Sweet Ending of 2012 ( Josh's Monster )

 Hit the River for the stripers with Larry Johnson in his boat with Josh Rayner for the last trip of 2012. Arrived at 8 am to 19 degrees and partly cloudy skies.  Within ten minutes still within sight of the launch Josh hooks the shocker of the year! We see this fish thrashing at the surface and all our jaws dropped.  Moments later it realized it was hooked and took a run straight for the bottom and the real fight began. After a few minutes Josh lips his new personal best striper and biggest fish of his life @ 37 inches and 22.5 Pounds. Took some pics, got the weight and shot a video of the release which i will post later.  Josh's next cast he hooks into another large fish fighting even better than the last one which ended up being 33 inches. So with the first 2 fish of the day josh had his 1st and 2nd biggest stripers ever.  

We were having a blast, didnt matter that we were freezing and our lines and guides were frozen. It was an amazing beginning to the day and a great end to a great year.We went on to catch over 130 for the boat on a day which the bite was on and off all day. We caught some fish in the 20-26 inch range but no more keepers. Larry thanks for another fun trip and cant wait for many more next year.  Recap and totals of 2012 coming soon.

Fishing to Escape tragedy even for a little while.

  Yesterdays events that unfolded here in nearby Newtown CT have shaken this state, this country and even the world. Its hard to believe something this terrible could possibly happen but the pain these families are feeling is very real and it will be a struggle for the rest of there lives asking the question why... Sometimes there are no answers and no answer will ever be good enough. Ive found myself trapped to the news hearing every new detail as they became available. Last night i didnt sleep much at all as this whole story really hit home and  I almost cancelled going fishing today but decided to get away from my TV set and just try to enjoy the day the best we could.

 We hit the river for the schoolies yet again, with our last 2 trips combining for over 460 fish the bar was set high. Today was different out there though..the schools of fish were massive but were found in deeper water and were not nearly as aggressive as in recent weeks.  Which made it almost more fun in a way, we had to think more instead of mindlessly catching hundreds..we tried other lures, colors and technics. Josh tied on a storm paddle tail swim jig and started hammering fish left and right. The flukes were consistent but sometimes a change in color did the trick as Larry Johnson found out when switching to a gold and white combo.

Dynamic Travado

 After looking on Dynamic Lures website and not seeing any photo's with stripers i decided i wanted to get one and send them the pic as something new to add to there site possibly. I used there lure called the Travado which is a deep diving jerk bait that goes 6-12 feet casting and up to 15 feet trolling. After a few cast i knew i wasnt getting deep enough so i started what was a 20 second troll before i hooked up. Took a few photo's and let it go. Was my first striper on a dynamic and first ever trolling. 

Biggest fish of the day was a 25 inch i caught on an albino super fluke. Which gave a great fight on my new rod and reel combo. Man are they fun on the light tackle. At the end of the day Josh caught 60 and i caught 51. Not bad considering we werent out that long and we had to work for them. On another note it was nice to see Rich Zaleski back out on the water setting the hook on 80 fish including one keeper that was a tank. For his report click the link on the sidebar.  Also click dynamic lures link and order yourself some lures for the holidays or just for yourself. 

Dynamic Travado

25 inch

Day of Days! Earning our stripes...

 Josh and I just one year ago had our first taste of the river schoolies with Larry Johnson and we had an amazing day. Josh landing 62 , me landing 58 and Larry getting 47 while navigating us around for our first trip.  It was then our best day of fishing ever and was something we would continue to try with my own boat again and again. Last year after that trip our best trip was 17 combined for the day.  Was a huge disappointment but with the crowds of boats and lots of pressure and simply not knowing the river and how the schoolies tick we just kept trying with sub par results. 

 Well 2012 has had a better start.... Our first trip we caught 38 fish combined and then the following week went back to a 6 fish day. Leaves you scratching your head. But we went out this morning with the goal of 100 fish for the boat... After a slow start and watching fisherman such as Steve D and Alex (dont know his last name) catch them on almost every cast i really started to take notes. Find out why some spots hold more fish in regards to tide and depth as well as the way they fish there lures.. and it paid off today.  Josh's first fish of the day was his new PB striper @ 29 inches. His first keeper of his life which after a few photo's was set free.  By around 11 there were a ton of boats and finding your own spots was difficult but when you could it was game on.

