Ahhh - Springtime

I love spring - every year is filled with dreams of new adventures, hopes of big fish, ...

The warm weather coaxes out the spring blooms. Choruses of spring peepers fill the air.

Doves dig through the snow to find some bird food in the wind driven snow???? Welcome to sprintime in northern Illinois. Photo taken Sunday morning 3/29.

March 28, 1979 - Three Mile Island

Today is the 30th anniversary of the TMI meltdown in Middletown PA. I grew up 25 miles from there in Lebanon, PA, so the potential meltdown had a lot more personal attachment to it than watching as an outside observer. We were being warned of the possibility of evacuation as the drama was unfolding.

But the thing I always remember about that day (and the significance to this blog) is that I was on Spring break from freshman year at college, and planned on going fishing that day. I had decided to go to Red Hill Dam on the Susquehanna River, one of my favorite early season spots to fish. Good for walleye and smallmouth in April, May. Anyway, something happened (I don' recall what) and derailed my plans for that day. Naturally, once everything started happening at TMI, everyone was glued to radios and TVs, and fishing was forgotten about.

Red Hill Dam is the small wing dam on the east side of Three Mile Island. It's literally a couple of hundred yards from the reactor.

I FINALLY catch some fish in 2009, and all is right with the world!

We finally had a few days in a row of nice, warming weather. That means, of course, lots to do around the house. And, finally, a chance to get out on the water locally. Northern IL has been slow to warm, and I've been going more stir crazy than usual for this time of year. It's an annual occurrence, but seems like a more acute case this year than usual.


Sat. and Sun. were beautiful days, and both days found us with some time between 5 and 7 pm. We went to a property where I have access to their 2 ponds and tried to start out the year on a good note. Like every year, the warm air belies the VERY cold water and lethargic fish below. I've done this enough to know that early season trips mean slow presentations, shallow, dark bottoms that warm quickly, and often small baits.


Well, things played out like they were scheduled. Fishing was slow, but enough fish hit to keep things interesting. I wanted my son to get in some practice with his gear, because we're going to Alabama in a couple of weeks for a few days of bass and brim fishing.




My son with our first largemouth of 2009









Saturday found 1 nice largemouth willing to bite, and enough smallish gills to keep us occupied. NOTE: there are 2 ponds on this property. One - the first one we fished - is shallow, about 8 acres, and full of bass to 4 pounds, and gills. the second - maybe 10 acres - is deeper. Max depth is around 15 feet. Lots of wood cover. Largemouth, bluegill, crappie, walleye, channel cat (to 15#) and rainbow trout. The rainbow trout are certainly not your typical fare in Illinois ponds. They are stocked in this pond in October and winter over. When the ice melts and spring emerges, these 'bows are in great shape and are great sport in the spring. They're also pretty big - 14 - 20". I've fished for wild rainbows all over the country, and, all things considered, prefer them over the stockies, but these are a viable substitute. They bite, and they pull hard, so in this instance, I like them!

Nice rainbow trout from the lower pond

Next we tried our luck on the lower pond for the trout or anything else that might be awake. It was the expected slow fishing, but we did hook and land 2 trout, 1 pretty nice one. Pheasants were cackling in the fields as the sun set, and deer made their evening trips to the fields.

Sunday we did the same routine. No large bass fell for our offerings, but the bluegills were more active after another day of the sun warming their water. My son and I had a "bet" to see who could catch the most, and we lost count. The lower pond yielded its first walleye of the year to me, and one more nice trout to my son.


Our lures on these trips were primarily Cubby Mini-Mites suspended under a weighted bobber. I wrote about them in my "Favorite things" post last year. I don't know what it is about these little nondescript plastic baits, but they flat-out catch fish - everything! They are effective fished dead slow under a bobber , with the only movement imparted by wave action, and they work with a fairly aggressive retrieve. I learned long ago how to fish a Blakemore Roadrunner (another great springtime bait) - you can't fish it wrong, as long as you fish it slow. The same applies with Cubby's.


A great overall weekend and , hopefully, a harbinger of a terrific season of fishing on the horizon.

Joey fishing on the upper pond

Thanks for reading!

Wolfy

Spring is almost here!

70 degrees two days ago, temps are now in the 50's on a daily basis. That can mean only one thing - Spring WILL actually make an appearance this year. I'm going to try tomorrow to get my first fish of the year at a local pond. That should also mean the end to the series of non-fish catching posts that comprise the Winter on the blog.

