I regret I am no longer able to be a vendor at the Orleans Farmers Market. However, I plan to continue to sell my worm and garden products from my residence.

I have not been updating this blog due to a stroke in the fall of 2010. I hope to resume activity in 2013.....Woo

2009 a disappointing year fishing on the Cape

Bring on 2010. I sure hope the fishing for me is better this year. I all but gave up fishing on the beaches of Cape Cod. The seals seem to be ruling the surf. Before the end of the year I did manage to fish the ponds a few times. Pictured is my buddy Harry who managed to get a small salmon in Big Cliff. My last fishing trip of 2009 I managed to get one small rainbow trout. Now with all the snow and cold fishing is on hold. I am hoping to get some ice fishing if it stays cold enough. I am eager to get some of those delicious yellow perch.

8/17/09 Fluke fishing trip

Last Monday I went on an all day Fluke fishng trip on the Helen H out of Hyannis. I was accompanied by my friends Harry, Pete, and Pete's son, Josh. What a fabulous day we had. Weather was beautiful, boat was not too crowded and we did catch some big fluke. I am not a meat fisherman, but boy is that fluke tasty. I look forward to a repeat of that trip next year. Josh caught the largest fluke weighing over 6 lbs.

8/15/09 Fishing Trip

Woo had a great day fishing with Jim and Sue on Otis out of Pamet harbor. Weather was perfect, and we got into some very large bluefish in P-town harbor. As usual Sue was high hook.

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.

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.