The quest for a fish a month

My quest began in January I wanted to catch a fish every month for an entire year. Turns out this is a bit of a "White Whale " for me. I have been trying to pull this off for a few years now without success. I tried again this year and here are my results so far
January: 1 striper in Norwich Harbor Jan 31 ( i should add that December was productive during the full moon and the new moon I caught fish)
February: NO fish. So you see my problem I always start out OK in Jan but my plan falls apart within 1 month it dosen't help that Feb is only 28 days but It broke my chances right away.
March: 1 Large mouth, 1 Pickerel about 6" both on a white rooster tail spinner. only these somehow became the only two fish i caught all month I was sure the miracle of spring 2007 would repeat with stripers caught in the end of march. No dice
April: I believed the fishing would start at the full moon on the 9th... I looked hard for two days before and two days after but NO FISH. heard that hamburg cove was lit up. Finally on thursday the 23rd two days before the new moon I caught the first summer striper for 2009 I could feel the momentum of the season was already there. There would not be a trickle in like 2008. The fish were at the fisherman bridge stacked up and within 2 hours I had caught 13 on a 1/16 oz jig head with white maribou tail. the next night after a day of spearfishing Blackfish also caught 30 menhaden good to see a big school so early in the I returned to catch another 20. On the new moon I stayed out till 2:30 and caught +-30 on 1/16 oz jig head with green maribou and hot pink thread I subsequently made 4 more of these. sunday I fished long pond with KK and we caught 3LMB total for the weekend 66 fish.
May: 1st 4LMB at fitch pond dark green 5"senko was the hot ticket, kept one ate it for dinner also caught 5 stripers to 26"

PINE ISLAND CLEAN UP UPDATE!!!

We will be meeting Saturday October 4, 8 AM sharp at the public boat launch in Groton, on Bayberry Lane, straight across from the island.

http://www.lisrc.uconn.edu/coastalaccess/site.asp?siteid=461

Please dress appropriately and for the weather!! Long sleeves, pants and closed toed shoes is a GOOD idea!

We will meet everyone at the dock at 8 AM sharp-o! Again, we probably won’t be out there for more than a few hours. We also have been given a generous donation of Gatorade, the thirst quencher, from my dear friend Anna Bass. IF you have a life jacket or personal flotation device, please bring it with you. My cellphone is 860.857.0820 and Caleb’s is 860.961.4456 if you need to get in touch.

For directions:

From the East: Take I-95 South. Take left-hand exit 87, Route 349 South to US-1 North and continue for 1.8 miles. Stay straight to go onto Brandegee Avenue and continue for 0.5 miles. Brandegee Avenue becomes Shennecossett Road, continue 1.1 miles. Turn left onto Bayberry Lane and continue for approximately 0.1 miles. Follow until reach boat launch.

From the West: Take I-95 North to exit 87 which is Route 349 South. Stay straight to go onto Brandegee Avenue Brandegee Avenue becomes Shennecossett Road. Turn left onto Bayberry Lane. Follow until reach boat launch.

Inky Fish

The story of catching this fish and almost dying by being jammed into a concrete train bridge is really not relevant to the activity I would like to highlight today.

So, for some time now, I have been wanting to make "fish prints." Last week, we got our chance! Here's how you do it.


Step 1: Catch honkin' fish.








Step 2: Clean the honkin' fish with water and vinegar.

Step 3: Paint the fish with (NONTOXIC) ink. That is if you want to eat homefish.

Step 4: Cover the fish GENTLY with rice paper.


AND . . . TADA!

FISH PRINT!

Just Like Bugs, Fish LOVE Lights

Especially totally crazy lights under a boat. Caleb called late (really late I might add) on Monday night to tell me to get down to the dock, there was a fish flurry feeding frenzy going on! Filled with stripers, large and small and tons of hickory shad (?).
We stayed for about 45 minutes and saw so many fish and lots of stripers. There were two very large ones that Caleb thinks weighed about 25 lbs!

Check out the video. Nope, this isn't the aquarium, just Noank!

Pine Island Clean Up: Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 8 AM!

Alright kids! I am currently recruiting volunteers for a beach clean up on Pine Island. Pine Island is right off of Groton / UCONN Avery Point. It is a small island that unfortunately gets lots of trash. Last year, Caleb and I participated in a clean up there with the Fly Fishing Club. This was organized through Connecticut Fund For the Environment's Save The Sound. To learn more, visit their website by clicking on the link. I am organizing this clean up with them this year too. (I think the fly fishing club is still doing one, but the island can definitely use a double sweep!)
Last year's clean up was in pouring rain but we had a great time. We picked up SO much trash. This trash included boat parts, monofilament line, other fishing supplies, plastic ties for lobster pots, cans, cans, cans and more. If you ever spend time at the beach and you want to give back, here is your chance! Sign up for this beach clean up and help us tidy up Pine Island. You can sign up for this clean up by sending an email to me at misskrys@hotmail.com.
I am hoping that we can all meet at Pine Island Marina Parking Lot at 8:00 am, RAIN OR SHINE, then take boats over. This means, if you own a boat- we need you! Volunteers with boats are very important, so if you have a boat and would like to help take other volunteers over to the island, please indicate this when you send me an email! Kayaks and canoes welcome!
I hope to get 20-30 people for this event. If we need to make a couple of trips in the bigger boats, it is not far.
To view pictures from last year's Pine Island Clean Up with the fly fishing club, click here!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING!
ALSO, Please dress appopriately. This means:
1. Dress for the weather, bring a jacket / rain jacket.
2. Wear close toed shoes and long pants! There is a very rocky terrain on the island.
3. Bring some long sleeves and gloves. (There is poison ivy in places.)
4. I will bring water and a snack for all.
5. I hope to be done NO LATER than NOON.
6. If you have a life jacket, bring it for the boat ride over!

Facts about Bobby the Mantis Shrimp

Crazy facts about Bobby the Mantis Shrimp:
1. Bobby is a member of the order stomatopoda, and is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, although he closely resembles both of them.
2. One of his interesting features is his claw. Around 400 species of mantis shrimp are divided into "spearers" and "smashers." We think that the Bobster might be a "spearer" but he was punching a lot so who knows.
3. The smashers use their claw to punch prey. The punch delivered has roughly the acceleration of a 22-caliber pistol.
4. They have been known to break the glass in an aquarium, all from one little punch from ye old fist!
5. The claw hits its prey with such great force that it actually causes cavitation bubbles between the appendage and the striking surface. The collapse of these cavitation bubbles produces measurable forces on their prey, in addition to the instantaneous forces of 1500 newtons that are caused by the impact of the appendage striking the surface, which means that the prey is hit twice by a single strike: first by the claw, then by the collapsing cavitation bubbles!
These facts were brought to you by: Wikipedia.com's article on the Mantis Shrimp.

Ichthyokids in a Whaleboat . . .

That's right, this was the size of the whaleboat that we blogged about earlier:
I have to say, we look a lot happier though. On second thoughts, Caleb's forearms sure do look yummy.