I can’t believe another fishing season is here already and that I’m on year 5 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 2012 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.

Though not even fall yet, this morning felt like it. I love when it starts to cool off a bit and those hot and humid days disappear and are replaced with comfortable conditions. The flip side of this of course is that those freezing cold temperatures are just right around the corner. So I thought why not get out now while it’s still pleasant enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt. But most of all before I begin to temporarily loose most of my interest in my fishing rods due my annual fall bow hunting pursuits. But before I even pick up the bow I need to catch a few more fish. The plan today was to take my boat out and target some holdover trout and to experiment fishing with some baits from a company called PK Lures, who were kind enough to send me a gift package of baits to play with. I’ve only just started using these baits but you can expect a full review in the future, when I have had more time to test these lures out within our local waters. While pulling out of the driveway at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to sacrifice some morning fishing time by driving out a bit further than I originally anticipated versus fishing a pond that was much closer to home. I chose instead to head to South pond. By the time I got there, launched the boat and located some fish on the fish finder, it was already mid morning. I took one rod loaded with lead-core line and tied on a PK Flutter Fish spoon to my fluorocarbon leader. After putting the line out and placing it in the rod holder, 5 minutes later before I could even rig up another rod I got slammed. I played the days first trout and slipped a rare tiger trout into the net. Since the PK Company had found me and contacted me from a highly rated tiger trout video I made and uploaded on YouTube sometime ago, I found the coincidence to be fitting that my first fish on a PK was a tiger trout. The tiger was pale in color, silvery with faint vermiculation markings. Being that I got into a trout so quickly I assumed the bite would be good but as it turned out I had to work for them a bit. I had continued to work the area where I had hooked up with the tiger and after over an hour I hooked another trout. To my surprise it was another pale looking tiger, a bit smaller than the previous. I started working other areas over deep water focusing on depth range between 20-35 feet of water. A couple of hours later all I had to show was one small rainbow trout, I had also lost another rainbow near the boat when I tried lifting the fish out of the water because I hadn't felt like reaching for the net. Which was fine because it would have been released anyway but unfortunately still a lost fish. It wasn’t fast and furious fishing for the trout but considering the other boats were doing poorly I was just glad to land a few. I tried to get some good camera shots of the tiger trout but fishing solo it was hard to do so while operating the steering wheel of a boat. I decided I had had enough with the trolling. I headed close into shore and played around with a fly rod. Casting into the weedy shallows I pulled out bluegill after bluegill. I then switched gears again and targeted largemouth bass around the shoreline structures, using a black spinner bait and landed 2. I then changed baits to a pumpkin seed colored rubber worm and landed 2 more bass. All the bass were small fish averaging a little over a pound, no monster bass but still fun. The highlight of the day for me was tangling with a couple of tigers. Having had enough fun I headed back to the boat launch, packed up and headed home. It was a good day to be outside. Tight Lines All! -George

As far as fishing went August had been a bad month. Between getting things done around the house and starting to prep for the upcoming bow season not much time was spent fishing. So I decided to take a Saturday and wet a line again. I hit some new water I had never fished before, Mashapaug pond in CT. The hope was to hook into some walleye. According to the CT fish & game website the pond had been stocked annually and managed as a walleye fishery. However none of the fishermen I talked with throughout the day were aware of any walleye being present except one, who admitted to never catching one. It wasn’t looking good. The water was still warm and it was probably the wrong time of the year to target walleye but I wanted to at least try. I trolled some walleye spinner rigs tipped with night crawlers. I also tried crank baits, jerk baits and some experimental stuff but this walleye rookie had no luck. My new fish finder was picking up fish over the deep holes but they were just not interested in feeding. I wanted to kick myself for not being on the water before first light and before the sunrays penetrated the water. I just hate fishing new water in the dark without familiarizing myself first. After over a few hours of trolling and not one bite I decided rather than feel discouraged to change things up. I checked out a cove that looked interesting and found a massive school of yellow perch. I found some jig heads in my bag and tipped the hook shank with a small piece of night crawler and began jigging the bait. Bouncing it off the bottom and sometimes just holding the bait just a half a foot off the bottom and occasionally twitching it. Both techniques proved to be deadly on the perch. I was pulling one out after another, I must of caught around 60 yellows. Most were small to medium sized but I kept at it until I was able to haul up a few jumbos. I tried this same technique at another spot that had a drop off adjacent to shallow water and began pulling up some slab bluegills and pumpkinseeds. Sunfish are not a favorite of mine because their just to easy to catch this time of year but the size of these fish were enough to keep my interest for a bit before moving on. I decided to work some shoreline, points and structures for bass with some plastic baits. I caught a handful of average sized largemouth and was pleasantly surprised when working another spot off an island and hooking up with a few smallmouth. None of the bass were very big but fun. However a few of the jumbo perch I had landed earlier were as big as some of the bass I caught. I went back to trolling for walleye for about another hour and debated if I should stay and fish into the dark when walleye are known to bite but I didn’t want to cancel my evening plans, so I deiced to return another time under better conditions. I didn’t get my walleye but caught plenty of other fish. It was good to be out again. Tight lines all...George

I have been following your reports and photo's for some time. I am also an avid Landlocked Salmon fisherman. I catch Salmon and release many each year in Lake george NY. Here is one I caught the other day. I released one the day before longer and heavier by a couple pounds. This one was 7 lbs. Rick

A collage of highlights that include video and still shots from one day of fly fishing for Brook Trout in the white mountains of New Hampshire, with my friend Mike and his sons on June 16, 2012.

Been a while since I did any freshwater fishing, I wanted to do so and take the boat out but the forecast called for showers and possible T-storms. I also wasn’t feeling my best and had no desire to fish in the rain or deal with potential lightening. I decided to spend part of the morning while the rain was holding back, finishing up the installation of a new fish finder on my boat. After finishing up I still had the afternoon free, so I grabbed an ultra light rod and a tray of trout lures and headed out to a little spring fed pond I know of, in search of trout from shore. If conditions got bad I could just jump in the truck and go home. And not deal with being caught out in a storm or deal with the boat. The afternoon turned out to be nice, with just overcast conditions. I landed 6 rainbow trout and had 3 come unbuttoned and had 4 more miss the bait. I also had 2 trout rise to my baits and turn their nose at the last second, both of which looked to be in the 2 lb class, don’t think they were rainbows. Most of the rainbows I landed were small. I worked the baits right over and around a spring where the trout spend most of the summer. I kept one that slid out of my hand while unhooking and hit it's head on a rock. Better on a plate than wasted. The crazy part was in the 2 and half hours I fished I had not seen another fisherman and had the pond all to myself. Most people give up on it in the summer, without realizing the trout are still alive and well and willing to bite. It wasn’t bad for a day I thought was going to be a wash out. Tight Lines All! George

Headed out of Hyannis on a charter, with a group of friends. We fished Monomoy and smoked the striped bass and bluefish. We drifted over pockets of fish. Then used diamond jigs cranked semi-fast off the bottom (on high speed reels). Cranking 10 revolutions up and then dropping back down and repeating was the day’s method of success. Overcast conditions made it a little more comfortable to fish without feeling like you were baking in the sun. The stripers were cooperating nicely and the bluefish were even more accommodating. Everyone did well. I got about half dozen stripers or so and lost count on the amount of bluefish I hauled up. Fun day out on the salt. Tight Lines All! George

