Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Kingdom: Introduction

This trip has been in the works now for a long, long time, as has this post.  This is my third fourth attempt to finish it but the all consuming "life" has evidently swallowed me up.  My fishing buddies and I have always dreamed of some sort of destination trip to target larger fish or better fishing.  Grandiose ideas such as trout fishing Patagonia, the Amazon river for peacock bass, tarpon fishing in the flats of Florida or Mexico, or a puddle-jumper trip into the far reaches of Canadian wilderness for Musky, Pike and Lake trout have all been through our minds many times.  These extravagant trips must remain on the bucket list due to shallow pockets.  On the bright side, we still managed to make a commitment to doing a trip.  Certainly not as exotic, but every bit as special.  It began no more definite than any other idea, just that, an idea.  Some ideas grew into speculation but got squashed before making it to the drafting board, but two trips emerged as being the best and within reason.   Reasons being, time, money, and mostly lack thereof.

Idea #1
ID: A-30MA-8ZBAAS 
Codename: VINYAHD
Destination: Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
Goal: Camp, Bass, Surfcast
Price Range: $3 / $5
Pros: MV, Camping, MV in Late May/Early June, Janet Messineo's willingness to help find fish.
Cons: Logistics

Idea #2
ID: B-802VT-P1K3
Codename: LORD OF THE RINGS
Destination:  The Northeast Kingdom, Vermont
Goal: Rent, Trophy Northern Pike, Canoe/Boat various lakes.
Price Range: $2 / $5
Pros: 360degrees surrounded in wilderness and trophy pike water
Cons: Not Martha's Vineyard

I found myself leaning heavily towards Martha's Vineyard for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, my fiance Laura and her family introduced me to the island about 7 years ago, we have been there every year since, and it truly is a special place.  Its history, sights, sounds, people, and certainly the fact that it is surrounded by prime Striped Bass waters make for a superb destination to vacation.  I could also picture living there as a permanent residence.  Of the time I have spent on the Island, I have fished it more and more often during these annual trips, and have become quite adept in finding fish while there.  I caught my first Albie while visiting, and last year my first through fourth Striped Bass on the fly rod.  My personal best Striped bass from the surf, and during one trip I had everyone fishing live eels at night from the beach and spent my time running between anglers putting new eels on, unhooking fish, and laughing.  During that same night I also witnessed a fish tear-off 3/4s of a large spool of braided line only to break off on a rock, a memory permanently singed into my brain.  There is no consolation in reeling in 600' of line to find your hook separated from the leader.  One day I'll catch that fish.

Despite the feelings of how much the island means to me and how badly I want to show those who are closest to me the Island's wonders, logistically speaking a short-term trip is almost not worth the trouble.  The 3.5 hour drive to the ferry, the hour plus ferry, and then probably another half hour on the island takes it's toll.  A week stay would be ideal, but work obligations and asking friends to spend a decent amount of money on Ferry charges and less than ideal.

So out of practicality, Idea #2 won the destination bachelor party heavyweight title.  We are heading to a private lake-house in The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.  This section of the state is huge, representing one-fifth of the state and containing over 200 lakes and ponds.  Our base station will be out of East Charleston on the shore of a lake in that town.  The house will provide many options for fishing some of the best pike waters in Vermont that annually produce fish in the 20lb. class.  We will also be near the origin of the CT river along the N.H. border where it resembles classic trout stream waters as opposed to the huge brown water we are used to seeing in CT.

The plan is for about ten guys to go do exactly what we should do, eat, sleep, drink, fish, repeat.  Should be a good time, we are stocking 6 canoes and a handful of kayaks, an insane amount of fishing gear from flyrods to spinning and casting gear, along with some of the best yard games available.  Wiffleball, cornhole, bocce, to name a few.
Additionally since most of my wedding party will be in attendance, I am bringing along some of my gifts to them as they will be indispensable while fishing this area.  A custom order from lure builder Nick Kemps of Lucky Shamrock Lures (Nick Kemps: Interview)  will be part of their gift; and of course I saved some for myself.  I can't wait to cast these lures, the thump they make in the water should attract some big fish.  Reports on fishing success and lure success to follow.

Ok, enough of boring everyone with words alone.  Recent fishing activity has been secret only because I didn't wish to jinx the bite.  I haven't had the time to commit to the salt, but a trout stream about 20 minutes from my front door has filled in the gap and has produced some awesome fish.  These are pictures of the better fish of four different trips.








I kept this one for my Dad

Big Eye on this 'Bow

Do Not Pass on Night Fishing
He turned during the Pic, Ohwell

Jon with a Nice Brown

Free to be Caught Some Other time.

Don't Try this at Home

....Because this is what happens.


