Fishing Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Saturday I went out to Amston Lake. There was a steady breeze from out of the west 5-7mph, but the fish were biting. They were hitting a Zoom Red Shad Ribbontail and Yamamoto Root beer hula grub. In a half day I caught 30 fish, mostly small to medium bass and pickerel. The biggest fish caught were 24" and 18" pickerel. Monday I fished Red Cedar Lake in Lebanon, CT. The weather was perfect, but the fish were not very interested in the stuff I was throwing out there. I only caught 8 small to medium fish in a half day. The highlight of the day was on my way out; I met another fisherman that had visited this blog site. Sorry I didn't get your name. Send me a comment; let me know how you did Monday.

Fishing Pickerel Lake April 26 2011

I got up at 3:30 this morning to hunt turkeys in Massachusetts with my dad. No luck with the birds and came home. I did some Real Estate work and went fishing. I just had to go fishing the temperature got up to 80 degrees. By the time I got out the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped to the mid 70s. The wind had picked up to 10-15 mph and was coming right down the lake. Fishing was difficult and it sometimes required 7 or 8 paddle strokes between each cast, but the fish were bitting. I ended up catching 14 fish, pickerel and 3 small bass. The pickerel were mostly small, 2 were 17" long. Most of the fish were caught on a 4" white swimsenko. At least the trip back was quick with the wind pushing me back to the boat launch.

Bass Fishing Lake Williams April 15th

First fishing trip of the year. It was only 50 degrees and windy, but I just had to get out. The wind pushed me down the lake from the dam pretty quickly and I fished all the way to the back cove before I caught anything, From there I was able to escape most of the wind and the fishing in that shallow water was very good. In 2 hours I caught 15 pickerel and 5 bass. One of the pickerel was 18" long but everything else was small. I was using a grey Yamamoto Hula Grub and a silver one when that one lost a flipper to a very determined pickerel. The trip back to the dam was a trip to remember. I had to paddle back against that same 8-10 mph wind and by this time the sun was almost down and the temperature had dropped a couple of degrees. I forgot to bring my gloves and had to stop 3-4 times to warm my hands. It was a great trip and well worth the painful trip back.

Fishing Pickerel Lake August 15 2010

I had a couple of hours between appointments this morning and went fishing. The surface temperature at Pickerel Lake was around 59 degrees but the water temperature was still warm. The fishing was slow and I caught 5 fish by 9am when I had to quit.I caught 3 bass of average/small size, a 21" pickerel. The last fish weighed 5 lb 9 oz and was a bullhead or catfish. I don't know how to tell the difference. It really put up a good 5 minute fight and took me for a ride. It took 4 minutes before I got the fish to the surface and even then, it was hard to see in the murky water. That fish made getting up at 5am worth the effort.

Fishing Amston Lake June 2 2010

After catching 6 fish at Gardner Lake on Monday I needed a boost, so I went to Amston Lake. The night before I decided it was time to cut back on all the excess plastic bait I have. I threw out a bunch of stuff that I wasn't going to use and put some aside to try one more time before getting rid of them. I like to change up my bait and fishing style once in a while, especially when I feel like I'm depending too much on one style or pattern too much. So on this day I put away my grubs and senkos and went with Zoom's Chartreuse worm, Berkley's Swirl tail and Ribbon tail. The results of the day were pretty good. I caught 16 fish including bass, pickerel, perch and crappie. I don't know if was related to the different bait and patterns, but a lot of the fish were caught in places where I haven't caught fish before. There is a concept in this that will require more thought. The biggest fish was a 21" pickerel caught on the red swirl tail. The next time I go out I will try these baits and patterns to see if this is a fluke, or a lesson to be learned.

Fishing Lake Hayward May 29 2010

There was a light breeze on Lake Hayward even at 6 am, but it never got too windy. I caught my first fish on my 3rd cast and thought I was going to have a good day. The lake was as busy as I expected on Memorial Day weekend, but everyone was considerate of each other. Everyone seemed to be catching fish, but no one was catching a lot of them. I was using everything I had, but there didn't seem to be anything in particular they were interested in. My final total for the day was 16 crappie, pickerel and bass. The biggest fish (15")was caught in the shallow marsh right in front of the boat launch.