Had so much fun on Wednesday that Mark and I had to come back on Saturday. Bill wanted to come too but had plans already but my buddy Lucas joined us instead. We got to the party boat very early to claim some prime spots. On the ride out we saw a group of dolphins swimming, always a neat site. When we finally got to the fishing grounds didn’t see the whales we had seen in the area 3 days prior. The fishing started off slow and the few fish we got into were mostly shorts that had to be thrown back. Things did start to pick up a bit, especially after the tide changed and we were getting into some decent spurts of action. I managed a couple of keeper cod and a few decent haddock. I also got into three big pollock near the tail end of the trip. Mark and Lucas also managed to land some keepers as well. On the ride out I entered the pool for the largest fish of the day and was glad I did so when I took honors for it at the end of the day, with my largest pollock. Winning some cash and a free future trip. On the way back in we finally saw a whale. When we got back to the dock me and the guys hit the outdoor bar and restaurant at the marina for some seafood and drinks at the bar. Another good time with good friends. Lucas had so much fun that the next day he bought a high end reel and a nice rod for future ground fishing trips and wants to go back next week, Sunday after I cooked up and enjoyed some fresh haddock fillets, so do I. Ground fish may not be the prettiest but they certainly are the tastiest. Tight Lines All! –George

My buddy Bill called me up and was itching to do a trip for Cod and Haddock. I also hadn't gone after any ground fish yet this season and had the itch as well. So a couple of days later we got together along with our mutual friend Mark, took the day off from work and headed out to Seabrook, NH, to jump on a party boat for some ground fishing at Jeffrey’s Ledge. After the long ride out we noticed whales everywhere. There was allot of baitfish in the area that drew the whales right in. What a spectacle it is to see these beautiful creatures. I also noticed a few tuna breaking the water. I had hoped the ground fish would also be in a feeding mood. The fish did not seem to like the jigs today and seemed to prefer gulping clam bait off the bottom. So I stuck with the clam bait most of the day. Bill, Mark and I all caught fish but the bulk of the fish caught were shorts that had to be thrown back. We kept at it though and picked at them and near the days end the cooler was looking full. I managed to land some keeper size cod, haddock, cusk and pollock. My biggest fish of the day were two nice sized pollock I was happy to tangle into. When the fishing was over we ended up back at the marina restaurant eating fresh seafood and enjoying a couple of cold ones before ending the day. Beautiful weather and good times with friends, it was a good day. Tight Lines All! -George

Decided to take the boat out for 2-3 hors before dark with a couple of friends. Mostly just to go for a boat ride and have a couple of cold drinks out on the water. The fishing at this lake is very poor but we chose it anyway simply because it’s real close to home. We gave it a shot anyway and just as I expected and just as in the past the fishing was terrible. I caught a pickerel and a rare rock bass and one of my two friends caught 2 small largemouth bass. Regardless it was fun to get out. Tight Lines All! -George

Friday night I was trying to decide on which lake to take my new boat out on Saturday morning. Its maiden voyage wasn’t much of a fishing trip last week and was more of a test run. But this time I wanted to break the boat in with some fish. As well as test out the live well, which I had not done so yet. I had barely targeted any largemouth bass this season. I had the urge for some top water action but thought I might also potentially want to also target some trout too. So I chose a lake that had both, just incase. I decided to go very early before all the water sports freaks came out, aka zipper heads. You fishermen know the kind. The ones that sleep in and begin to appear somewhere around 9:00 or 10 AM. Zipping around in a circle at mock speed, over and over again. Acting as if they were out on the open ocean but there really on just a small lake. Sometimes dragging someone on water skis, tubes and boards. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have a problem with these activities but when these zipper heads get within feet of your boat, kicking up serious wakes while your just trying to relax and fish without having to reach for something to grab onto to maintain your balance. It astonishes me at how many inconsiderate boaters there are who refuse to keep a safe distance away from other watercraft. So in order to avoid the frustration and anger from these whirlpool makers I decided to get an early start and be off the water before too many of them appeared. Not to mention the early part of the morning is usually best. As planned I got to the lake very early. After launching my boat I only noticed one other boat out on the water. I pulled out a lure I had not yet used, that had been sitting in my tackle box since March. I couldn’t wait to throw it and see how the bass would react to it. The lure a whopper plopper, a big floating bait with a spinning tail end that kicks up water. Kind of like a buzz bait on steroids effect but with a fish shape profile. This particular bait is for musky fishing. But I had a feeling it would make a good bait for big largemouth bass, turns out I was right. After about 45 minutes of fishing the bait over deep water I heard a big splash and then saw a largemouth suck in the bait. I set the hook hard and brought up a largemouth around 4.5-5 lbs. Not a monster but a good one. I then temporarily put the fish in my live well to get back on the bite quickly. Prior to the catch I had two other bass in the 3-4 lb range in shallow water, close to shore follow my bait but not commit. I was working deep water again and about another 35 minutes later or so I got slammed again and brought up another decent largemouth around 4 lbs or so and slipped her too into the live well. I was pleased with how the live well was working, pumping in water and providing good aeration. Both bass seemed to be alive and well. About 15 minutes later I hook up with another bass close to shore around 2 lbs. I switch over to a rubber worm fished wacky style and landed 3 small bass almost back to back. After working the Lilly pads I go back to the whopper plopper and head out to deeper water. Surprisingly I notice bait fish breaking the water and a big fish splash on the surface, I quickly cast out my bait and crank down on it and watch it go over the spot with high hopes for a strike but no luck. A couple of boats had suddenly appeared flying around in circles, I debated on leaving or slow trolling for trout in the deep stretch. It wasn’t to hot yet so I decided to switch to trout fishing and set up a down rigger at 25 feet with a spoon and put out another rod with lead-core line, with enough out to sink about 10-15 feet down. Not the best time of year to fish for trout but if anything I figured cruising around slowly would be a nice change of pace. My down rigger went off not to long after and I set the hook and judging from the depth of the bite and the weight I felt, I thought I had a real big trout on. To my surprise a largemouth surfaces. I land it and it looked like another 4 pound or so fish. I guess when I stopped bass fishing to target trout I forgot to tell the bass...LOL. I was happy to catch the largemouth but a little disappointed too that it wasn’t the large trout I thought it was. Moments later my lead-core rod gets hit and I land the days first trout, a brown trout. Shortly after I make another pass over the same spot and get hit again but by the time I grab the rod the fish had come un-buttoned. I make another couple of passes over the same spot but nothing. So I move on to another spot with deep water about 60 feet deep but no takers, I accelerate the speed and after about a second or two of doing so I get slammed. I carefully reel the trout in slowly and when I net it I was pleasantly surprised to discover I had landed a beautiful tiger trout sporting its summer color pattern. I unhooked it and quickly threw it in the live well to get the rod and net out of the way and get the camera ready for a few shots. But when I open up the live well the 2 largemouth I had kept in the live well were alive and well and looking good but both trout were belly up. The trout simply could not handle being in the warm water for too long. I decided to take the two put and take trout home for the nights dinner. After snapping a few pics of the trout I did the same with the 2 bass in the live well and let them go. I wanted to go back to the spot where I had hooked up with the tiger trout but to many more boats appeared and made fishing that spot impossible. So I went back to the spot where I had hooked up with the brown trout earlier and trolled it again but slightly faster and hooked up with 2 more brown trout. This time after landing them I had unhooked them both boat side and they immediately swam like little bullets straight down after their release. The lake had turned into a zoo of zipper heads; I had caught enough fish and decided to split and call it a day. It was an enjoyable and productive morning of fishing. Shortly after getting home I cleaned the trout and one of them interesting enough inside it’s stomach had a alewife baitfish, which identified for me the type of minnows I saw earlier in the morning breaking the water and fleeing from a predator. In addition to the alewife baitfish was a whole entire black rubber worm within the stomach of the same trout. I’ve seen this before and it never ceases to amaze me. Anyway summer wont last long, get out while you can. Tight Lines All! –George