I wasn't sure I'd make it through this winter, but like a big batch of skunk cabbage, I feel like I'm rising through the muck, awakened by the optimism of yet another Spring.

Keep your eyes peeled for 2009's fishing adventures!

Wolfy

Traveling with your rods

This is actually a two part post, which I only realized when I sat down to type it. The original intent is to pass on a "Helpful Hint" about packing and sending rods in rod tubes. I'll get to that in a second. But I started thinking about something else, in the same travel vein.

When most of us begin fishing, we start with a 2-pc., relatively cheap rod. When we progress to a level where we can discern the difference between rods, we usually gravitate toward one-piece rods. If I have 50 spin and baitcast rods at home, 45 of them are 1 piece, and I don't think that ratio is uncommon. So - why don't we use 2 pc. (or multi-piece) rods? It used to be that the ferrule technology just wasn't up to speed, and the ferrule (connection point) was the weak point of the rod. If so, why are the most expensive fly rods in the world 3, 4, or 5 pieces? Fly fishermen - myself included - won't stand for rods that don't perform, especially at the price of a premium rod. So - why the reluctance from baitcasters and spin fishermen to use 2 or 3 piece rods? They ARE easier to transport.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that many fishermen buy a rod, put it in the rod locker of their boat, and don't have any other issues to deal with. If they go somewhere to fish, they take their boat. But what about the traveling fisherman - going to Canada on fly-in, Bahamas for bonefish, ... My thought is that they simply don't know that there are very good quality 3 piece rods on the market. They might not be easy to find, but they're out there. One company who makes terrific 3-pc rods (and I know from experience - I own 4 of them) is St. Croix. I've used their 3-pc rods for smallmouth, pike, bonefish, tarpon and had NO problems. The ferrules and rod flex not noticeable - unless someone told you, you would never know you were fishing a 3 pc rod. And - they are EASY to transport.

But back to my original thought - taking along 1 piece rods on a plane. There are a few pointers you should follow to reduce the possibility of the Airport Baggage Beasts ruining your trip. I use either a Plano 45102 or a Plano 6508 for my trips. The 45102 is 4-1/2" inside diameter and will hold up to 8 rods comfortably. the 6508 is 6-1/2" inside and will easily hold a dozen rods. It has wheels for ease of transport.

1) Put padding on the bottom of the tube, and some around the top of the rods. Split the rods in half, so the tips of half are paired with the butts of the other half.

2)Next I wrap the rod bundles with some clothing for the trip. Saves on room in the suitcase and protects the rods.

3) Have the tube extended 4"-6" longer that the bundle of rods. Have a dowel rod cut about 3" longer than the rod bundle, and put it in the tube with the rods. The worst thing that can happen to a tube is for the piece that secures the extension to fail, causing the tube to collapse and break all the rods. IF that happens, and you have the dowel inside, it won't allow the inner part of the tube to collapse and will save your rods.

4) Duct tape the collar noted in 3 above to further reduce this possibility (Part A in the photo)

5) After checking the tube at the airport, ask to secure the top after it is inspected, if they need to. I tape a half dozen long plastic security ties to the inside of my tubes. Take one of them out (or tell the TSA where you have them) and zip-tie it shut. (Area B below)

I travel with my rods extensively and have never (knock on wood) had a problem by doing this.

Hope this helps on your journeys!

Wolfy

Committing to learn a new pattern in 2009

This is something I was going to post as a New Years resolution, but never got around to posting. I consider myself a pretty good, versatile fisherman when it comes to bass fishing. Rivers, lakes, largemouth, smallmouth, spots, tidal water - I'm fairly comfortable with all these options. But I recently realized that I have not kept up with a lot of the newer tactics - drop shotting, for example. Since I don't fish tournaments anymore, it doesn't really matter to anyone except me. But I have a lot of lures that I rarely use. So, I wantto try to get comfortable with at least one of them this year and expand my comfort zone on the water.

One of my goals this sumer will be to do more mid-depth crankbaiting. The 5' - 15' deep range. I almost always fish this type of water with some sort of plastic - a swimbait, grub, fluke. One of the big reasons for my lack of experience in this type of fishing is simply that I don't have any waters nearby that have that type of depth. Most of what I fish locally are shallow (5' max) ponds. Still, I have a few waters where I can give these mid-range crankbaits a try. So, I made a quick look through a box of baits and came up with some ideal trial baits. The following will be my arsenal for this experiment.