 We ended up going on a run of about 120 fish within an hour and a half. Most fish between 18-22 inches and every one of them fights like there 30 inches.  These fish are strong and about half way to the boat seem to suddenly realize there hooked and start to really pull some line. We went on one last drift for the day being the only boat for about a half a mile stretch and we nailed em. Doubles after doubles after doubles. It was unreal. By the end of the day we had 228 schoolies. Sore arms and huge smiles!  All on white or white chartreuse super flukes on 3/8 jig heads.  Today i feel we earned our stripes and i cant wait to get back and do it again.  

This trip goes out to Rich Zaleski with hopes for a fast recovery and quick return to these fish he loves more than anyone who was out there today. Your blog and fishing insight has helped both Josh and I become better anglers. So thank you. 

by: Joe Jacobowitz

Personal Best Pike! and a lot of action

 After weeks and weeks of terrible fishing we headed down to the river to try and change our luck. Stopped at Paul D's house to drop off some lures and pick up a few pondies and then we were fishing. Been postponing using bait for as long as we could but today took the plunge. Neither of us had ever caught a pike on bait before today. (rod n reel)

We fished all our lures and stuff while waiting for the bobbers to sink. Then my bait goes under i set the hook and my rod snaps in half. I was super pissed. Must have had a crack in it and i lost the fish. Josh let me borrow a rod to put my bait runner on and we were back in business. We both had a few hits where they would just bite the bait and drop it.. so we tied on 1/8 oz jig heads with a power minnow and the pan fish show began. We ended up getting 67 Yellow Perch, 6 Calico, 8 LMB, 1 Pickerel and Josh got a 18 inch schoolie and a 20 inch Pike. All on the little jigs. Josh caught probably 3/4 of all these fish. He was on fire.

While messing around with perch i turn around and dont see my bobber... i run over and the line is flying off the spool i throw the switch and battle on! Knew it was a huge fish but didnt know it was that big. Josh ran over and when it swam by the first time both our jaws dropped. It looked massive... after a few more minutes and amazing runs it was in my arms! My new personal best @ 41 inches 15 lbs 12 oz. I hate my scale and never trust it much. I figured this fish would be closer to 17-18 lbs. But still shattered my personal best.. wish it was on a lure rather than bait... but i guess i cant complain! thanks for the bait Paul and thanks Josh for helping me land this fish and for getting me into pike fishing. 111 pike and counting this season and only one on bait.. been a great year! Happy to be a member of the 40 club.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all,  also Happy birthday goes out to my mom today! this fish was for you!

Champlain 11/17 11/18

Weather was 10 degrees colder than the forcast said and water temps were ten degrees colder than 4 different sources said it would be. 39 degree water temp.. screwed!

Not one hit at champlain.. not one. Trying everything we could think of. The fish were shut off from the cold front. We were the only boat fishing out of TI Launch. Never a good sign. Went to paradox lake at 1pm on saturday to find it closed for the season.

Went to the hotel and didnt fish again that day. Sunday we found a lake to try on the way back that has musky and pike. We fished all day with only 5 hits. Two of which being musky which was pretty amazing to see. Josh had a 36-40 inch musky on for about 5-10 seconds and after three violent head shakes it was gone. Then i had a small tiger musky swing and miss twice at my lure. That was it. couple hundred dollar trip for zero fish... seeing our first musky saved it for us but it was still very disappointing. looking forward to going back in the spring but i wont ever be making that trip in the fall ever again.

Haulin Bass Champlain Trip Booked 11/17-11/18

After a nightmare of booking a room and having them book the wrong dates... talking to people in India for hours trying to fix it alll..... our trip is all set up.  Gonna be staying at Super 8 in Ticonderoga  and fishing that section of the big lake. Really excited with it being my first trip there with my own boat.  My one previous trip was last June and was incredible. I wont be expecting those kind of results by any means but we are hoping to find some pike action as well as some smallmouth action. Im guessing while trying to hunt down some pike we will run into some largies which is fine with me.   Looking forward to writing the report when we get home. Ill be bringing a camera and hope to make a video out of this trip.  Wish us luck!

Confidence and Creativity a Factor..

 So the last month or so has been a very serious test as pike fisherman for Josh and I. Our goal is to land some giants and almost all we have caught since august is 30 inch or less fish. It has been a struggle with all these conditions being a factor.. water clarity, strong winds, heavy current. It truly makes you second guess every single lure you tie on and each spot that you cast too. After the first few hours of a day with little to zero hits or action you get the .. here we go again feeling.  Once you lose your confidence you will lose your focus and at any point that loss in focus can lead to a missed hook set or a lure in a tree branch. After tying on some new line on my pike rod and organizing my gear tonight i started to think that half the battle could be mental. You have to have your head in the game for every single cast. Positive thinking could be the difference between a skunk and a monster.  

