Time to fish

Since the last two days have been very wet for a majority of New England, the clear blue skies, light winds and crisp air, only means it is time to get back out there chasing fish. Depending on which part of New England you reside, the rainfalls were varied as some areas received over 3 inches of rain and the lakes and rivers should be getting into great shape about now. Water temps are hovering in the high 50's and spawn is happening in different parts of the area. I am going to go to our crappie hole and see if the panfish are moving in and check to see if I can see the crappies sitting on their beds yet. With the rising waters, this water has standing brush along the shoreline and the panfish move right in there and you are literally standing 12 inches away from them. It is a lot of fun watching their movements and what they are doing and will try and get some video of them as well.

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Match the Hatch

Spring is the time of year that we need to concentrate on what the fish want and what they are showing us in their feeding choices or habits. The creatures that fish are feeding on these days are small and this is what the angler needs to offer these fish in their bait presentations. This is called “matching the hatch” and it is exactly what it sounds like. The baits we present need to be of the same size and to a point same color as the forage the fish are feeding on. By doing this, we are increasing our odds in catching fish when other anglers are not. This spring has been a cool and wet one as well and by offering similar sized baits, or even smaller baits will put the favor in our presentations. Try “matching the hatch” as best you can and you may surprise yourself and have a very productive day versus the other anglers that are fishing right next to you.

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Report April 24 2008

With the beautiful weather New England has been experiencing, we would think that the fish would be on fire. There are many reports around the area that the fish are on fire but we haven’t been able to experience this yet. We went fishing on a small local pond in hopes of finding some bigger females getting ready to spawn. I have been diligent in fishing with a jig/pig combination and flipping to every piece of structure searching for these fish. So far this combination has not been working for me and need to start venturing to other bait combinations. With the winds blowing fairly persistent and keeping the boat under control, fishing the shoreline was a fairly quick and power fishing approach. Before leaving I pulled out a spinning rod with a BearPaw Grizzly Jerk and started casting the shoreline with this. Wasn’t long and my first bass of the season came to the boat and was a whopping 9 inches. Kept moving down the shoreline and casting and working the plastic jerkbait and wasn’t long and the next fish hit. Could tell that this was a little nicer fish and when it approached the boat we could see that there was another fish behind it. Couldn’t tell what the other fish was but could see that it was much bigger and my son put his bait down there to try and catch it. But the wind was blowing too much and the fish was gone and I lifted the 1.5 pound bass out of the water to see a set of teeth marks on both sides and tells me that other fish was a big pike. That would have given my son quite a fight if he would have hooked that but unfortunately that was not the case.

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Report April 22 2008

Weather has been beautiful and this is warming the waters of our lakes and ponds very nicely. Water temps this last weekend showed mid 50’s and this is going to get the fish starting to move shallow with the spawn not far behind. Our fishing has not proved very well lately and we haven’t had a bass come into the boat yet. Been catching our share of pickerel, as they are cruising the shorelines quite regularly seeking the warmer water. Have not seen any panfish utilizing the warming waters of the shore yet and that would be the case that the smallmouth bass haven’t come shallow either. Many reports of big bass being caught in different parts of the state, but the lakes we fish have not turned on for us yet. Will be trying again here in a day or so and will have to see if our luck is better.

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Kids and Fishing

With the warming days of spring, getting Kids interested in fishing is not that hard to get them there to try their hand at fishing. Kids are fascinated with the idea of catching a fish and reeling it in to say “look at what I caught”. That excitement keeps them interested in going fishing another day to see if they can catch something bigger than the last time out. But there are going to be those days that the fish aren’t going to be as easy to catch as the previous outings. These days are the ones that you need to think of other things to do to pass the time or if the kids are really getting bored, go home or to the park. There is no need to sit there and wait for the fish to come around if they are not biting because kids will remember these days and the next time you want to take them, they will say that they are not biting and are not willing to go. By not forcing them to stay if they are not biting, or making them sit through some bad weather, they will ask to go more often and by picking local areas that have a good panfish population, makes for a very enjoyable day as well as memories.

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Line Re-Spool

As we get ready and excited about the upcoming open water season, one item that many anglers seem to forget about is their fishing line. A good rule of thumb is to replace the old line from the year before each spring, before starting the open water season. Having the line sit on our reels over the long winter season, many times the line takes on the memory of the spool and may cause problems when it comes time to start fishing. Another issue is that depending on where the reels were stored, the line may also start breaking down as well. If an angler uses the old line the next season, there is a good chance that when you hook that trophy fish, the line may snap and say good bye to that fish. Spooling on fresh line each spring gives you that security that on that next hook-set you are going to get that fish into the boat.

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Report April 13 2008

What another wild weekend of New England weather at its finest. Nice weather all week long and as usual when the weekend comes everything goes downhill very quickly. The weather consisted of coolness, dampness, wind as well as hot humid sun at one point.

We made our maiden voyage out with the boat and gave it a good run in the cool, windy and rainy conditions. But you don’t notice some of those things now that we are back on open water and able to start our fishing season once again. Cranked up the motor and idle around some and also made a few runs around the lake to make sure that everything was working and sounding the way that it is suppose to.

