2013 Fishing Reports

I can’t believe another fishing season is here already and that I’m on year 6 of running this little web journal of mine. As per usual you can expect me and my crew of misfits (the good kind) to share this 2013 seasons outdoor experiences. And with it come more pictures, video and reports written on the fly with some poor grammar and a few misspellings. Anything else would be to civilized for my taste.... LOL. And as per usual along with my friends and I you the readers are always welcome to share your successes and share some of your own photos and reports that I will gladly post right here on this page. My apologies for not updating this site sooner but I have a good excuse. I was fishing (when I wasn’t working) but now that I’m pretty much caught up with the postings. I should be able to do a better job from here on in of keeping this website updated and hopefully post new content on a weekly basis, so come back and visit us again or better yet contribute and join our crew of misfits. Tight lines to all this season. George D.

We all had to meet up at the boat at 4:30 AM in the morning, luckily my buddy Bill was able to arrange for us to crash at his parents cottage down in the cape the evening before, giving us the chance to drive down afterwork and get some sleep and a much shorter commute to the boat versus the other alternative of leaving our houses at 2-2:30 AM just to make it on time. We set sail in the dark at 4:30, it was definitely not a trip for the faint of heart when you also add in the 3 hour boat ride out in the heavy chop before even arriving to the fishing grounds. Once we got to the fishing grounds we would have 6 hours to fish before having to head back for another 3 hour boat ride to port and then drive back home on the highway for another 2 plus hours, it was hard-core all the way. There were 6 of us on board a boat called the Fish Hawk. I have fished with Captain Joe and his mate Jeff before a bunch of times for bass and we usually did pretty well but never for cod fish. I had faith though that we were in good hands and would catch some fish but I really had no idea what to expect on this trip. After all cod fishing isn't what it used to be but at the same time I felt somewhat optimistic. After getting a little beat up from our boat ride out we finally get out to the cod grounds and I start off with a large silver 17.5 oz cod jig. As Im dropping my jig down, Bill had already hooked up and lost a big fish right off the bat and then hooked up again. As soon as my jig hit the bottom I got hit hard and also had a big fish putting a good bend in the rod, I begin working it up but it came unbuttoned. I was a little frustrated because it felt like a real good fish. As I drop my jig back down Bill hooks up again but this time gets a huge Cod in the boat. As I'm admiring his fish I also get hit hard again by a big Cod, in which I took my time with and dropped back the lever drag a bit on my reel to not rip the hook out and I ended up landing a monster cod as well. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the fishing day. The large fish of the trip ranged around 25-30 lbs. Including the 2 slobs Bill and I took at the start. And with 7-8 lb cod these days wining pools on the party boats it's a pretty special thing to land Cod as big as we did. Bill put it best when he said he didn’t even think cod this big still existed. Prior to today I know I personally cant remember seeing cod this big since the 80's. The first part of the morning was hot and heavy with action and there was no questioning if the fish coming aboard met the legal size limit. We were working a good pod of heavy fish and they were all good sized. Later in the morning we moved around to a few different spots and began getting into a mix of small undersized fish mixed with large fish. The action never stopped. Everyone was hooking up. We also incidentally hooked up with a couple of sharks that peeled some serious drag off our reels before breaking off. I lost 2 cod fish and a jig and teaser thanks to one of those sharks. One of my Friends on board Mike recently did some half day party boat cod trips but without much success but on this trip he was hammering them too and took honors for the largest fish of the day. Most of us got into some slob size fish and we all got into some solid fish. At the end of the trip we all filled our limits and had plenty of delicious fillets to bring home to enjoy with our families. We had such a blast were planning on making it an annual thing and doing it all again next year. Tight Lines All! -GeorgeFishing a dam, rocks and blow downs I managed about a dozen smallmouth but none of any large size and a couple of rock bass. Not much worth bragging about but it was still a pleasant day on the water. Tight Lines All! - George

