Happy New Year to all

Woo wishes everyone a happy New Year. Today New Year's Eve we are being blasted with some of that white stuff. I have continued to fish the local ponds and have taken a few fish including my favorite the yellow perch. Yesterday while fishing Big Cliff Pond I saw them stock 6 huge salmon. What I wouldn't give to hook one of those big fish. Maybe after the snow storms subside I will give it a try.

Fresh Water Fishing Season

About a week ago I started doing some freshwater fishing in the many nearby ponds. I usually don't catch much, but so far this year I have gotten at least 1 trout on every trip. In a couple of weeks the state will stock Salmon in Sheep's Pond and Big Cliff Pond. They are very hard to get to bite, but if you hook one they are a blast. Some of the fish are in excess of 20 pounds. I need my buddy Harry to show me how it is done.

Fall run is over

What Fall run? Well, I must report this was the worst fishing season I have ever had at the Cape. I think I have pretty much finished salt water fishing and have a grand total of 2 stripers from the beach and my total count for the year is about 70 fish. Most of the fish I caught were small fish from Pleasant Bay. Most fishermen on the Cape had similar results. The seals, lack of bait, commercial fishing, and a general depletion of the striper population seems to be the problem. I just wonder what next year will bring. It was a good year on the gardening front. My crops were great and I enjoyed my first year selling at the Orleans Farmers Market. I was even successful selling my worms and worm products at the market. I have increased the number of worm boxes I am using because of the demand at the market and my need for additional worm compost for all my gardens. I am now gearing up for sales on Woo's Lures by making lots of darts and spoons, so I am ready when the orders start coming in. Soon it will be time for all the Holidays. Now is time to start raking all those leaves. Good Luck to all.

Wow - Woo finally caught a 2008 striper from the surf

9/5/08 - Linda and I took a ride to Nauset Inlet yesterday to take a few casts. Surf fishing has been so poor this year I have been fishing very little. Beach closures due to the Plovers, too many seals and a lack of fish have dampened my motivation. I have been taking a few fish in Pleasant Bay lately, but until yesterday I had not taken one fish from the Ocean. Since In the past I usually have hundreds of stripers from the surf yearly, this indeed has been a terrible fishing season for me. I fished for only an hour just as it was getting dark. I was using my 6" silver Lewy plastic bait for about 1/2 hour without a touch when I finally had a couple of very light hits. I keep on plugging that Lewy and finally convinced at 22 inch stiper to end my famine. After a quick release, I took another cast and hooked a little better fish which actually pulled some drag. It was a hair under the legal 28" limit, but I would have release it anyway. I had one more light hit and that was it for the night. Those two bass, the first surf fish of the season, did put a smile on Woo's old face. Maybe Linda should come fishing with me more often. She brought me some luck.

Family Olympics a great success

Here are a couple of shots from the Lawrence/Harroun Family Olympics held last weekend at the Sterling Inn in PA. Two teams (Hustlers and Gophers) made up of family members compete in many events to determine a champion team. This year in an exciting finish the Gophers won the contest by winning the balloon toss event. Many more pictures are available by going to the family and friends page on http://www.woofish.com/. Contact me if you need the password. First picture is Matt entertaining the crowd. The second picture is the beginning of the water intertube wrestling event.

Aunt Jane and Jack Return to Florida

After being at Loon's Landing for a few of weeks, Aunt Jane, dog Kattie, and son Jack left today to drive back to their homes in Florida. It was a nice visit in spite of Jane leg problems which resulted in a long 6 hour visit to the hospital. With the aid of a walker and nurse Linda's care she is on the mend. Jack we are sure will attend to all her needs on the long drive home. Once again Woo failed teaching Kattie to throw the food off her nose and catch it. See picture.

Jim and Sue got Woo fishing again.

