What's On Tap?

So your salt water fishing season is pretty much over, or at least the fast pace fall action has died out and you alone believe you could win the fishery powerball despite the odds...  Well in Connecticut the DEEP has many Trout Management areas, seasons for bass and pike might be still open on certain waters or are catch and release, or you can take roll call on your gear, replace what is missing, upgrade, or build the gear yourself.  Maybe dust off the tip-ups, sharpen the auger, and re-spool some lines.  For myself, this upcoming weekend is showing some promise... or maybe the recent powerball thinking infected my mind as well.

The first time I put my boat in the water this year was November 18th HAH!  It cost me approximately 30 dollars to run my boat this year, between boat registration and half of the two year trailer registration fee.  Sounds embarrassing as a fisherman right?  Not really, I had a great year all around with my feet firmly planted on the ground. Shore, wading, and wet-suit almost exclusively.  Fishing for trout comprised my time on the water from before opening day to mid June.  I did not post as much as I could have about trout this year.  I will say that long walks pay off big when fishing places everyone wants to go to but very little do. Then June came and I got married, bottom line best thing ever.  Enjoyed a Hawaiian honeymoon and got to swim with giant Manta Rays during a night dive.  Came home and decided to put my salty pants on and fished the remainder of the season for Striped-bass and Bluefish.  Fish from CT's LIS shoreline proved a difficult target for myself, which is why I found myself in places like South County Rhode Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Cuttyhunk all of which were beautiful places and some decent fishing.  The best fishing in LIS I found was in the lower CTR for bluefish, giant nasty, snotty yellow eyed fighting bluefish.  So now that I have desalinated my gear, patched my waders, hung up the wetsuit for this season... What is next?

We have had some better outlook for ice this year with the temperatures where I believe they should be at this time of year.  Coming into the first week of December however, it looks like a bit of a warming period.  Keep your fingers crossed for ice.  In the meantime, this weekend I'll be fishing with my friend Jon in my boat's 2nd trip of the year for Northern Pike and Largemouth Bass in Northeastern CT.  It is going to be an all day affair with some snow/rain mix forecasted during our outting.  I have not been in the fresh water much since early this year, but my offerings and technique will be based on conditions.  My number one indication for what to use and how to use it will be water temperature.  Probably slow trolling spinnerbaits and use of long-pause Rapala Xraps will be employed, how slow will depend on the actual water temperature.  Think ice, & see you out there.