newenglandangler

My college workload is still light, so I took a little road trip to Connecticut with my Dad in the hopes of crossing a new species off my list: Channel Catfish. I chose Spaulding Pond because it is the closest to my home, and seems to have consistent action. I arrived a little after 2 pm and met 3 other anglers, who pulled out a channel catfish they had just caught to show me. I was very impressed because I had never even seen one before. I set up my medium action rod with 8 lb test with shiners, and my ultralight rod with 4 lb line with chicken liver. Around 30 minutes later, the shiner got bit, and I hooked a nice fish. Minutes later, I slipped my net under my first channel catfish measuring 16 inches, not a bad start. A few minutes later, the chicken liver got bit, and I hooked another fish that broke my 4 lb line shortly after being hooked. Note to self: backreel if this rod gets bit again, and bring a heavier rod next time. The ultralight rod is not really suitable for the job. About an hour later though, I got a second chance. The shiner rod got bit again by a fish that felt bigger than the last one. After a fun fight, I landed my second channel catfish which measured 20 inches and weighed 2 lbs. Literally seconds after catching that fish, the chicken liver got bit once again. This time however, I was very careful. I backreeled and had an epic fight with a catfish that went so long, it drew an audience from several people walking around the park. The fish measured 18 inches, but it felt like a monster because the rod was so light. I now had my limit of 3 catfish, so I left more than satisfied. I will be posting a recipe for catfish within the next week, so keep an eye out for that. Tight lines!

Ever since I learned of the existence of the golden rainbow trout, it had been a personal goal of mine to catch one. After I caught my first muskie in 2017, the golden rainbow trout had taken over as number one on my new species wish list. I had seen some photos of goldens caught from Massachusetts at private clubs, but thought no way am I getting in there. I had actually never even expected to catch one anywhere in New England for that matter until I learned of their existence in certain Rhode Island ponds. I made one attempt for this fish last year and came up empty, and was determined to write a different story this time. This year from April 13-29, there was an event called Go for the Gold where golden rainbow trout were stocked in select ponds and anyone who caught one could send a photo the Rhode Island DEM and receive a golden trout pin. I got up at 4 am that morning and left at about 4:30 am to drive to the pond. Despite arriving at about 5:45 am, there were about 20 other people fishing. For this reason, I will not tell the exact pond where I fished. I will however, leave a link to a document where all ponds stocked with golden rainbow trout are listed. In addition to the fact that it poured buckets on us that morning, it was difficult fishing, and there were no consistent spots. For the first two hours, I saw plenty of rainbows and goldens being caught, but my rainbow powerbait eggs didn't get a sniff. I ended up switching to my old favorite, brown powerbait, and within 5 minutes, I caught myself an 8 inch rainbow. I thought to myself "Well, at least I got something unlike last year." I took a picture of the little rainbow and then released it. Maybe 30 minutes later, I caught another rainbow about 11 inches. I intended to release this rainbow as well, but he was hooked deep and bleeding so i kept him. Afterwards the bite went dead, and many anglers left, while remaining anglers around me continued to catch fish. At about 11:30 am, an elderly couple walked down to a spot where the goldens schooled up, and they began nailing fish left and right while nobody else on the pond caught anything. I watched them catch golden after golden and finally, I couldn't take it anymore, so I walked up and asked if I could squeeze in with them, make a cast, and catch one golden. They told me I was more than welcome to do so. I made my cast and within 5 minutes, I got a bite. As I reeled in the fish, I saw golden rainbow struggling on the end of my line. My heart began to race as I thought "This is it, I finally have one!" I got the fish to shore and beached it. I was beside myself, the golden rainbow trout was absolutely gorgeous, so I took some time to take photos and admire it. I said thank you to the couple, and had every intention of leaving, but the woman said to me "Get your line back out there. Catch another one." I reminded her that I said I would only try for the one fish, but she still insisted that I catch another one. I thanked her once again, then made another cast, and shortly afterwards, I caught another golden rainbow trout. By that time, it was 12:30 pm, and I had to leave because I had family plans later that night. I kept both of the goldens because they stand out to predators more since they are so bright. They taste similar to rainbow trout, only their meat is softer. I sent the picture of my 2 golden trout to the Rhode Island DEM, and within 2 weeks, I received a golden trout pin along with a letter from the organizer of the Go for the Gold event congratulating me on catching a golden rainbow trout and thanking me for participating in the event. Here is a link to where you can find all Rhode Island ponds stocked with golden rainbow trout http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pdf/go-for-the-gold.pdf

