Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Fun with powerboats... Down East style.
Tuna Trip
I am very excited for tomorrow. After many non-fishing days, I am taking a trip for tuna out of Ocean City, Maryland. Hope to have a great post about it.
A Striper-Powered Kayak (from an AP story):

Huge Bass Takes Teen On Wild Ride
Teen Has Real Fish Story

Bobby Capri Jr. of Stafford Township, N.J., was in a 10-foot kayak when he hooked a near-record size striped bass in waters off Surf City on Friday.

The 52-pound, 8-ounce fish came within 5 pounds of the world record of 57 pounds for his age group. The striper dragged the kayak for about 20 minutes, taking the 115-pound Capri past two jetties and pulling him in circles about a dozen times.

He lugged it aboard by putting his hand through its gill plate. He then tried to paddle ashore, but the kayak's bow kept tipping.
Capri then pushed his hand up through the gill plate again, jumped out and dragged the fish the final 10 to 15 yards ashore.

Monday, June 28, 2004

Hmm...A New Yorker gave birth to big-game angling.
New York Pike Story.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Fishing rights vs. Drinking Rights
Mixed Messages
The same report on eating fish is interpreted two ways.
Bull Trout Protection.
New York Flats Fishing.
Air-dropped fish are killing frogs.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Aliens Invade Florida.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Vegas Stripers.
Tarpon Fishing in Government Cut.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Montana Recognizes Bald Anglers.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Saltwater Shutout
I'm embarrassed to say it, but I missed the entire spring run here. Not one day so far chasing stripers or blues. There are only so many trout a man can catch before he goes insane.
Central Texas Stripers.
The seas of Hawaii
Where 58-percent of the biomass are apex predators.
More Carp Upside the Head.
Countering Fly-Fishing Tunnel Vision
I'm cutting and pasting this post from NYC fishing guide John McMurray, who also writes for some of the fishing publications, because it would be lost when the NY fishing report for www.reel-time.com is next updated. As someone who is far from a purist, I enjoyed it:

From John McMurray of reel-time.com, Purists and "Funists"
Yea man, I love to flyfish…  Of course there’s no more enjoyable way to hook fast into a big fat striper.  And sight fishing for them is an absolute blast.  I’m even a fan of feeding out heavy shooting heads away from the drift, and that intense anticipation that on that next strip there could be a violent pull back.  And those long mean and nasty bluefish…  No better way than to roll a perfect cast to a cruising fin and then the breathtaking boil and strike -- the ensuing jumps and tail-walks.  And albies – forget-about-it…  That line dance and the screaming real…  Nothing could be more unique, exciting and just plain cool.   Yea, before anything else I consider myself a hardcore saltwater flyfisherman.  But there’s something to be said for just plain unadulterated fun… 
Those of you who have ever live-lined bunker know what I’m talking about.  Sure it’s barbaric…  But that’s part of its charm for sure.  Sticking a hook through the nose of one of these vegetarian fish and letting it swim on the surface and watching it get chopped in half by a bluefish, then an enormous striper snatches the other half and starts peeling line off the reel.  If you think that’s not fun, or maybe below you, than you’ve obviously never tried it.  In the same respect, if you’re a purist, you might be saying that any dummy can catch fish that way.  Well, that’s absolutely true, and part of the reason we all prefer flyfishing is the unique challenge involved.  If you have the impression livelining gut-hooks and kills a lot of big fish. You’re right about that as well.  But those with the foresight to use circle-hooks very rarely gut-hook a fish. 
So now I’m going to confess…  I did a little live-lineing today…  A few of my old non-flyfishing friends were in town and we had a great time nailing some pretty large fish swimming 12-inch bunker on the surface.  Does it compare to the grace and beauty, or what some might call art, of flyfishing?  Not even close…  Eating at McDonalds can be fun, but it’s not Peter Lugar’s Steak House for sure.  I guess what I’m saying is that it never hurts to slum every once in a while.  In fact it can be quite refreshing and downright enjoyable.
Yea, I’m not so much of a purist,  I’m a “funist.”  It’s all about fun for me…  Flyfishing is the ultimate, but live-lineing bunker is just fun every now and then.  Fluking is fun as well.  Just like surfing a 10-foot board on 2-foot waves is fun, but hey, it ain’t like surfing 20-foot Wiamaia…  So all you purists out there, I’m recommending deviating from the course for a day or two…  When you go back to flyfishing you’ll most certainly appreciate it more, and you’ll know the size and quantity of the fish that are actually down there.  Be a funist, not a purist…  Because this thing we do is really all about fun…  Let’s all try to never loose sight of that. 
I’m back to flyfishing tomorrow and for the weekend…  And the weather and fishing reports sound promising…  So let’s get on with it!
--John McMurray of reel-time.com

