On The Water 1/5/05

1. Flooding rains, blizzard, cold, warm – Mother Nature keeps slinging the nasty weather our way. As a result, I have another easy column to write this week because nothing much is happening.
2. The recent warm spell, heavy rains and snow caused a slowdown in ice-fishing activity as it well should. The ice had water on it last week, and many local ponds had big holes eroding on the surface. Sure there’s safe ice out there, but I’d travel north to find it. Anywhere south of the “snow belt,” be careful because many lakes near the coast have spots that will kill you! Pulling a fish through a six-inch hole just isn’t worth the risk where I live, close to the coast, where the rain was of longer duration and heavier and temps are always more moderate.
3. If the weather remains mild and water levels drop, broodstock salmon fishing in the Naugatuck and Shetucket rivers will become a valid option. Possibly, fishing for sea-run trout in coastal estuaries that have been stocked for this purpose may materialize on the local fishing menu. If these two fisheries develop and become worthwhile, ice fishing will remain iffy. If it gets cold, forget the salmon and sea-runs, and start boring some holes in the hardwater.
4. Thomcat Pelletier sent me an e-mail saying that Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle, which suffered a total loss from fire a few weeks ago, will rebuild, bigger and better than ever! That’s saying something! Quaker Lane is a great tackle shop with topnotch people running it. It’s too far for me to get there very often, but over the years I’ve heard many people say good things about the quality service this place provided to all of its customers, not just the old ones.
5. A close friend of mine, who’d never been to Quaker Lane before, took a motor there for some minor but oddball repair that he couldn’t do himself. Whoever he talked to realized how far he had traveled, had him go out for a long lunch rather than return in a few days, and fixed it literally on the spot. That’s the kind of stuff I’ve heard about these guys at Quaker Lane. They will be back “with bells on,” as my buddy Gil used to say. Thomcat said there isn’t any timetable for their return at this point. However, they will be at the RISAA show in Providence at the end of March and will hopefully have a better handle on how things are progressing for their faithful customers at that time. All my best wishes in their resurrection.
6. This week, as will be the case for the remainder of the winter, the Thames River is not only the best but also the only game in town. Due to all of this unsettled weather and constant pressure drops with each storm, the fishing has been excellent for about four weeks now. This is surprising because there were so many heavy, flooding rains that pushed the bait out early that one would assume the bass would have followed it out to sea and hence there should be a smaller winter run than “normal,” if there is such a thing in nature. In the past, reduced numbers of wintering fish have been the general rule following a series of heavy, late-season rains. Rules are made to be broken, as that does not appear to be the case this year.
7. Rennie at the Fish Connection said that on Sunday one customer caught 101 stripers from the rocks where the Shetucket River dumps into the harbor (as the pressure was dropping). Another on Wednesday caught 18 from the docks, during the day, which isn’t too bad for daytime shore-based fishing. Another friend who fished from a boat late last week caught 60 fish, and reports of triple-digit catches have been common throughout most of December.
8. I have not been on the river myself this winter due to a “big buck” obsession I had during the deer season, on top of my writing obligations. I have been working on my fourth book, the third for Burford Books, called Freshwater Fishing in Connecticut and Rhode Island. It is a sweetwater counterpart to Fishing the Connecticut and Rhode Island Coasts that will hit the racks sometime this spring or early summer. In order to finish it on time, I had to sequester myself for the past few weeks.
9. The book’s finished, deer season is over and the stripers are going to get some sore lips the next chance I have to wet a line. The way things were in 2005 for me, just for making such a cocky statement, the river will already be frozen solid and remain that way ‘til March so I won’t get a chance to have any fun.
10. But it’s a new year that I hope will be a better one than last, as far as catching goes and a whole lot of other things. In 2005 I had the worst fishing I can remember. Literally everything I fish for, which ranges from yellow perch through the ice to muskies in Quebec, to fluke, blues, bass, albies and tuna in the ocean, gave me a tough pick last season. I went musky fishing when I should have been chasing football tuna, and vice versa. It went like that all season long, and as a result, I never had a really memorable day in either the quantity or quality of the fish I caught, of any species, anywhere! I welcome the new beginning in 2006 with a brand-new combo hunting/fishing license. Don’t forget to pick up your licenses before venturing afield this year.