2023 Nov - Fishing on Manasota Key Florida

 We had a spectacular time in Florida and we caught lots of fish! The final count of our catch was:

Frank: 13 Ladyfish, 11 Lizard fish, a spotted sea trout, 2 Spanish mackerel, 5 grunts and a greenback (baitfish)

Esther: 6 Ladyfish, 6 Lizard fish, 1 Spanish Mackerel, 11 Grunts ( I believe some of these were Pompano),  1 pinfish, a baby Tilefish, and a sand crab

So you can see Frank outfished me on this trip!

Here are some of our catch.

I believe this is a Pompano. We caught several of these.

Esther with a Ladyfish

One of Frank’s large Ladyfish

One of Esther’s Lizard fish

Frank with a Spanish Mackerel

Esther with her only Spanish Mackerel

Frank’s Sea Trout

A Grunt

A pinfish

I pulled in some sea weed and this little fish fell out! It is a TileFish. So I think I get the prize for the smallest fish.

Frank’s little baitfish, a Greenback

I also caught this little creature which is called a Sand Flea or Sand Crab.

2023 Aug 28 - Last day at Bear Spring Camps

 

Early morning looking over Great Pond

The day started off nice and calm and beautiful.  

We went fishing in the morning, but it was too sunny, and the fish were hard to find.

Frank caught a small pickerel, a smallish Pike, and a good-sized white Perch. The only fish I caught was a 28" Pike when we were on our way in for lunch around 12:30.

Esther with a 28" Pike

The wind kicked up and there were white caps on the pond after lunch!  We decide to give it a go anyway and hoped Chutes Island would give us some protection from the wind and perhaps hold some fish. The fishing and wind were not good there so we crossed the pond to get protection in the North Bay.  Fishing was still not good. We only caught 2 yellow perch and 1 pickerel and it was impossible to do anymore, so we headed in early.  We had hoped it would calm down as the afternoon went on, but it did not.  A nice neighbor came out to help us land at our dock, it was so choppy! 

2023 Aug 27 - Day 2 Fishing at Bear Spring Camps

 We got on the water around 10:30 am after breakfast and fished until 1:30 pm and then broke for lunch.

Frank caught a perch, 2 smallmouth, and a largemouth bass.  I caught a 21" and a 24" Pike, a pickerel, and a nice smallmouth.

Frank with one of his smallmouths

Esther with one of her Pike

It was a little unnerving but interesting to watch a seaplane that was practicing takeoff and landing quite near to us!

We went out fishing in the evening again. This time I caught a 24" Pike, a 27" Pike, a pickerel, and a 23" pickerel. Unfortunately, Frank did not catch anything tonight.  I think my #4 Mepps with the silver blade and Orange tail was the key to my catching.

Esther with her 27" Pike - They keep getting bigger!

As the sun went down, we were treated to some pretty skies on this calm night.

2023 Aug 26 - Bear Spring Camps

 We returned to one of our favorite places Bear Spring Camps to fish Great Pond in Maine. We always stay at Bear Spring Camps. You get 2 homecooked meals a day, a cabin and a boat to rent.  All you need to do is fish all day! 

We got on the water at 1:00 pm and it was very hot all afternoon. We fished until 5:30 when it started to rain, took a break for dinner and then went back out and fished 7-8:15 pm. Frank did really good on this first day by catching 12 fish: 6 smallmouth (2 large ones), 2 perch, 2 northern pike, a pickerel, and 1 decent-sized largemouth.  Frank used Mepps, a large jointed orange Rapala and a large #5 Mepps with stinger hook.

I didn't catch as many fish and told Frank I was holding out for the big ones. I caught 2 very small smallmouth bass, a 20" smallmouth and a 20" Pike - the largest Pike of the day. I caught my fish on a Hula Popper and a #4 Mepps silver blade with Orange skirt.

Esther posing very stylishly in her new fishing shirt holding her 20" Pike

Esther with her 20" Smallmouth bass

As the rain ended we were treated to a nice rainbow 

2023 Aug 6 - Summer Bass

 

Frank with the biggest bass of the summer!