My buddy Mike had called me 2-3 weeks prior and invited me back up to his camp in NH again this year. The plan was to drive up to camp and crash Friday night and then get an early start Saturday morning heading over to the white mountains for some brook trout fly fishing, to a spot he still till this day reminds me to keep tight lipped about. When I was invited I had thoughts of big striped bass on the brain instead and targeting fish the size of the bass bait I use was not my first instinct but Mike had talked me into it and how could I say no, past trips I've always had a good time at his camp hanging out with Mike and his sons. So I agreed and I'm glad I did. So Friday afterwork we both got together, picked up his boys and headed to his camp in NH. When we finally got there me and younger Mike loaded up the two canoes at camp onto the pick-up truck and made sure they were strapped in good for the hour plus ride into the mountains tomorrow morning. We then also loaded all the fishing gear. We were ready for morning. While me and younger Mike did all that older Mike (younger Mike's Dad) was in the kitchen preparing and cooking what he calls his heart attack burger. I can see why he called them that, when he was done cooking he handed me a plate that had two grill cheese sandwiches with a thick burger in the middle of them. I couldn’t help but laugh as I dived right in devouring the 3 tier sandwich. Instead of us having gone to bed early as we originally hoped found ourselves staying up late chatting and watching a movie. So morning came quick at what seemed like a blink of an eye. When we pulled out to begin our drive it was still dark out and remained dark until we got there. We spotted a couple of foxes and a handful of moose on the way up. So we drove cautiously to avoid any collisions with these massive animals. When we finally got there the sun had only begun to slowly rise as we began to launch our canoes from shore. Young Skylar and older Mike in one canoe and me and younger Mike in another. After tying on the first fly it didn’t take long to begin hooking up. The morning bite was hot and as to be expected died down a bit late morning all the way through mid afternoon but the bite was still consistent enough to keep at it slowly picking away at them. By late afternoon the bite picked back up and you could see many ripples forming from all the actively feeding brook trout. By days end we estimated between both canoes and all 4 of us that we landed around a 122 brook trout. I had landed 4-5 brookies around 18 inches that looked to be in the 2 lb class category. Young Mike also got a couple of fish in that class. So we felt like we did pretty well. The highlight of the trip was during the afternoon We Hear older Mike in the other canoe yelling at us to come over and we could hear him freaking out. When we finally got boat-side of him he reaches down and lifts the largest brook trout I have ever personally laid eyes on. Looking at the fish we estimated its weight at around 4.5 – 5 lbs. The fish measured out at 22" long with a girth of 14" Mike was extremely excited to say the least. After the catch about an hour later Mike hooked up and landed another big brook trout in the 3 lb class. He was on a role, younger Mike and I continued also to hook up but after viewing the two large fish older Mike had brought up everything else just seemed small afterwards, even the 17-18 inchers. We had originally planned on fishing until dark but by late afternoon we all had enough, we all caught plenty of fish and were tired and more interested in dinner than trout. We ended the trip early and it was a good one, we got both quality and numbers. We hit the road grabbed a bite and headed back to camp. Mike had kept his trophy brook trout to be mounted and hung in his cabin. So the next morning Mike got up earlier while the rest of us were still sleeping, grabbed his trout out of the freezer and went into town to get an official weight of the brookie on a certified scale. Which ended up being just a hair shy of 5 lbs, an impressive weight for a brook trout, had Mike had it weighed after it was freshly caught, prior to blood and slime loss and freezing he might have even broken 5 lbs. When he got back to camp he put the coffee on and when I got up I grabbed a cup and over coffee he told me the official weight and I was like holy cow. After breakfast we packed up and cleaned the camp and headed back home swapping stories. I'm already looking forward to returning but the next time I wont assume all the fish were going to catch will be small. Lesson learned. Tight Lines All! -George

Back out again with Lucas, we cant seem to get enough striped bass action this season and we seem to have grown addicted to it. Lately Saturdays have become routine, striper day. As usual we got an early start, even though we would arrive at low tide and the high-tide not coming in until mid afternoon. It seemed as long as bait is still in the area it didn’t matter we would still pick at some stripers and about 2-3 hours before the high-tide the fish would go on a feeding frenzy. At least that was the pattern we noticed on our previous trips and today was no different. After braving the monster waves by the mouth of the river, in a little 18 foot center council boat, we finally made our way outside the month into some calmer water and began doing our usual routine and had another banner day with more than enough fish caught to loose count, what a day. Every time the rod got slammed you just didn’t know if you would be setting the hook onto a schoolie or a 36 plus inch striper, which kept things pretty interesting at all times. As usual we each kept our limit of 2 keeper sized striped bass a piece and released many more. This great fishery is pulling me away from other originally planned fresh water pursuits, I had wanted to add to this current seasons agenda but I'm not complaining and hope to do it again next week. I guess sometimes the best plan is no plan and just going with the flow. July is just about over and Fall will be here before you know it, so get out there while you can. Tight Lines All! - George

I decided to take a vacation day on Friday and therefore extend my weekend. I had already made plans Saturday to hit the salt again for more stripers. So Friday I decided to return back to some well neglected fresh water fishing again. My buddy Dale wanted to join me, so I let him come along. At 5:00 AM Dale was in front of my house and at 5:15 AM we pulled out of the drive way, with my boat in tow & both our gear loaded in my pick-up truck, heading to the Quabin reservoir. Fishing the Q in the summer months can be very slow but we were optimistic and kept our fingers crossed that there would be no skunking. It was great to be back out on the big lake and in the Captain's seat again cruising along to our days first spot. The plan was to try a summer tactic of trolling a dodger and fly combos. I had heard reports of salmon hanging around at 30 feet over 60 feet. My fish finder pretty much confirmed what I heard. After prepping up our rods and marking some fish, we deployed our rods. Bringing our baits down 30 feet and working the same depths as the fish arches indicated on the fish finder. After placing all our rods in the rod holders anticipation was high and we hoped for the best. Not to long after my rod got slammed, I quickly grabbed the rod and took my time, carefully fighting the fish, slowly pumping up and reeling down, repeatedly until a beautiful silver coated landlocked salmon appeared at boat side. Dale dipped the net and missed the fish, I started to get nervous that she might come un-buttoned at boat side but after another short run Dale on his second try finally slipped her into the net, at which point I finally felt relieved. After the first catch, we kept at it, bouncing around from spot to spot panning for more silver. The light wind didn’t just help with the salmon chop but also made for good showing of bald eagles today. As they used the wind to their advantage and soared all around us, what a spectacle and a beautiful place. Tight Lines All! -George

