angler21

So last Saturday, Napa and I finally found the puddle we had discovered years back on our way back from a tournament. I remember the place vividly as I caught 2 bass and missed a good one casting from the shore during a 10 cast quick stop. For the last couple years we hadn't returned...unsure why as it proved to be the Jurassic Park of fish and birds!

Our previous trip, one month ago at Maspy, the day started off very promising. We landed around 20 bass by lunch and the tables turned when we took a rope swing break and during my second jump from the top platform I managed to break my right ring finger and dislocate my middle finger as it got hung up on the knot during the release....ouch!

Napa was our Captain for the trip to Jurassic Park. The pond had a plethora of lily pads, stumps and weeds about a foot below the surface. During my trip to Lake Champlain with Chuck AKA the Landlord, I learned how to fish lefty which would serve to be handy "no pun intended" during the first half hour of this trip. I threw the Pad Crasher frog out a ways and shortly after beginning the retrieve I got smashed by a fish. I didn't see the first jump as I was more concerned with positioning my hand correctly on the reel in and he yelps...big fish. I cranked it in abruptly and we saw the big girl jump a couple times before Napa netted the HOG. 5.2lbs and over 20 inches...we had a nice start to the day. Our frogs were getting attacked left and right, with some rather large commotions but very few strikes hit the hook. I lost a couple biguns and Phil did too but we ended up putting around 8 bass and 4 pickerel in the boat during the 5 hour outing. Phil caught a few on a texas rigged worm but the vast majority of the action was on the frog. The weather looked sketchy multiple times during the trip but mother nature held off long enough for us to enjoy the day. Other than the birds and the fish, the other activity was seeing a couple teenage khayaker's head directly towards the storm clouds as we heard their biggest concern was that they forgot the grinder. Hopefully they were still able to enjoy their "J" without the luxury of a grinder. A lot of laughs and some qualitity fish and strikes resulted in a rather Arrogant trip!

I went out this morning around 10am to a local pond for a few hours. I brought four rods but really only ended using my jig rod. The bite was consistent for the first hour..probably boated around a dozen bass with the biggest around 3 pounds. I decided to go to the far side of the pond where there is a drop off. A few casts in and I hook up with a nice bucket mouth. A couple jumps got the juices flowing and after a nice fight I got it in the boat. She weighed in at 5lbs 10oz's - Sweet! I caught a few more 1-2 pounders before hooking into another big fish....this one got the better of me as it came unbuttoned right at the boat. All in all an active day on the pond!

I had plans to fish with my Dad yesterday afternoon on good old Boone. Chuck AKA the Landlord and my buddy Andy joined us as well. We were well prepared for the trip which began a little after noon. Chuck brought some quality bait, my Dad brought some homemade calzones and oatmeal cookies from my Mom (mmmmm- thanks Mom), we had chairs, a sandwedge and golf balls and some skates which were never utilized. Since we only had a half the day to fish we decided to walk a quarter of a mile to the edge of the narrows and set-up camp. Chuck's philosphy on winter Bass behaivor was spot on as we landed around 20-25 fish during the 4 hour outing. My Dad and Chuck got things going with a couple nice keeper bass. The first hour was steady to say the least as we landed around 10 fish. The first two traps I pulled were the biggest fish of the day. Number one was estimated at 4 pounds and fish Number 2 was a Boone Beast estimated around 5.25 -5.5 pounds. I knew the fish was a lunker as it shook it's head ferociously during the majority of the retreve. As I pulled it through the hole, the flouro leader snapped right above the hook. Luckily Sir Lawrence had cleared the hole and Chuck was there to keep him on the ice as I regained my composure. My scale decided not to work yesterday so no official weights could be recorded. We had solid action up until 3:00pm, with mainly largemouth bass, the occasional pickeral and a couple crappie. Chuck also hooked into a catfish that came off right at the hole. We played ice golf during the trip- perfect walking and golfing conditions as there was around an inch of snow on top of the ice. Late in the day, a trap near the shoreline that has been robbed a couple times got Chuck's attention. He only felt the fish for a few seconds but knew it was a BIG one. Unfortunately, she never came back to play again. Next time you'll get em' Chuck. It was great to have my Dad on the ice...our first trip of the year and he landed at least 8 fish with a s*** eating grin on all of them. His last one of the day was around 3 pounds...nice way to cap the adventure. Thanks for joining guys! Definately looking forward to exploring different waters on the next trip.

