March Showers

Isn't it supposed to be "April Showers". And the other phrase is something about "March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb". Well this is a story of fierce March Showers.

So the original plan for yesterday was to go fishing after work with Doug. When we first discussed this, we said it would depend on weather. As it turned out, some family matters came up yesterday afternoon. Doug did the right thing and put family first. So after checking the weather, I determining that even if it was windy and raining, I did not want to just skip the opportunity. There was a weaker cold front coming in overnight and more significant one coming in this weekend. Fishing will only get slower as the week goes on.

So I called my buddy Jamie. He lives really near Fermilab and he made a couple phone calls and agreed to meet me. We were checking the weather radar using Jamie's cell phone. We had hopes for a window of lighter rain. We wondered how silly we were heading out into this weather, but we are both that anxious for some really good spring fishing.

As it turned out, we were right to hit the water. I had my first fish (just 14") on my second cast. And followed it up with a 13" fish on the following cast. All the fish I got were Largemouth Bass. The 13" was the smallest and an 18.5" fish was the largest. I do have my fishing poles marked off so I can measure my fish against the side of the pole when I catch them. The numbers are not wild guess fish measurements. Jamie got pictures of a couple of them which I hope to post later.

Jamie may have started slower, but he did alright. He was trying a variety of baits. He was expecting crankbaits to be the best lure for this early in the season and the weather we were under. After catching my first few so quickly on slider jig heads and Senkos, I was not interested in trying other baits. I fished the same type bait until my last cast. Something heavy was on the end of my line, pulling this way and then that. With a sudden hard turn, he broke off, taking my bait with him.

So the 7 Largemouth Bass that came to my hands added up to a total of 110 inches in length. I think Jamie ended up with a half dozen fish. All this was in just a 90 minute outing. With good numbers and good rain gear, we agreed it had been worth going out in the rain.

I'm looking forward to better weather, without the winds. I am anxious to tag some of these nice big spring bass on my the fly fishing gear.

2009 is begun

The 2009 fishing season is now underway. I've actually been out three times in the last 3 weeks. I got one LM (17") on my first outing. Not much for a two hour effort, but satisfying none the less. The goal of my second outing was to help a friend get his first of 2009. I think his first was a 15" or 16". I was looking more at the smile on his face than I was at the fish.

And then there was yesterday after work. I brought 6 or 7 to my hand. I had a really nice fish on early and even got it to do the tail dance, but I had never set the hook properly and I lost that one. The fish ranged from 11 to 17 inches. The surprising part was that I got these on Senkos. I had started with small Rapala style twitch baits. But the fish just watched that swim past. It was when I switched to the Senkos that things started happening.

I was out with my regular fishing partner Jamie. He did well himself and I expect he will be posting pictures on his Blog sometime today. We could not help but notice the nice green coloring on these LM. It all made for a very enjoyable St Patrick's Day.

Till next time, I wish you Tight Lines, Ken S.

Overdue Pictures

So I had said I would put these pictures up from the recent outing (6/19) with my son Kyle and his friend Scott. These were not the only fish caught that night, but I wanted to make sure I got a picture up for each of the guys. The first picture is Scott and his first Fermilab LM Bass.
The next picture is Kyle and an 8 or 9 inch Bluegill that hit a Zarra Puppy (topwater).

I did not post a picture of me and my fish. But I assure you I was smiling. I'm sure that a good time was had by all. And I am looking forward to more evenings of fishing with my Son.

Fishing with my son

I went fishing this evening with my son and his friend Scott. Scott is an avid fisherman. He brought two rods along, a fly rod and a baitcaster. He is obviously not a rookie. I set Kyle up with one of my spinning rods. He is getting better with it each time we go out.

We all caught fish, but that was not the truly significant part of this evening. What's really cool is that my son, who has found fishing to be boring in the past, was really looking forward to going fishing this evening. And it was nice to take Scott to a new place he had never fished before.

We saw several big fish swimming near the shallows. While we could not draw out the Smallies this evening, we did bring in some nice Largemouth and several large Bluegills. We were fishing mostly soft plastics until near sundown. Then we tied on some Topwater lures and the real fun began.

I'll post some pictures later, but I wanted to start this "story" this evening. For now, it is past my bedtime and I need to upload and caption the pictures some other time.

It has been a good day today.

Just a few minutes after work

My buddy Tom called and asked if I had time for a few minutes of fishing after work. I could not get away from my desk before 5:00 and with the sun going down by 6:30, it was certain to be just a few minutes. His daughter Mandy had not been able to come out to join us on any of our previous outings, but she came along for this short outing. Well, I got the first fish of the night but it was just 12" long. Mandy got the second fish of the night. We thought at first that she was stuck in some weeds, but when it did the tail dance, we knew it was a nice fish. As you can see, it was a very Fat 19" Largemouth Bass. She certainly out did us old guys this evening. I ended up with two fish. I'm sure Tom got at least two, but one of his was the smallest fish of the night. And I did not hear if Mandy got any more. Not that it matters, she still earned the bragging rights tonight. Not bad for just over an hour.

Water at Fermilab

This photo was in today's "Fermilab Today" electronic newsletter. Yes, there is plenty of water at Fermilab. And much of it is accessible to the general public. The cooling ponds on the Tevetron and the Main Injector (the two rings in the foreground) are not accessible to the general public. Even employees are not allowed access to the colling ponds on the Tevetron (the larger ring). But there are fish that can be caught in all the publicly accessible waters. Of course, some waters are better than others.

 

Please visit my web page called "Sport Fishing" for links to up to date access information for Fishing at Fermilab.

Somebody else's "vacation"

Sorry, here's another post that is not about fishing at Fermilab. It is about my regular fishing partner Jamie and his recent fishing trip. That last post of mine about my first Snook while I was on vacation last month, looks downright pale in comparison to the fishing trip Jamie recently came back from. Fishing was certainly not the central theme of my vacation and I really only got in one serious morning of fishing. And you could count the fish that I caught using all your fingers and a few toes. Jamie and his four buddies needed four digits to count the fish they caught on their trip. And they were catching Pike.

I'll just link to one picture from Jamie's Blog. I won't try to retell his story, after all it is HIS story. But I do recommend you check it out. Save the link for a rainy day. This is the stuff day dreams are made of.

Someday, I will take a trip like that. I'll bet it will be a trip with Jamie. And I don't bet on anything unless it is a sure thing. We may not catch stuff like this all the time, but I do get to fish with Jamie on a regular basis and we have great fun, even if our Smallies are not this big.