Caught 10:15PM with My Mouse Fly in it's Mouth
























Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Statue on the Docks

I scoped out an area centered around where my day-time profession took me.  I had a huge amount of work to do, I anticipated it taking me at least 9.5 hours of work, so I hustled my butt off.  No breaks, no coffee, no lunch... just constant work.  I've always worked my hardest when I give myself a personal incentive.  Growing up it was do your homework, then you can go ride your bike, in college it was do your schoolwork then go hang with your friends, at work it has been get quality work done and then go fishing.

I finished what I needed to get done in 7.5 hours, 2 hours under schedule and honestly I felt bad not going back to the office but I had put in 19 hours on Monday and 14 on Tuesday, so working around 40 by Wednesday helped make the call to just go do what I intended to do after a "full" day of work.  So I pulled up google maps on my phone to navigate some LIS shoreline and intercepting rivers/creeks.  I drove across two bridges and saw nothing appealing, no signs of bait, no birds.  I zoomed out in the map and noticed I should not have made a left turn as the road I had been on came extremely close to the river flowing into the sound, and then an added bonus was I saw a green block (town/state park of some sort) on the map where the road dead-ended on the river before it meets the sound.  I stopped at a small gravel turn-off where a brook was flowing into the river and peered over the two parapet walls to try and spot bait.  Nothing doing, but I did see some circling terns and some cormorants.  Got back in the truck, and headed for the park.  I saw road construction ahead and almost turned around, but a Flagger was waving me through and I turned into a town owned park with a sign that read town resident sticker required.  I parked anyways since it is still pre-memorial day, and the truck could pass as a construction vehicle.  Got out, and walked down the road towards the river where there was additional signage but no required vehicle pass.  I did a ten minute circle of the area, witnessed a handful of birds poised for surface action both south and north of the dock I was on.

As I approached 9 o'clock on my circle I saw a red GMC SUV parked in the no-parking hashed lines of the dock area.  Window down, an older gentleman was sitting in the driver's seat, I said "You wouldn't happen to have a kayak or canoe I could borrow, would you?"  He laughed and said, "No, but if you are looking for bass, lot's of guys have been catching them for weeks and one guy last week got a 40" bass."  Within a minute, he flung open his door and the ultimate bullshitting session had begun.  Two fisherman talking about fishing careers, one new (me) and one old.  The conversation I had with "Bob" was one of the best I've had in my life, I maybe said a dozen sentances in two and half hours.  What I learned in that time was overwhelming.  I will attempt to summarize... "Bob" is a staple on this dock, he is more a part of the scenery than the dock's sights are.  He has not only seen the area change, but worked there for the majority of his life.  He is a retired Navy man, who was exposed to incredible amounts of asbestos during his career with the military and came into a good amount of money because of this.  He is humble, he knows how much he knows and as it may not be much in his own opinion it was some of the most interesting history, jokes, fishing, poaching, and local knowledge I've ever heard.  "Bob" has visitors everyday.  In two and half hours, "Bob" had nearly ten different visitors and knew another six enough to say "Hi" to and wave as they approached the parking area.

Our first in-person visitor was a newbie, I felt I had already established a life-long friendship in the 40 minutes before, so this random guy was a newbie.  The Noob came over to us and said, "I was told to check this place out between the High and Low tides, but I guess I missed that."  "Bob" said, " I was just telling Matt, this is Matt, I'm 'Bob', (Hand shakes) that if you are going to fish this place take that corner or don't fish it."  "In sixty years of fishing this place myself, I can count on one hand how many fish have come off the other corner."   "You want to be in THAT corner, and cast towards the second house over there, ahead of that point."  "But this place fills up quick when the fish are here."  "During the summer all of New Haven is here, I keep telling the cops when they come that the seagulls can't even understand you because they only speak Spanish."  "You can fish here all night, until someone makes a noise, all these houses call-in the first noise that wakes them up."  "The fishermen are quiet, they don't cause the problems, but the first firecracker to go off brings in the cops and a they throw everyone out."  We now had three in our BS'n group and then had yet another visitor, this time an older woman maybe in her early sixties who pulled up in her little car with her mother sitting shotgun.

Without a hello, she was out of her car and talking to all of us at once.  Bob was rolling his eyes as the new comer was telling us that she was taking motorcycle classes as a school for her license.  Bob said, "Motorcycle classes!" "Heck I've got two bikes, I'll go get one for you if you promise to drive into a tree."  We all burst out laughing, while Bob added, "And I'll pay for the gas."  The Lady leaned in and said, "I've known Bob all my life."  Noob and the woman began talking about bikes and the driving school as he had done the same years ago, Bob took this diversion to tell me that he couldn't stand the woman and that she was nuts.  I couldn't help agreeing a little bit as she was so short I couldn't imagine her being able to hold up a bike, but I settled on eccentric rather than nuts.  The entertainment did not die down for another half an hour with Bob and the woman constantly drilling each other with snide remarks and comebacks like it was a full-time job.  After a while the woman's mother, still sitting in the car knocked on the window and motioned to get going.

