Fresh Water Fishing – Hall Of Fame?

I was reading through some of my e-mails and saw a nomination for the fresh water fishing hall of fame.

Now this isn’t the first time of heard of the FWFHoF, but it’s the first time I’ve really thought about it!

And I was wondering why there should even be a Hall of Fame for freshwater fishing? Fishing to me is personal. It’s me time and at times it’s also family time. But the lure of fishing for me is the ability to get away and spend some quality time with nature and enjoy trying to outwit a bass!

If I don’t catch anything – no big loss. I usually have a great time just being outdoors!

So why is there a hall of fame for this? I guess maybe we need to honor those who fish for sport and money? You know those guys/gals that catch more fish than everyone else and can have bragging rights as well as sponsor’s money, and actually make a living at fishing.

I haven’t actually read the qualifications for being nominated to be a Hall of Famer, so I’m not sure just why we need this.

Have any of you folks out there ever been to the “Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame”?

If so, could you post here and tell me what you thought of it and why you like or dislike it?

I’m just curious!?!

Thanks!

Catch you later.

Where is The Time Going?

Hi Folks,

How has your summer been going?

Have you had much time for fishing?

I sure haven’t! I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t gotten the chance to get out on the lake or stream.
Consequently, I haven’t been posting much about fresh water fishing here!

My older son left back in June to join the US Navy and so that’s one less voice to prod me into making the time to go fishing. But my younger son still asks me every once in a while.

So since I can’t recount any fishing tales here, how about some of you post a reply and let us all know how you’re making out fishing?

I’d sure love to hear some good freshwater fishing stories!

I’ll try and get some time to pull out the ole trusty rod and reel and let you know how I made out as soon as I can.

In the mean-time, have a great summer and may your creels be full.
(Does anybody even use a creel anymore? Do you all know what a creel is?)

Catch you later.

Commodore Club on Great Moose Lake in Hartland Maine

Hey Folks!

Hope you’re all doing well. Today I’ve got a guest post from Michael Norton. He wrote me a note and I thought I’d let you all in on this nice place to grab some fresh water fishing!

So here’s his post:

The Commodore Club on Great Moose Lake in Hartland, Maine is available for weekly fishing trip rentals in May and June every year. Originally built in 1888, this is a one-of-its-kind, post-and-beam sporting club. You can accommodate a group of 20 at the off-season rate of $1,500.

Great Moose is a bass and pickerel lake. There are brown trout for the gifted. This lake also makes a good base to jump off to other lakes and streams. The only challenge is that the Club amenities and slices of history will keep you there — full kitchen (microwave, electric and Garland gas grill, circa 1930, for the big feeds), 10 bedrooms, billiard table, poker tables, a rambling porch overlooking Great Moose, all on 15 private acres.

Here’s a vistor post from the Boston Herald blog a couple years back:

“We were fortunate to discover Great Moose Lake three years ago and will be arriving on Sunday at THE COMMODORE CLUB…A 10 bedroom hunting and fishing lodge on 15 acres, billiard room, ping-pong and card tables. It has a triangular fireplace that fills a small portion of the huge great room. My husband worked with one of the siblings that owns the club, and this will be our 3rd year renting. Enjoy your vacation,….and pull up a kayak and say hi!”

Until this year, renters have been July/August primarily and, as the post indicates, closely associated with our family. Most come back year-after-year. One fishing group came for about 20 years every June until everyone had retired to Florida. Our goal is to find some new people who like to fish, enjoy good times with friends and appreciate this gem of Maine sporting history that is off the track and not off the rack.

You can find pictures and contact information to rent the Club at VacationRentals.com

You also can email one of the owners, Michael Norton, at [email protected] Deposit and references are required.

There’s also a book on Amazon.com called Around Great Moose Lake (ME) that features several vintage photos of the Club and describes some of its history. Take a look and consider the Club if you are bringing together friends or family.

Sounds great – eh? Check them out!

Catch you later

Springtime Sunnies

Happy Spring!

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you’re well into your spring season. And if you’re like me, you’ve been too busy to get outside much, let alone go fresh water fishing!

But I did have some free time this past Sunday. So I hopped online and bought my resident fishing license and finally got to go fishing with my sons. We went to our local creek and had some fun catching lots of sunfish or “sunnies” as we call them. Most of the fish looked like a cross between a redbreast sunfish and a pumpkinseed sunfish. They all had very brilliant orange bellies and their upper coloring varied but was usually a bluish-gray color.

I didn’t get a picture of one (I’ll include one next time we go) but they were fiesty and very hungry!

I used my trusty old Hildebrandt spinner and caught a fish on my 3rd cast! I’m not sure why the fish like spinners in the spring – but I do know that the spinners work best this time of year! Here’s a picture of my spinner:

Best Springtime Freshwater Fishing Lure
My favorite springtime spinner

So we had a fun, successful and wet trip (I got my feet wet trying to save my younger son’s tackle box!) to start off the new freshwater fishing season.

Hopefully all of your trips will be successful throughout the year!