After last weekend where to fish this upcoming Saturday was a no brainer. Lucas and I decided to hit the Merimac River for some more striped bass action. After another early start we launch his boat and as we make our way to the mouth we both spot a dolphin. A pretty sight which also had me wondering if there was a bunch of fresh bait around. Which seemed to be the case, otherwise why else would the dolphin be so close to shore? The seagulls ended up confirming it for us. When we followed the diving birds around, they led us to the bait, which led us to our targets. While things started off a little slow there was still enough action to keep things interesting. We picked at the stripers and within a couple of hours or so had 4 keepers in the cooler and few shorts thrown back. This in-itself would not be a bad day, about 2 hours before high tide rolled in, it was as if a light switch was turned on or better yet a dinner bell and it was one striper after another, often Lucas and I were both hooked up with doubles. Because both of us each kept the first 2 keeper stripers we landed, we had filled both our creel limits earlier in the day and found ourselves both releasing much larger fish toward the second half of the trip. It was a banner day and the striper action was just sick. No fancy tactics or trolling just simple cut bait fished off the bottom. What was already a great day of collecting sun rays and stripers, got better when around the time we were getting ready to wrap things up Lucas spotted his uncles lobster boat off in the distance. So we cruised by to say hello. His uncle was kind enough to give us some lobsters. Heading back we had a cooler of fresh striped bass and lobsters, it was also a no brainer in deciding what to have for dinner. What a day! Tight Lines All! - George.

A few weeks ago I was talking to a real good buddy of mine and he tells me he's going to get his boat all squared away and ready to go for some striped bass action. Which took me back a little because I had no idea he even had a boat and when I asked him why he didn’t tell me sooner, he just laughed at me. We decided to get together this season and do some heavy striper fishing. A couple of weeks ago my buddy Lucas asked me where should we start. I suggested we try our luck and hit the Merimac River, which has a well known striper fishery. It's also a much closer drive for us versus going to Cape Cod. Last week Lucas took out his boat for a trial run with his father and brother and ended up scoring some schoolie stripers but no keepers or as we say in New England Keepas. This upcoming Saturday he wanted to give the Merimac another go and called me up to join him. So when Saturday came we hit the road early. It's been years since I last fished the mouth of the Merimac and I remember it being a bit of a zoo boat traffic wise but I also remember the fishing being pretty good. When we got there it wasn’t as bad as I remembered it but still busy with boats. Perhaps due to my theory of the higher cost of fuel and the economy aiding in keeping a lesser amount of boats off the water. The plan was a simple one, fishing within the mouth and outside of it, drifting and anchoring with cut bait (clam & mackerel chunks). Keeping it simple worked out okay. We caught about 8 fish, 4 of which were keepers and called it a day. My buddy Lucas and I had a blast and plan on doing it again next week. I just cant seem to get enough striper action this season and it seems Lucas now has the bug too. Aside from the fishing we capped off the day afterwards with a few cold ones and some fresh seafood at a near by waterfront restaurant. Another great time on the water. Tight Lines All! - George.

Back out on the Fish Hawk again. What a difference a week makes, the striper bite has slowed down but we headed out anyway on a combo striped bass and sea bass trip. We started the first part of the morning targeting Stripers. We deployed lead-core line outfits loaded with a fly on the end. Things looked promising when I almost immediately tied into and landed a keeper striper. One of the other guys followed suit but as quick as we got those fish the bite painfully died down. We picked at them slowly and got into some more fish but it was day and night compared to last week. Though I still managed to get another keeper and complete a limit. The bite got progressively worse so we switched targets as planned and jet over to another spot in search of sea bass. The sea bass made their presence well known as we pulled up sea bass after sea bass, the problem was most of them were shorts. But if you caught enough of them eventually you would bring up a keeper and occasionally a jumbo size keeper. Not a banner trip but not a horrible one either. The laughs though we had at the end of the day, after fishing and off the boat were epic though. Fun trip and good times. Tight Lines All! - George.

With the striper bug now fully affecting me and in full swing, I continue to ignore my fresh water pursuits in exchange for what I hope will be a day full of striped bass action. The crew and I again this week met up with Captain Joe and his mate Jeff aboard the "Fish Hawk". Last week we were originally supposed to fish the Monomoy rips but oddly enough the annual squid run there was a no show, so plans had to be adjusted. However this week we were told the squid run though late were in and we'd probably be hitting it just right. So off to the Monomoy rips we went. We matched the hatch using artificial squid baits and had an epic day of stripped bass fishing, we crushed them. We took turns on the rods with 2 guys fishing at a time but it didn’t matter, fish bit so quickly that rod rotations came just as quickly. It never gets old watching stripers jet and break water to attack or baits or watching them go on a feeding frenzy around us sucking in all the squid they could get their mouths around. The fishing was so hot and heavy that though the size limit is 28 inches we only kept fish that were 32 inches or better. Everyone limited out and after filling our days quota, we switched over to catch and release and continued to catch a countless number of striped bass. You just couldn't ask for a better day of bass fishing. These are the type of days on the salt that spoil me and the type of day you hope for each time out. What a great day out. Tight Lines All! - George.

I was up before the sun and staring at the full moon for a moment before jumping into my pick up and making the 40 minute ride to the meeting spot, to hook up with the rest of the crew, consolidate vehicles, followed up by an even longer trek to Hyannis.