During my short winter break, myself and my Dad set up a trip to go ice fishing with Charter the Berkshires. On this occasion, we booked a private charter. Upon setting up the trip, our guide, Patrick, asked what we'd like to fish for. We picked trout as our number one target, and Patrick chose a secret location where he knew there were some good trout. Upon arriving, we met Patrick, and ventured onto the hard water where he had set up an ice tent and several tip ups and ice riggers baited with nightcrawlers and shiners. We also fished jigs tipped with waxworms while waiting for the traps to get bit, and Patrick supplied us with flasher fish finders to use while jigging. Almost immediately, and ice rigger went off, and i hooked into the first fish of the day which turned out to be a nice little rainbow. A little while later, another ice rigger got a bite, and I caught a very small brown trout. We had a few more bites on the traps, but we missed them all, and the jig action began to heat up. My dad caught two browns on jigs, and I caught one brown on a jig. And let me tell you, if you ever jig through the ice and use a flasher fish finder, pull the transducer out of the water as soon as you hook up, or it will cost you. I also had one other mark on the flasher that kept checking out my jig, but would not bite. This led us to believe that it was an older, smarter, trophy sized fish (I will be back!). But it was a great overall day on the water. Special thanks to guide Patrick for a great day and for putting us on the fish.

Hello everyone. First of all, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. This past year was my Freshman year in college so I have not had time. But now that it's summer, I'll be posting on what I have been up to fishing wise. Back at the beginning of December last year, I made a long weekend trip out to Oregon with my Dad. Our first day there, we visited Oregon State University which I plan to transfer to from community college. Upon visiting, I met with some advisors to discuss transferring. We stayed in Portland and we even went to a Portland Trail Blazers game after visiting Oregon State Univeristy. And of course, there are so many amazing fish in Oregon that aren't found in Massachusetts, so there was no way we weren't going fishing! Prior to making the trip, I arranged a trip with a guide named Sky to go fishing for White Sturgeon on the Willamette River. After watching Jeremy Wade catch a 9 foot sturgeon in Oregon on an episode of River Monsters, I had always wanted to catch one myself. The next day, myself and my Dad met Sky at 7 am and we went off to fish for sturgeon. Sky anchored us in a deep part of the river where he consistently catches big sturgeon. For bait, we used dead pacific herring and squid. The bait was cast into the deep area and allowed to sink to the bottom. Within a very short amount of time, the sturgeon started biting, and before long, I caught my first sturgeon. My first sturgeon was about 2 feet long, not a monster, but a great start. All sturgeon caught were released by the way. The fish continued biting, and it was not long before I caught another 2 footer, another closer to 4, and even one which broke me off which Sky believed to be a 6+ foot fish. The bite cooled off, and Sky said this was most likely due to lack of current, and once the current picked back up, we'd be into fish again. In the time between, myself, my Dad, and Sky shared stories with one another. Once the current picked back up, we were quickly back into fish. It was at this time that I caught the biggest fish of the trip, which was a 4 foot sturgeon which made a spectacular jump as I fought it. I also caught a sturgeon of about 3 feet, and my Dad caught one in the upper 20 inches. The next day, we packed up and flew back to Massachusetts. Special thanks to guide Sky for a great trip, and here is a link to Sky's website for anyone interested in a trip http://www.skysguideservice.com/. Tight lines!