Thanks to Jim and Sue I had some very enjoyable fishing last week on their wonderful Maritime Skiff. What a great boat! It is perfect for fishing the Bay. Fly Guy performed beautifully on the bow with a number of nice fish. The weather was great as was the fishing. We even took a couple of small keeper size stripers along with some very large blues. As usual Sue got the largest fish as well as providing good sandwiches. Above are a couple of picture of Jim and Sue with their catches. Jim tried to block out Sue's face with the fish, but she managed to peek through. Jim's bass was a keeper on the fly rod, but we did release it.

Sunday 5/25/08 Fishing Contest

Sunday a few more fish were taken by the kids. Molly (Woo's favorite granddaughter) got 3 in a row at one point which made it look like an easy victory for the girls, but Frankie got a quick 4 stripers and Tanner nailed a near keeper to seal their victory. The old man Woo even got his first keeper of the season while fishing with the kids.

Woo's favorite granddaughter got a nice striper at Minister's Point in Chatham. As can be seen it was taken on a white Lewy. This was the first fish taken in the annual boys against the girls fishing contest over Memorial Day. After being badly defeated in 2007 the girls are hoping for a victory in 2008.

A couple of special guests at the Cape.

Emmy visited us at the Cape with Charlie today. It was her birthday, so we had a nice lobster dinner and whipped cream cake for dessert. What a nice time. Charlie was very good and performed well. House is still unsettled due to all of Linda's painting and preparations for new counter tops in the kitchen. Thanks to Mike most of the difficult tasks have been completed.

First Shad of the Season

Last week I took a trip to PA to visit my son Michael and fish for shad in the Delaware River. I missed fishing there last year. The first day fishing I got my first shad of the year, a nice roe, above the bridge at Dingman's Ferry. I fished my old haunts on the river from New York all the way down to the Portland power plant. The fishing was very slow and I only got 7 shad in 6 days fishing. I also got a couple of smallies, a perch, and 2 chubs. I fished with a number of my old fishing buddies which was great fun even though the results were disappointing. The weather and river conditions were outstanding. Now I will have to concentrate my shad fishing in the New England area.

First Striper of the year

Just like last year I caught my first striper of the year on April 16th in Pleasant Bay. Not a big fish, but it does have stripes. I actually caught 2 fish that day. I also went trout fishing in Bakers Pond in Orleans and caught a nice tiger trout and lost a large fish. Today 2 days later I got 5 small strpers like the first one I caught. I hope the large fish show up soon. I am planning a trip to go to PA to fish for shad in the Delaware River next week. Hopefully there will be some shad to be had. The weather finally warmed up into the 60's today. About time! It was nice to be able to work in the yard without freezing.

The Cold spring is hanging on at the Cape

Well after about a week it finally got warm enough (low 40's) to do a little more work outside. I turned over some gardens and planted more onions and shallots. I continue to plant some flats of vegetable and my tomatoes have germinated as can be seen in the picture below. During all this cold weather my worms continue to eat garbage and produce valuable casting which I will use on my plants in the green house. The red wigglers are also involved in a little mating action as can be seen in the picture to the left. That means more baby worms to eat up all my garbage and produce casting. I am knee deep in orders for shad lures, so I am very busy making lures and processing the orders. Not all bad, but once fishing starts Woo's Lures will take the back seat. Will it ever get warm this spring? This cold weather must be a result of Al Gore's global warming. Maybe he should give his award back. Shad are in the rivers in the mid-atlantic states, but have not hit New England rivers as yet. I can't wait. Before too long the schoolie stripers should show up, and I will have to choose between Shad fishing or Striper fishing.

Gardening season begins at Cape Cod

Well, it has been and continues to be a cold wet spring at Cape Cod. I am late getting started, but I finally got a day warm enough to start planting some of my shallots. Picture shows large shallots before being covered up with dirt.Three flats of seeds for tomatoes, broccoli, basil, Brussels sprouts, and peppers are started for the green house. Linda's ceiling painting project continues and the living room is 50% done. We must get done! If it ever gets warm, there is lots of work outside to be done. Woo's Lures is very busy with the shad season warming up down south. I am constantly making lures and orders are backing up.

