Paul's Hunting Blog: July 2014

I've been crazy busy lately and to make matters worse; most of what I have been doing is blog-worthy. This might end up being my longest post ever. Do not adjust your monitor or phone, my facial hair will change from one pic to the next. This is in no particular order. If you like fish; scroll down half way. If you like Rusty pics; scroll down farther. Here goes:

Lee and Tiffany Lakosky

I had the opportunity to meet Lee and Tiffany Lakosky from The Crush with Lee and Tiffany! I used to watch these guys back in college and schedule my classes around their show along with The Drury Brother's Dream Season shows. I also had a life size cutout of them for a while. They made an appearance at my store and I got to spend some time with them which was awesome. They are way cooler than I expected; probably two of the nicest people on earth. They talked, took pictures and signed autographs for people from 10-6 Saturday and Sunday and took no breaks. They delighted everyone they talked to and if there was a line still after they were scheduled to leave they stayed as long as it took to get to talk to everybody. They were awesome!

Greg Ritz came in the same day only to say 'hi' as he has an office in Portsmouth. He ducked out of the picture.

Greg Ritz in the background.

Dockside Tournament

I entered the Dockside Striper Tournament (http://www.docksidestripertournament.org/) with 3 guys from work this past weekend. The tournament raises money for Northeast Passage, if you are not familiar with what they do check out their website http://nepassage.org/. They are pretty unique in the field of non-profits. Anyway, we did not do well in the tournament. I did however do pretty well at the captain's party to kick off the tourny. I went early and helped set up and Chelsea met me later for the party. The food was awesome and an open bar doesn't ever hurt. I won one of the raffles that included $150 in gift cards to two different places AND 2 guided kayak fishing trips. The tournament started Friday at 12am. I fished in Kittery from 9pm-11:30pm for a warm up. Then, I fished with another team member at Pierce Island starting at midnight until 3am but we had no luck. I tried the same place again Saturday night but again struck out. I really didn't have enough time to really give the tournament a proper run.

New Hampshire at night.

The harbor at the Captain's Party.

Rear view from said party.

Naval shipyard across from Pierce Island.

A whiskey distillery set up shop at the party.

Fishing in the dark.

Thatcher Brook

Maine stocks fish like no other state I know. The stock reports are published and I have always seen a Thatcher (sometimes Thacher) Brook in Biddeford that gets stocked with brook trout a couple times a year. I had a hard time tracking down the location of the brook until recently after some lengthy internet searching. I took off one morning set on catching some brookies in this hard to find brook. I made the whole event way harder than it had to be in multiple ways but I did get into a few fish. The part of the brook I found and fished was very obviously not the stocked part and it was stained pretty bad due to recent storms. The part of the brook I fished had some very interesting pools and some included lily pads. I finally hooked into a bluegill about an hour into fishing. A little later I found an old bridge with a waterfall under it. I dropped a line into the pool under the falls and pulled out a few creek chubs and two little brookies that looked to be natives! A rarity in New England.

The pool I found the natives in.

Looks safe, right?

This frog let me walk right up to him. He was huge, he dared me to touch him but I didn't.

First fish of the day.

Pulled the bluegill out of here. The UglyStikLite Utlra Lite 7' with Shimano Sedona 750 with 5# Power Pro worked awesome again.

Native Brook Trout

Striper Fishing Update

It has been a long time since I blogged or at least a lot has happened. I don't feel like a rookie Striper hunter anymore. I have caught a few here and there and have a pretty good handle on how and where to catch them. My boss has taken me out on his boat a few times for them but each time I have had to work so they have been quick trips that brought no Stripers. He took me and my dad out when my parents came to visit and we caught a decent amount of bait but as we took off to fish for the Stripers one of his propeller blades busted off. It kind of ruined the day and I felt horrible it happened taking us out. We did get to catch mackerel and pollock for bait though which was a first for me and my dad so that was cool and we both had a good time. One time out I caught a cunner as well so my salt water fish species total is multiplying quickly. I almost caught my first squid during the Dockside too. I spotted him in the water and quickly tied on some squid jigs and dropped them in the water. The squid grabbed on but I didn't set the hook and he was gone leaving a trailing cloud of ink. I checked out a secret spot near me a few weeks ago too. I talked to a guy at the spot and he has taken some awesome Stripers there many times so I hope I can get back to fish that spot on a better tide. Its a shady place and getting into it requires parking in front of someone's house, walking a long way down some railroad tracks and repelling down a deep embankment.

I have had great luck with Lunker City Shackers and Jig Heads.

Low Tide Treasures.

I caught crabs.

Squid Jigs. They have upward barbless spikes instead of hooks.

The route to the secret spot.

The Secret Spot.

Broken Prop.

Leaving the dock.

Catching Bait.

Mack's in the livewell.

Still haven't broken the 20" barrier but fun to catch.

My Bow Finally Came!

Look what finally showed up. Its the wrong color and draw weight but I can't wait any longer I'm keeping it. So it looks like I have another blacked out bow. I'm going to set it up tomorrow. I am going to try to find time to hang some trailcams at some point as well.

Vaughan Woods State Park

I volunteered to do a fishing seminar at Vaughan Woods State Park this month. I went to the park twice to talk about fish and fishing to kids. It was a lot of fun and hopefully I created some new fishermen. We had well over 100 kids over the two days.

Our table the first day.

Salmon Falls River at Vaughan Woods State Park.

Second day props.

One of my audience groups.

Baby Shower

Chelsea, Rusty and I took the long trip back to Michigan for a few days for our baby shower. My parents followed us back to Maine after and spent a few days. I had to work a lot to make up for the Michigan trip time but it was great to finally show them around.

We ate well.

Cruisin'

Cleaner water than he gets to swim in in Maine.

Tried to spend as much time as possible with family.

Deer in the background of our baby shower...how fitting.

Turkeys before the shower.

I got a hammock for the back seat and this dude traveled like a king.

Many lobsters were harmed in the making of this blog.

Oysters on the half shell.

Swordfish steak.

Double whammy!

Gear

A while back a guy from Shimano came to work to show us (and let us play with) the new Ultegra and Aero surfcasting reels and Tiralejo surf rods. These set ups are awesome! We went to a spot we actually fish often and know how far we can cast with our own set ups. We crushed every set up we have ever casted there. The new reels and rods from Shimano are amazing. I figured they would be good but they really wowed me and everybody else. My surf rod from Tica, the Surge 9' broke the first two times I used it so I pulled some strings and they offered me any rod they sell. I picked out the dolphin surf 9'. It has held up well so far but I am not impressed with how it casts and even less impressed by the action of it. The Baitrunner 6000 is doing its job though quite well. Bomber lures hooked me up with a few of their new Long lures. They look a little funky but they fly! It was crazy getting surf rod distance from a 7' medium action with both sizes of the Bombers. I recommend these lures to anybody looking for a little extra distance. I fished the bigger size bait a few times at the beach but haven't landed a fish with one yet. They look a lot like a few other baits so I grabbed a Savage Gear mackerel and a Diawa SP minnow mackerel too so I can compare three company's hard baits for surf casting.

Crazy reels.

Maybe someday. It was fun to play with!

My new surf rod. Ugh.

We'll see who catches more fish.

Bomber Long Shot.

Life's a Beach, Dig It?

We have been lucky enough to get a decent amount of beach time lately. Rusty loves the waves now and is probably too brave in the ocean. Here is a mix of junk: