Sunday, December 29, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Nice article of getting that great photo
How do you get that great shot while fishing solo? Here are some very useful tips to help capture that moment and successfully release your catch.
http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing-photography/getting-the-hero-shot-when-youre-fishing-solo/
http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing-photography/getting-the-hero-shot-when-youre-fishing-solo/
Friday, December 13, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
Striper Fisherman’s Gift Guide
I've got 2 copies of New England Stripers: A Fishing Anthology, and you can keep the Cabo (I've had a horrible track record with Cabo reels), but anything else works for me!
Striper Fisherman’s Gift Guide
Striper Fisherman’s Gift Guide
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
How_Real_Men_Remove_Fish_Hooks.wmv
Watch this. It works! My dad taught me the same technique that he used in the ER.
http://www.youtube.com/v/q3DAbPYuq5o?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=uhncUN4XReE9KvIDYVoIhw&showinfo=1&autoplay=1&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/v/q3DAbPYuq5o?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=uhncUN4XReE9KvIDYVoIhw&showinfo=1&autoplay=1&feature=share
Monday, October 28, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Frogg Toggs Toadz™ Hellbender™ Wading & Fly Jacket
I don't have enough good things to say after a day of fishing
in torrential rain in my new Frogg Toggs Hellbender Wading jacket. Gary
at CT Outfitters put out a special pre-order, and given my satisfaction with their
other products, I jumped on this one. My
boat never leaves the dock without the All Sport Rainsuit stowed away for those unexpected storms, and I liked this so much I have a second
set in Realtree camo. In addition, my ToadRageJacket has
served me well over the past several seasons.
The Hellbender is another product that improves their the Frogg Togg lineup
of great products and affordable prices.
The Hellbender has everything I would expect in a jacket 2-3x the price.
I'm a big guy, and the 2XL was roomy and
flexible for a full day of unencumbered casting. It's got loads of pocket space and D-rings to
attach essentials. The neoprene and Velcro
cuffs keep water out, and after 8 hours of steady rain last Sunday, the interior
of the jacket was bone dry. I could zip
and button up to my chin without chaffing, and the hood was just the right size. The exterior is the tough ToadSkinz while the
interior is the familiar non-woven material from the original rain suits. If you
want a wading jacket that offers a ton of bang for the buck, check this one out!
Labels:
Frogg Toggs,
Hellbender,
rain jacket,
Redneckangler,
reports,
Review,
wading jacket
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Triumph Skiff Review - End of Season One
Well, I've fished the Gemma Rose II for almost the entire
season, and I have to say, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I posted my initial review
earlier this year, so I won't rehash all of the reasons I chose the
Triumph. I will tell you, it's lived up
to expectations in almost all areas.
Durability was a key, and by this I mean the ability to run
it into rocky bottoms, from poor launch facilities and whatever else gets
thrown my way. While not a flats boat, I
can still fish pretty skinny water in back bays, coves and shallow rivers. I've put my share of battle scars on her this
year, but I won't be repairing glass or gel coats! I'm far from a neat freak,
and she's showing some staining on the plastic, but I can live with this. If
you'd rather spend your time fishing than maintaining a boat, this is a model
to consider. She's a tough boat!
Paired with the 75hp E-Tec, the pushed 35mph overland speed at full throttle in calm conditions. I will say that the standard console gauges are pretty useless as they never show max rpm above about 4200 and really inflate speed. Calibrating these is not high on my list, as she has plenty of get-up and go when needed. I typically cruise at what I guesstimate to be around 3500rpm and 25mph. In choppy conditions, dropping down off plane to 2700-2900rpm makes a decent 12mph without taking a beating.
As the season progressed, I pushed to see how seaworthy this boat is, and found
that she can handle quite a bit of chop created by the Long Island Sounds many
rips. While I won't drift her stern into
the Race, she definitely inspires confidence if you get caught out in some wind
pushing against a tide. With her weight
and an 8ft. beam, I don't worry too much about taking swells from the
side. In fact, I fished her with my
6'4", 325lb. "baby" brother and I (a mere 265lbs.) against the
same gunnel and didn't feel like we were going to end up in the water. This boat feels far larger than an eighteen
footer thanks to the wide beam, uncluttered layout and large casting
decks.
To sum up, the Triumph Skiff is a great inshore boat,
durable, roomy and low maintenance. I've had a blast in the Gemma Rose II this season!
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Early October in the Eastern Long Island Sound
October typically brings some of the best fishing of the
year to the eastern Long Island Sound.
Bass and blues are putting on the feed bags, often in insane surface
blitzes, before their migrations south.
Black fish season reopens, and anglers look to fill freezers for the
winter with these and dinner plate size scup.
Bay anchovies and other bait fish choke the reefs, with albies giving
chase. Fall is arriving, and with it shifting
weather conditions including increased winds and waves, making it tougher on
recreational anglers hoping Mother Nature coordinates with days off. For the past several years, a day out
typically guaranteed great fishing.
While the weather has generally cooperated thus far, fishing has been a
bit more hit and miss this season. I
know guys will say that they caught a ton of blues, or stripers, and maybe some
albies, but the mass of fish in many of the usual places isn't what it has been
in seasons past. I've had discussions
all summer about causes, but guys who fish on a regular basis will tell you
that it has been tougher. Places like
the Gut, Pidgeon and the Race are all safe bets to fill coolers with blues, and
porgies are hitting well on the rock piles.
Fisher's is seeing some top water striper action near Race Point and locations
along the south side, but they are not the acre+ of churning bass and blues
that I look forward to in October. The
reefs in the Watch Hill area have been hit or miss as well. Sure, you can always grind out fish, but the
action and numbers are just down. This
weekend I ran from Groton (CT) to Point Judith ,
RI .
Saturday's weather was as ideal as one could ask for, and my first stop
was Watch Hill. The tide was beginning
to push in, and the fishing just wasn't happening. I quickly decided to run east up the coast,
working all the way over to PJ in my little skiff, the Gemma Rose II. Bay anchovies
are working in, as football field sized schools circled west of the break
walls, with the occasional schools of albies or bonito slashing through. Despite the masses of bait, the numbers of
top water blitzes were few and small.
Hanging around the breachways is going to score fish, but I'm looking
for the massive catch 'til your arms fall off October runs. Seeing all the bait was encouraging, and I along
with all of the other salt water anglers that fish the ELIS
are hoping the action builds up as well.
We need our fix of massive striper blitzes to see us through to the
spring!
Capt. Jack "Bones" Balint put his client on some good fishing this weekend, including this nice bonito.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Eastern LIS Report 9-2-13
There has definitely been an upswing in the fishing in the eastern LIS, Watch Hill and Western Rhode Island. Bait has been filling in on all the reefs, bringing in loads of mixed blues and bass. The last few weeks saw quite a few bonito landed is well. Now the wait is on (and it won't be too long) 'til the albies start showing up.
Big jellies are drifting the RI coast with schools of small butterfish hanging underneath. Birds have been working small bait from East Point, Fisher's Island right across the inner and outer reefs to Watch Hill. The fish are beginning to put the fall feedbag on as the time for a southern migration is now just a month or two away.
I've had a ton of success fishing Zoom Flukes on 1/4-1/2oz. Kalin's jig head or Deadly Dicks. Be sure to keep a rod rigged and at the ready with an unweighted Zoom and lighter flouro leader for when those albies pop up.
September is my absolute favorite month of fishing. My plan from now until November is to get out as often as the wind and work will allow.
My buddy John with the results of our first few casts of the day. The GoPro battery crapped out afterwards.
Big jellies are drifting the RI coast with schools of small butterfish hanging underneath. Birds have been working small bait from East Point, Fisher's Island right across the inner and outer reefs to Watch Hill. The fish are beginning to put the fall feedbag on as the time for a southern migration is now just a month or two away.
I've had a ton of success fishing Zoom Flukes on 1/4-1/2oz. Kalin's jig head or Deadly Dicks. Be sure to keep a rod rigged and at the ready with an unweighted Zoom and lighter flouro leader for when those albies pop up.
September is my absolute favorite month of fishing. My plan from now until November is to get out as often as the wind and work will allow.
My buddy John with the results of our first few casts of the day. The GoPro battery crapped out afterwards.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Big Cats
Just returned from a week down in Virginia with my wife and kids, visiting friends and family and sneaking in some fishing as well. I've been waiting for a chance to fish some of the James River blue catfish for quite a while. This fishery has gained a national reputation for producing some of the largest cats in the country. I called up Capt. Jim Garrett at Tripout Catfishing to see if he could take me out for a day. This was a last minute decision, and as tends to happen with me, we had a front moving in with a mass of cold air behind it.
We initially planned a Tuesday afternoon through the night trip, but the forecast forced us to push back to Wednesday morning. I was too excited about the chance at some trophy cats to get much sleep, and by 10:30pm, Fredericksburg had yet to see much of the rain and severe storms predicted. Much of the weather was pushing well north, and my sister in Philly reported 12" of rain and severe flooding. When I rolled out at 2:00am, the air was still warm and the wind was barely noticeable.
I met up with Capt. Jim in Hopewell a bit before 4:00am, and soon we were on the river. The winds were beginning to build to 10-15 knots as we ran down river. Now, if you're looking for fishing with all the bells, whistles and creature comforts of a salon, frou-frou luncheon etc., better charter elsewhere. If you want to catch some monster cats and don't mind a bit of slime, fish with Jim. By 4:30, we were bait in the water, and not long after that, reeling in the first cats.
We had a nice incoming tide, and were fishing a ledge at the mouth of a creek with fresh cut baits on big 8/0 hooks. The catching started of with a 12 pounder and kept getting better from there. We were regular hooking fish in the 15-20lb. range, and soon after sunrise I hooked my first citation fish of the day, a fat 33lber. I was amazed at the tail slaps I could see all around us and out in the main channel. It was like being surrounded by 30-50lb. stripers crashing the surface. Some of these fish had to be well north of 50lbs. These things are the apex predator on the river, and will chase shad or anything else around. Not too long after the first big fish, citation number two at just over 30lbs. was brought on board. It between, I'm pitching numerous 20 pound fish back into the water. (I did take two smaller fish for some fried catfish!)
By about 11:00am, the tide was changing and the wind was blowing 22 knots. The fishing had slowed, and I was guessing we were nearing the end of the day. The front rod doubled over and line began to peel. I knew I had a decent fish on, but he came up pretty quickly...until he saw the boat. Back to the bottom a few times before we brought my biggest fish of the day, a beautiful 43lb. Virginia blue catfish, on board. This is what I had come down for!
Jim asked the one question I love to hear from captain, "You got anywhere you need to be?" Hell no. We continued to mark some big catfish, and I was more than happy to fish a while longer. We set up for another hour, landing one more good fish, before taking the ride back up river. It really was a pretty ride, past plantations and some beautiful countryside that I hadn't been able to see during the ride down. One shocker was the fact that we never saw another boat the entire trip!
I can't wait to fish for these beasts again, and will certainly be giving Jim a call whenever I head back to VA. That 100+lb. fish is out there somewhere. Maybe we'll have a catfish fry for Christmas!
Labels:
Blue catfish,
Jim garrett,
Redneckangler,
reports,
Tripout Catfishing
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Fishin' Frogs in Your Local Pond
Fishin' frogs on your local pond in the summertime can be a
real blast. The technique is easy, and
often one of the few that work to cover a large amount of the slimy, scummy
water that you are likely encounter. In
fact, my local pond gets so scummed over that many people give up this time of
year. I love it! Nothing beats a bass exploding through pads
or scum mats and inhaling a frog.
Many of our local ponds, such as mine, are pretty shallow with little variation in bottom structure. I'm often targeting bass in 2-3 feet of water in the middle of the pond and the day, as they will hold under the pads and scum rather than the marginally deeper water with less overhead. Don't be afraid to go shallow! Skip those frogs under the overhangs, right up to the banks as well.
Zoom Horny Toad |
Booyah Pad Crasher |
| ||
Stanley Ribbit |
Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher |
Scum Frog |
There are a ton of different frog lures on the market, from
soft bodies like the Zoom Horny Toads, Stanley Ribbits and Bass Pro Humpin' Toads,
to hollow bodies like the Livetargets, Spro Bronze Eyes, and the ones I've been
fishing a lot, the Booyah Pad Crasher's and Poppin Pad Crasher's. The techniques
are petty easy. The soft plastics can be
fished fast across the top for reaction strikes, or slow enough that they will swim
and pause sub surface or even "swim" down to the bottom and back up mimicking
real frogs. Vary your retrieves to see what
works. The hollow bodies are top water
and excel at slipping across the heaviest muck you pond can throw at you. I really like the popping action of the new Booyah.
The one line that I was not at all pleased
with was Scum Frog. Their legs didn't hold
up to strikes.
Hooking the fish in heavy cover is half the battle. A thick matt of scum can make a 3lb. bass feel
like 10lbs. of dead weight. Spool up on
heavy braid, and when you get the fish boat side, be ready with a net. You'll have to get under the fish and all of the
scum. The good thing is that the fish usually
can't see the net coming. Lift to hard,
and you'll pull the hook or snap your rod tip.
There's a fish down there somewhere.