If you followed my reports so far this season you have probably noticed I have neglected some of my usual freshwater pursuits in favor of pursuing striped bass. The salt bug has been stronger on me this season versus past other seasons. So anytime an opportunity presents itself to chase these incredible sport fish I jump at it. This week I was supposed to go on a charter for striped bass out on Monomoy and was pumped and looking very much forward to it. I did this very same trip last year at this same time of year and we crushed the stripers. Unfortunately for me the trip fell through. But as luck would have it, while hanging out at my club with some friends, I got an invite by my friend Bob to join him on his boat along with our mutual friend Al. So it looked like I’d be chasing stripers this week out of a boat after all. The destination was the Merrimac River. We get to the river in the morning and it’s pouring. According to the forecast it was supposed to just be a passing shower. We wait for the pouring rain to settle down to a light drizzle and launch the boat. Bob has fished the river for years and has a bunch of spots he likes to hit where he has caught many of stripers. As we make our way out of the boat area the rain starts pouring hard again (so much for a quick passing shower). I had left my rain gear back home inside my boat with the boat cover tied all around the boat. I was leaving in the morning to meet up with the guys when I remembered that I needed rain gear. I had run out of time to undue all the pieces of rope, reach in and grab it and stretch and tie back on the cover. To do so I would have been late, so I chose not to grab it and hoped for the best. Well Murphy’s law I was soaked to the bone and a bit chilly, especially when the boat was cruising at a fast speeds. We started off at the first spot along the river and Al started off working a fly rod and had a few missed strikes. Bob and I were working cut bait off the bottom. I had one nibble and that seemed to be it. I was rather slow. Streaks of lightning and thunder rolled in, so we moved to another spot closer to shore incase things got worse and we needed to quickly get off the water we would not be far from the boat launch area. The storm finally passed completely through and the sun, which I thought was taking the day off finally, appeared. Shortly after I began to dry off and feel comfortable again. Bob bounced around showing me some of his favorite spots on the river. Fishing was slow but it was enjoyable hearing Bob and Al’s stories, while waiting for fish strikes. Bob had one more spot he wanted to try. We all casted out cut bait and set our rods in the rod holders and waited for a striper to pick one of our baits off the bottom. It was still slow so Al went to the bow of the boat and took a nap. An hour later, just as it seemed like it was not going to happen today, especially after hearing that the action on the river had been spotty at best. My rod tip starts dancing, I quickly grabbed my rod out of the holder and set the hook hard and I was on, locked and loaded. The fish felt good, fought hard and took drag. I knew it was a keeper immediately and when it broke water a distance away I was pretty happy when I saw the size of it. In the meantime Al’s rod is bending and Bob yells over to Al who was shaking the cobwebs off from his nap to grab his rod. I make a joke about what a great way to wake up from a nap. The boat has a double were both on and Bob says he’s netting the first fish to reach the back of the boat first. Having a head start fighting mine, the striper makes a few runs away from the stern of the boat but eventually Bob slips the striper into the net. We get it in the boat and dump it out on the deck floor and Bob waits a slight bit then nets Al’s fish. A double followed by two successful landings. Shortly after a few quick pictures were taken and the fish dumped in the ice chest, Bob was hooked up on his rod with a decent striper. I slip the net under it and slide her in head. Unfortunately it was just one inch shy of being a keeper. So the fish was released to fight another day. Our patience paid off with a flurry of fish that had moved in. When the little flurry had ended we left. It was a good time, thanks for the invite Bob. 

Day 1: I have been fishing my whole life, you always here about those 100 trout days. It’s never happened to me, though I have had some great days on the water with amazing results. I invited my close friend George, creator of The Local Hookup website for a couple days of brook trout fishing. Our target is to get into the brookies and hope for a chance at a trophy, on a fly-fishing only lake. We packed the truck the night before with our gear and got up nice and early in the morning, so we could just get changed and head out to our destination. We were on the water by 5:30 AM and were fast into them. George and my son Mike were in one canoe, my twin boys Sam and Skylar were with me in the other canoe. George and Mike caught 3 before we got our first but our first was 14" and 1 1/2 lbs, we just nailed them non-stop after that all day long. George and Mike kept a pace ahead of us with both size and numbers. As we headed in for lunch Skylar hooked into a real nice trout and at first he thought he was hooked on the bottom but after a few headshakes we knew otherwise, he ended up landing a 16" 2 lb 4 oz brookie. On shore during lunch we talked numbers and laughed about the morning, George and Mike had 50 trout we had 35!!!! Amazing 85 trout in the first 6 hours. George and Mike had us on large trout as well; they had 4 in the 16" 2lb class!!! After a great shore lunch we headed back on the lake trolling our flies. From lunch on we were never able to catch up with Mike and George they just kept out doing us on numbers but we both caught some more in the 2 lb class. We called it quits at 5:00 we were just exhausted from lack of sleep. The grand Total for the day Mike and George 79 brookies with 7 in the 16" 2 lb class. Our canoe 64 brookies with 3 in the 16" 2 lb class with skylars as the largest at 2 lbs 4 oz. Total number of brook trout for the day 143. Never in my 10 years of targeting these jewels did I have a day like that.



Day 2: Even though we got a late start we hiked into a pond that has some nice brookies in the 8-12" range with some larger ones caught occasionally. The first part of the morning was slow at first and we struggled. We had only got 3 brook trout between all of us but George brought an idea that he thought we should try. Well it worked and by the end of the morning we ended up with 18. We were all real tired so we called it a day. Back at Camp Deloia we enjoyed a feast of Brookies and breakfast. With all the clowning around it was non stop laughing. We had a very memorable get away at Camp Deloia on Fathers Day weekend. Keep those Reels screaming and take a kid fishing. Mike Deloia and the Deloia Clan

Finally bit the bullet and boat a real boat. It’s going to make a perfect Quabbin Boat. Always did love Lund boats and find them to be the perfect multi-species boats. It already came decked out for fishing and comes with a bimini top (not shown in the pictures). Going to make some further improvements on it. Buying an additional seat or two, to add to the existing other two in the boat and will be finally able to bring more than one friend at a time. Can't wait for the maiden voyage. Going to fish the hell out of this boat.

I got another invitation to jump on my friends boat and join a group of 6 buddies of mine on the salt. We got a report of a good mackerel bite so we were off to try and fill the live well with mackerel. The tip we got was on the money because the mackerel bite was sick. Using mackerel jigs we were hauling up anywhere from 2-6 at a time. Mostly tinker mackerel (striper candy) with some occasional larger macs caught. The fish were being caught all over the water column. From the very top where you could sight fish for them to all the way to the bottom. With 3 of us fishing mackerel fishing it did not take long to fill the live well. After doing so we then shot over to our striper spot for the first tide and live-lined mackerel in hopes of big stripers. My buddy Joe almost immediately was hooked up with a monster striper peeling drag. He was able to get the fish close to boat side, the whole gang got a good look at it and we estimated the football shaped striper to be around 30 lbs or so. Unfortunately for Joe the striper spit out the hook and took off before a gaff or net could be used. What made matters worse is that it would have been Joe’s first striper and what a beauty of a first it would have made. I felt so bad I let him take my turn next. Only 2 of us at a time were fishing to prevent tangles. I was expecting the action to be hot and heavy but after Joes fish it was dead slow with a couple of short striking bass that refused to be hooked thrown in. However during one of my turns I had put a weight on to see if getting the live mac down deeper would be more effective and during the drift I got slammed and finally hooked a striped bass. The fish pulled hard and took bits of drag out. When it was finally in view it wasn’t a monster but a good size keeper striper and to this fresh water fisherman any fish this size is big to me. Being how slow it was I was relieved when the fish got gaffed and was brought into the boat. I hoped this catch would also be a good sign of maybe the bite picking up and the other guys getting a crack at boarding some fish but it wasn’t happening. We decided to make a run over to another spot and try our luck at the sea bass instead and try again later for stripers at the next tide change. We got to our sea bass spot only to find out that they would not be cooperating with us. We didn't get into any sea bass but we did manage to get into a handful of scup. Which included a scup I caught that was pushing 2 pounds. I didn’t even realize how big of a scup it was until my buddies Bill & Henry enlightened me. It continued to be dead so we gave up on the sea bass fishing and headed back to our striper spot but only to be disappointed. So we made another run to another different location and did some trolling with lead-core line. It seemed we had a few fish playing with our baits but none sticking. Then one of the rods got slammed and it was Joe on again with what looked to be a monster with the rod bent and drag coming off his reel. It was something just plain powerful. Joe had mentioned it felt bigger and was fighting harder than his other hook up with a 3 pounder and it looked it. Unfortunately the fish went under the boat and the line rubbed and off she went. Clearly Joe was having a tough time but all fisherman at some point have had days like this when everything seems to go wrong, especially me. Bob also had briefly hooked a striper that also came off. I was back on the rod again and trying to be patient while we trolled and enough time had passed that made me think we were not going to see another fish but fishing is unpredictable and after a long time waiting I finally got slammed again. What a fight, more drag off the real with some weight behind it. I could have sworn it was a striper but then a bluefish surfaced and I was slightly surprised. Bill stuck it with the gaff and brought her into the boat. A big bluefish pushing around 15 pounds or so even with her emaciated looking stomach. The throat was immediately slashed to bleed her out quick and then the blue was filleted soon after by Bill (thanks buddy) and then thrown on ice. I found out why the fish was handled this way later when I ate it. I don’t normally think much of bluefish meat but in this case the way the fish was prepped on the boat along with a great recipe I discovered, best bluefish I ever ate. The striper was good too. Unfortunately at the end of the trip aside from a handful of scup my striper and blue were the only fish landed and in the icebox. Everyone still enjoyed themselves. I can’t wait to get back out there again even if it’s slow. By the way the canal bite is still hot. While we were cruising through it I saw plenty of boys hooked up with stripers. Tight Lines All! George D.

It really seems like the past couple years my 3 boys are my hardcore fishing partners, that’s ok with me. We had really wanted to hit one of our trophy lakes but with the weather report being rain and more rain we decided to do a hike in pond that had given us a tough time this year with producing brookies. We got to NH early enough that we did a quick 1 1/2 hour trial run. We ended up catching 3 brookies on the small to average size 8-10". Knowing trout were hitting we talked about our choices of trophy fishing an hour away or going for numbers Saturday morning. We decided to hit the hike in again and just do some classic brook trout fishing with crawlers. We got to the pond at 5:30 with the light rain just starting. The rain just got heavier as the morning went on. We ended up with 12 brookies for the morning in just 3 hours. Mike caught 6 and Skylar and myself caught 3 each. We lost a few right at the net! The rain was just coming down so hard we had to call it a day. Overall it was a great weekend up at our camp, 15 trout the biggest 11". They were the most colorful of the year, no debate on that. This pond will produce 15-17" 2+ lb brook trout every so often. Mike Deloia and the Deloia Clan Take a kid fishing

After yesterdays fun of hauling up striped bass I was pumped to get back out on the Cape and do it all over again. This time I met up with my buddy Bill and we headed down to the Marina together to meet up with everyone else at the boat slip. Henry invited some of his other friends that I met for the first time, who were kind enough to bring us all a feast. I was on day one of starting my new diet of which as the day progressed quickly crashed and burned. We had a fuller boat today but all good company. The plan was the same as yesterdays winning formula. Find the mackerel and load up the live well. Then take a ride to yesterday’s hot spot where we knew the stripers would be ready, willing and able if we could catch the tide just right and have plenty of striper candy (mackerel) to tempt them with. Unfortunately we struggled even harder than yesterday to get enough live mackerel in the live well to make it worth targeting the stripers. After what felt like endless jigging we did manage to get some mackerel, not as many as we would have wanted for such a big crew but enough to see some stripers in the boat, so we headed out to our striper spot. We had just missed the beginning of the tide but it was still prime time and only a few boats in our spot. After putting out the live mackerel it didn’t take long to hook up with the days first striper. After the second striped bass was landed I looked up and typical of the Memorial Day holiday weekend we had an infestation of boats all around us, all trying for the same pod of stripers. Which makes me appreciate like yesterday, the extra elbowroom fishing out on the surf during a weekday just a bit more. We made repetitive drifts over our preferred spot and were hooked into a striper during most of the drifts. Another part of our strategy was having only two anglers fishing on the back of the boat in rotation, so that everyone got turns with rods at hand and lines out anticipating a run at any moment. After someone landed a fish, short or legal the next person was up. Having just two guys fishing at the same time helped prevent line tangles and even that was challenging during double hook ups but a fun kind of chaos. As predicted we were burning through our bait rather quickly. Luckily before we were about to run out a friend of the Captains pulled up to our boat and gave us a couple of heavy net full's of mackerel. Not to long after the live well was filled back up the action went dead, the best action of the tide change had come to an end and with it the end of the boat zoo, as quick as they came most of the boats had disappeared already. It wasn’t a long window of prime fishing time but enough to get our fix. Not long after the fish went lockjaw on us we called it a day as well and headed back to the marina. When it was all said and done Bill and I were back in the truck heading home with each of us having landed two keeper sized stripers under our belts for the day. Most of the others landed fish as well. Thanks Bill and Henry for the invite, it was a blast as always on the tuna nut boat. Hope to do it again sometime.

I got an invite to join some friends on their boat again and fish for Striped Bass. I met up with my friend Henry in the morning and then we were Cape Cod bound. The plan was to catch some mackerel first to use as live bait and then head over to another spot to fish for stripers. It actually took us much longer to catch the mackerel than it did the striped bass. I think we spent around two and a half hours or so fishing for mackerel until we had just enough of them in the live well to make our upcoming striper party worth the effort. After doing so we then headed out to our striper spot. We got there just right before the tide change and began live lining our mackerel and letting them out a distance. Each of us holding our rods while we drifted over our honey spot. It seemed on every pass there was hook up, sometimes some chaotic doubles as well. You could feel the mackerel at times suddenly acting more erratic then usual, signaling that within seconds you were about to be locked and loaded with a striper. When you felt the bait acting more erratic, you anticipated the strike quick and every second felt like minutes. When the stripers took the bait we let them run with it for a little bit, watching the line rapidly peeling off the spool, then we would lock up our lever reels, lower the rods and set the hooks hard. Then it was game on and a fun fight. Every once in while slowly reeling our bait back in we would be pleasantly surprised with a hard jerk slamming our line. When those stripers are on the feed they are not kidding around. I don’t know how many we caught total but everyone got their limit pretty quick, many more than caught were released back into the salt. It seemed within an hour or so we burned right through all our live bait. We even recycled a couple of dead mackerel that still got crushed by stripers. I took honors for the largest fish of the day, a striper at 36 inches. The class of fish we were getting into were not monsters but big enough to put a smile on my face, what a blast. When it was over I couldn’t wait to do it again, so when I got invited to come back tomorrow I quickly accepted. Special thanks to Bill and Henry for the invite. Tight Lines All! -George