Strike King Series 3 and 4S, LC GD3 mini LC Staysee 90 SP, Flat CB 14, 20

Rapala DT 4, 6, 7 Rapala Minnow Rap 7, 9, Storm Jr. T-stik

I know that the only way I'll realy get a good feel for these baits is to take them out exclusively and fish them all day. I guess I'll just have to leave the topwaters / spinnerbaits / plastics at home. Year's ago, when I was first learning to fish worms, I did the same thing - went on the water with only worms. It was tough, but it worked. In the end it just made me a better, more versatiel fisherman.

One bait I am really looking forward to using this year is one I experimented with briefly last year. The Rapala Sub-Walk was introduced LY. It is a slowly sinking "Walk-the-dog" style baits - a subsurface Zara Spook, if you will. In clear water, it is a really fun site bait - the pike in Ontario absolutely mauled it, even if they were small. I didn't get a chance to try it for bass and I think it will be great.

That ought to do it for now - until we lose the 15" of ice and 8" of snow, open water fishing will just be a dream. I'll have to be content with sharpening hooks and re-spooling reels. Can't wait for the spring.

Rapala Sub-walks

Snow, Cold, nasty - YUK

I really like winter - I always have. We lived in Syracuse NY for 10 years before the 8 months of snow they get there annuallyfinally burned us out. But this winter seems like the worst ever. It's REALLY cold - we've seen -25 and a lot of sub-zero this winter. It never seems to get above freezing. And I just don't seem to be into ice fishing this year.

I think I'm getting old.

Anyway - only a little longer before the open water fishing starts. I can't wait!

Knives

I have always liked knives. Probably started as a Boy Scout, when you always had a knife in your pocket and always found something to carve or whittle. Like most of my other stuff, I have way more knives than I need, but, with SHOT Show coming up, I'll probably get a few more. I know a little bit about the knife construction but am by no means any form of an expert. It's sort of like art - if I like it, I like it. I might like the functionality, the weight, the blade structure, or just the way it looks. When I was going throught my knives recently, I took some pictures and thought I'd share them. Some have neat stories, some no story at all.

A Camillus Yellow Jacket

This classsic pocket knife is known as a muskrat skinning knife with its two long, thin blades. I always liked to use a long bladed knife when rabbit hunting as a youth, and this is my favorite. One of the few I own that are not some form of lock-backs. Sadly, Camillus Knife Co is no longer in business. When I lived in NY, I sometimes would fish in Ninemile Ck against their building for trout!

Beretta Airlight knives

When I repped Beretta in the early 90's I fell in love with these knives. The stteel is good, the knives are durable, and they are LIGHT. The 1/3 serrated knife shown at the bottom of the photo will do about anything you need a knife to do. At the time , Gary Fadden headed up their knife business at Beretta. Gary is now the President of Al Mar Knives, a maker of truly spectacular knives .

An Al Mar Hawk w/ Mother of Pearl handle

An Al Mar Sere folder

Gary's Al Mar knives are treasured by knife lovers around the world. They are terrific knives, no matter how much you know about knives, and you can't help but to appreciate their quality. Seeing Gary and the Al Mar booth at SHOT Show is an annual event for me.

A Sog Crosscut and a Leatherman Micra

Victorinox Money Clip

Leatherman showed the world the versatility of the mini-tool, and nearly everyone has some sort of these multi-function pieces today. Over the years I hacve found that the single most useful item on the pieces pictured above is the scissors. I find myself reaching for them more than I could ever imagine. If you don't own something with a scissors, you owe it to yourself to try one of these out.

In 1995 I was a guest on a trip to Norway with Rapala. We started the trip in Rovenimi, Finland at the famous Martiini Knife Co. (which is now owned by Rapala, but was owned by the Martiini family at the time) TRIVIA: What is the largest city in the world NORTH of the Arctic Circle? Rovanimi, Finland! The Martiini family were terrific hosts, and they gave us some very nice knives as mementos. We could also buy knives if we desired. The following are from that trip.

A pair of curly birch handled knives - one filet and one hunting - that go into one dual sided tooled sheath

A high carbon steel hunting knife. This is one of their earliest models. The carbon content in the steel makes it relatively easy to hone to a razor edge, but the knife dulls more quickly than harder steels.

This rosewood handled filet knife has a bronze salmon head on the end of the handle.

So - what do I normally carry in my pocket? An old, beat up Buck folder! Go figure.

got any knife likes or dislikes??

Wolfy

Year in Review, looking forward to 2009

Happy New Year's Eve to all. It's time for the requisite review of the past year, and looking into the crystal ball for 2009.