When we finally met up Captain Joe and mate his mate Jeff of the charter boat the "Fish Hawk", we then made another long trek by boat, with a pit stop along the way for scup. We baited up our hooks with pieces of squid in hopes of quickly enticing and landing enough scup/porgies for the days supply of live bait. Turned out it wasn’t so quick or easy (for today anyway) but we slowly plucked out enough scup amongst what seemed to be an endless amount of very small sea bass that seemed to overtake our catch ratio. After putting our time in we finally had enough live bait to continue on the rest of our trek to the days fishing grounds, with Martha's Vineyard as our back drop, all in the name of the striped bass. It was the first striper trip of the season for me and even though I had some fun catching sea bass the previous week this was the trip I was more excited about. While action was fair for all it wasn’t great but that’s fishing. I still managed to land a limit of stripers and enjoy a pleasant day on the water. I'll be back on the salt again next week with anticipation of even more striped bass action. Tight Lines All! - George

Jumped on another friends boat today, the Tuna Nut. After getting very little sleep last night and getting pretty beat up by the ocean yesterday it wasn’t easy getting up in the early AM again and making the long drive again but I said I would and so I did. I might have been a bit worn out but I'm glad I went, we hammered the hell out of the sea bass, everyone in the boat did well. Action was hot and one right after the other. I ran out of the secret bait yesterday and had no time to stop and get more before todays trip. Yesterday we were tipping our jigs with the secret bait and catching larger fish. However today just using straight jigs bounced off the bottom, we may not have caught as many larger fish but the number of fish we hooked up on was insane. We all had our limit in no time and a very full cooler. We were having so much fun with the bass we kept at it with catch and release fishing until we had our fill and headed back in. I've really on started fishing for sea bass last year and doing it again this year just further infuses the bug. This is a fish I hope to target in the future annually. It was a good time on the water, with plenty of fillets to bring home. Tight Lines All! - George

Well, I'm off from work this week. Dale knew I would be and had called me last week and asked if he could join me on one of my days off and I agreed. The only problem was my boat was at the marine shop waiting to be serviced and out of commission for the next week or two and just in time to screw up my vacation plans. So I called Dale up and told him we could still do it but we'd have to take his boat. Not exactly the Lund but it would still get us where we needed to fish. He agreed and the trip was still on. Before we headed out I had persuaded Dale to try some other experimental spots I had in mind, further out versus the same old spots closer in we typically fish. I was wondering if I had made the right call until Dale hooked up with the days first fish, a beautiful salmon. That fish set the tone for the rest of the day and in the mix we had also landed some nice lake trout and some big smallmouth. We got the big 3 at the Q. It was one of those overcast spring days that just felt right. While it was a good day on the water I couldn't help be disappointed that I would not be able to return the next day as originally planned. But at least I had today. It was good fishing with you Dale. Tight Lines All! - George

There is a little spring fed pond that I try to visit at least once a year, a little spot I generally like to keep to myself. This pond hosts an annual spring trout derby, the trout stocked in the pond for this event come from a commercial hatchery. What makes this little pond special is it's ability to support trout year round & that it usually receives 1 or 2 golden rainbow trout (also known as palomino trout & golden trout) per year for this derby. Obviously that's not many at all, hence my tight lips. The state hatcheries of Massachusetts unfortunately do not raise or stock these fish, making each one caught a very special catch, regardless of size. Every year I avoid the derby altogether & let everyone else have a crack at them first. I usually show up weeks or months afterwards to see if any golden's still remain. After a walk around the pond it doesn't usually take long to figure out if any golden rainbows remain, since they typically stand out like a gold fish or koi would. This trip was no different and when I approached the shore I immediately noticed 1 still remained. They are generally difficult to catch & typically tease anglers by often showing interesting in a bait or lure only to snub the bait at the last second. They can also be very skittish. Of the handful I have caught over the years this was the easiest of them to catch, by my 4th cast I was hooked up (it's not always like this). I have had some take me 2-4 trips back before finally hooking up. I learned not to over cast & instead cast selectively & let them relax time to time. Over casting causes them to become nervous and therefore not take a bait. Also because there so finicky over what they will take I've found it better to try & get a reaction strike & use their predatory nature against them versus a hunger reaction with still bait. I have caught these fish before & even did a video on them in the past but I was never able to capture the whole experience, like the stalk, take & fight. This time I captured it all & put this quick video together below. Next year I'll give it another go & maybe also make a long road trip to a better destination, like PA to target larger golden's. As for now I'm just happy I landed another little gold bar. The fish caught in this video was 14+ inches & caught on a ultra-light spinning rod, loaded with 4 LB test line & a fluorocarbon leader with a spinner. I also caught some very small steelbows (A cross of a Donaldson Steelhead and Kamloops rainbow, though technically still a rainbow) and some small domestic rainbows. I found the gold trout to be so pretty & unique looking I found myself snapping more pictures than usual, hope you guys enjoy them. Tight Lines All! - George

So I took a week off of vacation time to spend fishing the Quabbin reservoir, in search of some quality size fish. It was Sunday and Day 2 with 7 more days to follow. I was pretty pumped. I launch my boat and hug the dock while I try to start my motor but it wont turn over. I didn’t have any major issues with it on previous trips and it always ran fine. I figured I might have just flooded the motor with gas and maybe it just needed to sit a while before restarting it again. Other guys were waiting to launch so I shoved off the dock and let the current drift me away, so I would be out of everyones way and try again in a bit to start the motor. This happened once before and after letting the motor sit a while it fired up so I was pretty confident I could get it to start. The only problem was it didn’t. Even after letting it sit and many repeated attempts at trying to start the motor. I finally gave up and realized it was something more serious than a flooded motor. I had drifted a bit from the dock and didn’t bring my electric motor (wont make that mistake again). Before I go on I had met this guy John days ago while farting around at another lake near home, turned out he was also a Quabbin fisherman. So anyway back to my story, I reach for my paddle thinking great my day is shot now and wondering what the hell is wrong with my boat. I hear my name being called out so I turn around and theres John, who graciously offers to tow me back to the dock. After doing so John mentioned that he was heading out and going to be throwing jerk baits for smallmouth and offered to take me out with him if I wanted, I accepted the invite and quickly rushed to put my boat back on my trailer and park. I grabbed the limited bass gear I had on me (my original day plan was salmon fishing). Luckily I had at least brought my old currado bait caster. I hop in and John brings us out to one of his favorite spots and we both start casting jerk baits and while we're fishing I get to know John better and realize what a good guy he is. After starting it didn’t take long and John was hooked up. The smallmouth seemed to be in a feeding mood. In the mix was a surprise lake trout John landed. We both were getting into them pretty hard but I was a little rusty with my bait caster. John seemed to be on fire and for every fish I caught John had 2. But I still managed a good number of fish. I was sold on spring jerk baiting for smallmouth. We did well and John took honors for the largest fish of the day. With a digital scale weight of 4 lbs 1 oz. The smallmouth was a beauty and released to fight another day. At the end of the day I thanked John for the tow and for bringing me along and saving my fishing day. Johns a good guy and someone who I now consider a friend. I hope to return the favor someday and hope to fish with him again. Tight Lines All! - George

Back out again but solo. Heavy wind and forecasted rain kept most guys off the lake (girly men). I needed to test out a new 9 pitch prop on the mercury (which honestly is half the reason I showed up) and was happy with the speed I gained. Still have some fine tuning to do but I'm no longer crawling (pumped). The lake trout bite was on but landing them solo on a nasty windy day made for extremely difficult conditions when it came to netting, fighting and boat control, particularly when you had to do all 3 at the same time. I lost a few but got into a few as well including my heaviest of the season. The salmon were a no show today and the Lakers wouldn't touch any of the spoons or hardware today and seemed to be only interested in larger live bait. One of the lakers I caught accidentally took a hook to the gill and was bleeding pretty bad so rather than release a dead fish I kept him and since I was already going to be cleaning one, I thought I mine as well keep another and bring home a limit. The rest were carefully and successfully released to fight another day. Though the wind was bad, only a few quick showers that came and went occurred (unlike the expected projected forecast) and the Bimini top I took the time to actually set up came in handy at staying dry. Though one of the gate keepers joked around with me and said I must be getting old if I need a canopy now…LOL. Over all I was pretty happy with how the day turned out. Got a little better performance with the prop test and caught some fish. Not bad for a nasty day. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

I was unsure if I was going to go back out on Sunday. It was about 9-10 AM and a beautiful day and at the last minute I decided to go back out on the Q. I called up my buddy Mark and our mutual friend Johnny who's been wanting to check out the Quabbin for while now. They both met up with me at my house and we all jumped in my Truck. Between the late start and the ride over I knew judging from the last few trips out that we already missed the prime bite, early morning hours. We get there and I get some reports from friends and people I know who have already been out all morning that the bite is dead and everyone I know there skunked. My favorite near by spots are morning producers, so I decide to take a gamble and spend an hour boat ride to another spot known to typically hold salmon. We finally get there and set up and after a little over an hour or so, not even a sniff. I look up and notice a bald eagle flying around and I point it out to my buddies. Johnny gets excited and grabs his binoculars and the 3 of us all marvel at our living national symbol hovering over our heads. I hear something and look behind the boat and see a quick streak of silver and notice a rod bending erratically and before I could even reach it, it was off. I have no idea how long it had been hooked for since we were all looking up at the eagle and not paying close enough attention. What I did know is we blew the only shot of the afternoon we had at a salmon. Later on we worked some shallow water and were getting consistent hooks ups on smallmouth bass, including a couple of Goliath's we got into the boat that I let Johnny have a crack at and land. The biggest bass of the day was lost at boat-side but not before giving us an aerial display. Not exactly the variety we wanted but that’s what happens sometimes when you sleep in and fish during blue bird skies. We could have done worse like some of the others but it was still a nice day to be out on the water, hang with friends and cruise the lake a bit. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

After listening to all my stories and seeing a bunch of pictures from my recent Quabbin Reservoir adventures my buddy Lucas wanted to finally check out the Quabbin for the first time. The stars finally lined up and he had a Saturday off from work and was interested in joining me. We've deer hunted and salt water fished together allot but never really gone fresh water fishing. So today was sort of a first and being that he is a good friend I was really hoping to continue the lucky streak I've been on and put my buddy on some well deserved fish, as well as catch a couple myself. We started things off in the early AM at my favorite new spot that has been producing well so far this season. The fog was so thick I could barely make out some of the landmarks but after getting on track and putting the lines out for the troll. The morning became similar to last week with a flurry of salmon striking early in the AM, including a double hook up that produced a landed salmon and the other unbuttoned before the rod could be grabbed. I let Lucas have the first shot and put yet another friend on his first landlocked salmon. We got a few more salmon pecks and then it just slowed down. The salmon bite seemed to shut off so we moved to another spot and I managed to land a decent lake trout. Later on we also got into some nice smallmouth too (completing the Quabbin Big 3). Over all the fishing was sporadic and spotty but good. Allot of laughs also going on in the boat. I had fun and I knew Lucas did too when he mentioned he wanted to come back again (anytime buddy).

Got home late last night (Thanks Dale!…LOL) and didn’t go to bed until 1 AM and when the alarm went off at 4 AM I was exhausted with only 3 hours of sleep, the night before was the same. I'm running on 6 hours of sleep total for two nights. I felt a little sickly and wasn’t sure if it was the beer from last night or the lack of sleep or maybe a combination of both. If it were just me going I would have shut the alarm off and went back to sleep but I had already made plans with my buddy Ray, who is punctual and who I knew would be in my drive way in about 20 minutes. Ray is usually too busy to find time to wet a line but managed to break away, not to mention his 45 minute commute to my house. So canceling was out of the question and delaying the trip into later in the AM was too late. I sucked it up and forced myself out of bed. Feeling like crap and not wanting to go but forcing myself to do so to not disappoint my friend was not how I originally intended to start my day off. My own fault for being out too late. Anyway it was good to see Ray again. We get to the Q and Ray wants to go for salmon & trout, not too long after setting up for salmon trolling. One of the rods starts twitching, so I yell out to Ray to grab the rod, fish on! I look behind the boat and see a streak of silver, I then look back at Ray and he's still trying to figure out which Rod to grab. He finally grabs the rod but shortly after lifting the rod out of the holder he then drops the rod tip, I yell out no, raise that rod tip up but it was too late, the salmon was off. You cant give them any slack. Not long after he gets struck again and repeats the same error, with the same end result. Being tight friends with Ray I decided a little ball busting was in order to wake him up a bit. So I told Ray he was rusty and that back in the old days when we fished together all the time he wouldn’t have made those rookie moves. He agreed and sighed…LOL. Even after eating some food and trying to keep hydrated with plenty of water I still wasn’t feeling so great but I was still having fun catching up with Ray and having a million laughs. We moved onto another spot I wanted to fish. This time one of Ray's rods went off with a heavy bend, he grabs it and gives it a good hook set, keeping the line tight with a bend in the rod the whole time. It didn’t look like he was going to give the fish any slack this time…LOL. We were guessing a Lake Trout because of how deep down we hooked it and how it felt real heavy with an occasional head shake as Ray described but not just any laker, with the power and bend in the rod it had to be a big one. I was in position in the corner of the boat with my net waiting for Ray's monster to show itself. Then I see the line loosen and hear Ray spit out some curse words, I was like oh no! He lost the fish, I didn’t understand because it looked like he was handling the rod okay but then I realized I was looking at the water most of the time and really only paying attention to the bent rod tip at times. Trying to figure out what happened I grabbed his Rod and checked is drag and to my disappointment it was locked down ridiculously tight. Ray forgot to loosen the drag and I forgot to check it for him. That was strike 3 and my patience for spending additional time combing the water for cold water fish during a slow bite had ended, so I took him to another spot that I like for bass, put on some live bait for him and let him catch a smallmouth or two before ending the day. I think Ray got all the rust out on that trip, I hope to take him out again, now that he's been reminded what not to do, I'll try and give him another chance soon. I'll also make sure I get some sleep the night before and inspect the drags on all rods next time. You'll get them next time bud. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

It's been a long absence but Dale's back, he gave me a call and wanted to get together with me and target some landlocked salmon at the Quabbin Reservoir. He was my first friend I helped put on salmon back in 2009 and also the first friend I turned onto the place. That was the first year I started fishing the Quabbin. Before that time Dale and I used to take road trips to New Hampshire & Maine for those leaping silver bullets known as landlocked salmon. But after I filled him in on some of my first attempts at the Q, followed by some trips I let him join me in on. Lets just say we haven't done an out of state road trip in years for landlocks. Dale met up with me early and at 5 AM we pulled out of my drive way with boat in tow hoping for the best. I think Dale was even more excited than me since he never made it to the Quabbin and barely fished at all last year due to his surgery and recovery. But now he's back, healthy and in need of ripping some lips. After pulling into gate 31 at the Quabbin we were asked if we wanted to enter the annual Quabbin Anglers Consensus Derby. I had never done it and Dale was for it too so we joined the Quabbin Anglers and took part in their consensus (derby). I started off the day sharing a new spot I've been doing well in the last couple of weeks with Dale and not too long after we got into some good action in the early part of the morning but when the sun was finally up high and the blue bird skies appeared it became very pleasant and comfortable but the trade off was the bite died down and it became a slow pick. Earlier when the bite was good we got into a bunch of salmon hookups but unfortunately we lost some before we could even get our rods out of the rod holders but fortunately we also landed some, catching our seasons first Quabbin landlocked salmon was a thrill for us. In the mix was also lake trout and jumbo perch. At the end of the day before calling it quits and heading out I capped the end of the trip off with a pretty metallic male hooked jaw (kyped) salmon. I believe my boat took second place for the salmon category during the annual Quabbin Anglers Consensus Derby with a fish Dale landed. We left a half hour before the official quitting time at the marina but as far as I know it's still in second place. It was a little disappointing though before leaving when we checked out the data from the consensus entries and noticed how few salmon had been caught and entered, especially when compared to the numerous smallmouth and lake trout entries and with the number of anglers that participated the salmon results were pretty poor, so Dale and I considered ourselves lucky to even land any salmon. I just hope that it was a bad day for salmon fishing in general and not an indication of the fishery turning poor. After getting back to my place and putting away the boat and some gear. Dale and I celebrated our days catch at a local steakhouse enjoying a steak dinner and some cold ones. Dale will be joining me again sometime soon and we're hoping to repeat the magic. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