After doing that I had decided that might as well fish for a little while since we are there and see if the bass are in the cooperating mood. Reports of late have fish biting mainly on jigs and jerkbaits so I was going to concentrate on jig fishing any and all wood in the water that I could find. Wasn’t a productive day at all and only had one pickup that was detected and missed as well. It was just nice being out there and working the shoreline once again and can only get better as the season goes along. Did notice that the Rainbow Trout were starting to jump around the surface of the water and must be going after the bugs that are hatching.

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Fishing Report April 4-7 2008

New England is playing its weather game as usual and this is making the fishing somewhat tough to start this open water season. With the winds, sun, cold temps and rain at times, fishing is fair at best as the water temps are not raising that quickly to get these fish fired up. So far we have caught a few pickerel and that has been it. The bass have not started their move towards shallow water so far at least where we have fished. I am hoping that the panfish start soon as well as my son want to get out there and can’t wait to wet his line. I have a couple little things left to do on the boat as the major things have been done and it will be ready to hit the water soon. Soon the reports should start showing some nice fish as the waters continue to warm and get ready to start their spawning ritual. It will get better and keep checking back as the reports will start getting more frequent as I get more opportunities to fish New England waters.

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Spring and Kids

Spring time is a great time to introduce kids to the sport of fishing and usually the weather is much more acceptable to them as well. As the shallow waters start to warm and the panfish start to move towards those shallow waters, this opens up an opportunity for getting kids hooked on fishing. The shallow waters are warming quickly with the stronger sun and this brings fish there sunning and warming themselves from the long cold winter. Finding a pond or lake that has easy shoreline access for fishing shouldn’t be that hard and this is where you will need to start them fishing. Getting them setup with a rod and reel is fairly simple as many stores offer packages just for this purpose and built for kids. Get yourself some live bait, small hair jigs or micro plastics and get them rigged up with this and you are all set for a day of fishing. When that first fish is caught, you will see all of the excitement that kids have and they will want to do it again and again. If they are not biting, just keep moving along the shoreline and you will find an area that they will be. This time of year is some of the easiest times to catch fish and why not spend an afternoon introducing a kid to fishing.

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Reel Maintenance

Open water is here in New England and time to get the open water gear out of storage and ready to catch some fish. Now is the time to take a look at all of your fishing reels and get them cleaned up. Cleaning all of the old grease, oil and gunk from the inside is very important as we put these reels through a great deal of punishment. Clean grease and oil will make these reels last a long time and with the cost of news ones these days, a little work and maintenance will make them go a long ways. It should only take 10 minutes or so a reel and in one evening you can have them all cleaned and lubed so that when that first open water outing comes, they will be ready. Don’t forget new line as well as the old line has been sitting all winter and has taken on spool memory and also lost some of its characteristics and may cost you a big fish.

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Fishing Mar 31-Apr 1 2008

Now that our lakes and ponds are getting void of ice, I am able to start doing some fishing during my lunch hour once again. I am very fortunate to have a reservoir about 10 minutes from work and this gives me 30-40 minutes to fish every noon day. This particular reservoir is loaded with fish, some say there aren’t any fish there, but from the ones that I have caught there, I continue to fish there quite a bit.

This reservoir is fairly good sized and apparently is a flooded golf course with the raised tees, roads, trees and the New England stone fence as structure under the surface of the water. The fish that I have caught here so far are sunfish, perch, pickerel, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. The bass population is doing very well and this reservoir has a very good population of large smallmouth bass. Topwater and also deepwater tactics have worked here and nothing better than watching a smallmouth fly out of the water after a topwater bait.

Mar 31: I started in my deep water spot and this area has some weeds mixed in and there are a few shelves that I work my bait up and through. The wind was blowing fairly briskly with snow/sleet/rain falling and with the water level very high right now, there wasn’t much action going on. Was nice to be able to start casting and throw tubes and jerkbaits once again after the long winter season.

Apr 1: Since the wind was much stronger than the day before and the deep water wasn’t doing anything thought that I would make my walk to my shallow cove flat area and see if anything was cruising and searching these shallower waters. Stopped at one area that has a gradual drop towards deeper water with a lot of broken stone but there were no takers there. Made my way to a large flat area that has some mixed weeds, wood and broken rocks throughout. The wind wasn’t blowing near as hard here and casting the jerkbait was a little easier and I started fan casting this cove. After a few casts and doing the repeated jerking motion of the jerkbait back towards me, the line got heavy and started screaming off to my right. Wasn’t long and the fishes tail was splashing out of the water and I could seeing that this was a nice fish. Working it back towards shore it was a nice pickerel in the 2-3 pound range and a nice way to start off the season.

Cast a couple of other areas on the way back towards the truck but there wasn’t any action that I could find. I haven’t ice fish this lake or been out there in a boat yet, kayak lake only, but with the structure that is there this could make for a very enjoyable day. I am planning on doing the work of getting my kayak up and into this water this coming weekend as from reports that I have heard over the past, there are a few fish that I need to search for. The crappies are known to get up to 2 pounds there, the perch that have been caught have been over a pound, and the bass population that I have caught there makes me come back as often as possible.

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Video Mar 30 2008

Here is a video of our last adventure March 30 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSrKx2i5-EM

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