Fishing update

I have been very busy gardening this spring and participating in the Orleans Farmers' Market. The fishing off the beach has continued to be poor as it was last year with many seals and few fish. The plovers have forced closure of the beaches to vehicles much earlier than in the past and a spring NE storm has done lots of damage to the beach. More of the camps on the southern portion of Nauset have been destroyed. I have managed to take a few decent fish from Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod Bay, and Town Cove. On the gardening front I have had less problem with critters so far this year, but the very wet spring slowed up the sun loving plants like the tomatoes. With the recent nice sunny days they are now growing nicely. I have over 100 tomatoes planted and am looking for a large crop to stock up spaghetti sauce, salsa, tomato soup for the winter. What I have left over will be given away or sold at the Orleans Farmers' Market.

Here are a couple of pictures showing some of my ice fishing catches. All bass are released, but those big fat perch were a delicious meal. I am just sorry the ice fishing season is over.

Cold Winter at Cape Cod

Ever since I made my last post showing the large salmon being stocked in Big Cliff Pond in Brewster, MA, mother nature has blasted us with a very cold winter with more snow than normal. The only upside to the weather has been my ability to do some ice fishing which I have not done since I moved to the Cape in 2005. I found a couple of small ponds with enough ice to fish and have managed to catch a few of my favorite eating fish, Yellow Perch. What great eating! I have fried them and made Poor Man's shrimp with the fillets. For those of you unfamiliar with Poor Man's Shrimp it is made by cutting up some perch fillets and putting them in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Take them out, strain, and rinse with cold water. Then put in the refrigerator to chill them down. They tend to toughen up as they cool and can be eaten like shrimp with seafood red sauce or any sauce you like. They make great hor d'oeuvres and keep well under refrigeration. In my search for perch I caught a few LM Bass and Pickerel. I looks like the weather is warming which will make the ice unsafe, so I guess my ice fishing is done for the season. I am ready for spring so bring it on.

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.