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7/28/2007 - 8/11/2007 Spent two weeks at the Cape on vacation. Plenty of sun, swimming, fishing and out to look at the whales. We fished out in front of the cottages in N. Truro for blues on the surface any time we wanted and had a blast having them chase poppers with no hooks so Don could catch them on a fly rod. We fished the race in front of the bathhouse and caught several keepers (see photo on page 7 of photo gallery) There was a report of a seal getting munched on by a great white shark on the Chatham shores just around the corner from where we were fishing. As always it was a very relaxing and fun vacation.
7/13/2007 - Lucky Friday the 13th, went out with a very old (long time) friend of mine Bob Richards and Ben to the Block. Winds were WSW 10-15kts. Seas 1-2ft high tide was around 7:15 clear skies in the morning and hazy in the afternoon water temp was 61.6 at the SW corner of the island. Things started out slow we were fishing just before 7:00 Bob caught a small Blue in a very short time and then it took a couple of hours before we got our next bite at 9:30 Ben landed a Striper 22lbs, 36in. we caught a few more Blues throughout the day but ended up limiting out with 6 keeper Stripers and one short one. We brought a few home for dinner and let the rest swim for another day. 10:55 Bob 14lbs, 32in. 1:28 Bob, Twins 14lbs, 32in. 2:34 Jim 21lbs, 36in. 2:55 Bob 15lbs, 34in. and Ben with the biggest fish of the day 25lbs, 38in we weighed that in for the striper cup tournament. (see photo on page 7 of photo gallery) it was a great day on the water, especially hanging out with Bob whom I hadn't seen in a few years. Oh ya as always lots of laughs with my son Ben.
7/4/2007 - Happy independence day!!! I finally put the boat in the water a little later then usual. Melissa, Don, Ben and I headed out to Block Island the winds were 10-15kts from the SW, 1-2ft seas and overcast high tide was around 11:24 and the water temp is 62.5. We started fishing around 7:00 and landed a few nice size Blues at the SW Corner of the island and there were several boats and charters out there and they were all over the place so it appeared that no one was really doing much as far as catching fish, the charters were not bunched up over the fish like usual, they were all hunting. We caught one small Striper 21in and that was it for the morning. We headed over to Black rock and did some trolling in that area and had two Fluke attack an umbrella rig and one hit the tube-n-worm. We caught a Blue here and there, we headed back to the SW corner and most of the boats and all the charters were gone so I figured the fishing was done for the day but that is one of my favorite spots to fish so I figured we would give it some time there before we called it a day. At 1:40 we landed our first keeper bass for the day and season, Melissa caught a 20lb 36in Striper and that alone was a making of a good day but we took a few more trolls and ended up with 4 more keepers. 2:00 Don 18lb 37in, 3:50 Jim 20lbs 35in, 4:11 Ben with the biggest of the day in the rain 26lbs 42in and finally Melissa took the pool with her second keeper at 5:26, 20lbs 36in. it was a great day on the water despite the rain at the end of the day but it didn't hurt a bit. Were back !!! (see photo on page 7 of photo gallery)
3/10/2007 - Dan, Ben and Nate ice fished Winnecunnit pond in Norton, little did we know it was going to be the day of all of our lives as far as fishing goes. For starters we had a huge rain storm the week before that knocked out most of the ice and left access to any safe ice almost nothing, we had a deep freeze all week long and the weather men were calling for huge weather change starting Saturday and lasting the rest of the week into the 50's so we knew this is the last time we will get out ice fishing this year. We would have winds from the WSW 10-20 all day, when we left the house it was 18 degrees and to get into the 50's by mid day, looking forward to fishing in some warm weather. We met Dan at the pond at 6:30 and saw a small group of guys out there already just setting up, the usual place to get on the pond was not safe so we tried another spot and was able to get out on the ice. We had to hike all the way across the lake to our favorite spot but we had plenty of ice it was about 10 to 12 inches thick so we started setting up. 7:15 Dan put his third trap in and it went up almost as soon as he put it in with a nice Pickerel, he must have dropped it right on its head, this is a good start. Before we had all our traps in we had three more fish and one of them was a biggie, 7:30 Ben caught a 2.5lb bass and then Dan pulled a 6.25lb bass through the ice, what a fish, biggest I had ever seen caught and the biggest he had ever caught in his life (see photo on page 6 of photo gallery) We ended up with 22 fish all day long and several missed hookups and three times we had two flags and fish caught at the same time. On one of those double flags around 3:15 Ben landed his largest fresh water fish in his young life a 5lb bass, at the same time Nate landed the largest fresh water fish he had ever caught a 4lb bass. Like I said a day that will be remembered for a life time. (See Ben and Nate's catch on page 6 of the photo gallery)
2/24/2007 - A whole bunch of us ice fished Massapoag Lake in Sharon, Don, Dave, Doug & Taylor Baker. Cousins Dan, Danny & Jack. PFB, Ben and myself for starters and we had visitors throughout the day, Alex Posternak and his son they brought a box of joe that was very nice and good timing. My father stopped by to say hi and then long time ice fisherman Jim Sullivan. It was 16 degrees when we left the house and the wind was blowing 25 all day long so needless to say we had a very cold day on the lake. We started out good, at 7:00 Ben landed a Pickerel then an hour later Don landed a good size Pickerel. Dan landed a small pickerel around 8:30 and Dave landed a small Crappie at 10:00 that as about it for the day we had a couple of flags but no other catches.