Woo's Vermicomposting Project

Ever since I was a little brat I liked worms. At 5 I had a pet imaginary worm named "Wormy". Now that I am in my 70's I am back at it. Last year I started vermicomposting with a pound of red wiggler worms which I purchased. This bunch of worms has eaten lots of garbage over the year and produced about 15 pounds of vermicompost or worm castings which is an excellent source of nutrients for plants. It will not burn like chemical fertilizer and can be used as is mixed into the soil or used as a liquid by adding 2 table spoons of compost to 1 quart of water. Since I use worms on occasion when fishing the local ponds, I decided to try growing some European Nightcrawlers which are larger than the red wigglers and better for fishing. They can be grown in boxes just like the red wigglers and they also eat garbage and product vermicompost. The two videos show the Europeon Nightcrawler worms when I first introduced them to the box and then about 10 minutes later after they were mostly buried into the bedding. The videos are about as exciting as watching grass grow. Stay tuned to see how the worms survive.

Local Fly Tying Class

A friend, Joe Oclair started s professional fly tying class at the Cultural Center in Yarmouth. Turned out to be a big success. If you know anyone who wants to tie flies have them contact THE CULTURAL CENTER of CAPE COD 508-394-7100. The classes are on Saturday mornings. He also has a website at http://www.flycatcherflies.com.

Striper netting video

A friend, GEK sent me a striper video from NC that was very disturbing. Click the link below to veiw the video. This is the reason years ago I stopped taking an annual trip to NC to catch big bluefish in early December. I personally saw bluefish taken this way which was very upsetting. Particularly when the fishing on the beach was very slow. The NC economy no longer gets the $1000/year I used to spend on my trips to the Outer Banks. How long will it take these states to realize the financial benefits they gain from the recreational fishing community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAbhE-tqNNc

Jim and Sue visit Loons Landing with new boat.

Jim and Sue paid us a short visit when they picked up their new Maritime Skiff in Barstable. They brought their talking dog, Charlie who is character. What a fun well behaved mutt. The boat is a beauty and we can't wait to get a ride this summer. They arrived in the pouring rain, but left on a lovely sunny day at the Cape.

The southern boys are catching shad. This is the first shad picture I received for my shad site at www.woofish.com/shad.html. It is fun seeing other guys catching fish while I am suffering through the cold and snow on Cape Cod. It will be a couple of months before any shad action will start in the North. Pictured in Clay Henderson with a nice shad he took fly fishing on the St Johns River in Florida.

A Surfers Delight

YouTube - Struck in tsunami
This is an great video.

A cold exit from Rock Harbor

,
originally uploaded by Joanna Vaughan.

Joanna Vaughan takes some great local pictures of the Cape. You can find her on Flickr.

Record VA striper video

Go to my fishing site and scroll down the page to see a link to the video of the new VA record striper. Wait for the ad on the video to finish.... Woo' Fishing Site

Nice shot of Harry's salmon in the water

Nice shot of the fish in the water.,
originally uploaded by woofish.

I am still waiting to catch one of these. My truck is out of action and ice is forming on the ponds. I have not given up yet.

Flickr

There are lots of new pictures on . Just click the box.

The Winter Doldrums

Since the holidays I have been occupying my time making darts and spoons for Woo's Lures. The shad season has started in Florida and orders have been coming in. I have been doing some salmon fishing with my friend, Harry, but have only caught a couple of trout so far. The conditions have been cold and windy most days, and I only last a couple of hours at a time. Harry on the other hand is obsessed about getting that big salmon, and he fishes long and hard when he is not working. It has paid off for him as you can see in the picture above. This nice salmon 12 lb 7 oz. was taken on 1/5/08. He got another large fish the next day. I have some problems with my truck which have slowed my fishing efforts the last few days. I hope to give it a try tomorrow if there is no ice on the ponds.

Above is a new addition to the family. My brother Les' first grandbrat Lily Anna O'Driscoll was born on 12/20/07. Mom and Dad, Carrie and Tim are still smiling as is Grandma, Laurie. I must admit she is a cute baby. I hope she likes to fish.