After work I stopped at a near by stream for an hour or so. Nothing serious, just to check it out and end some of my curiosity. It’s one of those spots I always think about trying when I drive by but never get around to exploring. Well at least until this evening. I messed around with an ultra-light rod and some spinners, working the deeper pools in the stream and got into a few small brook trout. The brookies looked pretty good and had all their fins in tact, with really good coloration. I didn’t think this stream received any stocked fish and now I’m wondering if the brook trout I caught are hatchery fish or possibly wild fish. At some point I’ll have to do a little research and find out. Either way a short but fun little trip on a very pleasant evening. I wasn’t in the mood today for photography but for the spirit of this journal I took this real quick shot below with my phone. All three of the small brook trout were released. Tight Lines All! -George

It was a beautiful day and my wife's birthday. Though I had already made some plans for her in the evening, being that it was her day I asked her if there was anything else special she also wanted to do during this beautiful sunny afternoon. She replied saying she wanted to go for a boat ride and work on her tan. With the seal on my little boat I’m only allowed to take it out on the Quabbin, she knows this. Then she mentions since we are going all the way out to the Quabbin we mine as well bring the fishing rods. All I could think was I get to go fishing on your birthday, it seemed rather alien being able to do that and not what I expected her to want to do on her birthday. So I quickly hitched the boat and got everything packed and headed out with her before she changed her mind. We didn’t end up fishing for to long, just a couple of hours. We tried slow trolling for trout and salmon the first hour or so but it was pretty dead. She was getting bored, so I took her for another little boat ride and headed to a spot that has plenty of smallmouth. Not long after I finally stopped the boat I began working the water and quickly hooked up but something seemed off. The rod suddenly felt like it was stuck on the bottom but I could have sworn I got hit. All I felt was dead weight and thought maybe I was stuck still keeping tension on the line incase I was wrong. I move the rod off to the side and began feeling something tugging back, something heavy. I knew it was going to be a really good fish. My wife had not caught anything yet so I asked her if she wanted to haul up a giant fish and she said yes, so I handed her the rod and said happy birthday. She handled the rod like a champ and when I finally got to see the fish just as I predicted it was a pig smallmouth. I carefully slipped it in the net. A large pregnant female loaded with a belly full of the next generation. It looked like it could be a pin fish but I forgot my digital scale and the local tackle shop was closed by this time for a weigh in and certification. She didn’t care and was happy just getting a few pictures and letting the smallmouth go. I’m pretty good at guessing weights and I’d bet she was pushing 5 lbs or close to it. I had already given her a bunch of birthday gifts back at the house I didn’t know I would be giving her another out on the lake. What smallmouth that was. We pretty much ended the day on that note and headed back for our evening plans. Tight Lines All! -George

During the week I got a phone call and an invite to head out to Cape Cod and jump on a friends boat (named the tuna nut) to target Sea Bass and Stripers. The sea bass are a fish that I never really targeted and was interested in and as far as the striped bass go I’m already a fan of fishing for that species so I graciously accepted. After especially hearing the latest fishing reports I was looking forward to it even more so. So I decided to abort my original plan of targeting landlocked salmon at the Quabbin reservoir. I got a brand new rod and high speed reel for jigging the salt and for handling large fish back in January and have been watching it collect dust since, I was finally going to get a chance to put it to use. I met up with the guys and we all consolidated into two vehicles and made our way down the cape and jumped aboard the boat. We headed out and afterwards it didn’t take long to figure out where the fish were by the big cluster of boats all hanging out in one general spot. We worked the same big general area. Making drifts with the boat and working crippled herring and diamond jigs off the bottom. We all got into them and it didn’t take long to fill the cooler with our limits. The sea bass were spawning and the males all seemed to have a big hump on their heads making it easy to distinguish them from the females. If you ask me they almost look like a cross between a peacock bass and a largemouth bass but with a much darker paint job. An interesting looking fish to say the least. Mixed in with the sea bass were some catches of scup. My friend Willy also got a nice surprise when he hauled up a nice size Tautog. Unfortunately the boat was overheating a bit and as a safety precaution the Captain decided it would be best to end the day early and have his boat looked at versus taking any chances and breaking down. Everyone understood and didn’t seem to mind, not to mention there was plenty of action getting our limits of sea bass. Henry made a very fitting joke about what the term “boat” means. BOAT =  Break Out Another Thousand. For the Captains sake I had hoped that whatever was wrong with the boat would be a quick and inexpensive repair. The stripers will just have to wait for another day. After the boat was back in its slip, we all still stuck around the boat for a bit at the marina for a few more laughs and a beer or two. It was a great time as always. Thank you Henry and Bill for the invite. Hope to do it again.

Just another one of our brookie outings. I had all 3 of my boys and my oldest son Mikes friend Tyler in search of some brookies. We really have had a tough time getting one of those elusive trophies this year. It seems like we got one every time out last year. On this trip we had 2 canoes with my twins Sam and Skylar and myself in one and Mike and Tyler in the other. We were fast into them; Skylar landed 1 in less than a minute on the water. It was a very good day for numbers and between the 5 of us we landed 39 brookies that’s a lot of trout for anyone. The biggest was mine at 14.5" and weighing 1lb 6oz. We fished for 12 hours!!! As always we had a great lunch on shore. I am convinced that some Monster brookies will be caught this year due to the mild winter; it’s just a matter of time. Take a kid fishing, Mike Deloia and the Deloia clan

Headed out to the Quabbin again but this time without my boat on the trailer hitch. I met up with my new friend Mike who has been a long time reader of this website and a Quabbin angler as well. He’s also a good fly tier. I had met Mike once last year at one of the reservoirs gates, he had recognized me from this website and said hello. Recently we started exchanging emails and texts. Sharing Quabbin fishing reports and conditions. He invited me to join him on his boat and try our luck together on the salmon. It was actually a nice break for me being a passenger for a change. I had thoughts of upgrading to a better Quabbin boat, I had already felt I outgrown my rig and when I jumped into Mikes boat and checked it out it just solidified my thoughts even further. I've been slowly putting around the Quabbin reservoir in a little 12-foot boat and moving at the rate of a turtle with my 7.5 hp outboard for the past 3 years. Compared to my rig Mikes 25 hp outboard (maximum allowed on the Quabbin) felt like a racecar and his boat nice and spacious. I remember thinking so this is what it’s like being in a real Quabbin boat; lets put some salmon in it. The landlocked salmon fishing at the Quabbin had been pretty spotty at best so far this year for us. There’s also talk of the smelt not doing so great and the salmon that have been caught this season by anglers looking mostly skinny. Regardless Mike and I were targeting them and hoping we might give each other some luck. Early on we started off fishing some of Mikes favorite spots but action was slow and no takers. So we switched and tried some of my old spots, fishing was still painfully slow for a while but my rod finally got slammed. The way the fish was fighting at first had me doubting it was even a salmon until I got it near the boat. That’s when the metallic fish went ballistic. I took my time playing the fish and enjoying the fight before Mike was able to slip our target the landlocked salmon head first into the net. After admiring the fish I noticed a deep puncture wound on it’s side and the only thing we could think of that could inflict such a wound on a fish like this is probably one of the bald eagles or other birds of prey that we often see fishing the reservoir. I wasn’t sure if the salmon was going to make it, in fact I thought it was going to be a goner and possibly diner some night this week for me but we put it in the live well and after checking it within an hour or so it seemed to bounce back with life and doing well. So I decided she was in good enough shape to be released. When I let her go she swam off like a champ, which I managed to capture in a under water video clip that I hope to post and share soon. It was surprising to me that even with what looked to be a fresh puncture wound, she was still actively feeding. That’s one tough fish. Hooking up with her near the surface just reinforced our eagle theory. Any fish feeding near the surface would be a clear view target for an eagle’s talons. The fish was not nearly as portly as others I have caught in past seasons. Hopefully the released fish will heal from her wound and have a chance to spawn and reproduce. And if she’s successful in doing so, when the time comes hopefully her offspring will have a more abundant forage base to feed on. As interesting as this catch was it unfortunately was the only salmon of the day we managed to catch. Unlike say targeting bass you cant always predict where these elusive fish will roam or feed, especially in such a large body of water. It still beat being skunked but I was hoping for at least a few more fish and for Mike at the very least to hook up as well. But that’s the nature of this kind of fishing, it can be non productive to very fruitful, that’s salmon fishing. Regardless it was still a nice day to be out on the water and hanging out with a fellow diehard. Special Thanks to Mike for the cool hat and flies, we’ll crush the salmon hard next time. Tight Lines All!