My 2008 from a fishing perspective was one of my best ever, on a few different levels. I caught fish in 2 more states in my quest for a fish in all 50 states (Oklahoma and Iowa), went on my first family extended fishing tri with my Dad, brother, and son (Shoal Lake in Ontario), and did my most exotic trip, and one of the best trips I've ever taken - Tropic Star Lodge in Panama. I got my hoped-for trophy roosterfish - estimated at 70-75 lbs, as well as my first billfish. I ended up catching 28 different species of fish this year. So, I have nothing to complain about, only experiences to be thankful for. Here's a few of my fish from 2008

Trophy roosterfish - 64", 70 lbs. +

Cubera Snapper!

My first billfish - a Pacific Sail

A nice Alabama largemouth

My son Joey with a chunky Ontario smallmouth

Mississippi River smallmouth

Colorado brookie on a hopper





For the coming year, I don't have anything as exotic as Panama planned. I'm hoping to go back to my favorite pike lodge in August - Blackmur's Athabasca Lodge in far northern Saskatchewan. I'd also like to get my son down to Alabama with me in the spring - terrific bass and brim fishing. As always, I'll try to get in more fly fishing for trout, but will probably struggle to do so - Illinois is just too far from any good trout fishing, except SW Wisconsin. I'd like to knock off another state or 2 on my list. I have a myriad of new crankbaits, and love to fish them, but rarely do - I'll try to utilize these baits more in 2009.



So - right now I'm looking forward to panfish when the ice breaks, big pike in summer, and whatever else comes my way. No matter what the outcome, it shouldn't be dull.



Best wishes to all of you in 2009



Wolfy

Tough day on the Delta, and a Merry Christmas to the WORLD!

Well, I got my last day of fishing in for 2008 . The week before Christmas, I braved a snowstorm here in Chicago (took 4-1/2 hours to drive the 50 miles to the airport - usually takes an hour), spent the majority of the afternoon/ evening watching delays and cancellations pop up on the flight status boards, finally got on a plane, and got to San Francisco Airport at 2 AM (original time to land was 8 PM). The next morning, I met Lennie and we were off for a day on the Delta.

A classic delta spot - water flows on the tidal changes from the channel to the pond and back

The Delta in question is the Sacramento River Delta, a vast series of creeks, sloughs, ponds, lakes and marsh grasses that eventually feeds into the San Francisco Bay. It's one of those places - like the mazes of mangroves in SW Florida - that would be nearly un-navigable without a GPS. I feel like I have a very good "inner compass", but I am lost on the Delta from minute we leave the marina until we return. It's Lennie's home waters, though, and since he's the Hummingbird rep, his boat is outfitted with all the good toys!

The Jigging Spoon we finally caught some fish on!

This area can get fairly cool in the winter, but rarely gets downright cold. Well, I brought Chicago's weather along with me , because it was freezing cold the day I was there. I wore 2 layers of Under Armour, one of them being Coldgear, a layer of fleece, a sweater, and a windproof jacket. Gloves, a full facemask, and a helmet when running the boat. Still froze. A constant wind kept us company, and the temp never got above 36. It had frozen the puddles the night before - pretty uncommon for this area. And, worst of all, it dropped the water temps to the low 40's. We were fishing for stripers that come up out of the Bay, and with the water temp as cold as it was, they simply didn't show themselves. We fished all day, I got 1 striper on a swimbait, and we finally found a group of fish on the electronics late in the day that allowed us to vertical jig spoons for them. Three schoolie stripers, a few short strikes, and 2 carp on the spoons rounded out the day. Yes, the carp HIT the spoons. I'd never gotten them on spoons before, but have caught them fairly often on jigs. I lost one big fish that we weren't sure was a carp or striper, estimated 20#. Since neither of us saw it, we decided it must have been a striper! (Poetic license being used, since I'm the blog writer. Actually, I don't care what it was - it pulled hard for the minute or so it was on).

Len's Carp on a jigging spoon

Our stripers from the Delta

For those not familiar with the Delta, it is absolutely filled with birds of all kinds. this is prime waterfowl season, and we saw a number of hunters. The air and trees / shrubs are full of raptors, too. Flocks of Sandhill Cranes are constantly on the move, and in the afternoon, uncountable numbers of Snow Geese were on the move from their feeding fields to the water. It's a truly astonishing place, even if I was freezing my butt off - did I mention it was cold?