Chuck and I had intensions to hit up a different pond but with the weather forecast last Saturday we decided a safer bet would be good old Boone. Chuck met me at my house around 8:30am and as we approached the foggy ice a few mild showers made an appearance. We headed up towards the narrows and set-up 8 traps with mixed sized bait- ranging from medium to XL. We had a quick flurry of flags to get things going including Chuck landing a solid 3.5-4lber. The action slowed down until around 11:00am and then within a 15 minute spance we had 7 flags and I believe 5 fish. Chuck landed the two biggest of the day...both close to the 4 pound mark. The weather was bizzare all day. We had periods of rain, fog and warm fronts roll through. It was a fun day on the ice and in total we landed around a dozen fish. There were plenty of other anglers, ATV's and a menance of a dirt biker on the ice throughout the 6 hour outing.

We're looking to put together an outing with more ice angler's a week after this weekend....pending ice safety from the warm weather. Stay Tuned.

Rick and I headed out yesterday afternoon for a few hours on the ice. We had between 5-6 inches of solid ice in the area we targeted. There were skaters and walkers on the ice so I would say the majority of the lake is safe. We set-up 8 traps with large shiners from Jerry's Bait & Tackle. The snow started to come down as soon as we got out there which made it a bit more scenic. Rick landed the first three fish of the day, all were bass and the first one was a solid two pounds. I went after the next flag and knew that it was a good fish...it ended up being around three pounds. As I was releasing the fish the far and deep trap went up. Rick made his way to the flag as I let my fish go. By the time I caught up to him he already had a Boone Lunker on the ice. The head and length of this fish was very impressive...had it been a little fatter she would have went for over 6 pounds...instead, Rick's first Wall fish in many years tipped the scales at 5lbs 2 ounces. After many outings with Rick, it was great to see him land a big one.

We would only catch one more fish over the next two hours but we didn't care as the first hour produced some great fish in the snow. I'm looking to get out again tomorrow and hopefully land my own December Wall Bass.

My Dad and I had plans to get out to a local pond today. He couldn't join me until around noon but I got out at 10:00am in search to find some hot spots for us. During the first two hours I focused on the shoreline and a couple rock piles but only hooked up with 2 bass and a perch. All my fish came on a shallow running (3-5 ft) strike king square billed crank bait. No takers on the jig, spinner or swimbait. I made my way to pick up my Dad and set-up a second rod with a 4-5ft diving Strike Pro crank bait. My Dad came bearing gifts as my Mom packed us a nice hearty lunch...thanks Mom!

We started getting lines back in the water around 12:30 and we were letting the wind drift us down the middle of the pond. I hooked up with 5 bass in a 20 minutes stretch...all fish were around a pound. I was hoping my Dad would get things going...it's funny how things change in terms of Dad always cheering on his Son hoping that he has a good game or day on the water and now I find myself always hoping that my Dad finds the big one of the day. I told him to try my crank rod (baitcaster), he is inexperienced with this set-up but for the first few casts, he did well. I saw out of the corner of my eye him get brave and try the overhead deep cast............a few seconds later the bait slams 10 feet in front of him and it's birds nest city lol! I urge him to go back to the spinning rod set-up as I dealt with the aftermath of his last cast and within a few seconds he was on to his first bass of the day! He added another bass and couple perch...one that he somehow caught on the top fin! I continued to catch small bass with the crank bait and shortly before we called it a day I got a big hit! I worked it to the boat and my Dad took care of the net job. It was a nice 4.3lb bass which capped off a great day on the pond. Thanks for joining me bud...maybe we'll get out one more time before the ICE!!!!!

So a few of us decided to meet up at the ramp at the Charles River in Waltham MA. I was the first one there as I arrived at 6:10am to a pitch black ramp....I thought to myself I could have slept in for another hour but ohh well, the weather was mild and I was amped to have a full day on the water at a place I've never explored. Mark and Mitch rolled up next, followed by Bobby and Chris, Chuck and Meat and then Brendan. We were also treated with an appearance from Jonny-Bag-A-Bass himself....as he checked in and shot the s*** for a half hour before we launched.....Thanks Buddy!

Since everyone arrived before we had adequate light it gave us some time to talk some smack and catch up. While we were chatting a massive Raccoon stumbled towards the ramp and started to make it's way under the dock. Chuck was quite intrigued so he decided to approach the animal and with a condicending voice, says "hey little buddy." It's still dark and I think to myself this 30 pound wild animal may not be so amused...fortunately it continued to mind it's own business and vanished under the dock. A few minutes later and Mark though he spotted swamp thing in the water....from a distance I admit it looked like a larger specimen but shortly after we all realized it was a small little duckling. Although there were a couple close encounters, we didn't have an episode of "When animals attack" occur.