Monday, June 14, 2004

Scott Hamilton has updated his log about fishing in Palm Beach.
Hopeless Redsox Fans...
Will resort to anything to end their futility.
Sea Cow Troubles
Boats and manatees don't mix. Neither does fishing and manatee zones.

Friday, June 11, 2004

Florida Fishing This Morning
The local anglers in their boats patrolled the early dawn 100 yards off Lido Beach in search of tarpon. Me? I was standing on the beach casting a white and blue clouser to a school of poor man's tarpon--ladyfish.
I was in Sarasota for work, and had intended to take a night snook trip that fell through. Instead, I decided to get up early and try for snook cruising the beach. I didn't find any. But I did see this little pod of ladyfish creating a disturbance within casting distance. So I spent an hour casting to these little two-three pounders that fight a lot bigger than their size. It's not like they take the fight to the reel or anything, but they put a bend in the rod and jump around like complete maniacs, hence the above-mentioned nickname.
A couple dolphin came by and dispersed the ladyfish school, so I wandered the beach watching the tarpon guys. I saw a school of five or six tarpon cruise by about 30 yards off the beach, stealthily passing by the boats.

Monday, June 07, 2004

Guns/Fishing Post II
Guns don't kill people. People shooting at snakes kill people.
(Editor's note: Seeing as I recommended gunplay to combat snapping turtles in a previous post, I find the snake-shooting explanation entirely plausible.)
Shotgun Fishing
More news from the Dakotas.
The Phenomenon known as carp stealing.

(Editor's note: this is the blog's 300th post.)
Lunker Pike in the Heartland.
sorry to have been so silent, Pete. I've been hiking a couple of weekends already -- bagged 3 more 4000-footers in NH.. Osceola, East Osceola, and Tecumseh. I did the first two with a buddy who is a roving caretaker among three campsites in the Whites. Should you camp at Imp, Speck Pond, or Nauman, ask for him.. I'm knocking off some of the smaller and more accessible peaks to ease into the season...

Thus not so many fishing updates. And what can I say re: Yanks/Sox. Our pitching left the building for a while, and your bats turned on. Advantage: Bronx. D'oh!

The other remiss Fishing Jones editor and I are going fishing on the Savannah River on Friday and Saturday. Doing guided inshore first, then offshore. We hope to have much to report.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Frozen Fish Kills
Bad, bad luck.
Cannibal Trout.
Royal Sturgeon caper continued...
Batfish Invade the Florida Keys.
This is a batfish.

Friday, June 04, 2004

FISH STORY ADVISORY
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, my company employs a policy known as "Summer Fridays." Today, I took advantage of the first one.
All I can say is, thank God for the two-weight. I went to the Nissequogue river, in sunny conditions with a water temp of 62-degrees. Some trout were feeding on the surface under a dense low-hanging tree canopy, and I managed to float a royal coachman through there a few times. I got some great surface takes on small brookies, with one large (13") one obliging, too. The largest snapping turtle I've ever seen swam right by me. He could have snapped off my foot if he wanted to. It is in these moments that, to me, it makes sense to carry a handgun.
I drifted that coachman over another hole, and started catching...(wait for it)...little bluegill. I kept doing it, because I love watching any fish bang a dry fly.
That's it for now. Next week I will be down in Florida fishing my favorite way in the world: Casting to snook in the docklights.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

More Cicada News.
Canada's Bow River.
BASS Sponsors NASCAR
Two peas in a pod.
Royal Fish Update
Of course, now there's a royal scandal.
A Royal Catch.
Monster Halibut.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Mammoth Fly Rod Fare
The new PC name for the fish in question is Goliath Grouper. They grow up to 800 pounds.