My brother Bert called me sometime early during the week and was telling me he wasn’t having too much luck on his own at the recently stocked trout ponds around his neck of the woods and that he was off from work on Saturday and was hoping he could join me on Saturday out on my boat at the Quabbin. I told him sure and hopefully we could change his luck. Way before the trip even started it began with a sour taste when Friday the local marine shop ordered the wrong prop for my motor (which didn’t even fit). So I knew before the trip there would be no chance at gaining any speed with my motor, not without a new prop and that my boat would still be crawling slowly at 7-8 mph. Regardless Saturday morning my brother and I headed for the Quabbin. Conditions were similar to last week, overcast and windy as is typical in April. I hit the same spot I had luck in last week, hoping to put my brother on at least a fish or two. After setting up and putting out the lead-core lines with DB's and hoping there were still some feeding fish in the same area 15 minutes later we had our first hook up. My brother landed a nice lake trout, then 10 minutes later I landed one and this pattern went on and on. We actually lost count of how many lake trout we landed. Seems like a banner year for them but like last week most were the same small cookie cutter size, regardless we were having a ball catching them, not to mention that my brothers bad luck had disappeared. Somewhere in the middle of the trip I hooked the only landlocked salmon of the day (a monster) I got it all the way to the back of the boat, my brother who is autistic (no joke) was at the net and I tried to instruct him to reach the net out as far as he could (which has a long handle) and dip it in the water and scoop up the salmon head first and then lift, unfortunately he at times has a hard time processing information due to his disability and stood with the net in the water waiting for the fish to come to him. So loosing a little patience in the excitement I made a rookie move in trying to force this 5-6 LB beast near the back of the boat into the net versus being a bit more patient and playing the fish a bit longer until it tired and then attempting to slide it into the net. But instead I tried forcing the fish into the net and ended up ripping the hook out of its mouth and off it went. I looked at my brother and told him that’s how not to fight a fish correctly. I couldn’t believe I just blew that, especially knowing better than that. Luckily all the lake trout we were catching helped ease the pain of that loss a bit. At the very end of the trip before calling it quits and heading back Bert landed the largest lake trout of the day and with it the largest smile of the day. After getting back to the dock and talking to some other anglers who were targeting smallmouth it seems that bite was on fire as well and some large size bronze backs were part of the mix. Might have to give that a go too next week? Cant wait to get out there again. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

It was overcast, cold, windy & raw, conditions were far from pleasant to the point that nobody I knew wanted to go (not generally the case when conditions are pleasant) but it was opening day at the Quabbin Reservoir so I had to go. Even though on opening day the gate doesn’t open up until 6 AM, some vehicles had already lined up the night before (an annual thing some do), just to try and be one of the first of the season to be out on the Q. Typically waiting to get in and launch your boat on opening day morning can be a zoo and seem to take forever. While normally I like to get an early start on this day I chose to take my leisurely time. I slept in and took my time getting things together and enjoyed a relaxing and scenic drive to gate 31. In doing so I had a pleasant morning and successfully avoided the crowd. The parking lot was so full of trucks & trailers I was relived when I found a spot to park. Though I had a late start (launching around 11ish) I fished until the very end and made it back to the marina right at the cut off time of 6:30. I was excited to take my new boat out and test the Lund out on the reservoir for the first time. It felt like a cadillac compared to the 12 foot old tub I was fishing out of last season. Though I was happy with the comfort and feel of the boat I was disappointed in the speed I was getting out of my 25 HP mercury and soon realized I would need to test & play with some different pitch props (and watch those RPM's carefully) in the coming weeks to work on my speed performance. Water conditions were rough with occasional white caps and the wind at times brutal, so I decided to not venture too far out and fished an old lake bed that was 40 feet deep and shallow all around the lake bed. I didn’t even want to attempt fishing with the electric motor in the heavy wind so I ran the outboard at it's slowest speed and trolled lead core outfits with DB Smelt spoons and not too long after began hooking into lake trout at all kinds of depths. It quickly became challenging trying to operate the steering wheel in the wind, while fighting a fish and attempting to self net. While I cant say I landed every single fish I hooked up with by the end of the day I landed 5-6 lake trout. All the lake trout were small length wise and were probably in the 2.5 - 3 LBS class. They all looked like cookie cutter fish and had me wondering if perhaps it was due to an exceptionally successful spawn for that age class of fish. Regardless I was happy to catch them, after all they may-not be leapers but they're not pellet fed fish that come from a hatchery either, they are wild & born & bred in the lake. Catching them was a mixture of chaos and fun and a great start to a new Quabbin season. Driving home from the Quabbin the heater in the truck never felt so warm and the hot coffee never tasted so good. Cant wait to get back out there again next week. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

Had an appointment out in Orange today for a Quabbin Reservoir Seal, for my Lund, which is a mandatory thing for private boats. The Quabbin isn't open yet but while I was out that way after getting the seal I met up with my friend Mike to catch up and hang out. Mike also happen to show me how he likes to nymph fish with his fly rod. We were at one of the local rivers and I watched Mike first hand land a couple of rainbows using his nymphing technique. I'm going to have to try that out for myself sometime. But anyway it was not only an educational day for me but a fun one. Also I'm often asked about the private boat seal process for the Quabbin and how it works, for those who are curious read the paragraph below and after doing so if you have any other related questions (such as if your boat meets the specs required to be able to launch and use your private boat at the Quabbin) then go to http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/watershed/quabfish.htm