5 years ago at the age of 13, I watched River Monsters Season 4 Episode 4 Asian Slayer for the first time. Watching Jeremy Wade fish at Gillhams Fishing Resort made me want to one day make the trip halfway around the world to fish at Gillhams myself. More than 40 species of large fish from around the world in this one lake was more than enough to fuel the hunt. After years of planning and trying to convince my Dad, I finally made the trip out to Thailand with him to fish for 3 days at the resort. We were provided with 2 fishing rods each, and we used boilies, fish baits and pellets for bait, no lures or live bait allowed. We also had a fishing guide to help us with the bait rigs, as well as net and care for our fish. Our first day started off a little slow, but we finally hooked up at about 11 am. After a hard fight, I had the first fish of the trip which turned out to be a 75 lb Siamese Carp. All fish are released and are sprayed with antiseptic over where they were hooked prior to release to ensure their wellbeing. About an hour later, another rod went off. This time I ended up pulling in a new species, a beautiful Julian's Golden Carp of 25 lbs. After releasing this fish, yet another rod went off and we got another species! This time it was an Asian Red Tail Catfish of 45 lbs. Not only was it yet another species, but our guide said it was the largest Asian Red Tail he had ever seen, which only added to the excitement. There was no more action for the day with the exception of a brief hookup and loss just before going to bed. The line was cut above the sinker, so most likely an Alligator Gar. The next day we got right back at it again. At 10 am, we got the first hookup of the day which turned out to be a larger Siamese Carp, weighing about 95 lbs. Two hours later, I hooked up again and had an epic fight with a huge fish. I knew it was either a Mekong Catfish or a giant Siamese Carp, and it turned out to be a monster Siamese carp about six feet long and weighing 178 lbs! It took 3 of us to hold the fish and we only rolled the fish onto its side due to the fact that lifting the fish could seriously injure it. After that, the action died down until dusk, and I caught a 30 lb Siamese Carp. A smaller fish, but still lots of fun. On our third and final day, we decided that we would try for Arapaima, the fish that most anglers want to catch. Almost immediately I hooked and lost a fish, argh! About an hour later, I caught another Asian Red Tail Catfish of 20 lbs. I also caught another Julian's Golden Carp of 15 lbs. A while after catching those two fish, I hooked up again with a fish that came in very easily. However, once it got close, the fish took off like a shot out of a cannon. The strength and power the fish possessed led me to believe it was an Arapaima. The fish caught my line under some weeds, so my guide swam under and freed my line so I could continue to pull the fish in. As soon as the fish got close again, it leaped clear out of the water, revealing that it was indeed an Arapaima weighing about 120 lbs. My guide whistled for another guide to help him net the fish since two guides are needed to net an Arapaima. After a few failed attempts, our guides were able to successfully net the fish. As with the monster Siamese Carp, we also rolled the Arapaima on its side. After catching the Arapaima, the action quieted down until dark when I caught yet another 75 lb Siamese Carp, which was my 10th fish over 3 days of fishing. We left the next day at about mid day to begin our long journey back to Massachusetts. This really was the trip of a lifetime, and the only thing that could have made it better would have been staying longer. For anyone who views this trip, I uploaded a lot of photos, but please take the time to view them all, I think you will enjoy them. If anyone is interested in booking a trip to Gillhams, visit www.gillhamsfishingresorts.com for more information. Special thanks to Stuart and team and most of all, our incredible guide Bud for making this such an amazing trip, and we look forward to a return trip one day.

I took a trip down to the Cape to do some fishing. I had a target species in mind, though I did not expect to catch it. I used small minnows and powerbait eggs. Almost immediately, my minnow got a bite and I hooked and lost what I believed to be my target species, much to my disappointment. I eventually changed spots on the pond, and I immediately hooked and landed my first largemouth bass of the year, which was a nice, healthy 2 pounder. On the very next cast, I hooked up again, this time with a smaller fish. I could see the fish rolling on the surface. It appeared silvery brown and very thin, which led me to believe I had once again hooked my target species. Sure enough, as I looked at the fish, it was exactly what I was looking for, my first Tiger Trout! The tiger was only 9 inches long, so a very small fish, but I was more than happy. After a few pictures, I released the little tiger trout to fight another day. I cast out another minnow, and caught another largemouth bass. Afterwards, there was no more action for the day.

After hearing the news of the recent trout stocking at Houghton's, I decided to hit up there with my grandfather to see about getting a few. We used powerbait, and the action was great. My grandfather's bait was out there for barely a minute before he hooked and landed the first rainbow trout of the day. This trout had a strange bite mark on its left side, I think another trout may have taken a chunk out of it at some point. About 30 minutes later, my rod bent and I pulled in another rainbow. Then about another hour later, I ended up pulling in two more and decided to call it a day since I had my limit. None of the trout were very big, only about 12-14 inches. But nice size for eating and they tasted great!

