NUMENON |
PONDERING CORE ESSENCE
NUMENON |
Happy New Year! In no particular order, may I offer my modest Fishing Goals for 2021: 1. 200 Stripers for the season 2. Share a fresh fish meal with Uncle M 3. Catch my biggest ever striper 4. Catch a false albacore! 5. Catch a 6-pound "bass" (green, brown or sea-) 6. Catch a 20-inch trout! 7. Successfully fish new water 8. Successfully implement a new technique 9. Somebody new in the boat 10. Launch Numenon *** 200 Stripers for the season This is my new benchmark for a season of chasing stripers. Given enough time on the water, it's doable. Plus, if I've landed 200 stripers, I have certainly experienced many more strikes, splashes, follows and misses. I'll probably have enjoyed a lot of by-catch along the way. And, I know I'll have had a lot of fun! Share a fresh fish meal with Uncle M It won't be the meal so much as the preparation, execution and success that it represents. Plus, with a cooler full of ice on board, maybe a few gyotaku specimens will find their way home and get me going on that again, too. Catch my biggest ever striper This is a standing goal for every trip. But it's more realistic over the course of the entire season. If I catch it while actually hunting big fish, that will be even better. Catch a false albacore! There's no magic to this; it's a matter of patience and opportunity. But, I will gladly accept a little good luck, too. If I stumble into good fishing for other species along the way, I am fine with that. Catch a 6-pound "bass" (green, brown or sea-) Any of these is truly an outstanding fish. I'd like to think that I might chase freshwater bass on some quality water this season, but if I am unable to do so, the idea of landing a giant sea bass is an appealing alternative. Catch a 20-inch trout! Whether caught through the ice, from the sea, casting or trolling, any 20-inch trout is a beautiful, worthy goal. Successfully fish new water Kaizen! The pursuit of continuous improvement and growth in my collected fishing endeavors is one reason why I like it so much. A quality experience on unfamiliar water pulls it all together and validates the effort; but it also unlocks unknown potential for the future. This positive feedback loop can be a powerful agent of beneficial change. Successfully implement a new technique This is always a worthwhile goal for the same arguments as presented above. Plus, it might involve fun new stuff or shiney new things, for which I am sometimes a bit of a sucker. In many ways it offers a chance to practice my model of Anticipation! Participation! and Elaboration! repeatedly, so whatever success I might encounter, I can enjoy it many times over. Somebody new in the boat Too much of my New England fishing has been solitary. I enjoy the freedom and flexibility of this, and I likely fish best alone, but I miss my Michigan friends and hosting others on my boat(s). It's always nice to share a good experience, and it can be a nice reminder to see familiar things through new eyes. Launch Numenon She has been patiently resting on her trailer in Maine, waiting for things to settle down. There's a lot of potential for her up there, so I hope she's ready to go when we have the chance! *** Of course, I am reserving the right to amend or append; I already have a number of ideas rattling around in the back of my subconscious. Regardless, here's to an Excellent 2021! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
0 Comments
This is borrowed from the "fishing side" of my blog, above and posted at the December 12, 2020 entry at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing. I don't like to double-dip content, but it's as useful here as it is there, and it's as powerful a way to wrap up my 2020 Fishing Season Experience as any. See you in 2021! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Most would admit; 2020 was quite the year! It was my first year "back" in New England, and things didn't go according to my plan, or anybody else's plan, either. However, I could socially distance from others while on the ice, in my waders, or on the deck of my skiff, the amybaby22. We'd all been given lemons. I tried to make as much lemonade as possible. My fishing year unfolded slowly, with iffy ice conditions (at best) and an uncertain and unproductive start to my pursuit of stocked trout. Having not fished at all in the last few months of 2019, I was getting truly antsy by the time I finally landed a few trout at late ice (February) and in local ponds in April. Striped bass occupied most of my thoughts and effort. From May through October I fished for little else. While "keepers" between 28 and 35 inches were pretty darn scarce for me, I caught a lot of really nice fish on light tackle. These included my biggest striper in seven years (37 inches), a surprising saltwater brown trout, and an array of other by-catch including bluefish, menhaden, hickory shad, scup, sea bass, sea robins, flounder and mackerel. With no real issues encountered for the season, the occasional company of a loved one, and a bunch of beautiful sunrises observed, I'd have to call it a successful season... despite the underlying circumstances. And, as of today, November 8, the amybaby22 still is available to serve; and an unseasonably nice stretch of weather lies ahead. I choose the right to amend and amend to this post should anything good happen in the remaining days of 2020. Enjoy! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Many would likely agree that 2020 has been, in the main, something of a bummer. Still, 2020 has offered some benefits, including a lot of bonus, unexpected time with loved ones, a freer work schedule and an allowance to focus on truly important matters. I am not going to claim that the capture of my 200th striper of the 2020 season was truly important. But the pursuit of each and every one of them has brought me peace and happiness. And, I've never landed so many in a single season. So, I might as well recognize this unique-to-me milestone as simply a Good Thing in 2020. All is not lost; there will be more good things to come. Of that, I am quite certain. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways It didn't turn out to be much of an albie chase, but my recent week on Cape Cod was a worthwhile fishing trip! After a brief encounter with some visible funny fish, including a few casts with an epoxy jig in their general vicinity on the first evening, I'm not sure I had another shot all week. The wind and the good striper fishing kept me inside the ponds, and when I did make it out to Vineyard Sound, I just never found the tunoids. Oh well, I'll run into them someday. Our temporary neighbors did, right outside Waquoit Bay outlet, on the evening of Saturday, September 26. I'd covered miles of ocean that day without knowingly crossing paths with a funny fish. Despite that, I still managed to learn some new spots and entertained myself with a variety of fish. All of the fishing details for the trip are chronicled at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing/archives/09-2020 . While it was awesome to enjoy such quality, light tackle fishing for the week, it is still the prospect of catching an albie that will likely bring me back next fall. Enjoy some pictures of my Cape Cod "Albie Chase" for 2020; I enjoyed taking them! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways One of the motivations for my 2019 move to Massachusetts was to be closer to relatives and property in Maine. Well, the situations of 2020 have variously kept us away, but everything lined up (including negative COVID test results) for the last week of August. I was able to enjoy a week off work there with family, while amybaby22 was moored just off our landing on Casco Bay. We all enjoyed a fine week of visiting, relaxing and (speaking for myself) fishing! The fishing was tough! Wind, weather, weeds and the doldrums of August all conspired to slow the striper bite. But it was still rewarding, and I learned a lot while able to enjoy some moderate success, including one of the largest stripers I've ever taken in Maine. The excruciating fishing details are available at the September 3, 2020 post at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing if of any interest, but all others can simply know that it was a badly needed, restorative week. This might be interesting - On just about subsequent days, I flicked my glasses into the bay (forever to be lost), punted my GoPro into the sea (to be recovered the next morning by my aquatic daughter), and lost my phone in the crawl space of our home. Each of these set-backs was overcome through preparedness, athleticism or resources, and so no real harm came from the (upsetting) events. Contemporaneously, A provided me with this story: www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/clumsy-quarantine-breaking-glass/615832/ So maybe my spatial awareness is lacking, or my mental state isn't exactly where it should be. Or maybe I was simply keeping track of, and using, too much stuff while sleep deprived. Still, 2020 has been a difficult one, and it was great to get away for this week! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways 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 My starting point for this story is August of 2000, when I accidentally captured my first striped bass. That encounter is described at numenon.blogspot.com/2012/07/stripers.html , and while I don't have a picture of that glorious Maine specimen, she is burnt into my memory and she fired up my passion for chasing stripers. I am thankful that she appeared in my life. That it occurred in such an unlikely manner reminds me that I have been on the favored side of some thin line of luck. While I waited almost 37 years to catch my first, it took almost 20 years (19.5 of which I was a resident of fish-blessed but striper-less Michigan) for this to happen; I just caught my 1,000th Documented Striper! K joined me for this special session. She's welcomed aboard at any time, and her participation brought this within reach on this day. The details are in the June 18, 2020 entry at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing, but let's just agree that it was a beautiful, fun and relaxed day, but one in which the stripers were running on the small side. While I'd envisioned an over-slot fish of greater than 35 inches to pair appropriately with my first, Striper No. 1,000 actually came loose as I grabbed the leader, and it escaped without a photograph. K quickly came through with a twin, though, and so her smile will have to make up for the missed opportunity to capture the true moment as well as for the lack of impressive size for the day's bass. I'll have to settle with the picture below of Striper No. 1,001! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways When I picked up the amybaby22 last year, I knew I would be in position to expand my striped bass horizons. To appease my daydreams, I picked up a variety of reliable Hogy lures. I've used the Hogy Epoxy Jigs successfully for stripers, blues, jacks and little tuna, but to date had not even tried many of the other lures I'd purchased. A recent day-trip to Buzzards Bay changed that, and I enjoyed success on a few new baits and techniques. Fishing new water, I need a bait that provided quick coverage! Plus, I love top-waters, so it was natural to choose a Hogy Popper. I usually use poppers in a slow, deliberate and hopefully vulnerable manner, but on this day, I fished it rather frantically in areas of moving water. Sure enough, a pair of stripers found it in short order. The first, a 21-incher, provided a crushing hit near the boat, and the second, although only about 14 inches big, totally choked the lure head-first. They both wanted it! When I relocated to some heavier water and could not maintain functional contact with the popper, I switched to a subsurface presentation; the Hogy Original, 10-inches long, on a 3/4-ounce jig head. Although I had a couple of touches at first on a slow, darting retrieve, this lure got crushed by a fat 24-incher when I fished it faster, perhaps imitating a herring. When the fog burned off, I lost touch with the stripers, so I switched to sea bass. Jigging with a large Epoxy Jig in green and then switching to a Hogy Heavy Jig in pink kept my rod bent for the next hour-and-a-half. Just these few baits kept me well-equipped and in the game for a very pleasant day of fishing. I've got plenty of other Hogy lures in my bag, too, and I look forward to getting them out when the proper conditions present themselves. There's nothing secret or fancy about this selection of baits; and I certainly don't mean for this to be a commercial; I just like recognizing that it finally all came together to be a good Hogy Day on the water. Specific details of this particular session can be found at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing/buzzards-bay-on-a-weekday , while Hogy lures can be inspected at hogylures.com . Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways Officially under home quarantine, I find there's an abundance of opportunity for screen time. I thought I'd put some of that time towards the interests of Citizen Science, and I have embarked upon my quest to become a Herring King. In October 2019, when I finally learned what my address in Massachusetts would be, one of the first things I noted about my new neighborhood was the proximity of the Mystic Lakes. As I sought information on the fishing opportunities they might offer, I quickly found a link to the Mystic River Watershed Association and their stewardship of the local anadromous herring run. While my initial thoughts were self-centered and focused on the potential for herring-hound stripers to be chasing bait nearly to my doorstep, as I poked around on their website, I became interested in their data and the possibility of participating in their herring quantification efforts. Below, you can see that the local run has generally increased in recent years. To me, the most interesting data reveals the timing of the run(s), and the importance of local weather, water temperature and (possibly) moon phase to the number of active fish over the course of the season. I have already optimistically fished below the dam separating Upper from Lower Mystic Lake a few times. Perhaps overly optimistically and prematurely, but surely there's a good chance that I will eventually run into some stripers (or perhaps some real bucketmouth bass) with an appetite for herring here. Regardless, I want to be there when it goes down! My last trip to the dam (chronicled at the April 26, 2020 entry at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing) featured some cormorants in addition to the bald eagle(s) and the osprey I am used to seeing here. They all expected some fish to be around. The historical graphs above seem to indicate that the local run here has likely started, but really hasn't kicked in. Water temperatures still need to creep up just a tiny bit, we need some sustained sunshine, and I need to pay continued attention to moon phase. Let favorable conditions coincide during the few days preceding a full moon, and I suspect I might have a chance at some quality swim-bait or topwater action, close to home! Meanwhile, I am spending some time helping to estimate the herring runs for 2019 and 2020 at www.mysticherring.org/video#/ . I am confident in my ability to carefully observe and count, and I enjoy simply seeing the herrings swim by. After about 250 short videos and over 6,000 herrings counted, my time helped refine the estimated run for 2019 and the associated margin of error. Science! Double meanwhile, I became aware (via a comment on a recent On the Water magazine article) of a similar effort for Town Brook in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Their live camera is located at www.plymouth-ma.gov/marine-and-environmental-affairs/pages/fish-camera There have been plenty of live herring to observe so far in 2020 in this smaller, warmer watershed. I've lent time to their counting efforts, too, and I am curious how the magnitude of this run will compare to that documented on the Mystic. I never thought I'd ever aspire to be a Herring King. I also never thought I'd be quarantined during a pandemic. While these are indeed strange times, I guess this is just one way for me to make the most of them. 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
Categories
All
|