The woman introduced herself as she decided to go and Noob took the opportunity to do the same.  Noob stopped short of his truck and turned as said, "Hey Bob, I picked up a couple rods at a tag-sale would you mind taking a look at them."  Bob agreed and Noob brought over two rods and two reels.  Bob kindly lied through his teeth and said, "Yes these might work."  Noob said he was just looking to get some gear and not spend too much as he hadn't fished in years.  After he left, Bob turned to me and said, "I don't even know what that stuff was?"  "I didn't know fischer-price made toys that big."  I laughed and Bob said, "I'm a penn man myself, and Lamiglas..."  He continued, "If you have a chuck of bunker around 4 ounces and another 4 ounces of lead to hold the bait in that current, you need a stiff rod... big gear."  "You can't just lob something out there, it won't hit the mark."

After another set of visitors and some poaching stories, a small electric-gas hybrid car rolled up the dock road.  Bob, seeing this immediately stopped all conversation and retreated to his car.  He emerged with an envelop and two compact discs.  The man in the car hung up his cell phone, and asked Bob, "How'd you make out after I left?"  Bob said with his hand out to one side, "You shouldn't have left when you did, it only got better."  "After you left, my girlfriend is talking to a two star and I'm snapping pictures right there in front of him."  "And the back of the parade, was just beautiful.... the horses, oh it was just perfect."  As Bob carried on his conversation, I was trying to decipher the dialog to try and figure out exactly what they were talking about.  I knew it had something to do with the military but wasn't sure exactly what.  Bob noticed the puzzled look on my face, and told me that he was invited to the inauguration of the new class at West Point.  He continued, "After the students left, I noticed some blacked out SUVs pull up and I readied the camera."  "Four men in black suits and dark framed glasses got out and I knew I was in for a treat, these guys were badass."  "A one star got out and I thought to myself, wow, I've never been in front of any stars before."  "Then a two star gets out and that's the one who was talking to my girlfriend."  "Then a few minutes pass and another set of cars pull up, and a three gets out and I think I've died and gone to heaven."  "Then I see a four star general, and that's when I noticed they're carrying the footballs."  "Here I am, some no-name Navy nothing, standing in front of Military royalty taking their pictures."  Bob's girlfriend had called in both his and her reservation and sent in a letter with the number of guests followed by the words Retired Navy, Bob mused that they might have mistaken it to mean Naval Academy and that once you are retired military you are all considered equal.  He said it was like they rolled out the red carpet for him that day, and said that he received the most beautiful letter thanking him for the pictures as they had not had a photographer for the event.  It also included an invitation to come back anytime and to call ahead when doing so.

Bob's next visitors were of a local fishing crew and as his attention shifted to them, I told him it was a pleasure meeting him and that I would see him again on my next visit.  He said, I'll be here.  I walked up the road to my truck knowing I had not even taken a cast, but also knowing that my experience far surpassed my expectations.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Gauntlet

OK here is my follow-up to my previous post, Friday April 27th, 2012 my "big" plans from Friday unraveled a bit only because I got distracted...  Saturday the 28th I met my friend Jon at the Salmon River and wanted to show him a spot that my friend Evan and I had recently done extremely well on.  A cold morning at 34 degrees, we suited up in our waders & fly vests and after a short hike we were fishing the same pool I had visited during the rain storm two weekends ago.  Right off the bat, I managed a decent brown on an olive wooly bugger that has no hackle left on it because it is the only fly I've been using this entire year.  Jon said, "What? Was that your first cast?" I replied, "Third, there's more in here."  ... Turns out I lied, we couldn't get a rise out of anything.  Two other fishermen trying to stay out of the wind casting worms weren't hooking up either.  

Jon and I started heading upstream search casting along the way.  Fished a 500' stretch, nothing.  Stopped at another long deep pool at the base of a set of rapids.  Jon was casting to rising trout with a couple bumps but no takes, and I couldn't hook into another fish to save my own mouth.  Fished the next 1000', nothing.  Two hours into our day and it wasn't looking good.  Jon was visibly not buying into fishing any longer, he made his way up to where I was to tell me he was leaving.  I told him I was just going to fish up to the next bend and call it if I didn't get anything.  We about-faced and headed in opposite directions.  I fished the next half-mile heading upstream without a bite, without seeing any surface action, no hatches coming off the water but the sun hadn't made it over the East bank of the river yet.  I had never been on this stretch of river before, so the best part was that it was new and void of fishermen... but probably a sign of a lack of fish.

