rod and a frog and headed out to bank fish the pads for some more bass this morning, the last day of the trip. Early on, I was bringing the frog through some padless water and I suddenly saw a swirl to the right, giving me an exhilarating feeling that only topwater bass guys know. I let the frog sit for about five seconds without moving it, knowing I was about to set the hook. I got ready, and began to work the frog again. The bass attacked the frog and I set the hook, yanking the lure right out of his mouth. DAMMIT! I quickly recasted and the repeated my encounter with the fish, again missing the hookset. I started talking out loud to this punk-a** bass who thought he could out fox me and declared war. For another fifteen or so minutes, I kept working the frog in until I saw the swirl again. I let the frog sit, waiting. I once again started to twitch my rod and WHAM!! He exploded and I set the hook. With my rod tip high, I felt him fighting as I worked to keep tension on the line. I was NOT letting this one off. He jumped and thrashed in the air and I gasped, expecting him to throw the frog. but he didn't. I brought him to shore ad held the fish up. It was a beauty, easily over three pounds. No world class fish, but a bass anyone would be happy to catch. I looked in his mouth in excitement and saw the frog way in the back of his mouth. WOOHOO! I snapped some pics, unhooked him, and released him. I also had the pleasure of removing a worm hook from a rather undesirable spot on the fish. Not his mouth, but just the opposite. EW! After that, no more fish, but I left happy, feeling I had won. Now that I've gotten better at frog fishing, you're next ponkapoag!

On our little camping trip to Tamworth, New Hampshire, I found a spot on the bearcamp river for my brother and I to try fishing one morning, hopefully for some trout. The spot on the river looked good when we got there around six, but the trip ended up only producing a small yellow perch and a fallfish. And that was that.