So, we had a tough day of catching (a gross understatement) but, even with the trying conditions, it was another great day to be out. The only consolation came that evening, when Len called me to say he had talked to Bobby Barrack (the Dean of the Delta Guides) and Bobby had worked hard wit a client for 3 stripers. Some days, that's how it goes.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and is looking forward to a wonderful 2009. All the economic doom-and-gloom aside, I can't wait to see what 2009 brings. It's the eternal optimist in me, I guess.

Wolfy

100 species of fish caught - thanks Ben!

As you can see in my previous post, I tried to write down all the species of fish I've caught. I say "Tried", because I missed one. Ben from Madison asked I had ever caught a Lake Trout. Well, I've caught Lake Trout in Skaneateles Lake in NY, Lake Ontario, Athabasca Lake in Saskatchewan, and numerous lakes and rivers in south central Yukon. So - there it is - 100 species!!

Thanks for reminding me, Ben.

Thanksgiving, Life list

This fish is commonly called a Lion Fish, but is also known as a TURKEY Fish. I figured it was appropriate as a lead-in for a Thanksgiving post.

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. It's snowing outside right now in northern Illinois. My late season pond fishing was thwarted this year by ice - we've had thin ice on the ponds for the past week and a half. A few years ago, on the day before Thanksgiving, I caught 6 nice largemouth in the pond across the street with 1/8 oz. Strike King Bitsy Jig and Craws. This year, those jigs wouldn't have made it through the ice. I still have one fishing opportunity this year to look forward to - I'm planning on fishing a day on the Sacramento River Delta a week before Christmas. The plan is to be there when the big stripers come in, but the fish don't always listen. Even if they're scarce, there are always stripers and largemouth willing to bite a swimbait.

I have a lot to be thankful for, even in these trying economic times. I have a job that I love, it's in the Fishing/ Outdoor Industry, a terrific family, I get to watch my 11 year old son grow up, - not bad at all.

My son, Joey, with a nice smallmouth from Shoal Lake , ONT, this past summer

Anyway, I've had a nagging urge to come up with a LIFE LIST of species caught. I just read Ben's list on his blog ( http://www.benfishinglog.blogspot.com/ ) and it motivated me to try to put mine together. A couple of issues arose for me: 1) I don't know that much about species of panfish, so I only put down the ones I know for sure, and 2) one of the things I really like to do is fish off the bridges in the Keys when the winds blow too hard to get out on a boat or wade for bonefish. I fish light, and have caught a myriad of "aquarium fish". Don't know what 90% of them were from a technical standpoint, but they were neat. So - they weren't counted.

The recalling of the list is fun, and now that its been done, I can add to it when I catch something new. Also - I counted 99 species, so 100 will be a milestone. I think 100 is pretty attainable if you fish primarily SW, but I am primarily a FW guy with occasional forays into the brine.

FRESHWATER (58) :Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, West Slope Cutthroat, Greenback Cutthroat, Bonneville Cutthroat, Yellowstone Cutthroat, Coastal Cutthroat, Dolly Varden, Grayling, Landlocked Salmon, Atlantic Salmon, King Salmon, Steelhead, Inconnu, Lake Whitefish, Mountain Whitefish, Coho Salmon, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Wiper, Bluegill, Redear Sunfish, Brim, Pumpkinseed, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Yellow Perch, White Perch, White Bass, Yellow Bass, Rock Bass, Fallfish, Musky, Northern Pike, Tiger Musky, Chain Pickeral, Burbot, American Eel, American Shad, Hickory Shad, White Sturgeon, Channel Cat, Flathead Cat, Blue Cat, Yellow Bullhead, Brown Bullhead, Walleye, Sauger, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Sucker, Quillback Carpsucker, Bowfin, Gar, Sheepshead (Freshwater Drum)

SALTWATER (41): Striped Bass, Sea trout, Sea Bass, Sea Robin, Oystercracker, Stingray, Flounder, Tarpon, Bonefish, Grunt, Barracuda, Rainbow Runner, Lane Snapper, Mangrove Snapper, Cero Mackerel, Black Grouper, Redfish, Sheepshead, Snook, Spanish Mackerel, Ladyfish, Bluefish, Pacific Sailfish, Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Roosterfish, Broomtail Grouper, Cubera Snapper, Jack Crevalle, Amberjack, Lemon Shark, Blacktip Shark, Hammerhead Shark, Sand Tiger Shark, Tautog, Bonito, Skipjack Tuna, Ballyhoo, Spiny Dogfish, Pinfish

99 total, at least that I can recall. Chime in - rack your brain to come up with your personal list. It was fun recalling. Especially on a snowy November afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving!