I'm a Famous Fisherman..........Not Really, but.......

This week marks the second time from this fishing season that I made the Falmouth Enterprise for my fishing exploits. The first time was actually because of the fish that I caught earlier this year when I got the 35#, 31# and 26# fish. Gene passed along this information to Dave Peros who writes for multiple fishing publications. The latest entry in the Enterprise was more about Gene's fish that he caught last weekend. Fishing has been slow and Capt. Peros wanted to point out that it still was possible to get some good fish. So, obviously I am not famous, but it is still really cool to get into the fishing section for some good reasons.

So Much Fun I Forgot to Catch

Yesterday morning I went out with Gene with a very specific plan. First, start out by fishing for bass and then after the sun came up, head to the Heights where the Albies have been lurking. The plan was well executed, mostly. Got to the hot spot from this season around the Elizabeth Islands and even though there were a couple boats already there Gene pulled in a nice 24 lb. bass on a 14" bone Hogy. Fished a little more and I missed one fish, but the sun came up and we headed to the Heights.

As soon as we got to Falmouth Harbor we started seeing the Albies crashing peanut bunker. We both had multiple shots at these fish and I did manage to hook up for about a half second before being bitten off. I went with the no leader approach. Argh!!! The only one we saw hook up was a kayaker. I was happy for him. Pretty cool.

Made the journey at full throttle from Falmouth Heights to Fiddler's Cove in a little over a half an hour. Awesome time. Got home took a shower and took the kids to church. It wasn't until a few hours after church that I realized I did not even catch a fish. I am not quite sure why, but I had an absolute blast chasing those fish around and it is an interesting feeling that when you are captaining a boat you feel at least a little responsible for other peoples' fish.

Here is a picture of Gene's fish which does not do it justice.

Good Times with good people

Bad news first - Been fishing three times on the boat so far and I am 3 for 3 with the skunk. last time out I at least saw fish and had a couple hits, but unfortunately I was unable to hook up. Worst of it is that I snapped off a lure at the same time the top section of my brand new rod came off. Long story short I am going to have to buy a new top section of my Tsunami Trophy. To make it worse, my back up rod which was my full time rod for the past two seasons lost its tip on the last trip out. Not my week I guess!!!

Good news - Other than raising over $1000 for JDRF this past fall the other good thing that came from that big fundraiser was that I befriended a fellow SOLer that also has a son with Type 1 diabetes, Colrain.

I took Colrain and his son, Garrett out on my boat on Saturday to fish around the Vineyard and Elizabeth's. Got out to the Vineyard and within' a few casts I had fish sloshing all over my Hogy, but Colrain hooked up. I thought this was going to be too good to be true and it was. No other hook ups the rest of the day, but we saw a lot of skittish and finicky fish which at least kept our hopes up throughout the day. Garrett raised more fish than both Colrain and I, but unfortunately never hooked up. He even had some hits around the Elizabeths during the turn of the tide, but still no solid hookups.

Just wanted to let everyone know that just being out on a boat (Garrett's first time on a boat by the way) with nice people is well worth it even if you do not catch a ton of fish. I had a blast!

Hope to do it again sometime Colrain and we will take some eels along the rocks of the Elizabeths.