I headed out again to the Quabbin Reservoir and when I pulled into the gate on this rainy weekday I only saw one other truck and trailer. It seemed today I had the lake practically all to myself. The gatekeeper seemed surprised I was going to head out in the rain but it was days like this last year that I got into some good numbers of fish. I had my rain gear on and headed out in the boat. Though I was feeling optimistic even in during the on again off again rain showers I wasn’t having any luck at first. I didn’t want to fool around and was trolling with live bait, the bait seemed just a little to large for salmon fishing but it was the best I could get from the local bait shop but gave it a go. I worked some favorite spots of mine and ended up having to salmon hookup and come off simultaneously. When I checked the baits I could see the scales removed just below the hook on the tales on both baits. I re rigged the hooks onto fresher baits and placed the hooks closer to the back of the baits on the rigs incase I got anymore short strikers. Later there was one other moment that followed when my live bait suddenly became over active looking like it was try to escape a predator, right afterwards followed a boil caused by a salmon that attempted to strike the bait but missed due to the golden shiner unfortunately being successful at dodging the strike. The salmon lost interest and surprisingly didn’t strike again. Another day of bad luck with the salmon but I did manage to land a handful of smallmouth. At the end of the day I decided to abort the salmon fishing for the last hour and fished a nice rocky and shallow spot just off a point. In doing so ended up hooking and landing a nice hard fighting 4 pound plus smallmouth. And on that note I ended the trip. I’ll be back. Tight Lines All! -George

Headed out to the Quabbin Reservoir again but this time with my buddy Mark. His twin brother Peter who I brought with me last time to the Q was also fishing the same area with our mutual friend Chris, in another boat. The plan was to sort of work together as a team by spreading out in spots that had been good last season and keep in touch via cell phone if either boat found a school of feeding salmon. Mark and I caught 4 smallmouth. Including one that Mark dragged over a small island to land...I’m still chuckling over that one. Chris and Peter still had not caught anything yet. However later on in the day Chris hooked up with a small lake trout. Then toward the end of the day Chris hooked up again with a small salmon. Hoping the spot he hooked up in had a school of actively feeding fish, we both worked our boats covering and combing the area pretty hard and both of us marking plenty of fish on our fish finders but still no more takers. We worked the whole water column, particularly the depths we were marking them, our offerings included both live bait and artificial spoons but the fish just were not in the feeding mood. The fish eventually disappeared from the fish finders and so did we when we decided to pack up and split not to long before the gates closing time. Not a great day but not a bad day either. Tight Lines All! -George

It’s been a very strange year in NH. One of my favorite spots has not been stocked; I think it’s because of the hurricane last fall. It washed out the hiking path to the pond. I know trout are still holding over but its tough to get them. I left at 5 am with hopes that just maybe the state found a way in. This was not my day; it was 45 at my camp not bad!! When I got to the pond it was 30 and windy, ice on my guides, my hands could feel the bite of the wind even with the gloves on. I got one brookie about 11". I put in 2 hours in that bitter wind driven cold, I couldn’t close my thumb to my pinky so I knew I was done BRRRRRRR. I did go fishing on my lake at the camp, I picked up one brown also 11". This year has been a very slow to start. Keep those reels screaming. Mike Deloia

Driving home from work I decided to hit the local reservoir before heading home. I had read on the Internet it had been stocked this week. I got to the reservoir and grabbed my rod and began casting a kastmaster and working it. While doing so I watched another angler catch his limit and leave in about 15 minutes. I had not had any luck yet but clearly the lake indeed had been stocked and even more transparent was the fact I needed to make a lure change and switched to a spinner. I worked the spinner pretty fast just keeping it subsurface. The switch was like day and night and I got slammed almost immediately with an 18-19 inch rainbow. The bow took plenty of drag off my reel and ultra-light rod. Then it took to the air a few times before being subdued on shore. I continued on and had another trout slam my bait, I got it near the shore and watched a brook trout come unbuttoned a mere 4 feet away from me. I tossed out the bait again and hooked and landed another plump rainbow, that also took to the air but still ended up in my hands. Shortly after another rainbow hook up came unbuttoned when it went airborne. I had plans this evening and did not have allot of time left to fish and needed to leave soon but wanted to wrap things up with one more trout for a lake creel limit and as hoped I was on shortly again. This trout didn’t feel as big and was staying under and not leaping at all, so I assumed it might be a brook trout and my assumption was true when I beached a fine brook trout. Brook trout may not be the leapers that rainbow trout are but personally I think they taste better. After switching lures I realized I had also landed a limit of 3 (and a couple of misses) in about 15 minutes as well. It felt like the fast food of fishing but shows that even a quick little trip can be productive once in a while. The rivers and ponds are loaded so get out there. Tight Lines All! -George

After work I hit the river again for an hour or so before dark. I’m sure many trout have already been plucked out but after witnessing the last stocking for myself I knew the river was still loaded with plenty of trout. When I got there was a friendly fly fisherman in my preferred spot, so I moved further down allowing him plenty of casting room. He had not had any luck yet but was expecting his luck to occur closer to evening when the bug hatch would be in full swing. I kind of wished I had my waders and 5 wt fly rod, I’m sure it would have been more fun but at the same time I had a feeling my ultra-light rod loaded with 4 LB test and a spinner would probably entice the rainbows a bit more. Knowing how much even more effective it would be I purposely left the power bait in the truck, I hate using that stuff. Even if it meant not catching any trout today so be it. But around my fourth cast I was hooked up and had a nice aerial show display by a rainbow I had clearly interrupted and angered. The fly fisher had also enjoyed watching the leaping rainbow and yelled out nice jump as I finished landing it. I continued casting and had two more rainbows take the bait and come unbuttoned close to shore. I moved down slightly further and hooked and landed another rainbow and through it on shore with the other. Thanks to my kind wife's pan-frying skills I’ve been enjoying plenty of fresh put and take trout this season and wanted to continue doing so. I move back to my original spot and hooked and lost another and wondered if it’s my angle I’m setting the hook on or if I’m not setting hard enough. After making some slight adjustments to my methods I proceed to land the next 3 trout. I threw one on the shore with the other two landed previously, just enough for a fresh trout dinner and released the rest. I could have continued to fish and kept every trout until reaching a full 8 trout river creel limit but chose to just take what I need. Three plump trout would be enough for the wife and I for dinner. Not to mention I have already taken enough this season. I was almost tempted to do some more catch and release fishing with the rainbows feeding so actively but wanted to get home and eat at a decent hour. Within an hour I was done and checked back with the fly fisher on the way out who had watched me hook every trout and who still had not had any luck yet himself. I wished him luck and felt bad he had not connected yet. But who knows maybe he did slay them at dusk. Tight Lines All! -George