Fishing has been slow since the water has gotten so warm in the summer months.  We may not catch a lot of fish but occasionally we catch a good one. Today was Frank’s day with this largemouth that gave him a good fight. He actually thought he was stuck on a rock when the fish first hit his lure! It wasn’t a rock it was this lunker! We tried to get a weight on him, but unfortunately the scale was not working properly.

2023 Aug 3 - Baby Loon Has Grown

Mother loon with baby

It has only been 3 weeks since we saw this baby loon but the change is dramatic. It was a fluffy brown newborn and now it is so much bigger!

It was a good day for seeing wildlife. We also saw a Bald Eagle land in a tall pine tree right near us. It was watching us fish probably hoping we would leave a fish for it to scoop up. We saw an eagle earlier this year, dive down and grab a fish right from the surface of the water. I didn’t get a picture of that but did get one picture today.

2023 July 22 - Baby Loon

 

Baby Loon and  mother Loon

One of the things I love about being on a lake, pond, or river is the chance to see wildlife. Today we were rewarded and got to see this cute little baby loon with its mother.

Of course, we were out fishing. The fish were few and far between but I did catch this nice largemouth.

2023 July 20 - Smallmouth Bass Fishing

 

Esther with a nice Smallmouth Bass

I have started to fish with the wacky worm to get down into the cooler waters. It worked on this trip and I caught a nice Smallmouth Bass! They are definitely harder to catch and they like to jump out of the water once hooked. That is when I usually lose them, but this one I caught.

2023 June 23 Summer Begins in Maine

Summer officially started 2 days ago and it was quite warm in Maine when we went fishing again. Predictably, the warm weather also  makes it harder to catch fish because they like to go down into the cooler water. I did manage to catch 1 large bass hiding in the lilly pads. 

2023 June 11 Last Full Day Fishing with my Brother

 We put in another full day of fishing. Today was a sunnier day but the fishing continued to be outstanding!

Frank with a really nice smallmouth bass!

It was exciting to see Frank land a nice smallmouth bass today. They are harder to find and to catch than a largemouth. I usually lose them because they like to jump out of the water to throw the hook.

A nice way to end the trip with a double-hookup!

George and Frank had a double hook-up when they both landed good sized largemouth bass at the same time. This wasn’t the only time this trip that this had happened but I got the best picture this time. We even had a triple hookup once with me catching a bass at the same time too —  but that left no one to take the picture -- so you will have to take my word for it!

2023 June 10 Taking a Break from Fishing

 Even the most avid fishermen need to take a break once in awhile. We fished all day but went out for pizza and played a little Cornhole later on. Of course my brother, the horseshoe champion beat us both soundly!

George and Frank playing Cornhole

2023 June 9 more Fishing with my brother

The weather has gotten better and is perfect with a mixture of clouds and sun and just the right temperature. The fishing was great no matter where we went. Here are just a few of the many largemouth bass we caught that day.

George with one of his big bass, Esther below with one of hers

Another great bass for George

2023 June 8 Fishing with my Brother George

Today is the first day of a fishing trip with my brother and my husband.  It started off rainy but we didn’t let that stop us. We just suited up with our rain gear and off we went and we had fun anyway.

Esther is her rain suit with a large mouth bass

George all smiles with his catch despite the rain!

Frank with a largemouth bass.

Frank is usually busy driving the boat, but he does manage to catch  a lot of fish too.

2023 May 14 - Maine

 

Esther with 3 lb largemouth

We opened our camp this week and got to go out fishing on 2 different days. The first day we caught a lot of pickerel, some bass, 1 yellow perch and 1 shiner. We could see the bait fish and jumping out of the water to get away from the larger fish, so we knew exactly where to cast. 

Today we caught a lot largemouth bass and they were pretty good size. This was the largest at 3 lbs even. It was awfully cold and windy today but we still had fun.

So for the record- Frank caught the first fish of the season, but I caught the largest bass!