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 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.

2022 Aug 28-30 Bear Spring Camp

 We spent 3 nights at our favorite fishing camp and had a great time. The weather was tough— very hot and sunny during the day and the wind was a constant 10 mph which made boat control and casting a challenge. We had my brother George with us this year and this was his first experience at a fishing camp. The food was very good, and I think we all gained a couple of pounds! Here are just some of the fish we caught this trip.

George with the largest Pickerel caught this trip

We all caught at least 1 smallmouth but Frank got the biggest ones this trip.

Frank with his 3-1/4lb smallmouth

And I saved the best for last. We come to this lake for the Pike. I was lucky enough to catch a 28”Pike this trip.

Esther with her 28” Pike

Frank with his Pike.

George caught a Pike too!

Esther with one of the crappies she caught.

Esther and George - a couple of tired fisherpeople resting up before heading out one more time!

2022 June 10 - Fishing with my brother George

 We had a great weekend fishing with my brother George. I think we timed it just right this year in Maine because we caught a lot of bass, and the weather was fine. Too many pictures to post so here are some of the highlights.

George with just one of his largemouth bass

Esther happy with her largemouth bass too

George with a smallmouth bass this time. They were few and far between this trip.

Notice George keeps smiling more and more as the days went by just having a great time.

Of course, Frank saved the best for last! Catching the biggest bass of the weekend!

2020 Sept 17 - Water is Getting Cooler

 As the season winds down, we notice the air and water are getting cooler now.  And that brings back the action with certain types of fish. Pickerel have been pretty abundant and we have caught a few nice smallmouth bass as well.

Frank with one of the pickerel he caught.

Esther with a nice smallmouth bass

2019 May 27 - First Maine Fishing Trip of the Year

We are glad to be back in Maine and the fish are biting! We had some nice weather over Memorial Day weekend and were able to get out on our favorite lake. We caught a couple of nice bass but did not bother to measure or weigh them. We caught a few smallmouth bass which is a good sign. They have gotten scarce over the years on this lake.

Esther with a smallmouth bass

Looks like Frank is off to a good start this fishing season!

Frank with his First really large bass of the year.

2018 Aug 23 - 25 - Bear Spring Camps- Frank beat me!

Frank with his first nice Smallie

We headed off to one of our favorite fishing camps in Maine, Bear Spring Camps and got out on the water right after lunch.  The woman in the cabin next door warned us that fishing had been very slow the week she was here. We hoped we could prove her wrong and Frank got off to a good start by catching this nice smallmouth bass right away. Then it did get slow and it was another 3 hours until we got into some good action.

Frank with a second smallie

Esther with her only catch of the day, a small pike

Now things got really good for Frank!  He caught a decent pike.

Frank's first big pike

Then he caught the prize fish of the whole day -- a 29" Pike!!! We measured this one together, Frank wanted to make sure there were no mistakes like last year.

Frank with his 29" Pike

 He didn't stop there and ended the day with a nice largemouth bass.

Frank with a nice Largemouth bass

End of the day: Frank 5, Esther 1

Fishing was very slow the next 2 days.  The days were sunny and hot and the wind was too much so it made getting into spots almost impossible. We caught some smallies and largemouth bass but not very many and nothing very big. Frank caught a white perch and I caught a Crappie which is unusual so I took a picture of that fish.

Esther with a Crappie

Frank discovered trolling was a good way to catch since we could not navigate close enough to the reed beds we wanted to fish. That was how he caught his big Pike the first day so we trolled some more on the last day. It paid off and I caught a pickerel and a pike trolling with spinner baits.

Esther with a pickerel

Esther with another small pike

Late in the day I was ready to give up, but Frank wasn't.  He did give up fishing however, so he could better handle the boat in this tough wind.  He drove the boat back and forth close enough to the reeds for me to get multiple casts in.  I had a couple of strikes but I still hadn't landed a big one. My arms were ready to fall off and I decided to switch to a no. 5 Silver Mepps I saw in my tackle box.
First cast and Bam! I caught my big Pike of the weekend.

Esther with a 26" Pike

Mine was not as big as Frank's but I was happy to catch this one.  I owe it all to Frank who was so persistent and willing to give up fishing so I could have the chance!
End score for the weekend:
a tie in the number of fish caught,
but Frank's Pike was bigger and his generosity was the biggest!

2018 June 15-17 My brother Beat Me in Fishing!

As mentioned in an earlier post (1950's - My Fishing Partner), my brother George and I have always competed in everything growing up, especially fishing!  This weekend was no exception.




I was all smiles as I started off strong using my wacky worm and landed some good sized bass. Here is a nice Small mouth bass.

Frank and George were fishing spinners, and not having the success I was having.  So they switched to wacky worms and sure enough that shut down my luck and the wacky worm stopped working!


Next, George pulled a 3 hook gold/black colored Rapela out of his tackle box, threw that out, and brought it in with a slow retrieve. 

Bam!! George found the right lure and the right technique and starting pulling in one fish after another!

I wasn't worried at first, just glad that someone was catching a lot of fish. Besides, Rapelas are not my favorite lures anymore after 2 infamous hooking accidents in the past. 





But after awhile, I started to get concerned (see the look on my face and the smug and happy look on George's face)

Was my brother going to out fish me?






Now I was the one switching lures! I put on a light green/silver 2 hook Rapela.  But whether it  was the wrong color, the wrong size or my technique - it just didn't work.
And George kept pulling in more bass. Honestly, there are just too many photos to post here, but here is one of George's smallies.

George's luck continued the next day, on another pond. Same lure, same technique. Here he is with a 2-1/2 lb smallie.









 
After the weekend ended, I went to the store.

So all I can say now is "Game on George - can't wait until next year!"

2017 Aug - Summer Fishing with my Niece

 Here is my niece, Caitlin enjoying the boat ride with her friend Jeremy in his fishing boat he named "Fury".

Fishing is slower in the summer but I did manage to catch one nice Smallmouth bass.

Esther caught a nice Smallmouth Bass

 I didn't get any pictures of Frank's fish but I did get this one of him when he borrowed my hat for awhile!

Frank in my hat!

It was a slow day for everyone, but Jeremy caught his best fish when we got back to our dock.

Jeremy with a nice Pickerel

When we are not fishing, we are always amazed at the wildlife you can see when you take the time to look around. The wildlife tend to come out at night to hunt for food. Here we found a crayfish and a snapping turtle.