2/11/2007 - Ben and I went fishing at our secret pond in our home town (Spring Lake Reservoir), it was hovering around the 32 degree mark for the better part of the day and sunny. We spent about seven hours on the ice, had twenty plus flags and Landed two real nice bass, one smaller one. Five Pickerel two very nice ones and a Yellow perch about ten inches. We bought skates this week and spent a good part of the day on them, I have not been on skates for at least twenty seven years and I was very shaky at first but got the hang of it after a while. Ben did real well for someone who never had any training. It was a great day on the ice (See photo's on page 6 of the photo gallery).
2/4/2007 - Steve Gibree his son Steven, Ben and I went out on some hard water action to get out some of those winter doldrums. It was the first time ever for the kids and at least 12 years since I have been on the ice. We had a pretty stiff wind out there and it was 24 degrees when we left the house @ 10:00 AM (we figured we would let it warm up so the kids wouldn't loose interest and get to cold) there is just around 6 inches of ice on the pond. We set out our traps, had a flag pretty quick and we lost it. We spent about 5 hours out there the kids had a blast and are looking for the next trip so maybe next weekend we will give it a try. We ended up with one small Pickerel and a small Bass (See photo on page 6 of the photo gallery) it sure was fun to be out there again.
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12/3/2006 - Winterized and covered the boat.
* See you in the spring *
11/27/2006 - Don, Ben and I left the house @ 6:00 (late start for us) it was 31 degrees when we left and was to get to the mid 50's so we had a chilly start. We got to the launch and there were only 5 other cars there so that was the reason for the late start, no need to fight for parking this time of year. We headed out to Block Island, saw 3 harba seals around the docks when heading out, we had 2-3 foot seas with a SW breeze changing over to WSW, the water temperature was 54.3 degrees. We trolled a Tube-N-Worm rig only this time of year you can not get real worms so we used the Berkley power bait artificial Sea Worm around the SW corner of the island in about 40' of water. 9:15 we had a double header, Don had a big Blue around 10 lbs and I had a 30" Striper. That is a great start to the day, at 9:54 first mate Ben hooked into a vary large fish and it put up a great fight for a while. We landed that fish and it was the biggest Striper he had ever caught in his short fishing career, it was 36", 19lbs..... Good job Ben !!!! (photo on page 6 of gallery) we continued to fish for a few more hours around the island with no other luck. We headed to Westerly reefs and tried some trolling there with umbrella rigs and the tube with no luck. We did see several people scuba diving on the reef, I bet they were cold. We headed back to Point Judith and hit the three breachways on the way to see if we could get anything on the outgoing tide, we did mark a few large schools of fish and there were several surf fishermen all along the south shore so they must still be catching fish there but we couldn't hook into anything. We threw poppers, umbrella rigs, silver jigs, Tube rigs & Storm shads and not a hit. If the weather holds out and the fishing reports are positive maybe we can get out another time or two.
