Great End to a Long Day

Date: June 8, 2008
Location: Salt Marsh Pond, Kayak
Bait: Blue Fox Vibrax #3 - Silver and Gold Pattern
Conditions: Almost no wind, Sunny after fresh rain, high 80s
Time of Day: Evening
Friends: Just Me
Experience: 8 out of 10

Today was a long day. It started at 4:50 AM when I woke up to get to church on time. DaNae and I serve on our tech team (she's a technical director and I'm a sound guy). We need to be at church by 6:45 which means we leave the house by 5:30 AM which means we wake up before 4. After church, we had a great dinner with my mom and then struggled to stay awake as we drove home. We made it back just after a spot rain shower and it just seemed like a great time to go fishing. I grabbed my rods, kayak, and gear and headed out. I tried to convince my father-in-law to go but he had work to do.

When I arrived at the pond, it was like glass with little rings of ripples scattered across the surface as trout rose to sip flies. I tried tempting them with my fly rod with no luck (turns out they were sipping winged ants). I started pitching a spinner and caught an 11ish inch brookie within 10 casts. I had a dry spell so I did a lap around the pond trolling a spinner (no luck) and tried fishing off the bottom with PowerBait (no luck). I switched back to the spinner and started casting on my way in. I thought, "I'll make 20 casts and then go home." At cast #12, WHAM! THis guy hit it and fought all the way in - a nice fat 14 inch rainbow (what up with the magic length of 14 inches???). At that point, I was more than satisfied and called it a day. (Note the headlamp - I hate getting off the water...).

A Wacky Combination

Date: June 6, 2008
Location: Lamprey River (Epping), Canoe
Bait: Blue Fox Vibrax #3 - Rainbow Pattern
Conditions: Light Wind, Overcast/light rain, Low 60s
Time of Day: Afternoon
Friends: Eric Roberson
Experience: 6 out of 10

Ok - So we were rained out today. We were supposed to install a roof vent but the day never dried up enough for us to do so. We replaced some trim and then salvaged the afternoon by fishing on the Lamprey in a pond in between Epping and Raymond. It felt like warm water so I was fishing it like it was with no luck. I switched to the Vibrax spinner and caught a yellow perch right away. They are cool looking fish - yellow belly, red fins. A few casts later, I caught this 14 inch rainbow trout - had to keep him for supper. A few casts after that, Eric caught what we think may have been a carp. A few casts after that, I caught a 17 inch pickerel. I can't imagine a pickerel and a rainbow sharing the same space but they were.

One cool part of the day - when we wre looking for a place to put the boat in, we saw a possibility from the main road, however, when we drove up to it, there was a private property sign (Bummer). At the bottom of the sign, the owners added (in small print) "but you may use it as long as you pick up your trash and take it with you." Thanks to the small print, we made it on the river.

Searching for Access

Date: June 5, 2008
Location: Canobie Lake, Canoe
Bait: Wave Worm Tiki Stick, Sweet Potato Pie
Conditions: Light Wind, Overcast, Low 60s
Time of Day: Afternoon
Friends: Eric Roberson
Experience: 5 out of 10

Eric an I were doing a tile job. We finished the floor and had to wait for the adhesive to dry so, obviously we ahd to find a place to fish. After all, that's why Eric keeps his canoe on his truck. We traveled to three different ponds/lakes before we found a one with a place we could put the canoe in. We only had an hour or so to fish but still managed to catch a small smallmouth and a 17ish inch pickerel, both on the sweet potato pie. Gotta love the pie.