Fishing Gardner Lake and Pickerel Lake May 28 2010

I haven't fished Gardner Lake in a couple of years. The old boat launch area is not set up for a kayaker. I'm afraid that if I put my boat in the water that it will be gone when I get back from the parking area. The fishing wasn't too good either. I think the most I caught in a day was 2 fish. One day while touring houses with my office I drove by a remote corner of the lake with a dam. It looked real interesting som I went back a couple week later to look it over. It turns out to be a good place to put a kayak in the water and fish the other part of Gardner Lake. This part of the lake is not as deep as the other half. On the 28th I spent half the day paddling around this half of the lake. I was more interested in learning water depths, weed beds and what color combinnations the fish liked that seriously fishing. I was able to catch 11 pickerel and bass. None of them were very big. Around noon I went home, had lunch and a nap.

At 4pm I decided to take a trip to Pickerel Lake. By this time th wind was blowing pretty good, about 10-15mph. Fishing was slow and by 8pm I had only caught 4 fish. As the sun went down the fishing got better. In the next 45 minutes I caught 7 more pickerel and bass. By time it was very dark and I stopped fishing when I realized that I did not want to take a hook out of a pickerel in the dark! My total for the day was 23 fish. Almost all of them were caught on some combination of a jig or weed less hooked plastic worm/grub.

Fishing Red Cedar Lake May 16th 2010

After my open house on Sisson Rd I went fishing at Red Cedar Lake. It was very windy, but I was only 2 miles from the lake. Being a Sunday there were boats and jet skis on the lake so anchoring off shore was not an option. The wind quickly pushed me down the lake to the lilly pads which were partially sheltered from the wind. I used the same weedless combinations that I used on the 11th with some success. I think the fish I caught on the 11th were now wise to the deception. I caught 7 (bass and pickerel) fish by 8pm and then started heading back to the other end of the lake. By that time the wind had let down and the boats/jet skis were docked. On the way back I caught a bass, a pickerel and a small perch before it got dark.

Fishing Pickerel Lake May 13th 2010

Did not have much luck fishing the main lake today. The jigs and senkos I threw out there were not drawing much interest. A couple of guys putting their bass boat on the trailer only caught 1 fish (bass) in 3 hours. In 2 hours I caught 3 fish, one sunfish and 2 pickerel. One of the pickerel was 18 inches long and would have made the trip worthwhile by himself. Fishing picked up at the south end of the lake using a combination of flukes and swimsenkos trailed across the top of the water through the weeds. I ended up catching 15 fish. The biggest bass was about 13 inches. While I was fishing a couple of guys from the CT DEP came up in a boat asking questions for a state fishing survey.

Red Cedar Lake Fishing May 11th 2010

Red Cedar Lake, Lebanon CT

The office had no meeting or tour on Tuesday, and it wasn't raining. Lately, if it's not raining, it's a good day. The wind was 10-15 mph, but it was pushing me down the lake at a nice pace. In the first two hours I caught one fish. By that time I was down by the lilly pads. I changed from the jigged grubs to the topwater weedless setup. I had a lot of fun for the next couple of hours catching bass and pickerel. Two of the bass and one pickerel I caught were 15-16" long, the rest of the fish were average, 12-13" long. I caught a few more on the way back to the boat launch for a total of 15 fish.

Red Cedar April 24 2010

The customer never showed up for todays showing. I consoled myself by going fishing. Red Cedar Lake in Lebanon, Ct was crowded , but I was able to get the last available parking spot. It was sunny, windy and the temperature was in the mid 50's. Fishing was slow and I ended catching 10 fish in about 4 hours. One of the pickerel was about 15" long and 2 of the bass were 12-13". Due to the wind I am still jigging single tail grubs.

Amston Lake Fishing April 21 2010

Took the kayak out to Amston Lake today. Fishing was good, as usual. I caught 20 fish using jigs and single tail grubs. Most of the fish were small (11-15") pickerel with a couple of small bass thrown in. I ended up with 3 tail-less grubs and 2 other so beat up that they barely stayed on the jig. Water is still too cold for the bass to get going I guess.

Lake Williams April 15th

It was one of those days when I just had to go fishing! My schedule was open for the day and even though the wind was 10-20mph I didn't care. So I went to my favorite lake and the wind was whipping down from the North, the whole length of the lake. After much paddling in the face of the wind I finally got to the far end of the lake and out of most of the wind.