10/8/2006 - Dave and I went to the SW corner of the Block, when we left the house it was 43 degrees winds were from the north and changing to the east, (when the wind is from the east the fishing is the least). Water temp was 63.2 degrees. We landed a total of 12 blues between 7:18 and 12:25. Later on we gave the Westerly reefs a shot there were a lot of boats there and birds working but didn't see any hook ups, we tried the breachways for a little bit but we had no success. while we were going through the north rips in the morning we did see some blitzes and they were not Blues, I suspect it was Tuna but every time we tried to get to them they were gone.
9/23/2006 - Don, Dave, Melissa, Doug, Kevin, Matt, Greg, John, Emily, Ben and myself went on a three day camping and riding trip to the Berkshires in the Pittsfield state forest, we had a lot of rain and mud to mess around in and we tried to get up to the top of Brodie Ski mountain but it was to foggy to see anything. We had a lot of fun and look forward to next years trip. See a couple of photo's on page six of the Photo Gallery.
9/18/2006 - Don, Dave and myself headed out to the fingers about 41 miles offshore to try our luck at some shark fishing, the water was pretty calm, light winds and the water temp was 66.7 degrees. we started out looking for some blues for bait and of course when ever you want blues there no where to be found. We tried in the bay, around the harbor of refuge along the south shore and out around the block. no blues to be had so we used frozen mackerel for bait and butter fish. as we were on our way out we went through the Mud Hole and there were at least 20 boats trying for some of those giant tuna they were landing last week, we decided to head out instead of sticking with the fleet. I will have to see how they did out there because we had no luck at the fingers. You know the old saying a bad day of fishing is far better then a good day at work.
9/4/2006 - Thanks to Ernesto most of the weekend was a wash out with very large seas all weekend, we were able to get out on the bay Monday for some fun fishing with the kids. Dave and his son Ryan, Ben and myself tried our luck at some Fluke fishing. We landed one short Fluke and several Sea Bass, this took a couple of hours and then we decided to chase the schools of Blues around the bay, the kids love to do that and I needed some good shark bait. We ended up with almost two five gallon pails of ground up Bluefish Chum, I can see one big Mako licking his choppers when he gets a whiff of that oily slick. See Ryan's picture of one of the Blues he caught on page 6 of the photo gallery.
8/26/2006 - Paul and I fished the SW ledge of the Block, Winds were from the ENE, Water temp 67.3 rainy in the morning and cleared later on in the day. We trolled the Tube-N-Worm rig and at 7:42 we had doubles, Paul landed a keeper striper just over the 28" mark (photo on page 6 of the photo gallery) and I a big Blue, both went back into the water for another day. I figured we are off to a good start, we landed a few more blues and they are getting very large out at the Block. 10:13 I landed a short bass, 24". we had a few more blues and that was it at the Block. it ended up being a slow day out there. We went into the south coast by the Charlestown breachway and trolled the (Bling Bling) Umbrella rig with 4" green shads and I caught a 24" Fluke on the troll, it must have been pretty aggressive to go after that rig. I let it go and caught all kinds of grief for not bringing it home for dinner, so I guess I learned my lesson.
8/16/2006 - Ben and I went out to the SW corner of the Block, I have to say it is nice to be back in our home waters. We had winds from the NW, Water temp was 66.3 at 7:43 Ben landed our fist keeper 34" 16lbs, 8:51 he got a 10lb blue, Jim 9:36 26" schoolie, Ben 9:58 19" schoolie. We had several more blues @ 11:48 Jim landed a 31" 10lb striper, Ben 12:22 28" striper released, and @ 12:36 a nice 35" 16lb keeper, we had a few more blues and called it a day. This is why it is good to be back on more familiar waters.
8/6/2006 - 8/12/2006 Spent the week on the cape relaxing, fishing, sharking and out to look at the whales. Monday we did some trolling on the bank near the race in about 40 feet of water, we caught several blues (huge blues well over 12lbs each) and one short striper 27". Tuesday Donald, Ben and myself went out about 21 miles to try some shark fishing, we had no luck, some spinney dogfish but that was it. Wednesday took 7 people out to look at the whales on the SW corner of Stellwagon bank and we were treated to some of the best whale action I have seen in years, everywhere we looked we saw whales breaching and feeding, we saw several pods of 7 to 10 whales together (see pictures on photo gallery). Ben and I went out early Thursday but it was to rough to get out around the point until later in the afternoon, we landed one keeper striper and several blues on the troll with a Tube-N-Worm rig. As we headed back to the cottage we ran into several schools of blues on the surface so we spent the next few hours catching some of those large blues on poppers. Friday we saw someone bringing in a giant tuna that he single handed landed. There were several boats out there fishing for them. It was a great vacation.
