2011 April - Englewood Florida

We are fishing the little pond in Englewood Florida again and still catching some nice Florida bass.

Esther with a largemouth bass

2010 Dec - Florida

We went back to Florida to celebrate Frank's mom and step-dad's birthdays which are both in December.  Had a great visit with them and did get to fish at our favorite pond right down the road from their condo.  Frank caught a huge 6-1/4 lb largemouth on this trip!

Frank with a 6-1/4 lb largemouth bass

2010 Fall - Wachusett Reservoir

Wachusett Reservoir is not an easy place to fish, but we decided to give it a try.   I was not expecting to catch anything just casting from shore so I didn't even bring my camera. I was using an imitation crawfish crankbait and suddenly I had a really big hit on my lure.  I couldn't believe it when I pulled in the largest smallmouth bass I have ever caught in my whole life!  It was 4-1/2 lbs and I only have Frank as my witness - no picture!!!

Smallmouth bass

We went back the very next week, this time with a camera.  I was determined to catch another smallmouth and get the picture this time.  Unfortunately, I did not catch another smallmouth, but I did catch a nice trout on the same crawfish crankbait.

Esther with a nice rainbow trout

2010 June - Great Pond

Frank and Steve trying to fish

We spent a week at Bear Spring Camps again and we invited my niece, Caitlin and her fiancee to join us for a day of fishing.  Unfortunately the day they picked was very rainy in the morning, but it didn't stop Frank and Steve from trying!

2010 April - Florida

Here we are in Englewood again and fishing at our favorite little pond.  I caught this nice largemouth and Frank caught the spotted tilapia below. We have seen these tilapia in other ponds now. They are not native to Florida and it is a shame that people have to introduce foreign fish which then replace the natural fish in a pond.

Esther with a nice largemouth bass

Frank with a spotted tilapia

2008 Sept - Bear Spring Camps

We usually don't have much luck fishing in the fall, but we decided to go back to one of our favorite fishing camps to give it a try.  On this trip, we could see schools of white perch right close to shore  near our dock and some of the other docks.  I noticed right in the middle of one of the dark schools of fish there was a clearing around a larger fish.  I cast into the school and it took a couple of trys, but I was rewarded when the large bass hit my lure. I was jubilant to land this 4 lb smallmouth bass!

Esther with a 4 lb smallmouth bass

2008 May - Maine

Back to Maine in May and we are catching our favorite fish, the smallmouth bass.

Esther with a nice smallmouth bass

Frank with a much larger smallmouth bass

 We always enjoy seeing wildlife while we are fishing and have seen some amazing things. It is pretty common to see small turtles all lined up on logs to catch the warmth of the sun.

Turtles sunning themselves on a log

2008 April - Florida

Another April and we are back in Florida and of course we found some time to fish. We had a lovely picnic with Frank's family at Myakka River State Park.

Frank fishing the Myakka River

 Here Frank was fishing our favorite little pond in Englewood when he caught a new kind of fish.  It looks like a huge sunfish, but in looking on the web, I think I have identified this one as a spotted tilapia. These fish give a really good fight.

Frank with a spotted tilapia

At the same little pond, I was successful catching a good sized largemouth bass. 

Esther with largemouth bass

2007 - Duck, No. Carolina

Frank surf casting

We spent a week in No. Carolina. No matter where we go, Frank has to go fishing!

2007 June - Weare, NH

Frank taking his nieces, Micaela and Shannon fishing

We rented a cottage at Lake Shore Village in Weare, New Hampshire and had our nieces come up and join us for the weekend.  The fishing was not very good for us that week and unfortunately, our nieces didn't get to catch anything that day, but they had a good time that weekend anyway.

2007 - Florida

Frank with a yellow tailed snapper

We are back in Florida visiting with Frank's family.  We spent sometime fishing from the beach and Frank was catching these silver fish with yellow tails.  We think they are snappers, but not sure.  It was a nice way to spend the day.

2006 Oct - Fishing with my Nieces

Shannon holding her catch

We took our nieces, Shannon and Micaela Crowe to Maine for a weekend and spent some time fishing with them.  Here Shannon is holding a sunfish she caught.  She didn't want to touch it, so I was kept busy putting the worms on and taking the fish off for both of them!

2006 June - Big Lake

We went to Shoreline Camps in Grand Lake Stream.  This camp is right on Big Lake.  It is so remote and beautiful, we had a great time fishing and caught a variety of fish.

Esther with a smallmouth bass

 Sometimes we catch these silver fish.  I have always called them shiners.

Esther with a shiner

 I caught a 24" 2 lb pickerel and this video shows me landing this big fish.

We saw a snapping turtle coming ashore to lay her eggs in the sand.

Frank enjoying a rare calm day on Big Lake.

Frank getting a few more casts in at the end of the day.

2006 May - Great Pond

We headed back to Bear Spring Camps this spring.  We love fishing on Great Pond in the spring.  This trip we caught the nice fish below.

Esther with a white perch

Frank with a nice smallmouth

2004 Sept - Lake Oseetah, NY

In September we went on vacation to Lake Placid, NY and discovered a wonderful lake for fishing, Oseetah Lake.  We caught a little bit of everything that day: smallmouth, largemouth, perch, northern pike, and I even caught a hornpout! Here's a picture of one of the pike Frank caught.

Frank with a NY pike

These fish are scary and strong as you can see from Frank's reaction below.

The pike trying to get away!

2004 June - Bear Spring Camps, Maine

We rented a cottage for a week at Bear Spring Camps which is right on Great Pond in the Belgrade Lakes region in Maine.

Our cottage at Bear Spring Camps

Early in that week, we were fishing in the late afternoon for bass.  Frank was using a number 2 Mepps spinner, 8-lb test line, and no steel leader, casting into shore when he suddenly had a big hit on his lure.  It took him awhile to bring the fish up and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it!  All I could say was "OMG It's a Pike!!" I helped Frank land it with a really small net and we didn't know what to do with it once we got it in the boat. Frank somehow weighed it, measured it and got it onto a stringer.  What a trophy fish. He now has the record for the largest pike. 

Frank with his 36", 13 lb Pike

Later on in the week I had some success too.  I was determined to learn how to land these pike and not be afraid to handle them.  I caught two that week, but neither were as large as Frank's pike.

Esther landing a pike.

Esther's 24" 6-3/4 lb pike

Esther landing her 24" pike

2003 June 19 - Knops Pond, Groton, Ma

Esther with a trout

Brown trout

It's not very often that I catch a trout.  So when I caught this one, I brought it home and ate it!

2002 Sept - Provincetown, Ma

Esther with her first bluefish

Frank with one of the bluefish he caught

On our vacation in P-town we spent pretty much every day surfcasting for bluefish or stripers. On several occasions, we could see the bluefish just far enough off shore out of our reach. We could see where the fish were by the seagulls flying over the water to pick up the bits of baitfish left behind by the vicious bluefish. 
But we did get lucky on one of our last days when a bluefish blitz came in very close to shore.  We cast as fast as we could and found ourselves running down the beach so we could keep casting into the school of fish.  I only landed one, but Frank caught a couple and a striper as well.  At one point, Frank landed a bluefish and when he turned around he had an audience clapping for him!

2002 May 24th - Maine fishing

Esther with a largemouth bass

Our favorite lake also has some really good sized largemouth bass.