Here is the heads up: the seal consists of a wire with a plastic lock, which locks in both sides/strands of the wire in and required for all private boats launched on the reservoir. The DCR approved decontamination process (fancy tittle) is really just a power wash and motor flush done at the House of Wax Car Wash. After the wash is done and the seal placed on your vessel it is then officially certified and approved by the DCR and you may then launch your boat on the Quabbin. The wire of the seal is usually wrapped around part of your boat (usually the bow hook) and part of your trailer. The point behind this is so that you are not able to launch your boat at any other bodies of water and thus preventing the risk of Invasive Aquatic species (like spine fleas and zebra mussels) from entering the water body and hurting the echo system, at least that's what they tell me. Each time you arrive at one of the boat launching/fishing gates you are required to sign in and during this time one of the Boat Launch Area attendants will check to see if your boat seal is intact and non tampered with and then temporarily remove it and hand you the wire for safe keeping (they take the plastic lock). Later on when you are done for the day before you leave you will check out. It is at this time one of the attendants will put the seal back on prior to you leaving. They are the only ones that can do this (don’t forget to stop and check out or you will have to go thru the whole seal process again). It is not the fault of the gate attendants (who are friendly people) that you have to go through all this, so be kind and respectful to them. Remember if you cut the seal (wire) yourself so you can launch at another lake you will have to go through the entire decontamination process all over again, as well as pay the $40 seal fee again. Some argue that this is necessary for the well being of Boston's water supply, while others argue that this is just another ploy to deter fishermen from the lake. I choose to leave my opinion out of this post but yes it's a hassle and yes it stinks but in my opinion the fishery is worth it. The smallmouth bass are huge here and this is the only fishery within the entire state that has a Landlocked salmon and lake trout fishery that allows boat fishing. There is only one other lake that contains the big 3 (Landlocked Atlantic Salmon/Landlocks, Lake Trout/Togue and Smallmouth Bass/Bronzebacks and that is Wachusett Reservoir but it's shore fishing only (which is BS). I should also point out that you can always rent a boat at the Quabbin and avoid all this all-together, if you choose to rent a boat get there early and split the $40 fee with you're fishing buddy. See ya out there and good luck.

Its that time of year again and the stock trucks have already rolled out and unloaded a bunch of trout into the local ponds and rivers and they will continue to do so until Memorial Day. I've been too busy lately unfortunately taking care of things around the house and using my spare time prepping my boat up for the upcoming season but I did manage to squeeze in a short after work trip. I chose a near by river to target some recently stocked trout. The trout were already aggressively striking insects on the surface. Using a fly rod with a dry fly that matched the hatch probably would have murdered the trout but all I had on me was an ultra-light spinning rod. For a lure I used a spinner and I quickly noticed it received more attention when I ran it close to the surface (just like the floating insects the trout were hammering). The end result was a few landed browns, as well as a few hook ups that came unbuttoned. I kept one trout that was a bleeder and decided to make dinner out of it and the rest were released to fight another day. Nice to wet a line again. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

I didn’t do a whole lot of ice fishing this year, once again it was a short season and oddly enough too many other things kept popping up. I think I only got out twice. Not to mention it was hard thinking about ice fishing, particularly after recently getting back from my Panama trip, where I was catching big fish, while basking under a hot sun. Took a while to get myself back out on the ice after that. A couple of shots of an average rainbow on the jig rod when I finally did make it out with some friends. I got into some bass and pickerel on another ice trip but did't take any pics due to the dink size of the fish or remember the exact date for that matter. Hopefully I'll be more focussed and enthusiastic toward next years ice season and put my ice auger to better use. Tight Lines, -George.

Last summer while stripped bass fishing down the Cape with some friends I got an invite from my new friend Tom to join his crew on a trip to Panama over the winter. When I asked what they would be fishing for he named a bunch of species I had never caught before and as a multi-species angler it sparked my curiosity and interest. Tom forwarded the outfitter website (Paradise Fishing Lodge) and some information, I did some digging and research on my own as well and the more I looked into it the more I wanted to go. So long story short I agreed to go. The trip was set for January and when the time came to leave for the trip it couldn’t have come at a better time. I had just wrapped up a hunting season where I had spent countless hours sitting in a tree stand, dealing with the cold and missing open water. I also had already grown tired of old man winter. The next thing you know it was time, I'm in a t-shirt & shorts in Panama enjoying summer conditions & catching all kinds of big fish, in an unspoiled environment. You didn’t see too many boats, nor developed shore lines. The ocean shores were completely surround by Jungle. This was truly my biggest fishing adventure to date thus far. We did offshore fishing, inshore fishing, top water fishing, ground fishing, jig fishing, in other words we did it all and I made some new friends in the process. The lodge accommodations and food was excellent. Even on the boats they kept the coolers full of water, beer and food. To describe this whole trip in full detail would take pages and pages of text. However I brought a couple of cameras and apparently so did just about most of the crew I fished with. I have collected the crews footage and photographs and spent hours going through it and piecing together the best video & photographs of the trip into a special 1 hour documentary film. We all did allot of recording so versus writing about it you will be able to see for yourself soon. The Panama documentary is currently in production and will be the longest video I've made to date for this website and youtube. Some of the special effects will be a little over the top for a fishing video but hopefully will be entertaining. Look for it's video release right here sometime between May & June. As for now you can check out the trailer/teaser and photographs below. Stay tuned for more and tight lines all –George.

Above a trailer of an upcoming extended video currently in production. Capturing the sights, sounds and big game fishing adventures of beautiful Panama. Full length movie coming soon, for now I hope you enjoy the teaser.