7/23/2006 - Spent the weekend on Martha's Vineyard with the family watching the Monster Shark Tournament, it was a very exciting time watching the Sharks come in and the crowd of people cheering. ESPN was out there as well so watch for it coming up in the near future.
7/16/2006 - Spent the day on Narragansett Bay for some fun in the sun with the family, we were able to catch one Blue Fish but that was it. we spent a lot of time rafting and swimming, it was a great day on the water.
7/8/2006 - Went out 33 miles to the Suffolk wreck for some shark fishing with Mike, Dave & Ben. Winds were SE, surface temp was 68.4. we started our drift with very light winds which made it for a very slow drift, we didn't have any thing for a long time but while we were waiting we saw a Giant Tuna breach, that was something to see the first time for me. In the afternoon the winds started to pick up and that helped the drift move pretty good, shortly after that I would estimate a good 10 foot Blue shark came around the boat for some handouts but wouldn't take anything on a hook. we had a couple of hook ups but lost whatever was on and then it happened we had a fish on, Mike fought the fish for a while and once he saw the boat it was gone, this went on several times and then he was able to get it to come up and it was about a 7-8 foot Blue shark, it put up a good fight and we let it loose (photo page 5 of gallery). We had a pod of Dolphin come in to the boat and did some acrobatic jumps for about five minutes and left (they most likely left because they ate all our chum I guess) then we had another Giant Tuna breach coming right down the chum line. Just when we were packing up we had another smaller Blue shark hit the line and young Ben was able to fight the shark while the rod was in the rod holder, that shark was about 6-7 feet long (photo page 5 of gallery). I have to say it was a great day on the ocean for seeing ocean life.
7/3/2006 - Massachusetts Report Captain Paul Carr, his son Paul and Captain Ed went fishing at Wasquse point S. East corner of Martha's Vineyard "Chapa Quidick" we started fishing at 6AM with a south flowing tide in 2 1/2 hours caught 15 keepers 30" to 40" average 22lbs the bite was intense for 1 1/2 hours, when we first got there we had two triple headers, we also caught about 6 Bluefish. The tide died and the fishing was over at 9AM so we went in. Wind was from the SW when we first got to the dock dying down from Sunday's gale we almost didn't go, as about 5AM the winds started to subside. The water temp was 66 degrees. We were trolling the Tube-N-Worm, maroon colored 22" in 18' of water at Tom Shoal. Calabash
7/1/2006 - Ben and I fished the SW corner of the Block, winds were WSW water temp 62.1 and sunny. We fished for 6 hours with three very fast and strong hits but never really hooked up. We tried the tube rig, parachute jigs, large spoons and a lead head jig but nothing. Did see a few come over the rail on some other boats but couldn't see if they were Blues or Stripers. I was marking huge fish on the fish finder but couldn't get them to bite. We left there and went to the Charlestown Breachway with no luck so we decided to try for Flounder. We landed three shorts, one Blue and a Sea Bass.
6/4/2006 - Rhode Iland Report - Ben and I fished the SW corner of the Block, winds were from the NE and shifted to the NW, Water temp. was 54.2 degrees High tide was 2:49. Ben landed the first keeper of the year at 7:13 it was 16lbs 35in. (goto page 5 of photo gallery) it was caught on the Tube-n-Worm rig, we brought it to Quaker Lane to get it weighed in for the On The Water season long Striper Cup Tournament. The second fish was landed at 12:48 on a chartreuse Parachute jig, it was 10lbs 32in. We did try some Flike fishing near New Harbor for a little while but we didn't get any bites.
Massachusetts Report - Dan and Ed on the Calabash took out a family of 3 brothers and their dad on Sunday 6/4 windy out of the north east didn't get to our destination Gay Head hid behind
Pasque (Elizabeth Island) caught 5 Bass 1 keeper 29" also caught 6 Blues.