If you hit your local pond in August without an arsenal of frogs,
you are just plain crazy!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Carp Diem
Took my first shot at carping today, and I've got a lot to learn. You have to be part fisherman and part Betty
Crocker, and spend a lot of time sitting on your **s. I'm not too good at either of the latter two,
but the payoff seems to be pretty good once you get the hang of it. Watching these things leap all around me during
my early a.m. bass outings, and that fact that one of the charter captains I've
fished with is obsessed with these "Golden Bonefish", got me more than a little curious.
I got up early, hit my spot and started baiting. The carp clearly weren't around in the numbers
from the last few days, but given what I had, I was all in at my location. I've always despised sitting on an anchor and
chumming, which is essentially carp fishing, but I'm not going to pull 20 pound
bass out of the pond 5 minutes from my front door. I even
left my bass gear at home so I wouldn't be tempted to throw in the towel. Two hours later I'd had enough. Getting skunked is a rarity, and I can't stand
it. Next weekend I'm going to head across
the pond to where a couple of old timers are always set up carping, leave my gear
in the truck, and see if I can pick up some good advice. As I said, I've got a lot to learn.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Take you kids fishing!
Took my daughter out on the pond after dropping my son at soccer camp. What a beautiful morning to catch some bass!
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Eastern Long Island Sound Fishing 7-28
After dragging myself out of bed Friday at 2:30am only to
see that they had upped the wind forecast and issued a small craft advisory, my
day finally began around 4:00pm, or about twelve hours later than
expected. I fished Watch Hill and the
eastern half of Fisher's out of the Barn
Island launch, this time armed with
some eels as well as the usual light tackle arsenal, hoping to see numbers like
I did last week. Inner Sugar looked
promising, as I marked some decent fish holding close to the bottom. I fished it from the spindle all the way
around Catumb Rocks without any luck. I
watched a few other boats come and go.
Despite the sun still hovering above the horizon, I drifted some eels
across the areas I had marked. While I
managed to snag two lobster pots, losing my rigs, I hooked no stripers. Talk about frustrating.
I ran west to East Point
(Fishers), where three casts in I had a striper on. It was a schoolie, but a fish none the
less. After a few more of those, the
tide started to let go. I decided I drag
a few tubes tight through the boulder fields.
First pass, two fish on, each headed in different direction, while I was
slipping boulders. I just had to let one
run in the rod holder, turning into it to avoid rocks while trying to reel on
the other. The first one came in quickly
and was a schoolie that I popped off ASAP as I wanted to try and recover my
other rig. I cranked in line and came
tight on the second fish, still on. From the initial hit, I was expecting
bigger, but this guy was just over the keeper limit. By this time, the sun was setting and the
tide had completely crapped out. I
considered waiting for the flood to pick up, but was just too tired. I ended up back at the dock trying to catch
some sleep before heading out again in the early am.
I was woken as the remaining few boats came in at some point
in the night, and from the conversations I could hear, the fishing wasn't as good
as it had been earlier in the week. "At least we got a few," said one
guy as the last two boats departed. Maybe
the fish were reacting to the pressure changes, and will be back on the by the
time I write this.
By 4:30 , I was dropping
back in and headed out to the reefs. I
had some tide left on Watch Hill, and it wasn't long before I was into some big
blues. This was all blind casting, as I wasn't
marking nor were there any birds to be seen.
As a matter of fact, this season has been characterized by the complete
lack of birds working big schools of bait on the outer reefs. Maybe it's just been my timing, but I've never
out so many times and seen so few birds working.
As the tide on Watch Hill died out, I ran west to Race Point. On the way I spotted this really beautiful schooner a few miles south of the coast. I ran out to take a few pics. Race point was dead. The Helen III and a few other boats were drawing blanks. I didn't see a fish landed in 45 minutes. I'm not sure why she was there instead of with the weekend fleet at Valiant Rock, or over in
The flood tide was now running at Watch Hill, and I expected
those blues and birds to be up and chasing bait, but again, nothing. I fished long enough to see a few boats come and
go. I took a peak east up the coast to Weekapaug
and Quonochontaug, before deciding to call it an early day.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Eastern LIS Report 7-19-2013
Things have been looking up in the Eastern Long Island Sound. The effects of the many inland storms are subsiding,
and the fishing has really picked back up this past week. Solid reports of bass have been coming in from
most of the reefs from Westbrook right over to Watch Hill. Greg Myerson landed another monster, 73lbs., a
week or so back. After talking with a
few people and seeing some of the screenshots of stacked fish, I couldn't wait
to get back out. Winds have been gentle,
and with the heat and humidity over land, nothing beats being out on the water. Took a trip out yesterday evening, and had some
nice topwater action south of Fisher's towards the end of the flood tide. Bartlet's was slow, as indicated by the complete
absence of birds and boats. Fish were
stacked up on the reefs east of Fisher's.