Fortunately the trip was worth it. I caught 20 fish, 17 pickerel, 2 bass and 1 perch. All the fish were small to average size and were caught jigging single-tail grubs. By the 20th fish I was exhausted and ready to quit. The trip back to the dam was greatly assisted by the wind at my back.

April 2010 Amston Lake Fishing

It was of those gorgeous April days on Monday. High 70 degrees with a 5 - 10 mph breeze and I went to Amston Lake fishing. I bought a bunch of new soft baits for this years. This lake is very clean, so the exotic colors were pretty much ignored. I caught most of the fish on the standard green variations. I caught 2 yellow perch, 6 bass and 12 pickerel. The biggest bass was about 11 inches and the biggest pickerel was about 13 inches. Because of the wind, everything was fished with a 1/4 oz jig.

April 2010 Early Fishing

Finally, Fishing in 2010. I have fished Lake Williams, Red Cedar and Pickerel Lake over the last three days. The fishing is slow, but I don't care! It is great to be out on the lakes in sixty degree weather. So far in three days of fishing I have only caught ten fish with an equal mix of pickerel and bass. I have been jigging single tails and creatures. I bought a new batch of colors for both and just have to try them out. Love this weather, got to take advantage of it while it lasts.

What I Have Learned

When I was first approached about writing on a blog site I had the usual first response, “What do I write about?” I got the usual response, “You’re a Realtor, write what you have learned.” Well I did learn a lot of stuff to get the Realtor’s license and I am still learning every day on how to do the job well. But in 50 years, I’ve learned a lot of other stuff.

I have learned that the danger involved in knocking down a white faced hornets nest is only slightly lessened when you do it at night.

I have learned that when someone says we need to talk, it's going to be a bad day.

I have learned that putting a climbing tree stand on a tree with poison oak can make you sick.

I have learned that putting a climbing tree stand on a smooth barked tree is not a good idea.

I have learned that taking a nap in a tree stand is a very, very bad idea.

I have learned that when a girlfriend says you don’t want to know what’s wrong, you really, really don’t want to know.

I have learned that when your car engine overheats, it is NOT a good idea to open the radiator cap to see if there is any coolant in there.

I have learned that there are some girls you don’t walk away from, you run as fast as you can.

I have learned that it is hard to hold a pickerel and they have a LOT of sharp teeth.

I have learned that you don’t hunt with people who find out if their safety is on, by pulling the trigger.

Red Cedar Lake August 11th

August 11th I went fishing in the afternoon. I started aroung 5pm and fished until it got so dark I couldn't see the line any more. I caught a cople of pickerel in the middle of the lake and caught a couple of bass furhter down the lake. About 6pm the jet skiers and water skiers came out and the fish stopped biting. I fished the fringe of the lake without luck until just before dark. I don't know if it was a coincidence but it was at this time the water skiers quit for the night too. I ended up with 9 fish, all but the first 2 were bass. The bass were all in the 11-13" range and they were all caught on Yamamoto Senkos of various colors.


(I Just sold this condo. Hip Hip Hooray!)

Amston Lake Fishing August 3rd

After fishing Lake Haywood yesterday I decided to treat myself and fish Amston Lake today. The weather was absolutely perfect. The fish were biting, almost too well. I caught 15 bass, 2 perch, 2 sunfish and a pickerel. I had 20 fish caught and released by 8am. The pickerel was 15" and 3 of the bass were 12 - 13" long. Everything else was small. Once again, the Senkos and grubs were the bait of choice. I really hated quitting fishing this morning, but 20 fish is the agreement I made with my family.

Pickerel Lake July 6th

What a beautiful morning it was. 61 degrees and no wind at all. I started fishing around 6am. I caught 7 bass and 1 pickerel in an hour and then nothing. They just stopped biting, anything! The fish I did catch were nice fish though. Two of the bass were 17” long and took me and my kayak for a little ride. The rest of the bass were about 13” long. The pickerel was 21” long. I caught all of them on a Yamamoto Senko. For some reason I haven’t caught anything on the Berkley Power Baits. Last year I was about 50/50, but this year it has been 90% Yamamoto.

Fishing Amston Lake June 29th

I fished Amston Lake today. The weather went from cloudy and showers to sunny 70 degrees. I started fishing around 6:30 am and caught 20 fish by 11:15am. They were about half pickerel and half largemouth bass with a calico bass thrown into the mix. I had to use a combination of plastic grubs, power worms, diving minnows and shaky worms. All fish were small to average except for one 17” largemouth.