 On top of maintaining confidence sometimes you need to get creative. We have taken our standard lures and added pinks, whites, chartreuse and other colors to have something to throw for all water colors. Have multiple lures with different vibrations and or size. We know its easy to just buy some pondies slap em on a hook and bobber and wait... but that takes zero skill and it is also very boring playing the waiting game. I would be happier to catch my trophy on a lure than bait. Bait will soon be the only option but until then... nope!. But for this weekend with Bantam for Saturday and Piketoberfest on Sunday we will be ready with our lures and hopefully with some luck, confidence and creativity we will land the elusive beast!


By: Joe Jacobowitz

Passing time in a Hurricane...w/ pike report and a pumpkin!

Hey everyone, just sitting at home waiting for Sandy to pass through. Still have power but the heavy heavy winds haven't even hit yet. Knock on wood.  So this past weekend we hit 2 rivers in CT for pike and it was very very slow. Its odd we caught more numbers and had more aggressive fish in the summer which should be the opposite but part of the fun is trying to break down spots and find a pattern. Lately its been hit or miss with a good day being 2 fish. 

Also, 
PIKETOBER was postponed due to Sandy. Date to be announced.


On Saturday we ended up with 5 pike but none above 30 inches with one break off on a hook set being the only large fish we saw. And Sunday we hit northern CT River with only 1 fish about 20 inches.  We tried throwing a bunch of different lures in hopes of striking gold. Good news was we caught fish on something other than spinner baits finally.  3 of the 6 pike came on swim baits.  2 on a large jerk bait and just 1 on a spinner.  One thing we are finding is the active fish are very shallow around weeds and they are only hitting lures with a steady retrieve. We also caught 4 smallies on our pike lures.  We will just keep trying, its been over a month since we have landed a good fish but if we put in the time its bound to happen soon.  Just hope our rivers wont get completely screwed up from Sandy.  So while being bored today i carved my first ever Pike Pumpkin!  Anyone in the path of Sandy stay safe!     Enjoy the video!

By : Joe Jacobowitz

Piketoberfest 12 this Sunday.

  

  Oct 28th, is this years annual pike tournament on the CT River.  This is the 12th year is a row for this event and will be me and Josh's 2nd year competing.  It is run by www.ctfisherman.com which if you are not on you should join.  Only members are allowed to fish this event. CT doesn't have much for pike events so this is always alot of fun and is a pretty big deal.  Last year over 30 pike were caught which is a really high number we are hoping to break this year.  It is all catch and release. You just need a photo of your fish on the measuring tape and longest fish wins. 1st, 2nd and 3rd receive prizes. 

 This year it will be in my new boat which im excited about, only problem is figuring out what part of the river to fish. The pike action has been nothing short of slow for the last few months which makes this decision difficult. Josh and I fish lures for pike not bait but this year we may have to put out a golden if we cant manage a bite. Im looking forward to show casing the dynamic lures i was sent for this event to show the other fisherman how awesome they really are.  In a perfect world we will place in this event by using these lures. Which is very possible!  But even if we dont catch much for fish this is going to be a great time.  Looking forward to writting the post on  how it went!  

Jack's winning fish from last years event.

Tight Lines Everyone.

by: Joe Jacobowitz

Dads Biggest Trout Ever! 10/21

I just got back from a weekend up in new hampshire for my girlfriends birthday, stayed on winnipasuakee river at her grandparents house and hardly got to do any fishing, but I caught one largemouth and most the spots i tried to fish up there were closed from Oct 1st - March 31st. Which to me is a crock of you know what... So on my way home i get a call from my dad as happy as can be and he tells me, " i just got back from 5 minutes of trout fishing at wharton brook, i got 1 nice brown first cast and second cast i got about a 7 lb rainbow. " I couldnt believe it, my dad has fished for trout his whole life and always trys to get me to go but i always say im not going trout fishing for dollar bill sized stocked fish. Well today i put my foot in my mouth. He brought it home for pictures and on the ride it dropped a ton of eegs in the bed of the truck. He weighed the fish and it came in at 6 lbs 8 oz and around 23 inches. Which beat his old best of 5.5 lbs. He caught it on the old meal worm marshmellow combo on 4 lb test. He didnt have a net so he walked right into the water shoes on and all to land this fish with a whole group of fisherman around him cheering him on and cursing him up and down lol Congrats dad! but hey...im still not going trout fishing =) Here's some pics, My dad is 6 foot 7 & 280 lbs lol so he makes it look small and the other one is my mom holding it, the brown is 14 inches which really shows the size of the rainbow.

