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

2020 Aug 22-23 - Summer Fishing

 I think the fishing has been pretty good even in the summer. We have seen more people at their camps since no one has to go to work anymore.  Not a lot of fisherman though, which works for me!

We tried a different larger lake today.  But unfortunately we almost got skunked! We were headed in when Frank got a vigorous take. A strong white perch. We do not catch these that often, we believe they like fresh worms which we do not use. At least he caught something!

Frank with his catch of the day.  No more COVID beard!

When I am not catching fish, I really enjoy being outdoors and seeing wildlife. Today we were lucky to see an Eagle land high in a tree near us.  I think the eagle was eyeing Frank's catch.

2020 June 25 - Be Hoppy, I mean Be Happy on the Lake

 

Frank enjoying the tranquility of being on the Lake

We had a beautiful calm late afternoon fishing trip. Again, we had the whole lake to ourselves. 

I have been having a lot of luck this year using a rubber frog in the thick lily pads. Here is just one of the bass I have caught that way this year.

2020 June 6 - "Old Man and the Sea"

Back in Maine.  Weather has been good but we caught some rain on this trip on the lake. 

Here is Frank doing his best impression of the Old Man and the Sea! His COVID beard has filled in quite nicely now. Still no haircut.

  

2020 May 22-23 - First Fishing Trip of the Season

 We have come up to Maine to start our season at our favorite lake. It is eerily quiet on the lake and on the roads to drive up here. Everyone is self-quarantining to stay safe from this dreadful COVID virus.  It feels pretty normal at our camp though as we do not routinely see many people here. 

The black flies are out but it did not stop us from catching our first fish of the season.

Esther with a nice largemouth bass.
I have to remember to stop wearing that hat, it looks ridiculous if I pull it too tight under my chin!

Of course Frank had to beat me with his bass! 
Frank has started to grow a COVID beard in protest of not being able to get a haircut!

2019 July 20 - Fishing with Cait and Travis

A heatwave moved in this weekend in the 90s so we started our fishing in the morning which is unusual for us.  My niece, Cait, and her friend Travis joined us this weekend. It was very slow fishing and we were not sure if the fish were going to bite, so I took the picture of the first fish caught that day by Travis!

Travis with his first fish of the day!

The fishing started to pick up and we all (except for Cait) started catching a variety of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and perch.

Travis with a largemouth bass

 Not to be left behind, Cait persisted and tried different lures until she finally pulled in what I believe was the largest bass of the day! I think it was her "little purple rapela" that made this big bass bite.

Cait with the biggest bass of the day!

2019 June 8 - Monster Pickerel

Today we headed to Maranacook Lake.
We have really enjoyed fishing for a few days with my brother.  We put in a lot of hours and the fish were fewer than we would have liked.  But the prize for the weekend goes to my brother for pulling in this monster on the last day of fishing- a 26" pickerel that weighed just over 3.5 lbs! This one fish made it all worthwhile. It is as large as some of the Pike we have caught in the past and it is larger than any pickerel we have caught to-date!

George with a 26" 3.5 plus lb Pickerel

Another highlight of the day was seeing a Bald eagle fly into a tree to eat a fish he had in his talons. He landed pretty much right over our heads.

Eagle eating a fish