Catch you later!

Freshwater Fishing and Conservation

If you’ve read some of my posts here, you’ll know that I am a conservationist at heart! I love the outdoors and try to help keep it preserved whenever I can. So as I was reading through some online news headlines, one caught my eye that warranted further attention:

“Fishing line recyclers located in Marshall”

So I decided to click and read what this was all about. It seems that down in Alabama, the group PALS (People Against a Littered State) has placed recycling containers in appropriate places so that fishermen can deposit their “bird’s nests” and other un-usable monofilament line. Very cool idea! Especially when you consider the fact that the monofilament line can last for hundreds of years and isn’t biodegradable.

Check out the article here:

Monofilament Recycling

Have a great day and I’ll catch you later!

-Mark

2 Questions in 1 for Fresh water fishing in NJ?

Here’s a question posed by a fellow New Jersian!

I made a last minute decision to take my two boys (9 and 7) fresh water fishing tomorrow morning. I live in Union County and was wondering if anyone knew of a lake or pond near by. (Seely’s pond and surprise lake? This is a last minute Idea and I don’t want to travel to far, any ideas?
Second question- I do not plan on fishing with them I just plan on helping with tangles, Knots and baiting the hook. It is extremely rare that I go fresh water fishing, do I need to purchase a license if I do not intend to fish? I am an avid saltwater fisherman because I have never had any real luck fishing the lakes. Any tips would be helpful.

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So What’s The NJ Freshwater Fishing Record

So What’s The NJ Freshwater Fishing Record

I was reading through some fishing posts today and became curious as to what the state records were for freshwater fish in NJ. So I did some quick research and found a website which lists all of the NJ state records for fresh water fish.

Want to see it? Then go here:

http://www.funnj.com/water/ffish/frecord.htm

It’s interesting to see that the New Jersey largemouth bass state record is only 10lbs, 14 oz. That sounds breakable to me – how about you?

I enjoy fishing – it’s relaxing, fun, thrilling and exciting … all rolled into one!

What about you? What is it that makes you like fishing? Post some thoughts here for me?

‘Til next time – catch you later.

Let Them Eat Fish … errr Cake!

Let Them Eat Fish … errr Cake!

In light of the global warming and the depletion of our mother earth’s resources, it’s sometimes hard to keep a smile on your face.

Turns out that Marie Antoinette or Marie-Thérèse or whoever it was that made that statement so long ago, was right! What’s this all about, you ask me?

I was just reading an article about how many freshwater fish you should eat that are caught in New Jersey and how many seafood items you should eat. It was very discouraging to read. We really are messing up this great big beautiful world that we live in and it almost seems that no one cares. But I care! Don’t you?

The article gives links to some safe and ecologically sound eating guides for these times we live in. I highly recommend you check it out. (It’s a quick read.)

You can read the article here:

Seafood lover’s dilemma: eat healthy, be eco-friendly

Well try to eat healthy and do something good for our environment and I’ll catch you later!

-Mark

For fresh water fishing, what are the best times to go at?

Is their even a certian time fish tend to feed, or just any time during the day?

If you are fishing a lake, it really depends on A: the type of fish (catfish, nighttime; trout; morning or evening; etc.) B: is it raining or sunny? (if it is raining, any time is a good time for trout) and C: how long ago were they planted, if applicable (you usually want to wait anywhere from an hour to a day to let them get acquainted with their new homes).

If you are fishing a river, you will want to monitor your tides. High, outgoing tide is the best time for fishing on the river in my opinion, however, there are a lot of swing moments where the water is not moving at all, this may be a good time for certain types of fish.

Good luck out there.

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Father’s Day Freshwater Fishing

Wow – it seems its been a long time since I was able to go fishing. Too many things going on lately and just too much rain! I can’t remember the last time 24 hours passed without some type of precipitation!

So on my time at home yesterday, and since it was Father’s Day, the boys and I decided to go fishing! With all the rain, it was very easy to find worms. Two minutes and the worm box was full of large squiggling worms …. let’s go!

We went to the local creek since the last time we went to one of the lakes nearby. It was lightly drizzling and the tide was high and starting to go out. The water was murky from all the rain. So I advised my sons that lure selection should be on the bright side. My younger son kept getting snagged and tangled and I spent more time helping him than fishing. So we switched him back to bait and using the worms. My older son changed to worms as well.

Soon after, they started catching sun fish or sunnies as we call them. A couple of pumpkinseed sunnies and a few bluegills. We didn’t catch any bass, pickerel or other game fish. But we had a nice time getting out and finally casting the lines again! Since it was raining, I didn’t take any pictures of the boy’s conquests, much to my younger son’s chagrin! (He likes to brag to Mom!)

Hopefully the rain will stop at some point in the future and we’ll get out again – it’s summer after all! So enough with the April showers already!

On another note, I just read that the In-Fisherman has created a new website – they have lots of good information and I thought you all might like to check it out. So here’s a link for you. Let me know what you think of their new site?

http://www.In-Fisherman.com

Catch you later.

-Mark