I took a trip down to Plymouth with my Dad earlier today to do some smallmouth fishing. I had not caught one yet this year and was determined to get on the board. At about quarter of noon, I spotted one swimming away from the shore. So I tossed a minnow out towards him, and he destroyed it. I brought him inshore pretty fast, but he still gave a good fight as well as 3 acrobatic jumps. I got some pictures, as well as measured and weighed the fish. He was 14 inches and 1.5lbs, not too shabby. I released the fish afterwards, then packed up and headed home to watch the Patriots game.

The Muskie has always been my favorite fish to fish for. But until recently, I had never actually caught one. I went back up to Stockholm, Maine with my grandfather and we met our guide and arranged to do some more fishing with him. I'm not gonna lie, I'm very superstitious when it comes to fishing. Since I've tried to catch a muskie four previous times since I was 14 with no luck, I thought I might have a "muskie curse" or something like that. My guide however told me that I just had to put in enough time, and if I went out multiple days I'd have a very good chance of getting one. Fast forward to our first trip, we were trolling big plugs that resembled perch, as well as a few jerkbaits designed to look like minnows. After about two hours, we'd actually had two strikes on the perch plugs, but the muskie dropped the plug each time. Fast forward another two hours, a rod with a blue/silver 6 inch rapala husky jerk got a strike. This time the muskie didn't let go and I set the hook. Surprisingly the muskie wasn't fighting all that much, just kind of slowly cruising back and forth. At one point I saw the muskie break the surface. In terms of inches, he looked about low mid thirties, though my guide insisted that he was bigger because he was staying down. Eventually I got him near the boat and he started to thrash, which was bad news because he was not anywhere near tried. My guide tried to get him with his muskie net, but the muskie swam under the net and snagged one of the hooks on the lure in the net. The muskie kept pulling until he jumped, shook his head and threw the hook. Goodbye! I was in disbelief and disgust and realized that my guide was right about the muskie being bigger than I originally thought. We estimated the muskie to be in the range of about 36-38 inches long and to weight about 14 or 15 pounds. We left the river shortly after that, and agreed to keep going out on the river until we caught a muskie. The next day, I met up with my guide and we went fishing on the river again. We ran the same lures and went to the same spot as the day before. We were only fishing for about 20 minutes before the same rod with the same lure that hooked the muskie the day before got bit again. As I got up to get the rod, I saw the muskie come barreling out of the water. It looked similar in size to the one I'd lost, but this time was different. This muskie was LIVID, he made many short, but fast jagged runs. And whenever I got him near the boat, he leaped from the water and dove down again, he jumped about 4 or 5 times in total. Eventually he started to get tired, but still had plenty of fight left in him. Every time my guide tried to net him, he'd dive down deep again, and then he started swimming in circles around the boat. After one last dive from the muskie, my guide walked up next to me and said "You know what? Bring him over here, I'm gonna get him for you." My guide then put the net in the water, I pulled the muskie over to him and he scooped the muskie up and lifted him into the boat. I finally had my muskie and I could not have been more excited. We took some pictures, as well as measured and weighed the muskie. The muskie measured 35 inches long and weighed 12 pounds. Not a monster, but a respectable fish nonetheless. Then about 30 minutes later, we got another bite on one of the perch plugs. This muskie was much larger, probably in the 40-42 inch range and about 20 pounds. But unfortunately, this muskie also got away at the boatside. I was disappointed and all, but I wasn't too bothered by it because I'd at least caught one muskie. After that, there was no more action for the day.

It's crazy to think that I'd be fishing on the Tuna.com nearly a full year after I saw them in Gloucester harbor. I went out on the Tuna.com with my Dad and some friends to do some haddock fishing. The fishing was nothing short of incredible. I really can't think of much else to say. We were catching fish all day long, and we rarely had to wait more than 10 seconds for a bite after the bait hit the bottom. There were 6 of us on board fishing and we ended up catching about 100 keeper haddock. In addition, we caught a bunch of shorts and some cod which we had to throw back. With many cod in the 8-10 pound range. Just an all around amazing day, probably the best fishing trip I've ever had. Special thanks to Captain Dave and First Mate Sandro for taking us out and giving us a great day. If anyone who views this trip is interested in going haddock fishing, go to fishgloucester.com, book a trip and you'll have a great time.