2017 June - Smallmouth Bass

Esther with a nice Smallmouth bass

Fishing in Maine has been pretty good this spring. It is always nice to catch a Smallmouth bass because they are not as plentiful as they used to be on our favorite lake in Maine.

2017 June - Fishing with George in Maine

My brother came to visit for a fishing weekend and the fishing was great! We didn't keep count and I wish we had because we caught so many fish. The weather was so much better this year than when he visited last year. We had so much fun, I think we spent at least 8 hours every day in the boat fishing! Here is just a small sampling of the fish we caught.

Esther with largemouth bass

George with largemouth bass

Frank with largemouth bass

Frank and George had several Double Hookups all day!

We saw lots of wildlife too. We saw a deer swimming across the lake. And we saw a beaver up close. He was not very happy with us and smacked his tail loudly on the water trying to scare us. I did get a couple of pictures of the beaver.

Beaver swimming underwater close to our boat

Beaver swimming away

2017 May - Maine

We have started to go to Maine for some fishing. Unfortunately the weather has been very cold and rainy this spring so I don't have much to say about the fishing yet.  We did get out for a little while and we had the pond all to ourselves! We saw lots of wildlife which is always fun.

Beautiful peaceful late afternoon in Maine

One of the 2 Duck families we saw on the edge of the pond.

Mink - I saw a little creature like this running along the banking.

American Bittern - first time I have ever seen this type of bird sitting in a marshy area.

2017 April - Barracuda in Bahamas

Barracuda

I was not fishing I was actually snorkeling when I noticed a large approx 3' long fish hanging just below the surface of the water.  Using my underwater camera I got some pictures, but I did not want to get too close!
There were so many fish to see, I felt like I was in an aquarium.  I also saw a sea turtle and a group of 3 Squid but that was before I had my camera so I did not get any underwater shots of them.  But here are the pictures of some of the fish I saw.

Meanwhile Frank was fishing from shore, but never caught a fish :-(

2016 Oct - Bone Fishing in Bermuda

Daniels Head Beach

The next day in Bermuda we went to Daniel's Head Beach Park in Bermuda to try and catch some Bonefish. We had a beautiful day and we had the beach completely to ourselves.










 Frank waded in and immediately started seeing schools of Bonefish.

Frank fishing for Bonefish

The Bonefish swim in circles at the surface of the water in attempts to catch the baitfish. At times we saw schools of baitfish jumping out of the water in "waves" as the Bonefish swam into the schools to eat them.
It was frustrating to see them all day long and not able to catch even one.

Bonefish

I waded in as well and was amazed at the schools of fish that would swim all around me,

School of small bait fish

School of larger fish

I saw other sea life as well. First I saw a Sea Turtle, but it would not come in close enough for me to get a good photo.

Sea Turtle

The next sea life gave me quite a start  -- I thought it was a snake! Then I heard there are no snakes in Bermuda, so I researched it when I got home and found pictures of eels that are in the Caribbean.  I believe this was an eel, the markings are different on sea snakes. I still don't like the idea of coming across an eel either, so I will definitely keep my eyes open whenever I am in the water.

2016 Oct - Fishing in Bermuda

Frank getting ready to catch some fish!

Whenever we go on vacation Frank brings his travel rod. No matter where we are in the world he brings it hoping he will find some peace and quiet and some good fishing. It doesn't usually work out if we are on a tour or in a foreign country but his persistence paid off this time! We took a cruise to Bermuda and Frank had some good luck fishing right off the pier where the cruise boat docks.

Frank with a Yellow Tailed Jack fish

I went to the beach but came back to snap a photo of one of his catch, a Yellow Tailed Jack fish.



















While on his own he caught some other fish and took these photos himself.

Frank's Pin fish

But the prize of the day and a new record (in our on-going competition) was won when he caught his first Tuna! This species of tuna is called Little Tunny.  He said it gave him quite the fight on his light tackle. I wish I had been there with him fishing instead of swimming.

Frank's Little Tunny fish

2016 End of Sept in Maine

Another fishing season has come to an end for us in Maine. It was a little chilly, in the 60's, but the cooler weather got the fish biting!

Esther with a 23" pickerel

 

 

Frank ending his season with a nice Largemouth bass

Esther managed to catch a nice largemouth too on the last day

We always manage to see something unusual when we are out on the water and this trip was no exception.  I noticed a small bird swimming in the water and I knew it was not a duck, it was much too small. 

Small bird swimming near rock

The bird swam a short distance and crawled up onto a rock and I saw what the problem was -- the bird had a freshwater clam clamped onto one of its legs.  So it could not fly with this weight. 

Small bird with clam on leg

We tried to get close but could not get close enough to help the bird. Hopefully the clam will let go and the bird will get to fly away.

This was not the only unusual thing we saw. We were nearing the pond outlet when I looked down in the water and was amazed to see many small freshwater jellyfish!  I have only seen this one other time on a pond in Massachusetts many years ago.  When I told someone about the freshwater jellyfish, they did not believe me - so look it up on Google! They do exist.

Fresh water jellyfish

 The jellyfish are not very big, many the size of a dime or smaller.  It says on the internet that they are not harmful to humans but I was not crazy about seeing them on this pond we have been fishing for 25 years now.