5/29/2006 - Went 30 miles offshore to Coxes Ledge looking for Cod, Water temp. was 57.5. We had one dog fish hit and Ben landed a Striper, we didn't measure or weigh it because you can not keep Stripers in federal waters. I would estimate it as just around the 28" mark. After a couple hours of trying a few wrecks and holes we decided to give the Block a try. There were many boats on the south west ledge so we tried our luck at trolling, Ben landed a short Striper @ 10:19 it was 4lbs 24 in. and that was all we had for luck with the Stripers. We went over to New Harbor and did some Flounder fishing and we had a dozen caught but they were all short and we had two Winter Flounder but that season is closed. Good job to Ben he caught the first Striper of the year.
5/21/2006 - Fished the Block all morning looking for Stripers, the wind was WSW, water temp 51.7 seas about 3-4 footers. there were several boats out there trolling but I didn't see anyone land anything, including us. We went to the Charlestown Breachway and had no luck so we decided to try a little Winta Flounder fishing at Nebraska Shoals and we hit them good, we ended up with 5 keepers for dinner and we were just starting to get into them but the wind and seas really kicked up, we had at least six footers and all the boats decided it was enough.
5/6 & 5/7/2006 - Went after some of the schoolies all the reports are still talking about for a little bit both Saturday and Sunday, we fished the West Wall, all three breachways and the Westerly reefs and had one fish chase my plug on Saturday and one hit, Ben had a fish chase his plug on Sunday but that was all we had, no hookups. Saturday the water was flat calm with the winds from the WNW and the water temperature was 53.8 degrees. Sunday we had winds from the north, a bit chilly and the water temp. was right at 54 degrees. There were a lot of boats out there fishing for flounder. Got a safety inspection from a DEM officer at the docks Saturday afternoon and he said there was nothing for fish being caught or brought in with the exception of one boat that fished Coxes ledge and had several nice keeper Cod.
4/30/2006 - YARD-WORK !!!!!! ( P ) Pronunciation Key (yadwork)
4/22/2006 - According to all the fishing reports I have read the schoolies are all over the West Wall, Steve and I headed out in the afternoon to try our luck at catching a few. The water temp was 48 degrees wind was blowing and we had 3 to 4 footers but tucked in close to the wall wasn't to bad. We tried for about an hour on the wall and had no luck but did see several fish caught from the guys on the wall. We trolled down towards the Charlestown Breachway with no luck, headed back to the West Wall and saw several more fish landed from the guys on the wall. We had no luck, I think the fish were tucked in real close and we didn't want to get up into the wall to interfere with the guys on the wall. Hey, at least we were fishing.
4/9/2006 - Spring has sprung, uncovered the boat today. Got her running, loaded up and took her for a ride this afternoon. She ran nice so we are ready for the schoolies to hit the west wall in a few weeks. We went looking for some harba seals along the coast of Newport and since we were just about the only boat out there we were visited by our finest, yes we were boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard they did their inspection and off they went. Here is a little tip, make sure you have all your safety equipment in order, they told me a lot of boaters that get out for the first time forget some of those items and it could cost you a fine. LETS GO FISHING !!!
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12/7/2005 - Winterized the boat, sad day for Cals Sport Fishing.
* See you in the spring *
11/27/2005 - No Fishing this weekend, may give it one more try next weekend. Did get out on the dirtbike today for some fun in the mud.
11/18/2005 - Went fishing with Mike, winds were from the NW high tide was 9:02 and the water temp 54.7 we tried to get out to the SW ledge of the Block but when we got there the seas were to rough, we ended up having to fish the south side of the island for several hours. We landed two blues at 9:27 and that was all we had along the south coast of the island. We did get over to the SW Ledge of the Block around 11:30 after the seas subsided and we fished there with no luck at all. We decided to fish the three breach ways along the south coast and we had birds working everywhere, we could catch as many Blues as you wanted on the Bling Bling (umbrella rig with 4 in. green shad bodies) but did not get any Stripers. I would say the migration may be coming to an end, but may give it a try over the next weekend to make sure.
