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PONDERING CORE ESSENCE
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The venerable Acme Kastmaster has been just about my most productive lure for stripers from our landing on Casco Bay, Maine. In this quiet water, typical striper offerings like poppers, dog-walkers and swim-baits just don't seem to produce with any consistency. The Kastmaster has the additional benefit of being my favorite mackerel lure (and indeed, mackerel are my favorite striper bait), plus in my preferred 1/8-ounce version, this spoon mimics the tiny bait that is sometimes so prevalent here. Suffice it to say, if mackerel are thick, I've got a Kastmaster tied on. If mackerel are AWOL, I've still probably got a Kastmaster tied on in the hopes of simply lucking into one. And, if bait's an issue and the stripers just aren't biting, I will probably be throwing a Kastmaster, at least intermittently, and especially if swim-baits aren't producing. After six or more hours spread over two recent pre-dawn sessions, I'd certainly established that mackerel were absent. Moreover, sand-worms were producing just sporadic action after complete darkness lifted. Top-waters, swim-baits and epoxy jigs had yet to entice a strike. So, the Kastmaster got a good workout, and a chartreuse-over-silver version, while not exactly on fire, produced a slow pick of a half-dozen strikes, follows and stripers to 21 inches. On my preferred light tackle, each of these fish was fun, and throwing this lure about doubled my action! I was just about ready to give up on my second, soggy morning session when my spoon was intercepted right near the surface at the end of a long cast. When I set the hook, the surface erupted and a couple of pounds of fish flew through the air. Odd behavior for a striper; I assumed I'd hooked into a bluefish. When my "blue" exhibited some brown coloration, I though perhaps I had another Hickory Shad; but then I saw the spots. What the heck? A dozen feet away, I realized I had a Salmo. Even when this fish was in hand, I couldn't tell if it were Salmo trutta (Brown Trout) or Salmo salar (Atlantic Salmon). I still don't know for sure, although I'd lean towards Atlantic Salmon based on the conical head and x-shaped spots. Regardless, this was an unforeseen catch. I noticed no clipped fins, and so it could have been a wild fish; it could have been an escaped farm salmon, or it could have been a lost brown. I just know that I never expected to encounter such a fish from this spot; nor do I expect to catch another one, here. I handled her gently, and she swam away; off to who knows where. This is just another example of why I love fishing so much. You just never really know what might happen! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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I have been looking at the Gano Street boat ramp on the Seekonk River at the head of Narragansett Bay in Providence, Rhode Island for at least six or eight years. I've long wanted the opportunity to launch and explore here; while it is within a handful of miles from my childhood home, things have changed for the better in so many ways. I thought it would be an interesting trip to share with my girls. Well, Sunday June 28, 2020 was my last logical chance; I was retrieving my youngest from her college digs for the last time. I'd offered her a local "cruise"; if it didn't happen this day, it was not going to happen for a while! Despite the threat of future thunderstorms, we launched at about 10 AM and decided to head down-river to the Bay. Just below the I-195 bridge, I noticed some nervous water and snagged my first Narragansett Bay bunker from a thick school in quite a while. Ultimately, we headed up the Providence River as far as we dared and got a different perspective of the city. Returning, we encountered some more bait just below the hurricane barrier, and my sand eel bait got chopped in half by a bluefish. I couldn't entice any others to bite, and we concluded our short cruise in time to be the traffic and storms home. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways |
Steve LachanceVia Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Michigan and now, back to New England! Archives
June 2024
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