Originally I was going to fish the Quabbin the entire day (or at least as much of it as I could stand) but Peter wanted to join me and needed to be back home in the afternoon for his son’s baseball game. Rather than leave him behind just to fish a little longer I decided to fish a half a day with him. We got to the gate at the opening time of 6:30 AM and fished until noon. Landlocked Salmon and Lake Trout was what we were after. We slowly trolled and combed the water in search of our targets. Working a bunch of spots that traditionally in past seasons have been good but today no takers. It was very slow fishing for most of the morning, which I found very odd for this time of year. We only had about 2 hours left so I decided to make a move and try out another spot I discovered last year around this time where I found salmon stacked up between 10-20 feet of water. When we arrived at the spot and put our baits out it was as if someone hit a switch to activate the bite that had been dead earlier (but that’s how the Quabbin is). Peter hooked up first with a lake trout, while he was fighting his fish I was trying to maintain boat control, get the net ready and shoot a video clip of Peters first Quabbin laker. While in the process of all the multi-tasking I got bit to and saw my rod bending back and fourth but with everything going on my fish came unbuttoned before I could pull it out of the rod holder for a hard hook set. However I was able to slide Peter’s lake trout head first into the net. The next thing you know I’m hooked up again but this time playing the fish. After netting and releasing both fish we started making another pass in the same location. I had just begun to let some line out and another lake trout slammed the bait before I even nearly finished letting the line out of my spool. It was clear the lake trout were stacked up. Last year the salmon were taking up residency in this particular area but now it seems they have moved out and the trout now reside in this neighborhood. Finally we were into them good. Within the hour there were five lakers in the net and a few unbuttoned fish to. Would have probably landed more if we didn’t go all Hollywood using valuable fishing time on camera pics and clips but then again how boring would this report be if we didn’t. We only had 1 hour left to fish before we had to leave and head back to the marina, so Pete could make his sons game. I told Peter we had enough time to hit one more spot and see if we could find any salmon or stay put and continue to work the area for more lake trout action. After giving him the option we broke the cardinal rule. We left fish to find fish! Not something I normally do but salmon fishing has been spotty this season. The word from the local bait shop, fishermen and Quabbin gate keepers is that the salmon are skinny this year and not feeding as actively on top for this time of season nearly as much as in past years and it’s being blamed on a smelt decline. Regardless Peter and I wanted to still try and did but unfortunately the gamble didn't pay out. The last hour fruitless hour at least didn’t feel as painful as it could have if we did not already hook up earlier with some action. Though no salmon this time it had still been a fun morning trip catching wild green trout that are much larger than what typically comes out of a hatchery stock truck. Tight Lines All! -George

The weather report was 45-60 degrees overcast with a 10% chance for rain. They lied! We had very high hopes of catching some great brookies in some decent weather. Along with my sons Mike and Skylar we were in search of a few trophy brookies in NH. The first night we got skunked at one of our hot spots. We were ok with that because this hike in pond was just a warm up for Saturday. We were out the door at 3:30 and on the Lake at dawn. Mike caught the biggest brookie I've seen caught in New England on this same lake, our goal is to top the camp record 4lb 13oz monster he caught last spring. The weather was the worst I've fished in years. The air temp was 41 and the winds just whipped all day along with the rain and near zero visibility it was really tough. The boys really hung in with it. We did get some nice brookies 12 in all, 8 in the 15" range with Mikes taking top honors at 16" 2lbs 4oz. We were freezing and soaked so after 5 1/2 hours we called it quits. The crazy thing was just a few miles away it was sunny and dry in the 60's. I took a photo of what we were in just because I have never seen anything like it, from a distance you can see how this cloud system was "STUCK" in the notch. We did fish back at our camp and caught a 14" rainbow and a couple browns in the 10-11" range. The next day we just slept in after fishing a total of 12 hours and driving 3 it was a great but memorable day. No doubt in my mind we will get a couple monsters this year. With the mild winter and the holdover brookies I honestly think we have a shot at a 4-5 lb giant, only time will tell. After the amazing 2011 season we had its tough to come down to reality. Take a kid fishing Mike Deloia

I had an hour to fish and hit the Sudbury River again. According to the Internet it was supposedly stocked again. I get down there and make my first cast and a trout smashes my lure instantly but then comes undone. So I assumed the river had already been stocked again this week and thought great. Before I can finish reeling up my line to take the second cast I see the Mass Wildlife truck pull up. I watch as they dump 200 plump rainbow trout with a couple dozen fish looking like they could push 2.5-3 lbs. The mild winter kept the raceways at the hatchery from freezing and allowing the fish to feed a bit longer and fatten up. Judging by the size and variety we got a great crop of trout this season. With all the fish dumped in it was easy pickings and I could have easily kept a limit of 8 out of the river but didn’t want to be greedy and allowed myself a lake creel of 3. I caught and released fish repeatedly for about an hour and called it quits. I was a little surprised when I pulled up on my stringer and found one of my largest trout on my stringer half eaten by a sneaky snapping turtle. I threw back the other half and figured he mine as well finish it. Tight Lines All! -George

I had an hour to fish at a local reservoir and decided to load the rod with some heavy metal. I put on a kastmaster so I would be able to make long casts and more effectively comb the water from shore. Keeping the kastmaster near the top (subsurface) and working it quickly with some jerks of the rod I landed 3 rainbows and 1 brown. I carefully released all fish today. Would have loved to be able to stay longer. Regardless a fun little trip. Tight Lines All! -George

I called my buddy Dave up while driving home from work and he told me about a big 32 inch Broodstock Atlantic Salmon a friend of his caught today. Which weighed out at 10 pounds. His buddy after landing it dropped it on the ground, it also flopped around and didn’t look like it was going to make it. Rather than release a dead fish he gave it to my friend Dave so it would be eaten and not wasted. Dave was at the lake and I happen to be around the area so I popped by to look at the fish and snap a few shots before heading home. The fish was long but emaciated and probably weighed around 15 pounds or so when it was freshly stocked out by the state last December. This fish looked like it was on the verge of starving to death, some lakes just don’t have the forage base needed to sustain fish for very long. The White River Fish Hatchery in Bethel Vermont had always been the primary source of our states Broodstock Atlantic Salmon fishery but compliments of tropical storm Irene on August 28, 2011. The storm virtually destroyed the hatchery by the severe floods it’s caused. It’s doubtful that the hatchery will be back on it’s feet anytime soon and if it will get the funding it desperately needs to repair the millions of dollars of damage done. The hatcheries within our home state produce very few fish in comparison to what we used to receive from the White River Fish Hatchery allotment. So fish like the one pictured below are sadly even more rare and difficult to come across than in past years. It was never an easy fish to target with so few fish stocked and now with even much fewer available for the stocking program the fishery is a needle in the haystack at best. So if you land one be grateful. Tight Lines All! -George