As I continued upstream, I recalled my last blog post about NOT doing yard work or chores, and simply fishing the weekend away.  Then I also recalled that my fiance Laura had read the post Friday night and said I have one chore I need you to do... "Plant those black-eyed susans."  I laughed to myself thinking: I better get those flowers in the ground.  After turning the next corner, crossing an island, I came to a slow pool area.  As I scanned the water I tripped on a rock and made a big splash that spooked an immature eagle or possibly a golden eagle.  At any rate, this bird was absolutely huge.  I said out loud, "Wow" and watched a nearly 6-7' foot wing span heading up river.  Besides being beautiful, the best thing about seeing a bird like that on the river is that there are fish nearby.  It's like that saying, Are bears Catholic, Does the Pope.... yup I said it.  So directly under where the eagle was perched was a pool and a small point extending into the river with a current flowing through it, and it was full of rising trout.  I caught one from that pool, with fish still rising constantly.  I decided to come back to it, as I was dehydrated to the point of a beerless hangover, and not willing to tie a fly on that was not a mangled olive wooly bugger.  I fished another mile without a take and stopped as soon as I saw another fisherman another 1500' upstream.  I walked into the woods to avoid being spotted and walked back into the water on top of the best stretch I saw during my travels.
Here is a diagram I drew of this stretch illustrating two different scenarios.


AutoCAD Example River





































Here's my take on this section.  Position A is where I came out of the woods upstream of the two areas I wanted to fish.  Positions B through D are all relatively the same with some small exceptions, being structure orientation and river current direction.  At "B" I wanted to be closer to the main current because it was the fastest water.  The reason behind this is that due to the length of the fly rod you can lift the line over the current to avoid it pulling your fly down stream faster than desired.  I always fish sections like this in a two step pattern keeping the same line amount at approximately 30'.  So I will cast near the bank allowing the slower current against the bank to slowly swing my presentation downstream, keeping the rod tip elevated slightly so I avoid having too much drag on the mid section of my main line.  This allows the fly (streamer pattern) to sink and "swim" at the desired depth.  From the same position, I can adjust line lengths slightly to cover the structure allowing the fly to pass over the downstream side of the boulders.  The "two-step" pattern is because after I take five or so casts I move down stream with two steps and repeat.  I've never liked to fish the same cast over and over and over again, at least in moving water like this.  At position "C" I move away from the main current a bit because it has slowed and will not affect the middle portion of my main line.  Most casts like this produce fish at line positions 1, 3, and 4.  Or 1 after it first lands, 2 not during the period where the fly changes directions due to main line drag, 3 as it crosses structure, and 4 as it slows and the fly faces upstream and is steady for a 10-20 second period of time.  At position D I have moved a bit closer to the current again, but I am employing a lower rod tip to utilize the current's pull to move the fly.  Also, after sending out five casts and you had a bump but no commitment, try stripping the fly as fast as possible over that same spot I think it reduces the time they have to inspect the fly and just react to the fleeing streamer.  The strikes while doing this are violent and I usually miss the fish but it is worth it, it also works to pick off the Atlantic salmon because they are significantly more aggressive. Also don't forget to cast to the lone rock (Position "E") at the end of the field along the bank, the fat lazy fish are usually there.

Moving down to position F and G I fish with the streamer, but G, H, and "I" are areas where the fish are rising for insects off a hatch.  I landed one using the quick line stripping approach with a high rod tip.  Landed an 18" brown doing so.  Before returning, I tied on the smallest parachute fly I had, 10 casts no takes, fish still rising.  Tied on a blue-winged olive and added some floatant, fish first cast fish on.  Ok, now I got them patterned (IMO) and now to fish these positions.  By far "F" is the most difficult to fish, the surface action is tight to the west bank and I have a strong current close to the bank and do not want to move into the corner because there are fish surfacing there as well.  So at "F" your cast has to be damn good, about a foot and a half from the fish or softly dropped right on top since the fast current is going to pull your fly under in short order.  Position G is similar to both "H" and "I" because the current is actually facing you, basically the cast is nearly upstream.  I found that a nearly upstream cast will keep the fly on top longer than casting parallel to the current.  At "G" since the current is medium strength it will mend your line downstream and begin to pull the fly under but this position will allow at least twice the amount of time than at "F".  The big girl is gulping sipping insects constantly at the end of the rocks, but you should move to position "H" despite being able to reach it from G.  The reason here is to allow the fly to float on by without being pulled.  She took it as soon as it hit and what an amazing fight, I will not soon forget.
TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BE STOCKED

























Position "I" is the spot where you don't get any bites and you tell yourself, I need to go eat something to get rid of this headache from walking upstream so damn far.  And plant some flowers...





























Place To Myself!