Busy, Busy, Busy

For summer I have been so busy. Starting on Wednesday I had gigs on every day with multiple gigs on Thursday and Saturday. The big string of gigs ended Sunday morning with a church gig. Mike Earley and I had planned an Elizabeth Islands jaunt and that started a little before 4pm. With a full tank of gas and near flat calm seas we decided to head out towards Cuttyhunk, a first for both of us. We decided to fish for the blues if they showed, but they didn't. Not one. Just south of the Weepeckets we saw some birds, but they were acting a little stange. Long story short there were a few schools of bass breaking on bait, but it was pretty unorganized. Mike caught one healthy schoolie and I had a few bass follow the Ranger on metal leader that I had bought to catch all the bluefish I knew that we would be catching. I switched to a bone Hogy when I realized we were on bass, but the schools were so unorganized we kept heading south. Around the colder water there was a bunch of fog, but we were able to keep the islands in sight and get down to Cuttyhunk and back safely. On the way back we went by Quicks Hole and saw a few spots that looked rocky and fishy. I told Mike that I ws going to catch a 32" bass around these rocks and sure enough I got some really nice swirls and finally a hookup on the 7" bone Hogy. Well, it was only 31", but it was a great fish and really pulled some drag. Unfortunately the fish inhaled the bait and the hook was really hung up in its gills. When we finally got the hook out it was bleeding so bad we knew it was going to die so we kept it. I am looking forward to getting to Cuttyhunk early some morning to get a big bass.

Getting Ready

School is out on Friday!! You can't see it, but I am doing a tap dance in between each sentence I am writing. Yesterday I took some time to get all of my rods up to speed. Respooled my two light tackle setups and swapped reels. I also got some more braid for the big boy and respooled that too. I have been putting a lot of thought into the big boy recently as well. I think the rod is going to be good for me for a long time. It is sturdy and has enough backbone to horse in a big fish. Eventually I am going to upgrade the reel. I have been doing a little looking and I am hoping to spend less than $100 and hopefully more like $60. Right now I am looking at an Okuma Salina and it also looks like there are a couple lower end Shimano's that may work as well as possibly a Daiwa or two. I am looking hard at some ebay listings and also in the shops. It is not a huge thing, but I do not want to lose a Striper Cup worthy fish because my reel gave out. I have still only been out one time on the boat by myself for a fishing outing. I am looking forward to many early morning starts and getting out to the Elizabeth's with a bucket of eels and/or trying out more of the trolling thing.

Father's Day

Woke up early to go fishing with Paul and Mike Kerrigan. We were on the water by 6:30am. Headed towards the Elizabeth's and happened upon a huge school of bluefish that occasionally came up to the surface to bang bait. There was an amazing amount of fish on the fish finder and an incredible amount of bait in the water. It was fun to see Mike catch his first couple blues after relearning how to cast. We each caught a few and headed to Robinson's Hole. We anchored at the Southwestern most point of Robinson's and started chumming. It wasn't long before we started getting fish...dogfish! We pulled up three and then got out of there. The ride back stunk because I thought about swinging by Middle Ground before heading in. Vineyard Sound had the occasional 6-7 foot wave whereas Buzzards Bay was barely 1. Bad choice. In addition, the rain started to fall making it hard to see. I probably burnt an extra $20 in fuel and a full hour of time getting back Vineyard Sound instead of Buzzards Bay. Another lesson learned. Christine set up an awesome cookout and we ate very well and watched a Red Sox 9-0 murder of the Reds. Awaiting the Celts game tonight and hoping they just end it tonight so that I do not have to stay up so late anymore, unless I am fishing.

My Best Striper of Last Season

In early June of 2007 I got a call from friend Mike Earley and he told me his father was unable to make their scheduled fishing trip. Mike invited me to take his father's place on his 18' Parker center console. This would be my first time fishing along the Elizabeth Islands and I was looking forward to it. Mike took me out along Naushon Island and we had decided that slinging live eels would be our tactic for the evening. Mike and I had already been fishing twice earlier this year, once from shore and once from his boat. On both occasions I managed to get a fish on my first cast and I was hoping for the same this time. We got out to just about the southern most tip of Naushon and started to drift in close. I eeled up and let it loose. Within minutes, on my first cast, I was hooked up with my best fish of the season. I had already brought in many a schoolie and many a bluefish this season and I could immediately tell that this fish was much larger. Mike couldn't believe that I again had nailed a fish on my first cast for the third trip in a row. Mike measured the fish and I was excited that it was 39", not my best ever, but a very respectable fish. Unfortunately for the remainder of the trip we were unable to find that fishes friends anywhere. That's fishing.