St. Mary's Lake on a nice December day

The temperature was around 42 degrees when I put the pelican in the water around 11:30. I was targetting pickerel, but would take whatever wanted to put a bend in my pole. I brought 2 batteries since I knew I might be doing a bit of trolling until I could locate some fish. It was clear sunny skies when I started.

After launching I headed to the right of the boat ramp. I fished the end of the first peninsula and the standing timber with no luck. I started trolling across the face of the dam then headed up lake past the long cove. That's where I caught the crappie. Not great sized but a fish none the less. I would occasionally catch grass on the treble hooks. I was pulling 2 lures thru the water with the 1 I thought ran deeper on the outside.

By the time I was almost directly across from the boat ramp I caught the bass.

It was just after 1:30. The bass was so pale it almost looked like another species of fish. I was trying different lures on and off. I just couldn't find anything that would consistently catch fish. I headed up to the skinny part of the lake. I tried casting up there. Twice when my lure landed I spooked something in the water as it would ripple the water as the lure hit the water. I didn't catch anything up there either.

I trolled past the next bank heading towards the standing timber where I caught a few fish 2 weeks ago. I know that Andy, Chuck & Brian had caught fish there also. I even tied on a small crappie lure and tried jigging it in the timber without success. By now the sky was heavily overcast. Andy showed up. I don't know if he had any luck, but he was moving around a lot.

I made my way over to the boat ramp. 2 fish in almost 5 hours worth of fishing. Not the best day on the water but I'll take it for a December day. Most years I'm done with freshwater fishing in MD by this time of the year, but I have quite a bit of time on my hands now not working full time. I need to become a better coldweather angler. I ended up losing 2 lures, which is unusual when fishing from a boat. Most times I just go opposite the snag and it comes out, but not today. I did hang up quite a bit trolling so hopefully that means I was close to the bottom most of the time.

Here are the lures I tried.

I found some more exposed manmade structures at the headwaters of the lake.

St. Mary's Lake Grand Slam 11/17/08

Sunset - Tramonte

Pickerel - Luccetto

Put the kayak in around 1pm. Very overcast and around 52 degrees air temperature. Slight wind but nothing unmanageable. Used a rapala count down in shad, a mepps spinner, chartruese crankbait and a rapala jointed minnow. Caught all my fish in the standing timber. Ended up with 7 fish a bluegill, pickerel, 2 crappie and 3 bass. The biggest bass and the pickerel were my largest out of the lake this year. Better late than never I guess. 2 other people fishing and both were outcatching me.

The pickerel was strong enough to pull the kayak around a bit. Know as a 'Sleigh ride', it's been a while since I've caught a freshwater fish in the kayak that was able to give me a ride.

Ho usato il kayak. Preso 7 pesci. Bluegill, luccetto, crappie & bass. Il bass & luccetto erano i piu grandi che ho preso del quel lago quest anno. Nouvoloso col poco sole. Usavo il rapala countdown e un crankbait colore chartreuse. Mepps = cappotto.

Saluti tutti i soci del pescaOK.

Alaska Fish species

Dolly Varden from Jerome lake
Kasilof river red salmon


Fairbanks Northern Pike

Chena river grayling
Homer Irish Lord

Smoking Salmon

Catch a bunch of nice, fresh, chrome-bright salmon. Like this beautiful Kenai river silver salmon.

Or this stringer of pink salmon.Work in a bug free area. Process all fish. Filet then portion into serving size pieces.


Brine and marinate. Keep fish well chilled during the entire process.

Once fish have marinated the desired time, place on smoking racks to allow to air dry. Make sure you have room between each piece of fish. If using wood chunks, soak wood in water before placing in smoker.

Portable boats

It's time to restart the blog.

So for this topic I'll post about some of the boats I use for fishing.

Pelican Predator DLX

Features
Modified "V" double hull
Two padded, folding and swiveling seats with side trays
Battery compartment
Built-in motor mounts, bow/stern
Bow 12 V electrical outlets
Stern 12 V electrical outlets
One swivel rod holder
Two vertical rod holders
Two horizontal rod holders

Old Town Guide 16 foot canoe

The Old Town® Guide 160 is designed for the outdoorsperson looking for a canoe stable enough for fishing or nature watching, yet versatile enough for family excursions. Please Note: It is your responsibility to check state laws and regulations to obtain registration on your boat. You will receive the Manufacturerýs Statement of Origin (MSO) two to three weeks after product delivery.Features
Polylink3™ material
Length: 16 ft
Width: 39.5 in
Depth: 13.5 in
Weight: 82 lbs
Capacity: 950 lbs

Rush Kayak

Stable and easily maneuverable, the lightweight Rush Kayak from Old Town® Canoe has a roomy cockpit perfect for enjoying a few hours out on the water. The Rush comes with a removable workdeck and an Ergo-X high-back padded seat for all-day paddling comfort. Features
Removable work deck with mesh pockets
Lightweight, easy-carry construction
Adjustable high-back folding seat with cup holder
Roomy cockpit for easy entry/exit
Front and back rear deck bungees

Crampton Gap Shelter Pictures

Appalachian Trail Adventures Part V

When I woke from my night at the Rocky, I was eager to get back on the trail. Sometime before falling to sleep I decided that I would start to hike back to Harpers Ferry the next morning. I still had a lot of things to take care of for my upcoming road trip. I was due to leave in less than a week and I was constantly going over my 'to-do' list in my head. Each day that I hiked north meant a total of 2 more days on the trail.

The previous evening I had told Jim that I was going north a few more days. After getting my gear ready I was out of the shelter and heading back on the trail. Jim went down to get some water and he was traveling in the opposite direction that I was going. He must have cut through the woods because I ran into him a few minutes later. I was traveling south and he asks me if I was traveling in the right direction since I had said I wanted to go north. I told him I had a change of plans and wanted to hike to the Crampton Gap shelter and spend the rest of the day camping. At that point Jim decided that would be a good idea, so for the first time I would have a hiking partner.

Since Jim spends so much time on the trail, he was able to show me a few shortcuts that end up in the same places we wanted, just showing a slightly different terrain. We went up a road that ended up at a few towers and what looked like a small military outpost way up on the mountain. Jim also knows different landmarks and can estimate hiking times from those landmarks. 1 of the landmarks that Jim pointed out was a memorial marker to a young man who had died in an accident. He was involved in doing trail maintenance. His family thought it would be good as a memorial to raise money and purchased a 4 acre section of land that is now used for the trail.

We finally ended up at Crampton Gap shelter. While the shelter is older, built by the CCC in the 1940’s, it very scenic location with a spring that runs through the campsite. There is a boardwalk that leads over to the privy. While walking on the boardwalk, you can hear a spring that runs under the rocks. I spotted a small break in the rocks where you can see some water bubbling up through the ground. As nice the Garvey shelter structure was, this site had it beat for camping beauty. So we camped. We fetched wood and built a fire. We hung out and cooked our meals and soaked in the sun.

Later 2 brothers from PA joined us. Both go to Brigham Young University and both are studying to be mechanical engineers. We thought they were twins, but weren’t. And 1 or both of them snored.