11/12/2005 - Captain Ed of the famous fishing vessel the Calabash and another fine captain Jim sr. from the sailing vessel Sixovus graciously joined me for a great day of fishing and exploring out at Block Island. As we left the house at 04:30 it was 23 degress outside. We fished the SW Ledge of Block Island, winds were NW and the water temp was 55 degrees, high tide was 04:22. We used the Tube-N-Worm rig with steel line in 40 to 50 feet of water, we had some chop early in the morning but the seas set down in the afternoon. We caught five keepers the fish were caught at 7:30, 14 lbs 33 in by Jim Sr, 7:54 25 lbs 39 in. by Jim Jr. Then we took a two hour break to have a cup of coffee and some island exploring, when we got back to fishing we started catching fish again at 10:45 39 in 21 lbs by Ed, 11:20 43.5 in 30 lbs by Jim Jr. and the last keeper at 1:23 34 in and released with out weighing. We had a bonus of some very large Blue’s, which put up some nice fights as well.
11/5/2005 - Mike, first mate Ben & Jim fished the SW Ledge of Block Island, winds were SW and the water temp is 57.3, high tide was 09:29. We used the Tube-N-Worm rig in 40 to 50 feet of water, we had some very large sea swells all day long but it was worth the trip we ended up with six keepers and six real fat Blue's. The fish were caught at 7:17, 16 lbs 34 in, 7:45 23 lbs 40 in, 8:15 29 in and released with out weighing. 10:50 17 lbs 37 in, 11:41 34 lbs 44 in (biggest fish caught on the Sweet Dreams to date) and 1:10 18 lbs 36 in.
10/31/2005 - Melissa, Don & Jim fished the SW Ledge of Block Island, it was a nice sunny day with winds from the west. Water temp was 57.5 degrees, high tide was 06:20. We caught 4 nice keepers on the Tube-N-Worm rig in approximately 40 feet of water. The fish were caught at 8:45, 25 lbs 40 in took Melissa about 20 minutes to bring the fish in, she did a great job fighting the big old cow. 9:10 Don caught a 14 lbs 34 in keeper and then another at 10:10, 16 lbs 37 in. Jim landed a nice keeper at 10:37 21 lbs 39 in. we had a few Blues between each keeper. Things slowed down so we tried the North rip of the Block and found Blues all over the surface.
10/21/2005 - Fished just south of the Mud Hole all day long chunking for sharks with no luck, did get attacked by Dogfish for about 20 minutes and they stripped all our baits. There were several boats out there trolling for Tuna but didn't see any one hook up.
10/15/2005 - No fishing this weekend due to inclement weather conditions and large seas.
10/9/2005 - No fishing this weekend due to inclement weather conditions and large seas.
10/1/2005 - Dave, Mike, Ben & Jim fished Coxes Ledge all day long shark fishing, we landed one small Mako (see photo on gallery page). We had tuna blitzing the surface off and on during the day but couldn't get them to hit anything. We also had HUGE sea turtles all around the boat. all and all it was a beautiful flat calm day to be off shore fishing.
9/24/2005 - Dave, Ben & Jim fished the SW ledge of Block island for about five hours totaling six nice keeper Stripers (see fish on page three of photo gallery) as well as a few Blues. We used a Tube-N-Worm rig with steel line in about 40 to 50 feet of water. Spent the rest of the day fluke fishing just outside of New Harbor, no luck just one Scup and a Sea Bass.
9/17/2005 - Ben & Jim fished Narragansett Bay, not to many boats out due to Hurricane Ophelia drifting offshore of the New England coast, the bay was calm and the Blue fish were everywhere. Young Ben kept count of the amount of fish caught that day and we landed 68 fish for the day. We used a White and Blue 2 oz Atoms popper, it is great fun watching the fish chase it on the surface.
9/11/2005 - Spent the day playing on Narragansett Bay, it was the action photo shoot that Safe Sea holds twice a year. I have been a member of Safe Sea for years and have used them once for assistance, if you boat in Rhode Island waters it is a good insurance policy to have. We did do some fishing and caught a few Blue fish, as a mater of fact Jillian landed her first fish completely unassisted, she cast, caught and fought the fish on her own. Just another fun day on the boat.
8/27/2005 - Fished with Melissa and her Dad, Don at the SW Ledge of Block Island, landed two nice keepers.
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