It was finally here opening day at the Quabbin Reservoir. I knew with the great sunny weather that it would be a mad house in the morning trying to launch a boat at any of the gates. I instead I chose to not rush and waited until opening morning to hitch and prep the boat, load the rods with new line and rig them with hopefully some fish tempting offerings. I got there late around 1 PM to find the place was still a mad house. I finally dunk the boat hope in start the motor up. As I make my way to my first spot I notice the jet stream is not shooting out of my outboard and excess smoke is coming off the motor. As I’m about to reach and hit the kill button on the motor, it stalled out and shut itself off from being over heated. I thought to myself not again, last years opening day the outboard broke down too and needed a throttle cable. I used the electric motor to get back to the marina and then headed to the nearest outboard repair shop. I got to the shop and it looked like they had 20 other motors to repair before mine. They were very busy and also mentioned it could take around a few weeks for them to even look at it. I wondered if it was repairable and if I was going to miss the great spring fishing at the Quabbin this season. I was leaving in a few days for vacation and would be away for 9 days. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad and be perfect timing if I could have it back and fixed after getting back from my vacation. I would be home on a Friday and hit the Quabbin on Saturday as a nice way to end my vacation but figured it would be wishful thinking. But while in Mexico it was sunny and warm here it was rainy, raw and nasty. Which gave the marine repair shop an opportunity to catch up on they're work. When I got back home and checked my messages there was a voice mail telling the motor was fixed and to pick up anytime. So Saturday I picked the motor up and put it back on the boat and made my way to the Quabbin. I didn’t stray out very far but worked a bunch of spots that have been good to me in the past hoping some salmon would be present. I didn’t find any salmon and figured in order for a shot I would have to venture further out, due to the late start and that it would take too long with my small 7.5 hp outboard to get to the far out spots. I continued to fish nearby keeping the gate within a short boat ride. I toyed with a school of yellow perch I found just to feel a bend in the rod and then I started trolling a bit closer to an island I was working and finally hooked up with my second target fish, a small lake trout. I quickly release it and turn the boat around and make another pass in the same spot and before I knew it I was on another laker. Both fish looked like they would barely hit the 2-pound mark and looked skinny. Made me wonder if there was something negatively impacting the smelt population. Which sustains the lake trout (and other fish) and helps keep them fat and happy. I make another pass in the general spot but in slightly deeper water and hook up again but this time with a decent lake trout. I worked the area again and a couple of other spots with no luck. When the day ended I was just happy nothing broke and the motor ran. Catching a few lake trout was the icing on the cake. I’ll be back for the salmon, larger lake trout and some smallmouth action in the coming weeks. Tight Lines All! -George

The guys and I met up for breakfast and then headed out to the marina. When we got there and I climbed into the boat I was immediately impressed by how much cleaner and organized the boat was compared to yesterday’s charter. Yesterday’s charter rods sported old penn senator reels that looked and acted like they should have been retired. Today's charter has some sweet penn internationals on they're rods, that look like they caught a few fish but still in good shape and not nearly as worn and beat as yesterday charter gear. After introductions the Captain asked what we wanted to fish for. The guys and I all said sailfish and the captains response was a little similar to what I had heard yesterday. He said that it was a little early for them but there are a few around. We would need to troll for them. If we headed the opposite direction we could troll and target wahoo and dolphin. Another option would be to go ground fishing for grouper and snapper, which has been good lately. Both the captain from yesterday and today both seemed to favor ground fishing. We asked what our chances of hooking up would be with a sailfish and he confidently said 1 maybe two but it was just the beginning of the season and it would be slow fishing but we might also hook into some tuna as well. Everyone still wanted to target sailfish. Ground fishing did not interest us since we do plenty of that back home for cod and decided to just risk the day and go for it. Even just seeing 1 sailfish coming boat side would have been fun for all of us to see. Not to mention the guys knew from my report yesterday that the bonito tuna were in and after telling them yesterdays stories and how hard the bonito tuna fight they each also seemed pretty interested in tangling with them also. Our confidence went up when the captain mentioned landing a sailfish yesterday. My thought was if he could bring one to the boat in yesterdays rough water chances are that it might even be better with today's more favorable conditions. Maybe the baits being more easily visible to the fish could be a drastic improvement versus the swells I was fishing in yesterday morning. I was feeling optimistic thinking that today one of us was going to hook something with a long bill on it. As we pulled out of the marina and started making our way to the fishing grounds for the first time I saw schools of flying fish dart out of the water and fly. Fish with wings that when spooked by the boat would jump out of the water and glide about a 100 yards. I had heard of these fish and seen pictures of them but never actually seen them out on the ocean before. It was an amazing sight to see. We finally got to the fishing grounds and it looked very familiar, it was the same area I had fished yesterday and I also noticed some of the same boats from yesterday as well fishing the area again. We saw a dolphin (mahi-mahi) jump out of the water that another boat hooked up with. Which had me thinking there could be a school of dolphin fish that we might get a shot at further adding to the anticipation. However once we were fully set up and trolling action was very slow but did finally come in spurts. As I guessed we got into some bonito tuna again. Because of the better conditions and the fresh live bait that the mate caught for us, I saw more tuna hooked and landed than yesterday. At one point toward the middle of the trip we were all asleep only to be awakened by the yells of fish on by the captain and mate and drag noises. We had a double and enough adrenaline from the spurt of action to keep us awake for the remainder of the trip. We tried to be clear and mention that we did not want to keep any of the fish we caught and did let some go, however the mate would sometimes unhook the fish for us and then throw them in the fish box. But there was either a language problem or maybe the mate figured if we didn’t want any than they would help themselves. On one of my turns the rod went off and the captain yelled out sailfish, you want to talk about being overly excited. I could hardly contain myself thinking I finally latched on to one of those brutes but once I had the rod at hand for a minute or two it felt familiar, it felt like another tuna. I kept hoping a sailfish would suddenly break water and give us some kind of aerial show, but unfortunately I was correct, but at least it was a decent size tuna. The first one I got earlier was a bit small. All 4 of us fishing: Joe, Bill, Steve and I each landed about 2-3 bonito a piece. There were also some fish that came unbuttoned, including one that gave Steve a serious run for his money, Steve spent a bit of time on the rod patiently waiting to tire out the brute, only to have the fish come off right at the back of the boat and not even so much as get a visual of the fish for all his efforts. On one of Bill’s turns the Captain yelled out sailfish, Bills line was screaming out at warp speed for a minute but unfortunately that fish came unbuttoned too while it was pulling drag out. I don't know if the captain visually saw the sailfish from his high vantage point. Bill mentioned though that it didn’t feel like a bonito and that it felt much more powerful and was convinced the Captain was right this time about having a sailfish hooked. Then there was one short moment I stand and turn around to grab a sandwich out of the cooler I was sitting on and I hear everyone marvel over something they saw in the water, I turned around but missed it. A few of the guys saw a giant blue marlin jump and break water. The one time I turn around ...figures. A sea turtle or two also made an appearance. Unfortunately we ran out of fishing time and did not land any other species besides bonito tuna. But everyone was still pretty content with the action the bonito’s gave us and they're hard fighting abilities. Over all a fun trip. When we got back to the marina and after getting off the boat I noticed the Captain giving one of our kept fish to a dock worker. Guess our fish were being put to good use and helping feed some folks. Which made me feel better. As for the billfish I have not yet given up on them and will try again for them another time. Tight Lines All! -George