Testing the Motor w/ a Pike Bonus!

 RiverJosh and I only had a few hours to fish after work tonight so we went local. 10 minute drive to Lake Beseck. Tossed in the boat for trip #2 and fired up the motor for the first time..(first pull) And took it for a nice little joy ride. The boat flat out flys and once up to speed planes nicely. 

We have now been to Beseck a few times in search for the " Pike " that may or may not be there. So far it has been a failure. But ive see photos of people getting pike and have heard from a few fisherman that there is a pike population there. So we continue to give it a shot. Last time we got 1 pickerel 0 bass and missed one solid hit, Tonight josh got a nice pickerel on a pink sluggo and a yellow perch on a white grub. A few minutes later i got a 2 lb largie on a white spinner bait by the dam.

Then right before we were going to leave we checked one last area that had a pike vide to it and i got smacked on my spinner bait, the fish left a wake flying to the right and we both knew this was gonna be one our first beseck pike and second and most importantly the first pike in my new boat! It was 26.5 inches. Not very big but i wouldnt have cared if it was a 14 incher. lol Now with this pike it puts me and josh combined to 98 Pike on the year. All on lures and all released. 

Maiden Voyage - Haulin Bass CT

Last Thursday i finally pulled the trigger on Jacks boat. It was just what i was looking for and id been looking at that add now for three months. After spending 3 hours at the DMV with Jack the transaction was complete. I took it home slapped it in the garage waxed it clean and vacuumed out the whole thing. He did an amazing job on the vinyl in this boat.

I put my trolling motor on it and my little 4 HP Merc and took it too bantam for its first outing. The boats space and comfort is unreal compared to what ive been fishing in and it very stable. .... Ok now to the fishing. It sucked. lol Our first 4 fish in the boat were Pickerel. Then i caught a 4 inch yellow perch and a small largemouth while trolling for pike with huge spinner baits. Not one sniff from a pike all day.  Happy to catch a bass in my boat!

On our way home i went straight to a outboard in Cromwell. It was a 1985 Johnson 20 HP long shaft for 600 dollars in great condition and after talking to the owner he knew his stuff and took great care of it. Fired it up and handed over the cash put the motor on the transom and brought it home. Then had to go to walmart buy the whole fuel line and tank set up which is crazy expensive. Bought brackets to hold the tank and the battery in place during transit. Looking forward to getting out there and trying this motor!

Thanks again Jack!

My New PB Largemouth. CT River! by: Josh Rayner

Joe and I started our day at a "pike lake" in Central CT. With the weed kill chemicals leaving a milky green haze in the water, (similar to that of Bantam Lake but worse) we decided to go back to The River. We had been there a couple weeks ago in search of pike, only to find water temps still in the 70's and no pattern had formed. 

Today was similar. Water temps are now down in the 63-65 range. It was slow. We saw more of a presence of pike in our spots today, but they are still in between, as opposed to other fisheries we've been putting some time in to. 

The bass suprised me in a way today, hitting large, gaudy spinnerbaits decked out for enticing pike, run on steel leaders.

On the other hand:

Joe and I heard what sounded like a fish jumping behind us, we both turned to find this at the surface. An 11" bass trying to choke down a 9" perch. Unreal. The barb on the perch's gill plate was stuck in the bass' lip. We successfully seperated them and both fish swam off. 

Working weedlines, working weedlines, a bass here, a perch there, not much happening... BANG! Joe hooks up. It's a pike and a good one at that. It races at the boat, and Joe kept right up with his new burner reel. Never lost tension. Now the fish is boatside with a ton of gusto! The hook pops without warning. We all know that feeling. You did everything right and the unexplainable happens. I even felt that one in the pit of my stomach. Our guess was over 40" and what would have been Joe's personal best.

3 casts later, I hook up on a fish eating from the same school of bait. Feels like a good fish. Pulling line on my Curado. It surfaces, its a bass!? I'm not going to lie, the second I saw this fish I horsed it to the boat and told Joe "lets not mess around here, get the net!" Great assist Joe, thank you.

I'm proud to say this CT. River bass went 6 lbs. 14 oz. and is my personal best.