Friday, January 31, 2014

National Geographic Day

The temperatures have been brutal all week and we have been resigned to watching what ever wildlife we can find from the truck. The seals have been reliable, showing themselves everyday down around the rocks across from the jetties. There has also been some Goldeneye, Canvassbacks, and horned grebe along with the other wintering water fowl. Today it got up to 32 degrees and we took a walk back behind the golf course. The whole area from the jetty back to the boat ramp is frozen over. Two crows were harassing a Red Tailed Hawk right over our heads, and were joined by a Northen Raven. While this commotion was going on I spotted the prize we have been searching for since November. Perched out on a big piece of ice in the marsh was the Snowy Owl. We got to get fairly close to him by staying hidden behind some brush and got a really good look and some pictures too.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Polar Vortex, Ice and the Super Bowl

We are in the midst of an old fashioned winter. All the bays and the harbor are full of ice and with no end in sight, fishing is over until spring. The other day a huge helicopter was flying around the area just over the roof tops. It came over the house three times in one hour, rattling the pictures on the wall. The news reported it was looking for sources of radiation in case some one was to attack the Super Bowl. As the late Bob Grant used to say on the radio, "I gotta get out of this place!"

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Cold and Slow Winter Fishing

Hit the trout streams with Mike L. on Sunday. When we arrived the temperature was 18 degrees and it was snowing. I scraped out two browns and a  rainbow and Mike caught a real nice wild brown on a cold winter day. Went back out Monday with Capt George and had to fight the strong current and over abundant dogfish to grab a half dozen ling. It looks like there will be no fishing for at least a week and with the water offshore at 39 degrees who knows what will be out there.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Winter Fishing

All you can hope for is a nice day to take a ride on the ocean and maybe catch enough for dinner. Wednesday the fog was so thick only a few boats sailed and fishing was poor. We waited until Friday for a better forecast to take a trip with Capt. George on the Angler. It turned out to be a nice warm day and we even had a few bites. Evelyn had three nice blackfish along with some shorts and a ling and I caught two ling and some short blackfish and fought through the dogfish to find a seven pound COD. The water in the ocean is very cold and we can only hope to get out one or two more times before the bite shuts down.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A Break in the Weather

Needless to say, this has been a tough winter. With the temps getting above freezing we took a ride to the country, to check out the trout streams.  The water was high and running hard due to the rain and ice melting and I did not have a bite all morning. After lunch, I checked out two more spots before going home and was surprised with four brown trout, the first fish of the new year. Now if we could only get some ling.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

A Sad Day

Last night we lost a member of our fishing family, Pete G. It came as a shock to all of us. Pete was an excellent angler. He loved catching fluke and blackfish. We will miss his good nature and sense of humor. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Frankie and Antoinette and the rest of the family. Calm seas and tight lines old friend.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year

We went fishing yesterday with Capt. George, looking to get some holiday treats. It was a nice calm winter day out on the ocean. The bite was slow with mostly short blackfish inshore and some keepers and ling offshore. We got some ling to add to todays special sea food chowder. Happy New Year.