All five boats were finally in the water by 7:15am including Brendan's new Skeeter which is an awesome rig....congrats again bro! Now that we had light, it was time to go Lunker Hunting. I fished solo and explored for a bit before seeing some bait fish on one side of the river. I was throwing the jig and crankbaits without any action. I switched over to a white spinnerbait and was able to catch 2 small bass. A few minutes later and I threw a cast near some sticks in the water and burned the bait back in.....half way in and I saw a rip in the water so I paused for a second and then boom, a decent bass on. It would be my only keeper of the day! I threw everything out there too- jigs, swimbaits, cranks, spinnerbait, creature bait and even shiners.....jk guys, no live bait!

It was slow for everyone else too and with 5 boats and 8 anglers...we all combined for a solid limit lol! I had fun exploring the river and enjoyed being out on such a warm day. I headed back towards the launch and during a stretch on the water I felt like I was in the movie "Birds" as I went through a flock of around 100 seagulls, ducks, geese and swans!

1) Mark & Mitch- 5lbs (2) and lunker at over 3lbs
2)Chuck & Meat- 4lbs (2)
3) Jeff -2.5lbs (1) tied with Bobby & Chris- 2.5lbs (1)
4) Brendan - no keepers

Althought the fishing wasn't what we had all hoped for it was still great to get out with a cool group of guys! Hopefully we have one more in us before the ice!

So today is a special day for my wife and I as it marks one year since we've been married. It's been a great year and I look forward to many more. I was blessed to have the morning and early afternoon to be out on the water as Jen returned to work today and I needed to do "something" to fill the day, so why not fish!

I brought four rod's- 3/16 ounce bitsy bug jig with a 3 inch chigger craw trailer, a 4-6 ft running golden shiner colored crankbait, the frog and a 1/8 ounce weighted creature bait. All of them got pretty consistent action through out the day and early afternoon. I probably boated 50 fish, mainly largemouth with some crappie, perch and the occassional sun fish mixed in. All of the big fish in the photo's came on either the jig or the crankbait. I missed a monster on the frog as I couldn't handle it through the slop on one side of the pond but I made up for it with a crankbait stopping Fog Hog at around 9:00am before the showers came through. The bass smashed it after only a couple cranks and I laid into the thing. A nice battle persued before I was able to net the big girl- 5.3lbs......I'll take it! Most of the fish seemed to hit the lures as soon as they entered the water or about 10-15 feet from the boat from slowing down the jig or pausing the cranker. Best five were around 20 pounds and it was nice way to fill the day.

Now it's time for some champagne and lobster- not a bad way to spend the rest of the night!

I went out with Chuck to a local pond on Saturday from 7:30am - 2:30pm for a nice full day of fishing. The weather was perfect...overcast with a slight breeze. Chuck started throwing popper's and frogs, while I threw a weighted worm. The worm bite was on for the first hour as I was able to land my big fish of the day. Chuck switched to the spinner bait and started putting numbers in the boat. We then frogged on top of the slime and lily pads and added another 20 or so fish. By noon time we put around 60 fish in the boat. I was the first to put on a jig and was catching small bass with some keepers mixed in every other cast for around 15 minutes until Chuck finally switched to one himself. Chuck started throwing out towards some rocks and that's when the big ones started to come in. He landed a couple hogs within a 30 minute period and I added a couple 3 pounders of my own. We easily put over 100 bass in the boat and my thumbs definately paid the price. Chuck's years of angling have allowed him to grow a tolerance for bass thumb due to his calices lol!

Our 5 biggest of the day were: Chuck 5lbs 11oz's, Chuck 4lbs 11 oz's, me 4lbs 10oz's, Chuck 4lbs 2oz's and me 3lbs 14oz's....a nice 23 pound limit! Thanks for joining me out on an awesome day of fishing!

Hit up a few different ponds over the course of a couple days and enjoyed catching and netting some quality fish. During the trips I was able to fish with my Dad on Winthrop....we caught a few bass around 2 pounds and I lost one around 4 pounds right at the boat but the most worthy catch was my almost 1 lb bull frog caught on a soft belly frog. We got in 9 holes on the golf course as well which was our first time on the links in two years. I then fished with Chuck on a nearby pond and we had a head's up fish off resulting in Angler21 with 5 fish and Landlord with 4 fish...weight would have been close but we didn't have a scale and big fish honors went to Chuck. Last trip was with Mike and we had about a 20 fish day including his 4lber and my 2 foot Pick. All in all, a great time on the water with a grear group of characters.