Conway Lake – August 19 to 26, 2006

This week I was on my family vacation trip to Conway Lake. We rented a cottage on the north end of the lake closer to the dam area known as Runabout bay.

I launched my boat on Saturday night when we arrived but did not have time to check out the water much more that a few cast from the dock. I did have some nice noisy fish wack my biat at night from the doc fishing a jitterbug but no hook up. Started to rain hard so I headed in to plan for the next day.

Sunday – took my daughter Jenn and neice Holly out in the morning after a late start to check out the lake. Hoped to find some salmon and maybe rainbows. Marked lots of bait on the way out in the 1st hole but targeted the main lake section to troll. We trolled for quite a while and hooked into a couple of fish. All long line releases as I let the girls try to get them. On the 3rd fish I stuck it and then handed the rod to Holly. She reeled it for a while but got tired. It was a nice 18″ rainbow on a silver/chartruese top gun with black dots. We caught a little 14″ rainbow about an hour later. Both fish came on 4 colors of lead at 2.5 mph over the 1st hole. Later we fished off the dock with the kids and got lots of sunfish and small bass on nightcrawlers. My son Ryan had a blast and caught about 5 sunfish and 2 nice bass. He loved it.

Monday – Headed back out only early this time. I trolled by myself on this promising looking day and got two nice rainbows right off. The 1st one was a 21″ on a white red dot db smelt and the next was a fat 19″ on a top gun rainbow trout pattern. Got about 3-4 bass in shallower water trolling slow (under 2mph). Went slow for a while and after a small 15-16″ rainbow I headed in. Went back out later with Holly and Jenn and we managed a huge 4 pound largemouth. Note: of the two bigger rainbows one was at 3 colors of lead and the other at 5 and one at 1.5 mph and the other at 2.2. Remember, I am still trying to find those salmon in here. We did some tubing later that day with Holly and Jenn.

Tuesday – I was hoping for a repeat of what I did the day before but that did not happen. I started to look for new water and new baits. Hmmm, what was that old scruffy lure I had in my box from 15 years ago. I have no idea who makes it but it is the shape of a top gun only thicker. White, pink, yellow, and with black spots. Boom a 20″ rainbow almost immediately updates me on what they wanted. Threw it back out an within minutes I got a 19 ” rainbow.

Wednesday – story land (I did not take a single cast on this day. 😦 ).

Thursday – Got more rainbows fishing by myself in the morning then some more with my wife and son in the afternoon. He played with all my electronics again as my wife boated a nice 19″ or so rainbow. This was was a bit dark on the belly. I did not want to keep it but it was bleeding pretty bad. Ryan had some fun with my underwater camera on this day and we all had fun.

Friday – went out and got some more rainbows, bass, a giant pickeral, then some more fish from the docks with the kids. Later that day I fished near the cabin around the docks and boated a nice 3.5 pound largemouth on a jig-pig. Got a couple more then headed in. Relaxed with my wife for our last night there on vacation.

Saturday – pack it up and get ready to head home. I took the kids down to the dock to fish while my wife fishished cleaning the cabin. Well they got some more sunfish on worms. My son did something he never did before though. He wanted to throw back his fish. He grabbed it and tossed it into the water. I was so proud of him. What a little man he is becoming.

Great trip, nice lake, and my family is awesome! (ps: in case the wife reads this. ha ha)

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North Shore – August 6th, 2006

Was supposed to take Nelson and his close friend John out for a trip on the North Shore. John knows this area well and was going to show me where and how to bait fish.

Unfortunately he could not make this one at the last minute so Nelson and I still made the day of it and went out for some action. I was a little late getting down there and he was a little late beyond that so you guessed it, we were late to get on the water.

We launched out of the Kernwood ramp and stopped for bait at the docks in Beverly. Nelson ran up and got us some live eels and a good sized makeral (for chum). We headed straight out for Badger island just south of Manchester (by the sea for all you snobs out there). Nelson showed me a spot near the island but we were cut off by another boat before aquiring a position. We anchored nearby in the next pocket though. Huge boulders, ledge, grass… wow this is a giant striper magnet.

I got a handful of schoolies on some light tackle and sluggos fairly quickly. Used a light weight to get it down into the pockets by the big boulders. It worked. We almost had one of the eel but it was hard to tell as the eels were moving a bit.

Headed to the next spot as it was getting choppy and I was honestly getting seasick due to not eating anything and only coffee and piss in me for the morning I was anything but pleasant.

Went to a place inside the salem harbor area next to a powerplant. Nelson claimed that he heard it was good fishing. With the water at about 80 degrees and shallow I had my doubts. We still tried it but the sun was so bright I could see most of the area and did not see any bait or fish moving around. I’ll bet on the right day though that is a good spot.

From there we went to a floating resturant called the Rockmore. Seems that the stripers like to hang around the underside of this place but come up for french fries. The owners don’t like people fishing around it but I wanted to see these for myself and Nelson really wanted to go there. We get there and they were out of fries. Hmmm. Ok, then can we have two hot dogs and a coke? While waiting we saw some big old tales turning around this place but Nelson claimed the show was a better one on certain days and they lack of fries made it less of an experience. I’ll tell you what did make the experience memorable was the $7.50 I paid for each hot dog and whatever for the drink to round of a $20 check at this place. WOW! That was nutz. Imagine buying a beer and some nachos? Ya right. Let’s go fishin Nelson.

Headed to Marblehead to try for some more. Here is where it starts to get interesting. We were fishing an island a bit from shore and then I hear Nealson say, oh no. I turn and look and he has hooked on to a seagul. I told him to reel it in and then I grabbed the thing behind the head, covered it’s eyes, flipped it over, and then took the hooks out. Unwrapped all that line from him and threw him back. He flew off ok. I feal like I threw a rat back into the kitchen but also think that God would honor my efforts to save a creature that I was not going to harvest.

We then fished closer to shore. Lots of people there at the park today. We tried to anchor but kept drifting back towards the rocks. Outgoing tide was ripping right along. I hooked into one but broke my line at the rod and lost it. Then later Nelson caught my line without knowing it and handlined in about a 20 inch striper. OK, that was weird. Fished for a little while longer then headed in.

Watched some bigger boat speed past me to get ahead of me on the way in, then watched him get a ticket (no wake zone). It was very busy with lots of boats on the way back and a bit choppy. Took a could of waves into the air for some ocean spray but nothing bad. My boat seems to handle them well despite her size.

Another learning trip for the saltwater blogs (yes Scott, I said blogs)!

Brian

Gorham Pond – August 4, 2006

Nelson cam up tonight and wanted to go night fishing. I had my doubts about the night but was also hopeful.

We headed out to the pond just as the sun was setting. Fish were surfacing everywhere. Nelson got a couple of bites but no takers. For the next 4 hours we only managed one fish on a spinnerbait.  A decent fish and I spilled my beer landing the thing so it made sure to leave a mark that she was not happy being caught.

Heard a beaver slapping it’s tail around the boat. Kinda neat and scary. Nelson 1st (I did too) that it was a fish with a giant kapoosh. However, after it continued I knew it was old wally slappin and saying, hey, this is my section of the pond. Go over there.

Was a cold night in post cold front conditions. We had heavy rain to start the day off and it was a dry bluebird day after that. Classic off conditions for fishing.

Well, was still good to get out with my nephew. Maybe next time we will do better. Hope to do a night trip again. That can be fun. Spinnerbait, rod, reel, beer, and a cigar.

Brian