On the way back in, I stopped to chat with Matt and Nicki who were finishing
up with the Black Hawk 4-10pm Happy
Hour trip. Charter and party boats were
getting their fills of blues out in the Gut and Pigeon.
Capt. Jack Balint https://www.facebook.com/jack.balint?fref=ts
Capt. Blain Anderson https://www.facebook.com/blaine.anderson.75?fref=ts
"Tonight
SW
winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt...diminishing to
Sat
SW
winds
Sat
Night
W
winds
Sun
N
winds around 5 kt...becoming E in the afternoon. Seas 1 ft or less.
Sun
Night
NE
winds Monday, July 8, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Keeping a sharp knife.
I don't keep too many fish, and I often tell friends who fish with me, BYOK. However, when I do decide to fillet a fish (or I'm just working in the kitchen), a sharp knife is a must. Decided to post up a few vids that run through how you can keep those blades sharp. The first, from Dexter, shows a method so simple anyone can keep their knives sharp in short order. The second involves a water stone or whetstone, and is a bit more involved, but will restore a razor edge to a thin fillet knife. There's also a good discussion on filleting on http://www.stripersonline.com/t/899659/filleting-thread.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Boat Safety Checks for the week of the July 4th holiday across Connecticut!
This past weekend was a major speeding and boating while intoxicated crackdown by CT DEEP, Coast Guard, state and local law enforcement. This week, especially the 4th, they will have officers at most of the launches for safety inspections, and issuing $75 fines for each missing item. Run through your safety gear!
Required Gear
http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/boating/boating_forms/safetyequipment.pdf
Towing Safety
http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2686&q=322314&Nav_GID=1620
Required Gear
http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/boating/boating_forms/safetyequipment.pdf
Towing Safety
http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2686&q=322314&Nav_GID=1620
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Eastern LIS Report 6-30-13
My fishing has been so hit or miss. Only able to get out 1-2 times a week, and with the current weather and a few billion gallons of fresh water dumped into the sound, it's been hard to figure out patterns. My brother came up from Philly this weekend, and we got skunked today. We ran out of Old Saybrook at 4:30am, but couldn't find the bunker in the mouth of the CT River in any large concentrations. Headed west to Clinton again. Got down there and still couldn't spot any bunker. Both places were crawling yesterday. Decided we would have to rely on artificials. The second we tried to move, fog rolled in. We were down to 100ft of visibility in minutes. This was 6:30 in the morning. We crawled back to Saybrook as I didn't want to get run over in my skiff. It sucked. We threw some topwaters on the flats. Zip. By 8-8:30 we discussed calling it a day, but the fog started lifting. Forecasts still had thunderstorms moving in around 10-11am, but I wasn't seeing anything on radar. I decided to take a peek at Long Sand Shoal. Nothing. Not a bird in the air. On the way back in, lo and behold, big bunker all over. We debated whether to snag a few as the tide was crapping out, and ended up grabbing a half a dozen. We ran over to Hatchet's, but had no tide. I threw one on a line and let it swim. We sat there for forty minutes and drifted a few yards. I told my brother we weren't likely to do much until the tide got going, which meant waiting, and he wanted to get on the road. I started ditching the rest of the baits in the livewell. As I dumped the last one, I caught a big swirl out of the corner of my eye. I had just provided a free meal to a big striper. I quickly reeled in the last bait and pitched it in the area. It was taken in about ten seconds. I let it run for a bit then engaged the reel and came tight. Fish took off down the edge of the reef. It broke me off in the rocks. That was it. Day over.
Reports from a few other boats were that Bartlett's and the Niantic area was also tough, though Valiant Rock in the Race yielded some small bass. The Blues are MIA, and I worry that many just continued past the LIS as there was so much fresh water dumped in.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Waterford PD rescue sinking yacht in Waterford - WFSB 3 Connecticut
Tried to run through Goshen Reef. OOps!
Waterford PD rescue sinking yacht in Waterford - WFSB 3 Connecticut
Waterford PD rescue sinking yacht in Waterford - WFSB 3 Connecticut
Eastern Long Island Sound Report 6-22-13
What a great day on the Long Island Sound! The weather was beautiful, and the water is starting
to clear up. I launched out of Niantic around
4:30 Saturday morning, with a plan to
fish towards the west, a bit of a change for me. I had a flood tide on the Super Moon, which didn't
seem to make much difference at all. After
the last two weeks, things could only improve.
I started at Bartlets, but it just wasn't firing early, and that's when
I threw the plan overboard. I ran up the north side of Fishers, stopping by
the Clumps and on to Wicopessette Pass.
No birds, no bait. I ran out to Sugar and Watch Hill, figuring
that might be turning on again. I've not
had the success fishing the flood tide out there as I have the ebb over the last
season or two. Heading a bit further east,
the fluke fleet was in full force, and I saw numerous boats hooking up and bringing
fish over the rails. Fluking is not my
thing, so I went back inside Stonington
to Jeff's spot that produced last week, and sure enough, landed a few small stripers. The tide began to ease, and before it quit, I
wanted to take another look at Watch Hill. I could
see birds working from the point to the red can as I approached, and was soon hooked
into blues busting on the surface. I was
fishing white Zoom Flukes on Kalin jig heads, and landed a number until the tide
completely died. I would loved to stay as
the ebb picked up, because I had the sense that Watch and Sugar were primed for
some good fishing, but I had to start back.
I hit into more blues at the east end of Fishers, hooking several in the
upper 20"-30" range on the same baits. Flukers
were all over the south side of Fishers, and again, were landing fish. Running out of time, I started back for Niantic.
I got some good reports of bunker and stripers
west of the CT River, still up in the Thames and Easter RI
to the Cape has just been on fire. School is now finished, so I'm ready for some
serious fishing trips!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Great night of fishing on the Blackhawk with Capt. Greg Dubrule and crew!
The forecast was for rain and a good ebb tide. We headed out to Race Point at 8:00pm , and I personally was hoping to finally
get in some better fishing, with a shot at some big stripers. I love going out on the Blackhawk's night trips a few times
a month, as it gives me a chance to fish areas I otherwise wouldn't in my skiff,
and always holds the opportunity for some really big fish. With a limited number of angler on these trips,
more time is spent fishing and less dealing with tangles, etc. I probably went out on 4-5 of these trips last
season, as well as a few Happy Hour 4-10pm excusions, and a Diawa Demo trip. I can tell you that I came home with a cooler
of striper fillets on every one of them, and on three brought home the pool as well.
We had a pretty good group headed out, with several of the guys
having done a lot of night drift fishing.
It's not as easy as it seems, or some make it out to be. If you've fished the Blackhawk, you've heard
Capt. Greg's pre-game speech. Keeping your
rig feathered on the bottom during fast drifts without hanging up or collecting
other lines takes practice. Some guys will
snag and lose $10 worth of lead and jigs every other drift. Others will never stay in the strike zone after
initial contact with the bottom. Last night,
I think all but 1-2 of the 18 anglers on board had multiple fish. While I've been on trips where we caught a
greater number of fish, I've never been on one where the quality was better.
I came back with a cooler full of striper fillet's, but I swear
Capt. Greg was drifting me over the guppies!
My biggest keeper at around 40" wasn't even going to put me in the top
10. We had about an hour stretch where each
fish over the rail seemed to get bigger than the last. A guy with a 45 pounder was looking pretty good,
and nine nights out of ten would be collecting the pool. Out of the water comes a 48, followed by a 56
to 57 pound fish. A few more in the upper
thirties and lower forties weren't even in the running. I can tell you, the mates Matt, Nicki and Alex
did an awesome job, as not one of the big fish was lost to tangles, angler inexperience
or at the net. For some reason, Matt just
got left out of all of the pictures!
Thanks for a great trip, and I look forward to fishing with you
over the next few weeks.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Eastern LIS Report 6-16-13
Sunday, June 16th
The morning’s trip began much the same as last weeks, with the exception of the fact we now had an outgoing tide as opposed to incoming. My buddy Jeff and I launched from Avery Point a bit before 5:00am, with the intent of starting the day between Wicopessette and Sugar Reef. Storms Thursday night had dumped another 4” of rain in the region, and the water remained stained the color of coffee. The wind was 5-10knots out of the SW, and seas were calm. Given my last trip, I anticipated tough fishing, and was not disappointed. This time of year is all about stripers and light tackle fishing. I’m not that interested in the livelining , and running an 18’ skiff, not in a position to drift the rips looking for fish holding deep. We were soon sitting on Sugar Reef with a growing number of boats, marking a few fish but not getting any hits. One or two boats picked up schoolies in the 45 minutes or so we hung around. Running back inside the reefs towards Fisher’s, I noticed a school breaking the surface and we pulled up for a few casts. My sudden stop drew the attention of a couple of additional boats who were soon motoring in our direction. The glimmer of hope didn’t yield any results, and over the next few hours we worked Fisher’s Island Sound to Race Point, and over to Bartlet’s. A repeat of last week, with the exception that I wasn’t even marking any bait balls above Bartlett’s. We headed back east and give Watch Hill a last look on the incoming tide, which was about as productive as when we left. In a final Hail Mary we decided to try back in the salt marshes around Stonington, some of Jeff’s yak haunts. With an electric motor and push pole, I can fish some skinny water. The HM paid off, as we finally found fish that wanted to play. While not fifty pounders, these schoolies were ready to smash some topwater poppers. For the last hour to hour and a half we threw Gibbs Poppers and picked up an number of fish. While none landed were keepers, it definitely salvaged the day!
The morning’s trip began much the same as last weeks, with the exception of the fact we now had an outgoing tide as opposed to incoming. My buddy Jeff and I launched from Avery Point a bit before 5:00am, with the intent of starting the day between Wicopessette and Sugar Reef. Storms Thursday night had dumped another 4” of rain in the region, and the water remained stained the color of coffee. The wind was 5-10knots out of the SW, and seas were calm. Given my last trip, I anticipated tough fishing, and was not disappointed. This time of year is all about stripers and light tackle fishing. I’m not that interested in the livelining , and running an 18’ skiff, not in a position to drift the rips looking for fish holding deep. We were soon sitting on Sugar Reef with a growing number of boats, marking a few fish but not getting any hits. One or two boats picked up schoolies in the 45 minutes or so we hung around. Running back inside the reefs towards Fisher’s, I noticed a school breaking the surface and we pulled up for a few casts. My sudden stop drew the attention of a couple of additional boats who were soon motoring in our direction. The glimmer of hope didn’t yield any results, and over the next few hours we worked Fisher’s Island Sound to Race Point, and over to Bartlet’s. A repeat of last week, with the exception that I wasn’t even marking any bait balls above Bartlett’s. We headed back east and give Watch Hill a last look on the incoming tide, which was about as productive as when we left. In a final Hail Mary we decided to try back in the salt marshes around Stonington, some of Jeff’s yak haunts. With an electric motor and push pole, I can fish some skinny water. The HM paid off, as we finally found fish that wanted to play. While not fifty pounders, these schoolies were ready to smash some topwater poppers. For the last hour to hour and a half we threw Gibbs Poppers and picked up an number of fish. While none landed were keepers, it definitely salvaged the day!
Jeff can only stretch his arms so far. Maybe if I had a macro lens.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Product Reviews
I promised product reviews of new stuff and local manufacturers this year. I've been out fishing with 247Lures made right here in CT, some interesting saltwater flies, and a few other goodies. I've got additional gear that I just haven't had time to get to yet with the end of the school year and lousy weekend weather. All of that will change in the next few weeks, so don't forget to check back. I'll be posting reports as well as some short video how to segments as well. Check out my Facebook page for daily updates!
Tight Lines,
RNA
Tight Lines,
RNA
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Nice day, crappy fishing in the eastern Long Island Sound.
Went out a 5:00am with a buddy and fished the flood in the eastern sound from Watch Hill back west to Bartlett's. The fishing sucked. Thanks to Andrea, the water was the color of black coffee throughout most of the area inside Fisher's. There were a bunch of boats out around Valiant Rock in the Race, as per usual, but I don't fish my skiff out there. Only real signs of life were the bait balls above Bartlett's, but nothing biting. There were a few small blues around the outflow, but I really didn't feel like spending time there. It looks like 4-5" of rain did a number on the bite. Took my friend sightseeing up the Thames and called it a day by 10:00a.m. Maybe it got better on the ebb tide. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe I should have launched in RI and tried for some cleaner water. Maybe I should have just stayed in bed! Now I have to go rinse everything down:( Hopefully I can sneak out an evening this week, or next weekend's weather will cooperate enough for an Saturday night/Sunday morning trip.
The best part of the day. It was down hill from here, but hey, I promised to post the bad with the good. Not even a little fish to make look like big fish!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Fisher's Island Report 6/1/2013
The Long Island Sound is quickly filling with bass and
blues, with fish close to 60lbs. being taken this past week. Drifting 3-way rigs with bunker has been the
way to go. While I like to get out and
do this every once and a while, it's typically at night and looking for monster
bass. I much prefer light tackle and fly
fishing from my skiff, targeting top water bites and fish on the smaller rips
and reefs. I simply can't safely venture
out onto the big rips when the tide gets moving, and find it more fun to catch
a bunch of 20-30 pound bass on 12-20lb. line setups or my 8wt. Fisher's Island and
its surroundings are usually my go-to spots.
Saturday morning I overslept, waking at 4:09 a.m. , about the time I had planned to arrive at the
launch to catch both the start of the outgoing tide and predawn. By the time I gassed up, stopped at Dunkin
Donuts and got on the water it was after 6 a.m. I
decided to bypass the Clumps and make straight for the reefs around Watch
Hill. The wind was finally cooperating,
and the run out was smooth. I arrived to
find more than a dozen boats on Sugar, including Jack Balint and Steve Burnett,
both with charter trips. As I mentioned in
the past, Jack has been my go to captain when chartering in the LIS, and I'll
be headed across to Montauk again with him this fall.
The tide was flowing nicely, but the fish that you often see
breaking on the surface were nowhere to be seen. I marked a few bait balls, but fishing this
reef solo in the Gemma Rose II is tough as I can't let her drift stern first
back into the rip. It's nice when I've got
someone aboard so we can take turns casting and holding the boat in position. I wasn't there long when both Jack and Steve took
off west. This was a clear indication
that nothing was going on around here or Watch Hill, as neither would be leaving
fish with customers on board.
I decided against continuing the battle with the current, and
started west along the north side of Fisher's. Last year from mid-May to late July, this area
produced solid action along the many reefs and rocky shores, particularly on
the ebb. On this day, the water was filthy
and I got nothin' at any of the stops I made until a short fish at North Point. I worked back along the south side with the same
results. (The fluke fleet was out in force,
anchored south of the island.) By the time
I'd circumnavigated Fisher's, Jack and Steve were back on Sugar, and then east to
Watch Hill. I managed another short bass
off of Catumb Rocks as the ebb tide was finally giving way.
I wasn't ready to head in, as despite the slow fishing, it was
a really nice day on the water. Just for
the hell of it, I decided to run over to Bartlett 's. By this time, the tide was completely slack,
and there were only a few boats anchored fishing scup. It was time to head back to Avery
Point and call it a day. On the way back, I landed my best catch of the
afternoon! My favorite Bud-n-Mary's (Islamorada ,
FL ) cap blew off. I motored back around, and as I don't carry a
landing net, I leaned over the bow to grab it as I idled forward. I had my hands on it, but then lost it under the
boat. The prop wash sent it down and I figured
it was lost. I cut my engine and let the
Gemma Rose drift with the current. Sure enough,
after a couple of minutes it came up not 20 ft. from the boat.
Conditions:
6/1/13
Mostly Sunny
Wind SW 5-10knots
Seas less than 1 ft.
Outgoing tide
Water Temp 58-59 degrees, dirty
Gear Used:
12-20 lb. spinning gear setups
7" Hogy's in amber, pink and white
White Zoom Super Flukes w. Kalin jig heads
247 Squid-Zee in amber
Friday, May 31, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Bait, bait everywhere, and nary a striper to see. (5/19/13 on the Lower Connecticut River)
Bait, bait everywhere, and nary a striper to see. I decided to move down river this weekend, despite the stripers still hanging north of Middletown. This was my first trip to the mouth of the CT
River, as I had heard that action was pretty decent around Great
Island the last week or so. After yesterday afternoon's trip cut short (20 min. total) by a problem with the Lowrance, I was back on the water at 5am this morning. The tide was coming in until about 7:30 , and it was dead calm. I'll never get tired of a sunrise over the
water.
I started throwing pearl Sluggos
and some swim baits, and had a few swirls and swipes, but no hooksets. Close to and hour and a half of work did not
produce a fish, nor did I see any pulled in by anyone else in the area. I
decided to motor north and see what I could find. A few swirls above the 95 bridge, but I just
couldn't get a fish to bite.
Just below
Hamburg Cove, the water exploded with herring.
I was marking a school so thick It looked like the bottom was at 10 feet
in 30+ feet of water. Surely, bass had
to be beneath. I dropped soft plastics through the school, bouncing
them of fish as they descended. I fished
swimbaits at every level and sluggos on top.
Nada. Nothing. I wasn't marking any big fish either. Same story with two or three other boats that
had been working the school for a while.
Livelining may have been the trick, but also illegal with river run
herring.
Time running short, I ran back to the mouth where the earlier action repeated itself. Swirls, but no takers. I'm sure I could have ground out a fish or two, but I had to be in early. This was my first, and hopefully last, skunk of the season.
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